Led Zeppelin made albums.  Like others of their generation, Led Zeppelin didn’t make music to be radio stars.  They didn’t make music to be featured in commercials, movies, or TV shows.  They didn’t make music for any other reason but to make great music.  Their albums were islands.  Moments in time.  A place to journey to.  A sonic landscape to escape to.  Back then, it was about quality not quantity.  There are very few songs that slipped out from in between the cracks.  In fact, prior to the Led Zeppelin box set of 1990, the band only officially released one extra song as a B-side (Hey, Hey What Can I Do).

This week sees the final release of the Led Zeppelin remasters series.  Though most of the bonus tracks were alternate versions and demos, some better than others (actually, few better than others), there was a handful more unreleased tracks in the overall series.

Led Zeppelin bonus tracks are a rarity.  They may exist in small doses but only to draw attention to their larger contributions.  They exist like bonus scenes at the end of a Marvel movie.  The end credit scenes.  Over the course of the remasters and box sets, enough bonus material has come out to form one additional album…an “end credits” album.

With the releases of Led Zeppelin coming to a close, here is the final culmination of their remaining music, compiled in one album, aptly called “End Credits.”

Part two of the Zeppelin Remasters has arrived.  Though the first set of releases (featuring I, II, II) were met with modest reviews, the unearthing of any new Zeppelin material is a monumental moment.  A lot of people haven’t been thrilled with the clinical polishing of the Zeppelin classics.  It’s too clean.  It’s too loud.  A typical critique that all remasters suffer from.  I am not a fan of remasters.  Part of it is my personal attachment to the original arrangements.  The other part is that there are subtle emotional moments that can only be found in the dead air…or as musicians call “the space between.”  I’ve learned to accept remasters as “alternate” versions and not ones that are replacing the originals.  When listening with that attitude, I have less distaste for the re-workings.  The real gem when remasters come out is not the new production of the old songs but the bonus material that comes alongside it.  The early bonus tracks for the Zeppelin remasters have been sparse…in part for the lack of quality material sitting around in their vaults from that early period…but there have been a few gems.  Rumor is, as we get later in the remasters, the truly amazing rare gems will surface (per Page).

The following list was not chosen as the best finished songs but the songs that add the most interesting peak behind the scenes.

Here are the 11 Best Bonus Tracks from the Led Zeppelin Remasters (so far):

1. Key To The Highway/Trouble In My Mind (Rough Mix)
2. You Shook Me (Live in Paris, 1969)
3. Immigrant Song (Alternate Mix)
4. La La/Intro (Intro/Outro Rough Mix)
5. Dazed And Confused (Live in Paris, 1969)
6. Moby Dick (Live In Paris, 1969)
7. Gallows Pole (Rough Mix)
8. What Is And What Should Never Be (Rough Mix With Vocal)
9. Heartbreaker (Live in Paris, 1969)
10. Heartbreaker (Rough Mix With Vocal)
11. How Many More Times (Live in Paris, 1969)

Buy the new Led Zeppelin Remasters IV and Houses of the Holy…now!!