Just when you thought your bank account and shelves were safe, Led Zeppelin have announced another mammoth deluxe reissue, following the complete remastering of their Atlantic Records catalogue over the last few years. This time it’s The Complete BBC Sessions, an upgrade on the BBC Sessions album released in 1997.
The unique selling point this time is a third disc, featuring eight previously unrecorded recordings, including a “lost session” the BBC had wiped from its archive – the version of that session comes from a fan’s radio recording.
That session includes one Zeppelin song unavailable in any form on any other release, Sunshine Woman (though, naturally, you can hear it in seconds if you search YouTube), which was recorded for Alexis Korner’s Rhythm and Blues programme on the BBC World Service on 19 March 1969.
All the sessions were recorded between 1969 and 1971, and feature songs dating up to the fourth Zeppelin album, including a version of Stairway to Heaven recorded on 1 April 1971.
Naturally, there is no ordinary edition of the set. The entry-level version is a 3CD or 5LP “deluxe edition”. Those willing to mortgage their houses or sell one of their children’s kidneys can go for the super deluxe box set, with both vinyl and CDs and the additional baubles – a book, a print, a download code.
The full CD tracklisting is:
Disc One
1. You Shook Me
2. I Can’t Quit You Baby
3. Communication Breakdown
4. Dazed and Confused
5. The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair
6. What Is and What Should Never Be
7. Communication Breakdown
8. Travelling Riverside Blues
9. Whole Lotta Love
10. Somethin’ Else
11. Communication Breakdown
12. I Can’t Quit You Baby
13. You Shook Me
14. How Many More Times
Disc Two
1. Immigrant Song
2. Heartbreaker
3. Since I’ve Been Loving You
4. Black Dog
5. Dazed and Confused
6. Stairway to Heaven
7. Going to California
8. That’s the Way
9. Whole Lotta Love (Medley: Boogie Chillun/Fixin’ to Die/That’s Alright Mama/A Mess of Blues)
10. Thank You
Disc Three
1. Communication Breakdown*
2. What Is and What Should Never Be*
3. Dazed and Confused *
4. White Summer
5. What Is and What Should Never Be*
6. Communication Breakdown*
7. I Can’t Quit You Baby*
8. You Shook Me*
9. Sunshine Woman*
* previously unreleased