Going to California: Led Zeppelin Goes Super Deluxe with “How the West Was Won”
Fifteen years ago, Led Zeppelin issued How the West Was Won, premiering performances from the band’s June 25 and 27, 1972 concerts at the Los Angeles Forum and Long Beach Arena. Now, those seminal tracks have been newly remastered under the supervision of Jimmy Page for a surprise addition to the band’s Super Deluxe library – as well as in a variety of formats, all of which are due from Atlantic/Swan Song on March 23 including the first-ever Blu-ray Audio and vinyl editions. The remastered How the West Was Won arrives in advance of the band’s official 50th anniversary celebration, which will kick off this September.
How the West Was Won (a No. 1 album in the U.S. and a No. 5 in the U.K.) sequenced material from the Los Angeles and Long Beach concerts to replicate a single concert from start to finish as the band introduced songs from its then-unreleased fifth album, Houses of the Holy (which would be released nine months later), and looked back on its already-storied catalogue. Among its 18 tracks are a 25-minute version of “Dazed and Confused,” a 21-minute blues medley built around “Whole Lotta Love,” and fiery takes on “Rock and Roll,” “Moby Dick,” “Immigrant Song,” “Black Dog,” and of course, “Stairway to Heaven.”
The remastered How the West Was Won will be available in the following versions:
- CD – Remastered audio on three CDs;
- Vinyl – Remastered audio on four 180-gram vinyl LPs;
- Blu-Ray Audio – 96kHz/24 bit 5.1 (DTS-HD Master Audio Surround) and stereo mixes (PCM Stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo);
- Streaming & Digital Download – Remastered audio; and
- Super Deluxe Boxed Set:
o Remastered audio on three CDs and four 180-gram vinyl LPs.
o DVD of album in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and PCM Stereo, plus photo gallery.
o High-def download card of all stereo audio content at 96kHz/24 bit.
o A book filled with rare and previously unpublished photos of the band at each of the concert locations, plus memorabilia and ephemera.
o High-quality print of the original album cover, the first 30,000 of which will be individually numbered.
Look for all formats from Atlantic/Swan Song on March 23, and watch this space for information on further Led Zeppelin releases as the band’s 50th anniversary approaches!
Led Zeppelin, How the West Was Won (Atlantic/Swan Song 83587-2, 2003 – reissued 2018)
3 CDs: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4 Vinyl LPs: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Blu-ray Audio: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Super Deluxe Edition (3 CD/4 LP/1 DVD): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
- LA Drone
- Immigrant Song
- Heartbreaker
- Black Dog
- Over the Hills and Far Away
- Since I’ve Been Loving You
- Stairway to Heaven
- Going to California
- That’s the Way
- Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp
- Dazed and Confused/Walter’s Walk/The Crunge
- What Is and What Should Never Be
- Dancing Days
- Moby Dick
- Whole Lotta Love/Boogie Chillun/Let’s Have a Party/Hello Mary Lou/Going Down Slow
- Rock and Roll
- The Ocean
- Bring It on Home/Bring It on Back
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4 thoughts on “Going to California: Led Zeppelin Goes Super Deluxe with “How the West Was Won””
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It’s a great listen to be sure. Sounded wonderful as is. Without anything extra I can’t fathom purchasing it again.
I may consider getting the Blu-ray, but with no extra content I am content with my CD version from 2003. No need to re-buy it. I remember when this came out in June of 2003. It came out the same day as the Led Zep DVD compilation (with Royal Albert, Earls Court footage, etc,). Both the CD and DVD went to number 1 on its respective charts! Amazing for a band that, at the time, had been broken up for 23 years.
It’s badly in need of remastering.
The current version is horribly loud and compressed.
Have to agree it sounded great when it first arrived way back in 2003 not sure if i will buy a second copy it would be good i guess to hear it in surround sound?