The Song Remains the Same (album)

Infobox Album
Name = The Song Remains the Same
Type = live
Artist = Led Zeppelin


Released = September 28, 1976
Recorded = July 27, 1973 – July 29, 1973 at Madison Square Garden, New York
Length = 99:45 (original album) / 131:55 (2007 edition)
Label = Swan Song
Producer = Jimmy Page
Reviews =
*Allmusic rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dmddylojxpnb link]
*"Q" rating|2|5 [http://www.q4music.com/nav?page=q4music.review.redirect&fixture_review=131065&resource=131065&fixture_artist=144739 October 2000]
*Robert Christgau (C+) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=led+zeppelin link]
Last album = "Presence"
(1976)
This album = "The Song Remains the Same"
(1976)
Next album = "In Through the Out Door"
(1979)

"The Song Remains the Same" is the soundtrack album of the concert film of the same name by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. The album was originally released in 1976, before being remastered and re-issued in 2007.

Overview

The recording of the album and the film took place during three nights of concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden, during the band's 1973 concert tour of the United States. All songs were recorded by Eddie Kramer using the Wally Heider Mobile Studio truck, and later mixed at Electric Lady Studios in New York and Trident Studios in London.

The album was released on September 28, 1976, by Swan Song Records. The sleeve design depicted a dilapidated movie house located on Old Street film studios in London, which was used by the group for rehearsals prior to their 1973 tour.

Since its release, band members have expressed a lack of fondness for the recording. Jimmy Page has admitted that the end product was hardly the best representation of Led Zeppelin as a live band:

In an interview he gave to rock journalist Cameron Crowe, Page elaborated:

Until both the album and the film were remastered and re-released in 2007, there were significant differences between the two in terms of the songs included on each. These differences were as follows:

*The film included "Black Dog", but not "Celebration Day".
*The soundtrack album included "Celebration Day", but not "Black Dog".
*The film also included "Since I've Been Loving You", the introduction to "Heartbreaker", the instrumental "Bron-Yr-Aur" (which appeared on "Physical Graffiti") and a hurdy gurdy piece called "Autumn Lake", none of which featured on the album.

Of the songs that both the album and the film had in common, some of the recordings featured on the album were of different performances from those in the film. Other tracks which were recorded at Madison Square Garden, but omitted from both the film and the soundtrack album, included "The Ocean" and "Misty Mountain Hop". A comprehensive study of the sources of the original album and the edits is available at [http://www.thegardentapes.co.uk/ The Garden Tapes] .

2007 reissue

"The Song Remains The Same" soundtrack album was reissued on CD on November 20, 2007, with the surviving band members having overseen the remixing and remastering of the original release. This coincided with the re-issue of the film, available on DVD. The new version of the soundtrack included six songs that were not on the original album release: "Black Dog", "Over the Hills and Far Away", "Misty Mountain Hop", "Since I've Been Loving You", "The Ocean" and "Heartbreaker", plus new liner notes by Cameron Crowe.

Thus, with the 2007 re-release of both the album and film, the songs were synchronized so that the full set-list from the concerts was available on both, with each song mixed the same way (the only exceptions being "Bron-Yr-Aur" and "Autumn Lake", both of which continued to be absent from the album).

Jimmy Page stated:

Due to legal complications, the band decided not to change the video portion of the original movie for the re-release.Liner notes by Cameron Crowe for "The The Song Remains the Same", reissued version, 2007.] Instead, Shirley created an entirely new mix of the three 1973 Madison Square Garden concerts so that the audio portion of the film would better match the on-screen visuals. The audio on the new CD release was nearly identical to the soundtrack of the new DVD release. One difference was that the songs included on the CDs that were not featured in the original movie were included as bonus tracks on the DVD. [ [http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/003887.html Kevin Shirley Talks about Revisiting Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains The Same ] ]

The audio mixes also differed from those found on the 2003 "Led Zeppelin DVD". The most obvious example is that "Black Dog" was two minutes longer on the 2003 DVD than on the 2007 releases.

On July 29, 2008, a 4-LP edition of the 2007 re-issue, on 180 gram audiophile vinyl, was released. It was presented in a deluxe archival two-piece box with foil-stamping. It includes a 12-page oversized full-color booklet with dozens of previously unpublished stills from the film, as well as four individual jackets with new and unique artwork. A special white vinyl edition was also printed in very limited numbers. Just 200 were produced, with only 100 being made available to the public. These are now very highly sought-after collectors items.

Track listing

Original release (1976)

ide one

# "Rock and Roll" (John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant) – 4:03
# "Celebration Day" (Jones, Page, Plant) – 3:49
# "The Song Remains the Same" (Page, Plant) – 6:00
# "Rain Song" (Page, Plant) – 8:25

ide two

# "Dazed and Confused" (Page) – 26:53

ide three

# "No Quarter" (Jones, Page, Plant) – 12:30
# "Stairway to Heaven" (Page, Plant) – 10:58

ide four

# "Moby Dick" (Bonham, Jones, Page) – 12:47
# "Whole Lotta Love" (Bonham, Willie Dixon, Jones, Page, Plant) – 14:25

Re-issue (2007)

Disc one

# "Rock and Roll" – 3:56
# "Celebration Day" – 3:37
# "Black Dog" (with "Bring It on Home" intro) – 3:46*
# "Over the Hills and Far Away" – 6:11*
# "Misty Mountain Hop" – 4:43*
# "Since I've Been Loving You" – 8:23*
# "No Quarter" – 10:38
# "The Song Remains the Same" – 5:39
# "Rain Song" – 8:20
# "The Ocean" – 5:13*

Disc two

# "Dazed and Confused" – 29:18
# "Stairway to Heaven" – 10:52
# "Moby Dick" – 11:02
# "Heartbreaker" – 6:19*
# "Whole Lotta Love" – 13:51

(* Not on original soundtrack release)

Personnel

*Jimmy Page – electric guitars, backing vocals, producer
*Robert Plant – Vocals
*John Paul Jones – bass guitar, keyboards, mellotron
*John Bonham – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

*Peter Grant – executive producer
*Eddie Kramer – engineer, mixing
*Kevin Shirley – remixing on 2007 re-release
*Cameron Crowe – liner notes
*Hipgnosis – sleeve
*George Hardie – sleeve
*Barry Diament - original CD mastering - Atlantic Studios (mid-1980s)
*Bob Ludwig - 2007 CD remastering - Gateway Studios

The album was mixed at Electric Lady Studios, New York.

Charts

Album

Certifications

ee also

*The Song Remains the Same (film)

External links

* [http://www.thegardentapes.co.uk/ The Garden Tapes] - a study of sources of the live material and the edits for release on this album.

References