Led Zeppelin On Track: Every Album, Every Song

I got this as an Xmas gift and have really enjoyed reading it every night in bed while listening to the songs. I've been a fan of Zep for many years now and read LOTS of books about them, have performed things like "Rock and Roll", "Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp" and even "Battle of Evermore" live with my band, and generally know a fair bit about the group. Yet I still found much to enjoy in this book!Sure, sometimes his opinions don't match mine, I think "The Crunge" is one of the worst things ever recorded for example, while the author thinks it's okay and really funny, but that's fine, we all have different opinions. Generally I think what he says in the book is spot on and it just adds a little extra dimension to each album if you read about the songs as you listen to them. I've enjoyed it so much I planned on getting the Jethro Tull and Iron Maiden On Track books (my two favourite bands!) but the reviews aren't very favourable. That's why I wanted to write a review for this one - it's well worth reading, so grab a copy now.

As a lifelong Zeppelin fan this is possibly one of the most informative and interesting books I’ve ever read on the band. Steve Pilkington has gone into what must have been massive research to dig out new facts and insights into the recording of every single track put down by the band. Some of the information and stories I knew, but plenty of the material in this book was brand new to me. An absolutely fascinating and well written document of one of the best and most influential bands of all time. An absolute 'must have' book for any fan. No Led Zep shelf is complete without it.

Steve Pilkington's book about Led Zeppelin's official recordings isn't perfect but it does contain a mine of information and his passion for the music is palpable. He has a likeable brand of humour too, though it's often deployed to soften the sting of fair criticism. For instance, on the 'Houses Of The Holy' album alone, he rightly identifies a litany of songwriting and production deficiencies but he understates their impact - the awful synthesiser that fades in for the outro of 'Over The Hills And Far Away', the manipulative feel-good finale glued on to LP closer 'The Ocean' and even the insufferable James Brown spoof 'The Crunge' are all let off lightly. While showing a keen awareness of the many problems that beset 'The Song Remains The Same' movie and its soundtrack album, the writer's willingness to make excuses for that infamously misguided enterprise exposes a partial, nostalgic connection between author and subject matter; the deeply unpopular editing in the expanded (!) remaster goes without mention. I was surprised too that Steve describes those fans that had objected to a song being culled from a medley in the refurbished version of the live album 'How The West Was Won' as "rabid" - maybe they're just ordinary folks that dislike buying music that's been edited down on the sly. Most of the raw data one might expect in a book of this type is related accurately with only a few aberrations. The out-take 'Baby, Come On Home' is attributed to two alternative dates in October 1968; The Bert Jansch banjo figure that Zep mastermind Jimmy Page plundered for 'Bron-Y-Aur Stomp' was titled ‘The Waggoner’s Lad’ rather than ‘The Waggoner’s Song’; the writer also states that in 1970 ‘I Can’t Quit You Baby’ was replaced as the blues number in the ‘live’ set by ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’, but he says later that 'You Shook Me' was dropped in favour of 'SIBLY' [Steve was right the first time]; he affirms too that 'No Quarter' "was played at every show until the 1980 US tour before being retired for the following shows in Europe." But this is wrong: Led Zeppelin's last American tour was in 1977 - one had been planned for after the 'Over Europe' tour in 1980 but that doesn't fit with the author's chronology; moreover, contrary to the 'Coda' sleeve notes that are reiterated here, an edited mix of the 1970 Royal Albert Hall ‘live’ DVD performance of 'I Can't Quit You, Baby' is used on that anthology - it isn't a soundcheck recording. In my view, these errata aren't great in number but they probably shouldn’t be present in a reference work - the bottom line is that I spotted them and somebody else should have done so before this went to print. Regarding the background to the songs, this is generally excellent - that Jimmy's chorus riff from 'No Quarter' was lifted from a repeated phrase in Jimi Hendrix's masterpiece 'Machine Gun' is omitted but one really could chase one's tail making an exhaustive list of every composition that directly inspired Led Zeppelin's songwriting. LP artwork was a hugely important theme in the 1970's and the writer details the machinations behind the packaging on each Zep album here. In the 21st century, I have no interest in any of this but scores of fans (particularly those who find 'This Is Spinal Tap' amusing) will enjoy the pedantic shenanigans. Steve is candid about some of the missteps in Led Zeppelin's catalogue, such as 'Hats Off To (Roy) Harper', 'D'yer Mak'er' and 'Hot Dog'. But he shows arbitrary charity to others, offering forgiveness to the innumerable 'La la la las' and 'Oh oh oh ohs' of 'Hots On For Nowhere' and even the mortifying calypso-pop tune 'Fool In The Rain'. Despite a small number of inaccuracies, I found 'On Track...Led Zeppelin' fascinating, detailed and well-humoured – it’s written with a tangible love of the music and gathers in one place, and in chronological order, a wealth of essential data and studio biography, as well as describing the historical background and evolution of all the songs in Led Zeppelin's discography. Perhaps most importantly, it reminded me, with no small impact, just what a discography it is.

An interesting book. Not bogged down with boring and tedious statistics. A good read!

Does an in-depth album by album review of all of LZs work. Only for dedicated fans really, also not a book to read cover to cover, more to dip into an album at a time. The author is very knowledgeable but that detail makes it an even harder read. Would I recommend it, yes providing your an real fan.

The On Track books can be a hit and miss but this was one of the best yet. Hits the middle mark perfectly between the music theory and equipment used and reviews of the songs themselves.A really enjoyable read.