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List Price: $40.00 | | Publisher: Voyageur Press
Salesrank: 12692
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| Our Price: $21.10 |
| Used Price: $16.88 |
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| Media: Hardcover |
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Editorial Review:
They were the heaviest band ever, creating the blueprint for an entire musical genre and becoming a touchstone for an entire generation and their children. Now, to celebrate their fortieth anniversary and December 2007 reunion, here's the first-ever complete illustrated history of Led Zeppelin.
This all-star tribute to one of the biggest rock 'n' roll bands of all time features many of today's top American and English rock journalists from Rolling Stone, Creem, Billboard and more, as well as reflections on the band's inspiration from some of rock's top performers, including Aerosmith, Heart, the Minutemen, the Hold Steady, and others. An appendix features the complete discography.
Glorious concert and behind-the-scenes photography from some of the top names in rock photography covers the band from their first 1968 show as Led Zeppelin through the 2007 reunion. Also included are more than 200 rare concert posters, backstage passes, tickets, LPs and singles, T-shirts, buttons, and more from the United States, UK, Canada, Germany, France, and Japan, all comprising a book as epic as the band it honors.
Created from the ashes of the Yardbirds by guitarist and session wizard Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin featured virtuoso bass player John Paul Jones, gonzo drummer John Bonham, and Robert Plant, a vocalist like no other before him. The band singlehandedly defined what rock 'n' roll could be, leaving in their wake a trail of tales as tall or as a real as we wanted them to be.
Whole Lotta Led Zeppelin: The Illustrated History of the Heaviest Band of All Time Reviews:
LED ZEPPELIN DIE-HARDS, READ THIS! 
2009-11-19 - If you want to read something that has been well researched and very well documented, check out this somewhat new book on Led Zeppelin by Jon Bream. Nowadays it seems that a new book on Zeppelin is released once a month? But there is an occasional book that gets released and is actually worth buying. If you are a huge fan of the Mighty Blimp like I am, go out and get this release. When I was in my teens and early twenties I bought anything and everything on Zeppelin that was printed. As you get older you see that a lot of the book releases have the same old photos and words that you already saw and read a hundred times. Thats where 'Whole Lotta Led Zeppelin, the Illustrated History of The Heaviest Band Of All Time' is different. It will give you that thrill of seeing something NEW of the band all over again. If you cannot afford the $40.00 asking price, ask Santa to bring it to you.
Yeah...It's pretty cool!! 
2009-11-17 - This coffee table books is visually stunning. It's a bunch of articles and vignettes, in chronological order, written by music critics and needless to say they are very well written--it's worth it for the Burrough's interview of Jimmy Page alone. I don't know how a band that wrote "Fool in the Rain" or "The Crunge" could be considered "heavy"...that word always makes me think of Black Sabbath and the Melvins--must be a 70's thing
Led Zeppelin Love!
2009-09-24 - Another great Led Zeppelin book if you want to drool over beautiful colour pictures! There really isn't any new or different information that a Zep-head doesn't already know in this book, so if you're looking for information, DON'T buy this book. This book is ALL ABOUT beautiful, saturated colour pictures of the boys...some I have seen before and alot I haven't seen before. The layouts are incredible, the pictures are impecable. It's large size so you can see alot of detail (and drool over every little detail). It's a pictorial Zep-heads dream book. I was extremely satisfied for my money. I wasn't looking for a book of information, I was expecting, like the cover said, an "Illustrated History" of Led Zeppelin...and that's what I got. Excellent book and you get what you pay for and more!!
The Zep Gift Book for Your Dad
2009-06-07 - The challenge of this book, as with all Zep books - is to find new material and a fresh way of capturing a legendary band for the fans.
Whole Lotta Led Zeppelin does this with the compendium / tribute approach. It's not a be-all and end-all of Zep books (an accompanying live bootleg DVD would have been awesome) but it does bring something new to the party.
(I have my personal favourites for this - the Q and Mojo magazine specials were truly excellent for fans reading.)
Journalists have written volumes about Zep, and in a sense, there is nothing new to say. However, this tome does collect and present some new material: color plates of Zep's concert posters, magazine covers and international releases; and some nifty write-ups with William Burroughs interviewing Jimmy Page; Ann and Nancy Wilson's gushing tributes which reflect the fan in all of us.
What would have been nice: more candid insights from the band members (you notice that Jimmy Page was the man giving the press the most interviews) - I was expecting more revelations and interviews from Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones, but they are actually in the background somewhere (meaning: read in between the lines for their presence) as the music and the force of the band takes centrestage. It's like Led Zeppelin was this big huge stage or movie production that the rest were just a small part of. Which in a way it was.
And there are historical inaccuracies in the discography - shocking for such a comprehensive tome - e.g. the recording dates for certain tracks on the Physical Graffiti listing are wrong. "Boogie With Stu" was not recorded in 1974! for example.
Still, this makes a great gift for any rock fan which is why I got a copy (as a gift) and I would recommend it. For true fans, search out other books to complete your Zep collection. I sense there is a space for yet another book in the future but it's going to have to be different - or maybe everything has been said.
Great Rock coffee table Book
2009-05-22 - Great pictures, very interesting inside info. from former road manager.
Not many details of the dark side, because that's on the "Hammer of the Gods" book. Even if you're not a total zep fan, you'll enjoy to find out how really humble the group was(and still are.-J.Bohnam)
