The best Led Zeppelin recordings that didn’t make it onto albums, according to Jimmy Page

It is no wonder that the Led Zeppelin have a large number of recordings that were not released on albums. Although they existed for little more than a decade, the group had a very creative trajectory — and were led by a producer, the guitarist Jimmy Page.

Although compilations and special editions almost always rescue material of this type, the British quartet is particularly careful with regard to alternative versions. Page is also responsible for this.

It is known that the guitarist is also a kind of encyclopedia of Zeppelin material. Whenever any of the group’s albums is re-released, including with extra material, he is directly involved.

In 2015, the musician spoke with The Guardian regarding a re-release of the group’s discography. At the time, he was asked about what his favorite tracks were among the unreleased material. He said:

There are highlights such as the alternative version of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ – which is amazing. The alternative version of ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ is amazing. The alternative version of ‘Stairway’ (to Heaven)…this list could go on and on.”

Another song was mentioned before an interesting observation: Led Zeppelin was essentially a blues band in its early days. In the guitarist’s words, another recommendation:

‘Key to the Highway’ It’s amazing, there was always something that people never expected, that no one had ever heard, and that had never come out on bootlegs, and it also illustrates that when Led Zeppelin did blues, it was a totally different version of how people approached it.”

Jimmy Page and the art of mining Led Zeppelin’s work

Soon after the release of the album and video Celebration Day (2012), which features the group’s last show, in 2007, Jimmy Page announced that he was working on remastered versions of all Led Zeppelin albums. They were released between 2014 and 2015, each featuring a lot of extra material, in the form of alternative versions that ended up not being included in the original works.

The guitarist claims that he explored everything that existed in Led Zeppelin’s “vaults” and made a point of not using any material that had already been released unofficially over the years – the so-called bootlegs. He gave an example:

When[the songs]came out, they were the definitive versions. They were the definitive summary of the body of work. But that doesn’t mean that some of the other versions of these things weren’t interesting – a version of ‘Stairway’ is very, very interesting compared to the one we all know. With ‘When the Levee Breaks’there was the version that was made in London, but the Sunset Sound version was really dense, dark, sinister. That would be the version. Maybe I already had another version of ‘When the Levee Breaks’but it won’t be as good as the original, or the one on the bonus disc. It exemplifies the kind of work that went into compiling, selecting, and rejecting things along the way to make an extra disc. So, as best I could, I made sure not to have anything that had already been replicated out there on bootlegs.”

After the re-releases, in 2015 Led Zeppelin also re-released the compilation Mothershiporiginally released in 2007, in celebration of the reunion show. This time, the tracks featured are the versions remastered by Page, which seem to be the definitive recording of the band now.

Collaborated: André Luiz Fernandes.