BBC Sessions (Led Zeppelin album)

BBC Sessions
Live album by Led Zeppelin
Released	11 November 1997 (1997-11-11)
Recorded	March and June 1969, 1 April 1971, London, England, United Kingdom
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal, blues rock, folk rock
Length	138:58
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Jimmy Page
Compiler	Jimmy Page
Led Zeppelin chronology
The Complete Studio Recordings (1993)The Complete Studio Recordings1993 BBC Sessions (1997) The Best of Led Zeppelin (1999–2000)The Best of Led Zeppelin
Singles from BBC Sessions
"The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair" Released: 11 November 1997

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Blender
Robert Christgau
Pitchfork Media	8.9/10

BBC Sessions is a compilation album featuring studio sessions and a live concert recorded by English rock group Led Zeppelin for the BBC. It was released on 11 November 1997, by Atlantic Records. This was the first release of new Led Zeppelin material in seven years. Disc one consists of material from four different 1969 BBC sessions. Disc two contains most of the 1 April 1971 concert from the Paris Theatre in London. Disc three was only included in a limited run of album releases and features rare interviews from 1969, 1976/1977, and 1990.

Countless bootlegs of these recordings circulated for years before the official release. This release was widely welcomed by Led Zeppelin fans as it was the first live release since The Song Remains the Same in 1976. Others have criticized the decision to edit some of the songs and drop others that were recorded for the BBC. Most notable are one session from 1969 which included the unreleased song "Sunshine Woman", and about seven minutes of the "Whole Lotta Love" medley from 1971.

Background

Led Zeppelin and their manager Peter Grant decided early on that no singles be released by the band in Britain, thus ensuring little to no radio exposure for the band. As Mick Wall recounts in his book When Giants Walked the Earth: "Grant felt he had the solution to the lack of airplay when he arranged the first of four or five live sessions the band would record for the station that year, beginning with a behind-closed-doors performance at London's Playhouse Theatre." Wall also notes that radio was also a medium Grant felt he had some measure of control over, especially at the BBC, where production chief Bernie Andrews was someone he'd known for years and felt he could trust. In 1998, bassist John Paul Jones explained to Guitar World, "It was really the only way to be heard on British radio back then. Believe it or not, there were only four hours a day devoted to playing records on the BBC at that time - it was called 'needle time.' The emphasis was on live performance, mostly because the British Musicians Union was so strong."

Recordings

Upon arrival, BBC Sessions featured two new songs for many Led Zeppelin fans: a cover of Eddie Cochrane's rockabilly tune "Something Else" and "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair", which was composed by bluesman Sleepy John Estes. On the latter song, guitarist Jimmy Page utilizes a riff similar to the one found on drummer John Bonham's solo piece "Moby Dick." "Travelling Riverside Blues," a Robert Johnson blues pastiche, had also not appeared on any of Led Zeppelin's studio albums but had been released as part of the Led Zeppelin Boxed Set in 1990.

Most of the material on disc one is blues-based and features cuts from Led Zeppelin and Led Zeppelin II while disc two contains two tracks from the group's fourth album (including "Going to California" and "Stairway to Heaven"), which would be released seven months later. In a 1998 interview with Guitar World, Page stated that he included multiple versions of certain songs to demonstrate how fast the band was evolving at the time, taking pride in how radically different the songs sounded from their studio counterparts:

Led Zeppelin was a band that would change things around substantially each time it played. The two performances of "You Shook Me" are particularly good examples of what I'm talking about...I mean, compare our sessions to, say, the BBC recordings of the Beatles. I bet you a cent to a dollar, if they do two or three versions of "Love Me Do" or whatever, they'll all be identical. That's the difference between us and our contemporaries: Led Zeppelin were really moving the music all the time.

Jones later concurred, stating, "We were very young and cocky at the time, very sure of ourselves. I don't think too many bands were doing the sort of improvising we were doing and the BBC, particularly the In Concert live recordings, allowed us the scope to do that on the radio." In the liner notes to the album, Luis Rey singles out the 24 June 1969 rendition of "Whole Lotta Love" from John Peel's Top Gear program as "a radically different, perhaps even superior version compared to the second album release: Page gets straight into pure muscular riffing while the pristine voice of [vocalist Robert] Plant creeps over it, waiting for the rest of the group to set the stage on fire." A prototype version of "What Is and What Should Never Be", which would be recorded for Led Zeppelin II, was recorded during the group's Tasty Pop Sundae appearance on 16 June 1969 but it was not broadcast nor included on the 1997 retrospective, implying that the band was unhappy with the performance. In addition, the recording of "Travelling Riverside Blues" (which includes Robert Plant's legendary "Squeeze my lemon..." reference) would be incorporated into "The Lemon Song" on the group's sophomore LP.

Production

Although billed as live performances, the tracks on disc one do contain overdubs. "I think the BBC just wanted the best show possible", Page explained to Guitar World in 1998. "They realized that bands were often trying to recreate something they had created on eight-track recording, so doing an overdub here or there was fair game. At least one overdub, anyway, which is all we ever did." In the same issue Jones stated, "The performances are surprisingly good, considering that we were playing in the BBC studios, a pretty sterile environment. There were only about 100 people watching us, so it was hard to generate the same kind of excitement you would have at a real gig." On the second version of "You Shook Me" recorded at the Playhouse Theater, the guitar comes in very loud and quickly drops out, likely the result of a startled engineer whipping down the fader in an attempt to create sonic balance. Page employed Pro Tools to edit many of the songs, including the 96 minute Paris Theater performance, which had to be truncated for the eighty minute compact disc format. Mindful of the fact that the sessions had been heavily bootlegged, Page remained facetious and philosophical about the criticism of his edits, explaining to Guitar World's Brad Tolinski:

Regarding the BBC sessions, it doesn't bother me if they've been bootlegged extensively because, whatever version people own, it won't be from the original source like our version. Secondly, not everybody out there buys bootlegs, and the sort of fans that buy bootlegs will want this one for the packaging - and to see how I've edited the performances. I can't really lose. There's no way I'll lose! [laughs]

"Lost Session"

After their first BBC appearance in March 1969, producer Jeff Garin invited the band back for a performance at Maida Vale Studio 4 on Delaware Road on March 14, 1969. According to Simon Pallet's profile "Radio Daze" that appeared in the January 1998 edition of Guitar World, the second session was broadcast on Alexis Korner's BBC World Service show Rhythm and Blues on April 14. World Service programs were not targeted for a UK audience and were transmitted on frequencies which could not easily be received on most household radios. Consequently, this show, in stark contrast to the debut, was virtually unheard. According to Pallet:

This is the famous - at least to Zeppelin collectors - "Lost Session." Somewhere along the line, the BBC apparently lost or wiped the master tapes, leaving only one surviving track, "Sunshine Woman," which has survived in bootleg form...Official records show that "I Can't Quit You" and "You Shook Me" were also broadcast, but no tapes have surfaced.

Many have expressed amazement that any of the Zeppelin performances were salvaged, considering it was common practice for the BBC to wipe and reuse their tapes, with Pallet lamenting, "This wiping policy also applied to BBC Television, dooming Led Zeppelin's only live appearance on English TV, on March 21, 1969, to the BBC graveyard. Given all this, the miracle is that any Zeppelin survived."

Reception

BBC Sessions was a commercial success, reaching #12 in the U.S. and hitting the Top 10 in Japan. While pointing out the decision to feature some tracks multiple times as one "major flaw", Classic Rock Review calls the album "a must for everybody with even a passing interest in Led Zep." AllMusic states, "The 1969 sessions, recorded shortly after the release of the first album, are fiery and dynamic, outstripping the studio record for sheer power." Guitar World declared that BBC Sessions "captures one of rock's very best bands at a pivotal moment in their career." Neil Spencer of Uncut awards the album 4 out of 5 stars, observing, "The band's evolution over the two years is remarkable."

Track listing

Disc one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"You Shook Me" (Willie Dixon and J. B. Lenoir)	5:14
2.	"I Can't Quit You Baby" (Dixon)	4:22
3.	"Communication Breakdown" (John Bonham, John Paul Jones, and Jimmy Page)	3:12
4.	"Dazed and Confused" (Page)	6:39
5.	"The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair" (Bonham, Sleepy John Estes, Jones, Page, and Robert Plant)	3:00
6.	"What Is and What Should Never Be" (Page and Plant)	4:20
7.	"Communication Breakdown" (Bonham, Jones, and Page)	2:40
8.	"Travelling Riverside Blues" (Robert Johnson, Page, and Plant)	5:12
9.	"Whole Lotta Love" (Bonham, Dixon, Jones, Page, and Plant)	6:09
10.	"Somethin' Else" (Bobby Cochran and Sharon Sheeley)	2:06
11.	"Communication Breakdown" (Bonham, Jones, and Page)	3:05
12.	"I Can't Quit You Baby" (Dixon)	6:21
13.	"You Shook Me" (Dixon and Lenoir)	10:19
14.	"How Many More Times" (Bonham, Jones, and Page)	11:51

Disc two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Immigrant Song" (Page and Plant)	3:20
2.	"Heartbreaker" (Bonham, Jones, Page, and Plant)	5:16
3.	"Since I've Been Loving You" (Jones, Page, and Plant)	6:56
4.	"Black Dog" (Jones, Page, and Plant)	5:17
5.	"Dazed and Confused" (Page)	18:36
6.	"Stairway to Heaven" (Page and Plant)	8:49
7.	"Going to California" (Page and Plant)	3:54
8.	"That's the Way" (Page and Plant)	5:43
9.	"Whole Lotta Love"/"Boogie Chillun'"/"Fixin' to Die"/"That's Alright Mama"/"A Mess of Blues" (Bonham, Jones, Page, and Plant/John Lee Hooker/Bukka White/Arthur Crudup/Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman)	13:45
10.	"Thank You" (Page and Plant)	6:37

Recording information

Session one

John Peel's Top Gear

• Venue: Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, London
• Recording date: Monday 3 March 1969
• Original broadcast: Sunday 23 March 1969 (in a show with sessions from Free, the Moody Blues and Deep Purple)
• Tracks: Disc 1; 1, 2 and 4. Also included a version of "Communication Breakdown".
• Producer: Bernie Andrews
• Engineer: Pete Ritzema
• Tape operator: Bob Conduct

Session two

Alexis Korner's Rhythm and Blues, (BBC World Service)

• Venue: Maida Vale Studio 4, Delaware Road, London
• Recording date: Wednesday 19 March 1969
• Original broadcast: Monday 14 April 1969
• Tracks: "I Can't Quit You Baby", "You Shook Me" and "Sunshine Woman". The session was wiped or lost by the BBC, although recordings survive on bootlegs. The show was re-run later in 1969, adding the recording of "What Is And What Should Never Be" from the June 16 session.
• Producer: Jeff Griffin

Session three

Chris Grant's Tasty Pop Sundae (although originally commissioned for Dave Symond's Symonds On Sunday show)

• Venue: Aeolian Hall studio 2, Bond Street, London
• Recording Date: Monday 16 June 1969
• Original Broadcast: Sunday 22 June 1969
• Tracks: Disc 1; 3,5 and 10. The session also included a prototype version of "What Is and What Should Never Be".
• Producer: Paul Williams

Session four

John Peel's Top Gear (Double recording session)

• Venue: Maida Vale studio 4, Delaware Road, London
• Recording date: Tuesday 24 June 1969
• Original broadcast: Sunday 29 June 1969
• Tracks: Disc 1; 6-9. (track 8; Travelling Riverside Blues, is the same version that appears on the reissued/remaster of Coda as a bonus track)
• Producer: John Walters
• Engineer: Tony Wilson

Session five

One Night Stand

• Venue: Playhouse Theatre
• Recording date: Friday 27 June 1969
• Original broadcast: Sunday 10 August 1969
• Tracks: Disc 1; 11-14. Also included a version of "Dazed and Confused", plus "White Summer"/"Black Mountain Side" (which was released on the 1990 Led Zeppelin boxed set.)

Session six

In Concert (Emcee John Peel)

• Venue: Paris Theatre, Lower Regent Street, London
• Recording date: Thursday 1 April 1971
• Original broadcast: Sunday 4 April 1971
• Tracks: Disc 2; all tracks. Also included a version of "Communication Breakdown" and "What Is and What Should Never Be". The "Whole Lotta Love" medley has had "For What It's Worth", "Trucking Little Mama" and "Honey Bee" edited out, shortening the medley by about 7 minutes.
• Producer: Jeff Griffin
• Engineer: Tony Wilson

Sales chart performance

Year	Chart	Peak position
1997	Japanese Albums Chart	10
1997	French Albums Chart	38
1997	New Zealand RIANZ Top 50 Albums Chart	26
1997	Finnish Albums Chart	28
1997	Swedish Albums Chart	50
1997	UK Albums Chart	23
1997	Norwegian Albums Chart	36
1997	US Billboard The 200 Albums Chart	12
1997	Canadian RPM Top 100 Chart	30

Certifications

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
United Kingdom (BPI)	Silver	60,000
United States (RIAA)	2× Platinum	2,000,000
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog #
United States	11 November 1997	Atlantic Records	4 LP	83061-1
			2 Compact Disc	83061-2
			2 Cassette	83061-4
			3 Compact Disc	83074-2
United Kingdom			2 Compact disc	7567-83061-2
Japan		WEA Japan	2 Compact disc	11756-7

Personnel

Led Zeppelin

• John Bonham – drums, percussion, backing vocals
• John Paul Jones – bass guitar, bass pedals, keyboards, mandolin, backing vocals
• Jimmy Page – acoustic and electric guitar, backing vocals, mastering, production
• Robert Plant – vocals, harmonica

Additional personnel

• Andie Airfix – art direction, design
• Jon Astley – mastering
• Luis Rey – liner notes
• Chris Walter – photography

External links

• Ledzeppelin.com BBC Sessions
• The Garden Tapes - analysis of live tracks edits for the album