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List Price: $26.98 | | Label: Atlantic / Wea
Salesrank: 2591
Released: May 27, 2003 |
| Our Price: $16.49 |
| Used Price: $7.99 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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How the West Was Won Track Listing:
Disc 1:
1. LA Drone
2. Immigrant Song
3. Heartbreaker
4. Black Dog
5. Over The Hills And Far Away
6. Since I've Been Loving You
7. Stairway To Heaven
8. Going To California
9. That's The Way
10. Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp
Disc 2:
1. Dazed And Confused
2. What Is And What Should Never Be
3. Dancing Days
4. Moby Dick
Editorial Review:
Here is the motherlode of Led Zeppelin live recordings, the first official release of legendary performances recorded at the Los Angeles Forum and Long Beach Arena in June, 1972. Highlights include a more than 25-min. version of "Dazed and Confused," a 23-min. medley kicked off by "Whole Lotta Love," and such classics as "Stairway to Heaven" and "Rock and Roll."
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: LED ZEPPELIN
Title: HOW THE WEST WAS WON
Street Release Date: 05/27/2003
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP
Description of How the West Was Won:
For a band with such an overarching legacy, the official record of Led Zeppelin's legendary--and unpredictable--live act has heretofore been poorly represented by the disappointing, scattershot soundtrack to The Song Remains the Same. But this triple-disc live set (culled from 1972 Long Beach/LA shows in advance of Houses of the Holy) addresses history with a vengeance, if a few decades late. These shows have rightfully assumed cult status in the bootleg market, showcasing a band at the peak of its creative and performing powers. Zep faithful will welcome the belated release as evidence for enduring loyalty, but younger fans may find its diversity and dynamics even more enlightening--indeed, whole careers have since been built on the musical ideas Jimmy Page and company toss off here as decorative filler. Crucially rooted in the amped-and-hammered American blues of the guitarist's former band, the Yardbirds, the marathon workouts of "Dazed and Confused" and "Whole Lotta Love" (which consume nearly an hour all by themselves) somehow encompass Ricky Nelson, Morocco, James Brown, Holst, Elvis Presley, and Muddy Waters amidst their trademark sturm und drang, while the acoustic set that closes out disc one showcases the band's--and particularly Robert Plant's--good-natured, crypto-Celtic folk appeal with energetic aplomb. Bigger and brasher than just about any rock act that followed in its historic wake, yet ever fan-loyal to its myriad influences, Led Zeppelin's live juggernaut finally gets the monument it deserves. --Jerry McCulley
How the West Was Won Reviews:
Early Led Zep at their rawest, live and rocking best! 
2009-12-12 - The first time I listened to Rock and Roll, (on disc 2,) I had my headphones on - (more like bloody great ear muffs, actually!) It nearly blew me away! I must have listened to that track about six times straight, before I moved on to Moby Dick. Then I had to listen to Moby Dick at least twice, just to hear that cataclysmic sound of John Bonham on the drums one more time!
This album makes the Song Remains the Same seem somewhat monolithic and plodding. (And I really like The Song Remains the Same... Well, I always did, until I heard this!!)
Aside from Led Zep at their rawest, rocking best, there are also some really wonderful acoustic guitar passages that just fill-out the performance nicely and provide some lovely breathing space between all the hard rocking electric guitar riffs and John Bonham's drums. Instead of a pounding dentist's drill, the audience is really ready for the rock when it hits.
Complete with bum notes, slightly off-tune guitars, feedback and overheated valve distortion - (not to mention a couple of occasions when Robert Plant's voice completely cracks!) - this is just wonderfully raw and exciting. Led Zep at their live-performing best! I could listen to this album all day and every day, if I had the chance - and if my neighbors would put up with it!
DVD-Audio Review: Not A Reference Disc, But Better Sound Than The CD 
2009-10-27 - Content-wise, this double-disc DVD-Audio set is pretty much the same as the 3CD set, but it is mixed for 5.1 surround sound that can be played back in a DVD-Audio player or a DVD-Video player in Dolby Digital.
The album is a collection of songs performed live at venues in Southern California between the band's landmark "fourth" album and their creatively stellar 'Houses of the Holy' record, circa 1975. This DVD-Audio disc captures a time in history when live audiences came to hear performers play and would sit through and enjoy 25-minute versions of "Dazed and Confused" and 19-minute "Moby Dick" drum solos. Today, audiences more often than not have to be mesmerized by pyrotechnics, lasers and video screens rather than by virtuoso performances.
One of these performances of note is on one of the band's signature songs "Heartbreaker," featuring the guitar handiwork of Jimmy Page, which on How The West Was Won includes a long, stream-of-consciousness solo. The tune starts off meandering through a few verses until it gets to the solo. This is when the 5.1 mix takes a very tasty "Heartbreaker" solo to new levels, considering that the crowd interaction with the solo makes the listening experience richer. About 30 seconds into a hoedown portion of the solo, the crowd starts to clap along. When listening to the DVD-Audio mix, you want to follow along. You feel like there are other fans directly behind you, yet the performance is still in front of you. Ultimately, Page breaks the solo down into a little sloppy classical guitar work and you get a chance to hear some of the more subtle additions that the DVD-Audio format makes to the recording.
Another example of little details sounding better on DVD-Audio is on "Going To California," where you can hear the mandolin better than on the CD. It sounds more rich and textured on DVD-Audio and in surround sound.
The surround mix doesn't put too much besides crowd noise and acoustic ambience in the rear speakers, but there are times when it seems like the engineer is pushing to make more of the recording than is there in terms of an adventurous surround mix. A good example of this is on Robert Plant's vocal on "The Immigrant Song," which is mixed in such a way that seems a little too loud for the rear speakers for a few brief moments.
With surround sound now in the mix and backwards compatibility to all DVD players, all Led Zeppelin fans should have 'How The West Was Won' on DVD-Audio. The most important reason is the historical importance of the performance, paired with the excellence in musicianship captured in the master. But buyer beware -- this DVD-Audio makes listening to Led Zeppelin more fun live, but it is not a reference caliber DVD-Audio surround sound disc. We have yet to delve into the master tapes of the classic Zeppelin records and attempt to remix them for discrete surround. Some say that because of the four-track recording techniques used on the early albums, the project may be close to impossible. Others suggest that it can be done and point to the Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds' as an example of an older recording taking on wonderful audio quality in DVD-Audio and surround sound. Nevertheless, 'How The West Was Won' is better and more exciting on DVD-Audio than on CD. -- Jerry Del Colliano, 10/2003
Was at the LA Forum show that night
2009-08-13 - I was forunate enough to be at the LA Forum show on 25Jun1972. It's the best live show I have ever been too. I have attended over a 100 concerts in my life and this one sticks as the best live show ever. I'm so glad they came out with the CD music from this concert. Now I can listen to the music from that special night again and again.
LED ZEPPELIN LIVE on three CD's
2009-08-05 - This is a Led Zeppelin record worth checking out, Led Zeppelin performing live from the mid 70's, the sound quality could be better at times, but all in all, you get a whole lotta live zeppelin, to listen to, and they are quite good as usual, playing their best material from this time period.
Call the police on this garage band 
2009-05-13 - Zep needed Jimmy Page's well-honed expertise in the recording studio to put across the two or three (sometimes less) listenable songs per album. And yeah, those rocked. In fact, the only tolerable Zep CD would be a 14-song compilation from their studio albums, and that might be stretching it. I really believe this band was the basis for This Is Spinal Tap, only Tap had better material. ("Big Bottom" would be a songwriting advancement for these clods.) I was watching The Song Remains The Same the other night and it was almost torture. No, it was torture except for Rock N Roll and Peter Grant foaming at the mouth. Of course, all you had to do was look at the stoned-out 16-year-olds in the audience to know Zep wasn't exactly performing for a discerning audience. And the volume was always turned to 11, so what did it matter? The sloppiness continues on these California shows. The untreated Plant vocals are fingers on a blackboard. Screeeeeeeeech. And Jimmy's thunderous riffing gets OLD OLD OLD. If Robert Johnson knew how these limeys would butcher the blues, he never would have made that supposed pact with the devil. Zep's Greatest Hits--demand it. The rest is garage band junk with a whole lotta SUPERHYPE.
