As good as they were in the studio — and they were one of the greatest of all-time in there — Led Zeppelin were even better live and in front of a crowd. There’s a reason that they’re one of the heaviest bootlegged bands in history. This March, ahead of the 50th anniversary of their founding, Zeppelin has decided to return to one of the most celebrated live releases, How The West Was Won, giving fans a refreshed a remastered take on the triple-cd set that was first issued in 2003.
As with all Zeppelin project, this new version of How The West Was Won was overseen by guitarist Jimmy Page. The album collects two concerts the band performed in the Los Angeles area in 1972, one at the Forum in Inglewood on June 25, and another gig down south at the Long Beach Arena two nights later. In the liner notes to the original set, Page declared that “This is Led Zeppelin at its best.” With incredible, 20 minute-plus renditions of “Whole Lotta Love” and “Dazed And Confused,” as well as explosive takes on “Rock and Roll,” “Black Dog,” “Heartbreaker,” and “Immigrant Song,” it’s hard to argue otherwise.
The remastered version of How The West Was Won is set to come in a variety of formats, including a super deluxe box set that comes with both the three-CD set and four 180-gram vinyl LPs, a DVD of album in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and PCM Stereo, A book filled with rare and previously unpublished photos of the band at each of the concert locations, plus memorabilia and ephemera and a high-quality print of the original album cover.
You can pre-order How The West Was Won on the band’s official website here.
