The Song Remains the Same (CD - 1976)

Recorded live at Madison Square Garden, New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Cameron Crowe.

Personnel: Robert Plant (vocals, harmonica); Jimmy Page (guitar, electric guitar); John Paul Jones (piano, keyboards); John Bonham (drums).

Liner Note Author: Cameron Crowe.

Recording information: Madison Square Garden (1973).

Unknown Contributor Role: John Paul Jones .

Led Zeppelin's 1976 film The Song Remains the Same mixes their 1973 concert at Madison Square Garden with fantasy scenes and footage of the group members backstage and at home. Intense, extended performances of classics like "Dazed and Confused," "No Quarter," and "Whole Lotta Love" don't always blend well with the hallucinatory imagery, but die-hard Zep fans will appreciate the set's uniquely '70s feel. The DVD doesn't add as many extra features as fans might like, providing only a theatrical trailer and enhanced viewing for 16 x 9 televisions, but The Song Remains the Same remains a distinctive part of Led Zeppelin's history. ~ Heather Phares

Commonly dismissed as a disappointment upon its initial release, the soundtrack to Led Zeppelin's concert movie The Song Remains the Same is one of those '70s records that has aged better than its reputation -- it's the kind of thing that's more valuable as the band recedes into history than it was at the time, as it documents its time so thoroughly. Of course, that time would be the mid-'70s, when the band was golden gods, selling out stadiums across America and indulging their wildest desires both on and off stage. It was the kind of excess that creates either myth or madness, and this 1976 live album -- comprised of highlights from their three shows at Madison Square Garden during July 1973 -- has its fair share of both, as Zeppelin sounds both magnificent and murky as they blow up songs from their first five albums to a ridiculously grand scale. This is not the vigorous, vicious band documented on the subsequently released live BBC Sessions or the majestic might of the 2003 live album How the West Was Won and its accompanying eponymous DVD, where the band still sounded tight even when they stretched out for 20 minutes. Here, on a show documented just about 18 months after those on How the West, the group is starting to let their status as stars go to their head ever so slightly. They no longer sound hungry; they sound settled, satisfied at their status as rock overlord, and since a huge part of Zeppelin's appeal is their sheer scale, hearing them at their most oversized on The Song Remains the Same is not without its charm. This, more than any of their studio albums, captures both the grandiosity and entitlement that earned the band scorn among certain quarters of rock critics and punk rockers in the mid-'70s, which makes it a valuable historical document in an odd way, as the studio records are such magnificent constructions and the archival live albums so powerful. Plus, there is a certain sinister charm to the sheer spectacle chronicled on The Song Remains the Same, particularly in the greatly expanded 2007 reissue, which adds six previously unreleased tracks, helping pump up this already oversized album into something truly larger than life. At this stage, Zeppelin only seemed concerned with pleasing themselves, but they only did so because they could -- others tried to mimic them, but nobody could get the sheer size of their sound, which was different yet equally monstrous on-stage as it was on record. It wasn't as consistent on-stage as it was on record -- a half-hour "Dazed and Confused" may be the stuff of legend, but it's still a chore to get through -- but the very fact that Led Zeppelin could take things so far is part of their mystique, and nowhere is that penchant of excess better heard than on The Song Remains the Same. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Back in the seventies, it seemed that every rock band needed to have a live concert film to commemorate their triumphant treks across America. Led Zeppelin were no exception and THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME is a chronicle of Led Zeppelin on tour. Although the uninspired visual aspects of the film fail to capture the power of Led Zeppelin at their mid-seventies peak, the album manages to convey their live prowess. The twenty-six minute, hypnotic version of "Dazed and Confused" works much better here than in the film, where movie patrons would head to the concession stand ten minutes into the song. "Whole Lotta Love" gets a similar extended treatment and the results are equally impressive.

THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME also lets you hear that songs like "Stairway To Heaven" sound wonderful even without the benefit of studio overdubs. Though not perfect, this is an honest documentation of the Led Zeppelin live experience, serving as a reminder that beneath the larger-than-life myths that surrounded the group, Led Zeppelin were simply a powerful blues-influenced rock band who lived for their music. minimize