Celebrating The 11 Year Anniversary of Led Zeppelin's BBC Sessions by Nick Law - November 16, 2008 If you were making a list of the greatest inventions of the last century, BBC Sessions by Led Zeppelin would be ranked right up there in the top 10 with the first down line and Shamrock Shakes. When the British supergroup put out this blues-rock album just slightly over a decade ago, it had been their first release in 15 years. The long anticipated album was definitely worth the wait as disc 1 featured some heavily anticipated tracks that became instant classics. “Whole Lotta Love” featuring Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and John Bonham quickly became one of the band’s best-known songs. The rest of disc 1 is only some of the best blues music ever written. Disc 2 consists mainly of the band’s April 1, 1971 concert from the Paris Theatre in London. Many of the songs are live versions of songs from disc 1, which is in itself a repeat of four different 1969 BBC sessions, but never before have so many classics been compiled into 2 smooth discs. I personally hadn’t listened to BBC Sessions until I reached college, at which point I quickly discovered that I was the only human being who hadn’t heard it. Having been released 4 years prior to my freshman year, I didn’t have an excuse. Being the conformist that I am, I quickly made my way to Schoolkids, the local used record shop. Back in those days, before the big bad Wal-Mart moved into town and started undercutting every business that it could, students actually had to buy their CDs from local small businesses. Man those were the days. I think Schoolkids went out of business sometime around 2005 and sold music posters for a while. I just recently heard a far more depressing rumor that this once great purveyor of hard to find music is a wig shop now (only in Southeastern Ohio can a business not only fail, but get lost in time as well). With my purchase in hand, I gladly tipped the used record store owner a buck. I could already tell he was in for some tough times. I put the CD in my walkman (back in my day, we didn’t have those fancy iPods) and made my way to class where I fell in love with the smooth tunes of BBC Sessions. Now it’s 7 years later and I still have the album, albeit on my iPod (yes, I finally caught up with the times). I listened to it again the other day for the first time in years and, with no surprise, the songs are just as good as ever. It will be interesting to see, years from now how Led Zeppelin rates BBC Sessions among their all time works. Fans, however, have come to regard the album as somewhat of a masterpiece. Like the Mona Lisa and Sistine Chapel before it (and let’s not forget the aforementioned Shamrock Shake), BBC Sessions will undoubtedly go down in history as a true work of art. One that will inspire artists for years to come to try and create something as perfect, while at the same time humble them with the realization that they never will.  Subscribe to Latest Articles

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Nick Law June 18, 2009 8:55 PM So, I have a "BBC Led Zeppelin" sessions vinyl - solid white album cover, record itself just labeled "1" and "2". Also inside jacket is a sheet of wild art - almost like a draft cover art design that lists the titles included. The art is black ink on buff colored paper - wild art, bare women, etc. Any thoughts on this?

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