Definitive Collection Mini LP Replica

Loudness war to the extreme
The albums in this box-set feature some of the worst "loudness war" mastering I've ever had the chance to analyze. I'm not going to get into much detail on what the "loudness war" is - look it up on Google and YouTube for a few thousand examples. In simple terms, a recording is said to have been victimized by the "loudness war" when it was mastered with the audio volume so high that it exceeds the limits of the CD format specifications. Among other nasty effects like unwanted distortion and loss of dynamic range, this usually causes "clipping", that is, parts of the audio simply don't "fit" into the CD's volume range and are cut off, or in other words, lost. It doesn't matter if you play a "loudness war" CD at low or high volume - it will always sound distorted, uncomfortable to listen to, and you simply won't be hearing everything that was in the original recording because much of the audio was lost or damaged in the production of the CD. Recording companies have been cannibalizing musical masterpieces like these albums for years now, and I wonder why no class action has been filed against them yet for what is, in a nutshell, a crime against the consumers.

Gota have the Mini LP Replica version
I ran across this Led Zeppelin Definitive Collection Mini LP Replica out here at Amazon and fell in love right away. At first I did want the SHM version of the CD's, but I waited a month to long and the Box Set shot up in price to around a grand when they were not producing those anymore. So I said fine, I will 'settle' for the standard CD's that we are all used to and they sound just fine I might say, they are the 1994 remasters. The replica album covers are perfect, the Led Zeppelin III CD has the turning disk and Physical Graffiti has the windows that you can move up and down, then of course In Through The Out Door has the brown paper cover so that you cannot see the particular type of jacket that is in it. Bye-the-way, for that album they included all five available jackets that were made. The CODA disk is from The Complete Studio Recordings as disk 10 here and includes an additional 4 songs, so you get everything available after the band disbanded. Even if you have some of these CD's go ahead and get this set, just for the LP replica stuff, you are taking the CD out of a cardboard album cover/case and not a plastic jewel case and all of the CD's come in a single sturdy box to store them in. You will want to get rid of the plastic covers that are included with them because they are a pain to constantly open up and the sticky edge could stick to the cardboard CD jacket covers and ruin them, I had a close call here. This set I show to everbody who wants to check out my CD collection, I explain this is why I do not buy mp3's digitally, just the real CD's and then rip them myself.

The 'ONE' To Own...
Let me start by saying that as a huge Zep fan, even I was at first thwarted by the appearance of this 'new' box set. I already owned the previous 'Page Produced' grey box, but the more I heard/read about it, I just couldn't stand it. I caved in, and I DON'T regret it. As a musician with extensive experience in the studio and live, my ears have been trained over time to distinguish all nuances in sound/changes to previous mixes, etc. This being said, I put this box set thru a/b tests versus the 'Page Box', vinyl editions, AND even iPOD load ups of both box sets. The verdict:THIS is the one to own. I no longer own the grey 'Page Produced' box. Even friends of mine upon hearing these recordings who own the 'Page Box' were blown away. Claims of hearing 'new details' were overwhelming. I guess the Japanese way of 'SHM-ing' discs is superior to older methods. The artwork is just an added bonus. And this set INCLUDES 'Song Remains....' AND all known bonus tracks at the end CODA. The price might be a bit much for some, but it is totally worth the price of admission. Even listening to it off my ipod, I get a sense of 'listening to the master tapes' that I haven't experienced with any other edition. In life, when you can afford it, you should buy the best. As Rolling Stone Magazine put it, they're "The Heaviest Of Bands" and ANY money you spend on this set is a sound investment. Better hurry, though. Only 2000 sets exist.

Awesome set.
Now I don't know about which set has this or that technology, but this set I got seems to be from Japan and it sounds awesome. We all listened to the vinyls that were lower fi than this fro decades, so can't really complain about the sound even if it was just a small improvement. Anyway, the box itself is nice and sturdy, which is cool because most boxes in box sets are flimsly. Each CD is recreated to look like the original vinyl release (which is nice since the only Lep I ever had were the cassette versions)and the music speaks for itself. The only small complaint I have is the lyrics aren't anywhere in the set. I can see they tried to release each CD EXACTLY as the way the vinyl versions were released, but they did that with the Black Sabbath set too, but they had the lyrics in a separate book included with the set.

Not enough difference to buy again!
5 stars if you don't have the '93 boxed set. 3 stars if you do--for reasons stated below. As for this remix versus the 1993 remix, these ears--and my hearing is excellent, far better than average--there's not enough of a difference to justify spend $180 if you already have the latter. (I bought the '93 set for $78 new, from Amazon.) The only reason to buy this is the cool album art reproductions, but of course they won't, can't replace the killer album covers from my long lost LPs. But they do look cool. If I didn't already have the '93 version, I'd probably buy this one for the reason stated. But unless money is no object, if you already have the 1993 boxed set, there's no reason to duplicate it. Pagey's got more than enough money; he's one of the richest musicians in the world. The '93 versions are crisp, clean, beautiful--with each layer of guitar greatness easily discernible, Plant's voice sounds like he's in my living room, Jones' bass is fat and sassy, and Bonzo rattles the windows. (Just as he did when I was in high school--and the parents weren't home!) And, frankly, I'm tired of the repreated "remixed" versions in the effort suck ever more dollars out of fans pockets--most of us over thirty have probably owned all these albums in two or even more formats. (And the '93 CDs were the second time I bought all the albums on CD!) Enough is too much!