Latter Days: Best of Led Zeppelin, Vol.2 Reviews

The glory days of Led Zeppelin are chronicled comprehensively in Atlantic Record's 1999 Early Days best-of set, which leaves this '73-to-'79 package shorter on obvious crowd-pleasers. Still, this secondary set shows just how powerful Zeppelin were at their zenith. Taken from the band's final four albums, the songs here--"No Quarter," "Houses of the Holy," and "Song Remains the Same" among them--brought audiences to their feet in stadiums across the world while the Zeppelin juggernaut trampled their competition underfoot. Zeppelin defined hard rock, but were also capable of a delicacy that's easy to overlook; indeed, that dimension is missing from the picture of Zep offered here. Otherwise, these two companion volumes offer a rewarding introduction to Led Zeppelin. --Patrick Humphries