I was listening to Meat Loaf's Bat out of hell the other night and singing along merrily when I decided to switch to Led Zeppelin. I had never opened the album, so I removed the wrapping, put it on the turntable and dropped the needle.

Wow!

The difference to what I had been listening to before was nothing short of astounding. The music was alive, spacious, every beat, chord, note was so clear and despite being a rock recording was not harsh or too bright in any way. And classic records have a certain reputation for being bright.

There was plenty of tape hiss too but this didn't irritate me at all. It was perhaps a further sign that the recording was representing the truth of what was on the original tape and hadn't been messed about in anyway.

So what about the music? Well Led Zeppelin are pretty famous so I guess you already know whether you like them or not. I would not consider myself such a fan, but this album starts off with one of their most famous and poppular songs, Whole lotta love. So despite being neither a huge rock or Zeppelin fan the music had me dancing around the room, playing guitar and grinning in my cheesiest manner. Not once but twice as I dropped the needle a second time.

one thing that surprised me. They are known as a heavy metal band, probably the first heavy metal band. but this record is really funky. Its briliant to dance to and shake your head to. And as mentioned above the sound is not harsh.

Definitely worth giving a go!

PS : This is the 180g version which has since been superseded by 200g versions at both 33rpm and 45rpm. These should theoretically be better but I'm perfectly happy with what I've got and won't be 'upgrading'.