Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same [Blu-ray]

Great album

The sound and video quality seem to be better than my original and is perfect for a nice high-fi sound system

Excellent Led Zeppelin in their prime. The production/editing could have been much better. Nice throwback!

I would like to share something that may help you understand and appreciate this film even more. First, please understand that I am a huge Zeppelin fan. I never got to see the band in concert but I own all of their albums (in LP and CD form) and listen to them often. I received the new DVD about a week ago. I had not seen this movie before so the first time I watched it, I was a little confused about the various non-concert segments. I found a short but effective explanation of the band's "fantasy sequences," which I have copied below. Now that I understand what the band members were trying to achieve, I appreciate the film more. Personally, I would not have included the clips about the money being stolen or the rude scene where Peter Grant cusses out the MSG guys (about some counterfeit posters) BUT I would not let these small things keep you from enjoying the most important part of the film, which are the music and the performances. There are dozens of incredible solos throughout the film but I would like to point out one in particular that blew me away and is very easy to miss. It is Jimmy's guitar work in No Quarter. This is the song that contains John Paul's fantasy sequence. This particular solo comes in the middle of that sequence so you don't SEE Jimmy playing it; you have to listen for it. Anyway, I hope this helps. The older I get the more I appreciate the great music we got during the early 70's. I feel fortunate to have lived during those great years. I also appreciate the fact that we can still enjoy these amazing performances more than 30 years later. Rock on. ABOUT THE FANATSY SEQUENCES With an intention to give an insight into the individual personalities in the band, several out-of-concert 'fantasy sequences' were shot by Massot for each of the band members, in addition to Peter Grant and tour manager Richard Cole. The sequences are as follows: Peter Grant (left) and Richard Cole Massot originally shot Grant walking a cameraman around a collection of antique cars, but this footage was quickly abandoned. Instead, Grant and Cole were filmed as hitmen driving towards Hammerwood Park estate in Sussex in a 1928 Pierce-Arrow car. Roy Harper also makes an uncredited guest appearance as one of the 'greedy millionaires' portrayed at a business meeting of multi-national corporations. Massot envisioned Grant and Cole in the hitman roles, as it symbolised the tough business decisions they made on behalf of the band. The female passenger wearing a scarf with Peter Grant driving on a country road is his wife, Gloria. John Paul Jones was filmed first at home with his wife Mo, and reading Jack and the Beanstalk to his two daughters, Tamara and Jacinda, before receiving a call to join the band on their American concert. For his fantasy sequence, Jones initially wished to use footage from the original Doctor Syn film, but was prevented from doing so as this film was owned by Disney. Instead, his fantasy sequence involved a reinterpretation of the film. Jones portrays a masked gentleman known as "The Scarecrow," who travels at night on horseback with three others and returns home to Sussex, an ordinary family man. The three other horsemen with him are a reference to the other band members. Jimmy Page's girlfriend, Charlotte Martin, and baby daughter Scarlet Page can be briefly seen during the closing moments of this sequence, which was filmed in October 1973. Thematic music: "No Quarter". In his fantasy sequence, Robert Plant was captured relaxing on his Welsh country farm with his wife Maureen, and children Karac and Carmen. His fantasy sequence involves him being a knight rescuing a fair maiden (played by Virginia Parker), who is a symbolic representation for his vision of the ideal - his personal search for the Holy Grail. Scenes from the sword fight were filmed at Raglan Castle in Wales while the sailing, horseback riding and beach scenes were shot at Aberdovey then Merionethshire and now Gwynedd, in October 1973. Thematic music: "The Song Remains the Same" and "The Rain Song". Jimmy Page is filmed sitting by a lake next to his 18th century manor at Plumpton, Sussex, playing a hurdy gurdy. The tune played is called "Autumn Lake" and the scene was filmed in October 1973. Page's fantasy role involved climbing up the face of a snow capped mountain near Boleskine House, Loch Ness during the nights of a full moon on December 10 and 11, 1973. The act was meant to show man fighting his way to the top, only to be greeted by The Hermit on the untitled fourth album. Thematic music: "Dazed and Confused". John Bonham was shot with his wife Pat and son Jason Bonham on their country estate, Old Hyde Farm in Worcestershire. It is interesting to note that part of his fantasy includes him spending time at home with his family. Bonham was known for falling into deep depressions while on tour away from his family. His heavy drinking, which ultimately resulted in his death, is usually attributed to his homesickness. The game of pool was shot at The Old Hyde Hotel and the Harley-Davidson riding near Blackpool. His fantasy sequence is the most straightforward of all the members, with Bonham drag racing an AA Fueler at 260mph at Santa Pod Raceway, Wellingborough, Northants, UK, in October 1973. Thematic music: "Moby Dick". SOURCE: Wikipedia

Original.

In case of content there are already enough reviews here. So I will focus on the video quality and compare this release with the older one. First of all let me mention that audio is really improved here compared the 1999 disc. VIDEO: Old vs. New To my big disappointment video quality here is not that great. In deed, it is worse than the older release. SHARPNESS: Probably the most important parameter of defining the quality of the video material is its sharpness. 1999 release is sharper than the 2007 one. Analog to digital transfer was done with higher resolution as the Blu-Ray release is definitely sharper than 1999 DVD. This means that it is only a problem of a DVD encoding. COLOR AND BRIGHTNESS: Judging by brightness and color some scenes are better on the old version and others are better on the new version. 2007 version has washed out colors in many scenes. 1999 version has better dark background while 2007 has some haze in some scenes. Overall, it is difficult to give advantage to one over another, in my opinion 1999 is still better most of the time. BLENDING: In 1999 release the film is soft telecined on DVD which means that it contains original 24 progressive frames per second. 2007 release is hard telecined but not via 2:3 pulldown which is common for NTSC DVD. Instead, some frames are blended and the video requires deinterlacing which sacrifices a vertical resolution. So, in addition to the fact that 2007 version is already less sharp compared to 1999 one this blending and deinterlacing downgrades the image more. WHITE BALANCE: White balance has been modified from scene to scene. 2007 release has green tint in many scenes, some frames look blue on 1999 and green on 2007. However, some scenes are in opposite way. I find the older release to have more natural colors but somebody may prefer the newer version. BOTTOM LINE: The old release has a better video quality, it is sharper and contains progressive frames. The new remastered release is softer and is hard telecined via frame blending. Audio is better on the new one. If you would like to see side by side comparison of screenshots and find out more details about the release you can visit RockDVDReviews

This really deserves 4.5 stars. The movie contains several fantasy scenes I could do without. I understand Plant’s fascination with Tolkien but the beginning is surprisingly dark and weirdly out of context to what you’d expect from Zeppelin. Yet, the music is fantastic and more than makes up for the lackluster.

The best Rock band release a great live DVD