Move over, Duke, there’s a new sheriff in town

It’s usually money, rather than love of the music, that drives bands to throw together… It’s usually money, rather than love of the music, that drives bands to throw together compilation albums. Not so with Led Zeppelin. The influential rock band’s latest collection, How the West Was Won, hasn’t plucked songs from their nine previous albums – compilations and box sets excluded – but instead gives fans music they haven’t heard before. Unless you were at the LA Forum on June 25, 1972, or the Long Beach Arena two days later, this is the first time you can hear the versions on this album.

When phenomenal Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page was sifting through the band’s archives in search of material for “Led Zeppelin DVD,” he came across these recordings that are, according to Page, “Led Zeppelin at its best.”

The recorded concerts are spaced over three CDs. Disc one contains 10 tracks, including “Stairway to Heaven,” which is similar to the live version on The Song Remains the Same, where after the line, “And the forests will echo with laughter” Page asks, “Does anybody remember laughter?” On How the West Was Won, though, he merely questions, “Remember laughter?”

“Heartbreaker” is a little faster than its studio counterpart and isn’t followed by “Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman),” the way local radio stations like to play the two songs. The acoustic guitar isn’t played at all on “Over the Hills and Far Away,” and the riffs themselves are a little bit muffled – but that is the beauty of live music.

On disc two, there are only four songs. This is because “Dazed and Confused” clocks in at 25 minutes and 25 seconds. While guitar and drum solos by the legendary John Bonham help to stretch the tune out, they break into the melodies of “The Crunge,” where Page simply sings, “Do the crunge.” The fourth track is a version of “Moby Dick” that lasts more than 19 minutes.

The last disc in the set opens with a 23-minute “Whole Lotta Love.” This track has help sustaining its long musical stretch – John Lee Hooker’s “Boogie Chillun” is in the melody, and lines from “Let’s Have a Party,” “Hello Marylou” and “Going Down Slow” are all thrown into the lyrical mix.

How the West Was Won is reasonably priced, not that money is ever an object for Zeppelin fans. Although most of us were years away from kicking in the womb when these concerts were recorded, we can still appreciate them for what they are – truly great live tunes. If bands today could even partially duplicate Led Zeppelin’s talent, the music industry wouldn’t be in such dire straits.