We can describe the sound of this miserable Bernie Grundman remaster in two words: ridiculously bright.
Honestly, what more do you need to know? It’s almost as bad as the Zep II he cut, and that record is an abomination.
Is it the worst version of the album ever made? Hard to imagine it would have much competition.
(Oh but it does – this misbegotten series out of Japan will do nicely to illustrate how brighter is not necessarily better, it’s just brighter.)
Over the years we have done many Led Zeppelin shootouts, often including the Classic Heavy Vinyl pressings for comparison purposes. After all, these Classic LPs are what many — perhaps most — audiophiles consider superior to other pressings.
We sure don’t, but everybody else seems to. You will find very few critics of the Classic Zeps LPs outside of those who write for this blog, and even we used to recommend three of the Zep titles on Classic: Led Zeppelin I, IV and Presence.
Wrong on all counts.
We don’t actually like any of them now, although the first album is still by far the best of the bunch.
Further Reading
- More records that are good for spotting phony detail
- More records perfectly suited to the stereos of the 60s and 70s
- Are reviewers’ systems good enough to judge the kinds of records we offer?
Letter of the Week – “You said ‘killer copy.’ Spot on! It is fantastic.”
Letter of the Week – “For me it is like the difference between 2-D and 3-D”
Letter of the Week -“The domestic copy you sent me of Houses of the Holy trashed my UK pressing.”
