Best Led Zeppelin Album?

2:26 is the one that gets me, but that one too

I can't believe I'm considering buying the reissues...anyone here batted for the cycle (vinyl, cd, box set, and reissues)?

fp'd everyone who bothered ranking coda

killfiled ez snappin for ranking it ahead of something else

I'd like to know whether or not the HotH reissue is 'ok' now ... My buddy's copy had some weird clipping on crunge & ocean...

I can't believe I'm considering buying the reissues...anyone here batted for the cycle (vinyl, cd, box set, and reissues)?

― Iago Galdston, Monday, August 10, 2015 6:43 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Kinda thinkin' the same thing. I'd totally missed that any reissued had been issued until the sudden rash of LZ thread revives. I only actually own cassette copies of all the albums. I've hardly ever gone in for the "deluxe two-disc remaster with unreleased demos and alternate tracks!" thing but I think I could make an exception in this case.

I'd like to know whether or not the HotH reissue is 'ok' now ... My buddy's copy had some weird clipping on crunge & ocean...

― BlackIronPrison, Monday, August 10, 2015 8:30 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There's a 32-page thread on the Steve Hoffman forums that may answer that:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/distortion-on-led-zeppelin-houses-of-the-holy-vinyl-remaster.389892/

would have voted HotH

old lunch, the remasters on the reissues i've got thus far sound ace, better than previous CDs. the bonus tracks are mostly zzzz though and definitely feel like a ripoff (though great to hear the India tracks finally in good Fi on the Coda reissue)

The live show paired w/I SMOKES.

I've said this before, but I really like how they've structured the tiers of this reissue series. Just want the album? You're covered at lower than before price. Want the extras? There's two/three-disc editions that are cheaper than you'd think they'd be. Want to go all out? There's a box with everything on CD and Vinyl plus a big book and related bric-a-brac if you're into that kind of thing, but luckily for those that aren't no annoyingly exclusive audio content (Dylan, Stones, Floyd--I'm looking scornfully in your direction!).

luckily for those that aren't no annoyingly exclusive audio content

true. bummed though i am that the extras (beyond the aforementioned live set) aren't stellar, i think the tiering of the formats is really good and NOT ripoff-minded.

Interesting; of the latest batch of reissues, ITTOD is the one that went Top 10 in the US (#9).

I got really lucky and found all of the deluxe 2/3 CDs in a Target priced at $9.99 each last time I was in the States (I wasn't sure if that was an accident or a nice bargain) but I still need the last three!

Interesting; of the latest batch of reissues, ITTOD is the one that went Top 10 in the US (#9).

The original release could've been the final US #1 of the 70s had it not been for .... The Long Run by Eagles.

Well, yeah.

I have a friend that spent the night for those Tribune tix order forms via that edition. He loved reading the article posted above and reminiscing about that night. Thanks to whomever posted that.

You're welcome! I can't imagine how crushing it must've been for the people who went to those lengths just for, as Fastnbulbous pointed out, the order form for tickets -- not even the actual tickets themselves -- to hear about Bonham's passing the next day.

The wikipedia page on what would've been the 1980 US tour has some interesting info, including the planned logo:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Led_Zeppelin_-_The_1980s%2C_Part_One_Logo.jpg

Here's the ad/order form:
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1980/09/25/page/33

(xpost) Cool logo! Looks kind of Peter Saville-ish.

Can imagine people reading that order form thinking "15 bucks? Screw that!"

The apostrophe in The 1980s is unfortunate.

Yeah, people putting the apostrophe in the wrong place when writing about decades (it's the '60s, not the 60's) drives me nuts.

Can imagine people reading that order form thinking "15 bucks? Screw that!"

What did arena show tickets usually go for in 1980?

Yeah, people putting the apostrophe in the wrong place when writing about decades (it's the '60s, not the 60's) drives me nuts.

― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Tuesday, August 11, 2015 3:29 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This! I've had editors backwards correct this for me in the past >:-(

What did arena show tickets usually go for in 1980?

I've seen posted photos of concert tickets from the early '80s in the $5-10 range. Not that $15 would have been so outrageous — probably at the higher end of what people were paying — though hilariously paltry compared to the $350 or whatever U2 etc. are charging these days.

The Who in 1982 was somewhere around $15 iirc.

$15 in 1980 would be around $44 today. I don't think there's anyone you can see now on the arena/stadium circuit for $44.

Yeah this concept of arena shows as luxury product is a recent phenomenon, and one I still find completely baffling.

blame these two:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/02/12/arts/12artsbeat-eagles/12artsbeat-eagles-blog480.jpg

(I'm not kidding; they kicked off this phenomenon in '94)

Yep, first ones to charge a then-unheard-of $100 for tickets.

"This year there has been a very dramatic increase in the ticket price for premium acts," says Bill Elson, a senior vice president at the International Creative Management talent agency in New York and Los Angeles. "The Floyd tickets are a big jump from the 1989 Rolling Stones tour, which was going for $35, and the 1989 Paul McCartney tour, which had a top ticket price of $28.50. The cost of gasoline hasn't gone up as rapidly as the price of a top concert ticket."

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-05-08/entertainment/9405080046_1_ticket-woodstock-las-vegas

think the headline should have had a "Well, yeah"

"I saw the Eagles with Steve Miller and Pablo Cruise in Comiskey Park for only $12 in the '70s," said Scott Scrivner, 32, of Chicago, who bought $88 seats for the Eagles' World show. "I fell off a ladder when I heard the price. I thought for that kind of money, they might start singing `Evergreen' or `The Way We Were.' "

Pending the resurrection of Bonham, I can't imagine ever spending $100 to see a show. Hell, it's been so long since I went to a big-c Concert that I can't imagine spending more than $30-40, period.

The real question is why didn't concert promoters think of raising prices sooner. Rock music had existed for forty years before somebody thought to themselves "Hey ya know what? We could make some serious dough if we just charged more money for tickets."

I couldn't find a thread and don't have time to do make a poll, but what's the best book on Zep that focuses more on the music rather than just the rockstar bullshit? I mean, that's a big part of their story and you can't escape it totally, but you know what I mean.

I haven't read this one, but it sounds interesting.

Yeah that's in my list. I wonder if it's organized along a narrative timeline like a lot of the oral histories, or just a bunch of interviews slapped together?

The real question is why didn't concert promoters think of raising prices sooner. Rock music had existed for forty years before somebody thought to themselves "Hey ya know what? We could make some serious dough if we just charged more money for tickets."

― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, August 11, 2015 11:52 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, it's kind of counterintuitive. I mean arena rock shows are at their core mass populist spectacles, so it made sense that tickets would have been in the reach of the common man. But there have also been huge shifts in the demographics of rock audiences -- in 1975 there probably weren't enough highly-paid professionals (or aging, financially established folks) who were also rock fans to fill arenas in every city at high ticket prices.

But I think people are out of their goddamn minds to pay over 100 (let alone 200, 300, or 400) for an arena show where the band will be tiny and the sound will be boomy. I've never paid anything like that for a concert, and if I were going to, I'd want a smaller venue.

Yeah, like my living room.

I paid $135 to see Prince play a club that holds approx 500 people; our vantage point was a balcony about 20 yards from the stage

this was the second-best concert experience of my life (the best was Colin Stetson at Eaux Claires this year)

My first concert other than Chicago at age 4 was the Who/Clash at Shea Stadium--was in the last few rows with my parents, guess I was 12 or so...sorry to add to derailing of the thread. I thought the crowd was a little scary!

I saw the 1982 Who/Clash show at the LA Coliseum and I believe it was $18. I think the first time I spent > $50 for a ticket was to see the Stones on the Steel Wheels tour - also at the Coliseum and with Guns N Roses opening.

you couldn't pay me to see a stadium show

BTW, Erik Davis' 33 1/3 book on Zeppelin IV is my fave book on LZ. Even though it's not about LZ at all.

Love that book

LOVE that book. it gets pretty ridiculous at times but deliberately and in a way befitting its subject.

I paid $135 to see Prince play a club that holds approx 500 people; our vantage point was a balcony about 20 yards from the stage

this was the second-best concert experience of my life (the best was Colin Stetson at Eaux Claires this year)

most i've ever paid was $55 to see prince from the rafters in an arena like 12 years ago. easily the most worthwhile $55 i've ever spent

I think the most I ever spent for tix was for a NYE show, and it was Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, and it was still only something like $60 or maybe $80 per person, and the venue turned out to be pretty enjoyable even though it was some weird underground level theater near times square, and I only spent that much out of feeling bad at never doing anything spendy on NYE, and we had a blast.