Led
Zeppelin CD Bootleg Discography
This chapter is dedicated to give a detailed description of the most
significant CD labels involved in publicing Led Zeppelin's bootlegs.
It contains not only professional labeled silvers, but also some amatour
CD-R labels which used to produce (or still do) CD-Rs. A few compilations
are included too which (in my opinion) are worth mentioning due to
their professional form and character.
I especially focused on those CD labels, that publish Led Zeppelin's
music only: Antrabata Reference Master (ARM), Immigrant (IM), Image
Quality (IQ), Last Stand Disc (LSD), The Diagrams Of Led Zeppelin
(TDOLZ), Watch Tower (WT), Wendy Records and a couple more. Many of
titles published by those CD labels are priceless for Zeppelin's fans,
because they contain material that hasn't been published before and
was rarely (or never) reissued on other albums. The most significant
of them is TDOLZ which has published many worth-getting titles.
A separate category is dedicated to those CD labels, which, due to
a very limited edition and horrendal prices, are wanted by many collectioners;
CD labels like Akashic, Empress Valley Supreme Disc, Tarantura or
Tarantura2000 may be mentioned here. The interest that they arouse
is caused not only by the unique music material they contain, but
also by the most beautiful cover designs. Especially Empress Valley
may be praised for having published many tapes that are really hard
to find or are rarely reissued.
The last category is dedicated to previously mentioned CD-R labels,
which are very often home-made, with amateur graphic designs (with
the exception of Beelzebub Records, that issues its records in gatefold
card sleeves, similar to professional issues). They often contain
the same material as on professionally labeled CDs but due to their
lower price and modern equalization are highly appreciated by many
of collectors.
The task of acquiring most of these pieces is a dauting and very expensive
proposition, even for the well-connected collector. Without advocating
the sale of this kind of product, I listed below those CD labels that
I feel are worth searching out plus some that are worth mentioning
due to their historical importance. The list is alphabetical and containing
very detailed informations about every title.
In the case of sound quality I've given similar rating system as on
vinyl albums though I haven't mentioned detailed recording characteristics.
Most of CDs have sound equalized a lot due to the professional mastering
job so You must remember that original tapes have far worse sound
than their CD reissues. Only few earliest CD labels released their
titles in a similar quality as original tapes.
