Led Zeppelin to Reissue First Three Albums This Year

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Led Zeppelin will start releasing their catalog reissues this year, Rolling Stone reports.

The project will kick off with the band's first three albums, Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II and Led Zeppelin III. A news item that briefly appeared on Jimmy Page's website last week announced the reissues — and mentioned "some of [Page's] own material from the archives" that also is expected to arrive in 2014.Page first announced the reissues in November 2012, during an interview with Mojo, implying the series would begin in 2013. "There are a number of Led Zeppelin projects that will come out next year," Page said. "There are different versions of tracks that we have that can be added to the album, so there will be box sets of material that will come out starting next year. There will be one box set per album with extra music that will surface."Page added that each album would be released in its own box set and that each box set would contain alternate versions of the band's songs. It also was revealed that Page is working on the remasters."The catalog was last remastered 20 years ago," he told Rolling Stone. "That's a long time. Everything is being transferred from analog to a higher-resolution digital format. That's one of the problems with the Zeppelin stuff. It sounds ridiculous on MP3. You can't hear what's there properly."Last October, Robert Plant announced he had stumbled upon a few long-lost Zeppelin recordings that might be included on an upcoming box set by the legendary British band.

"I found some quarter-inch spools recently, and I had a meeting with Jimmy [Page], and we baked them up and listened to them, and there's some very, very interesting bits and pieces that probably will turn up on these things," Plant told BBC 6.

"I'm desperately trying to get this one track or the two tracks of John Paul Jones singing lead. And so far he's up to giving me two cars and a greenhouse not to get them on the album. Oh, John, wherever you are ... you can't wait to hear yourself singing all over the world! La la la la la la la ... ."

Stay tuned for more information about the upcoming reissues.

Damian Fanelli
Damian Fanelli
Editor-in-Chief, Guitar World

Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.