I admit that, in all the time Newstalgia has been up and alive, I haven't included any Led Zeppelin material in my posts. Why? Honestly, I overdosed on them around the time this concert was recorded. Led Zeppelin were probably one of the most visible, most hyped bands of the early 1970's. Their albums were played back to back non-stop on most FM stations in the country. Every Rock magazine had at least some kind of story regarding them in every issue. They toured almost constantly and, frankly I heard enough of them to last me a lifetime.

Not that they weren't a good band or anything, and not that I didn't like them. I just hit critical mass hearing about them and hearing Stairway To Heaven for the 2,000th time. That's all.

But my experience is probably not your experience - so when I ran across this concert I was looking at it as a historic document and not out of personal preference. So I decided to run it.

I am sure this concert has made the bootleg circles many times over, as practically everything they've ever done has, in one form or another. What's interesting about this particular concert, recorded at the BBC's Paris Theater in London in 1971, is how sedate the audience is. Evidence Led Zeppelin were much more popular in the States than they were in their native UK. A Led Zeppelin concert in the U.S. during their heyday was a stoner's paradise with massive quantities of drugs and alcohol ingested over the course of the concert to epidemic proportions. Attesting to that was the fact that, at one Zeppelin concert in Los Angeles, I was thrown up on not once, but twice in one night. Wretched excess is what they call it.

At any rate, in case you missed them the first time around, or never quite got into them in the first place, here is a taste of them live relatively early on.

Enjoy. I promise to grab something new and unknown next week.

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Since we ran David Bowie last night, it's only natural we dig a bit more into the mainstream for something else unusual. And tonight it's Led Zeppelin in their second session at the BBC, recorded on June 24, 1969 for The John Peel Program.

If you're a diehard fan, you will probably have this session somewhere in your collection. You are probably well-versed in all things Zep. But if you're a casual fan, you may not have heard this session, and you may not have realized Led Zeppelin were originally The New Yardbirds, when the old Yardbirds dissolved. When Jimmy Page, the last remaining member of The Yardbirds set out to form a new band, following largely in the footsteps of the old one. When asked if he was interested in joining up in this new venture, Who drummer Keith Moon declined, casually adding Page's new band idea would mostly likely go down like a Led Zeppelin with audiences.

And the rest is history.

And so's what you're going to hear:

24/06/1969 - Led Zeppelin
Producer - John Walters
Engineer - Tony Wilson
Studio - Maida Vale 4

TRACKLIST
What Is And What Should Never Be
Whole Lotta Love
Travelling Riverside Blues
Communication Breakdown

LINE UP
Jimmy Page (Guitar)
Robert Plant (Vocals)
John Paul Jones (Bass, Piano, Organ)
John Bonham (Drums)

Take it from there.