Search - Inside Led Zeppelin 1968-1980: The Definitive Critical Review on DVD

Pretty Terrible, Really

CP | 09/18/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Unfortunately, this DVD/ book set really let me down. First of all the book is nothing more than a few pages sandwiched in between the two DVDs. There is nothing new to be offered for Led Zeppelin fans that can't be found in other books. The "book" has a few short reviews of each song in their career. The DVDs are even worse. There are no special features and it is unnecessarily spread across 2 DVDs. The first disc clocks in at just under an hour. On this first disc the critics were supposed to review the first part of Zeppelin's career (68-72). They do not come anywhere close to reviewing anything in full. It says on the back of the set a "track-by-track" review....ummmm no. They review a few songs from each album, give it a star rating and move on. They review the "key tracks" in their opinion and that's it. The critics take a narrow minded view in my opinion of the band, only relating them to Heavy Metal and nothing more. I expected a full review of each song considering this was a TWO DVD set. On the cover it says that there is "rare footage previously unavailable on DVD". This is true but this "footage" is not complete and interrupted constantly. I'm sure many hardcore fans have already seen this footage through DVD bootlegs or mpeg downloads. The rest of the footage is just stuff they used from the Song Remains the Same DVD and the Led Zeppelin DVD (this is what a two disc set is supposed to be by the way). Don't get me wrong, I didn't think it would be as good as Led Zeppelin DVD, but I didn't think it would be so this bad and so short! I suggest spending the money on a Led Zeppelin book or the official DVD if you don't have it. Nothing new is gained by viewing this DVD. This set doesn't work for the hardcore fan or somebody wanting to know more about the history of the band. Everything that is presented is pretty much already known by the LZ fan. For people wanting to know about the bands history will be disappointed too. This is not really covered at all in this set. An online biography is better than this. The only reason this gets a star is because it says Led Zeppelin on the cover and the music. All in all pretty terrible,....really."