The Song Remains the Same (album)

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This article is about the album. For the film, see The Song Remains the Same (film). For the song, see The Song Remains the Same (song).
The Song Remains the Same
The Song Remains the Same cover
Live album by Led Zeppelin
Released September 28, 1976
Recorded July 27, 1973 – July 29, 1973 at Madison Square Garden, New York
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal, blues-rock
Length 99:45 (original album) / 131:55 (2007 edition)
Label Swan Song
Producer Jimmy Page
Professional reviews
Led Zeppelin chronology
Presence
(1976)		 The Song Remains the Same
(1976)		 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.

Contents

[edit] 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:

“ Obviously we were committed to putting this album out, although it wasn't necessarily the best live stuff we have. I don't look upon it as a live album...it's essentially a soundtrack.[1] ”

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

“ As far as [Led Zeppelin's] studio recordings went, every single one of them has a certain ambiance, certain atmospherics that made them special. When it came to the live shows, we were always trying to move things forward and we certainly weren't happy leaving them as they were. The songs were always in a state of change. On [The] Song Remains the Same you can hear the urgency and not much else. The live shows were an extension of the albums.[2] ”

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:

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, 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 The Garden Tapes.

[edit] 2007 reissue

The Song Remains The Same soundtrack album was reissued on November 20, 2007, with the surviving band members having overseen the remixing and remastering of the original release. This coincided with the reissue 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.[3]

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:

“ We have revisited The Song Remains The Same and can now offer the complete set as played at Madison Square Garden. This differs substantially from the original soundtrack released in 1976, and highlights the technical prowess of Kevin Shirley, who worked with us on How The West Was Won.[4] ”

Due to legal complications, the band decided not to change the video portion of the original movie for the re-release. 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.[5]

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.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Original release (1976)

[edit] Side one

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

[edit] Side two

  1. "Dazed and Confused" (Page) – 26:53

[edit] Side three

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

[edit] Side four

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


[edit] Reissue (2007)

[edit] Disc one

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

[edit] Disc two

  1. "Dazed and Confused" – 29:18
  2. "Stairway to Heaven" – 10:52
  3. "Moby Dick" – 11:02
  4. "Heartbreaker" – 6:19*
  5. "Whole Lotta Love" – 13:51

(* Not on original soundtrack release)

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Additional personnel

The album was not included in the 1990 George Marino, Jimmy Page remasters series. The album was mixed at Electric Lady Studios, New York.

[edit] Charts

[edit] Album

Year Chart Position
1976 Billboard Pop Albums (Billboard 200) 2

[edit] Certifications

Certifier Certification Sales
RIAA (U.S.) 4x Platinum 4,000,000

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

  • The Garden Tapes - a study of sources of the live material and the edits for release on this album.

[edit] References

 The references in this article would be clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking.
  1. ^ Dave Lewis and Simon Pallett (1997) Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-5307-4, p. 116.
  2. ^ Liner notes by Cameron Crowe for The Complete Studio Recordings.
  3. ^ Cameron Crowe writes liner notes.
  4. ^ Page on the re-release
  5. ^ Kevin Shirley Talks about Revisiting Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains The Same
v • d • e
Led Zeppelin
John Bonham · John Paul Jones · Jimmy Page · Robert Plant
Studio albums
Live albums
The Song Remains the Same · BBC Sessions · How the West Was Won
Compilations
Singles
Films
Concerts
Related