A Masterpiece!

A different way of telling a story

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

From Led Zeppelin's 1973 concert tour to promote their album Houses of the Holy, footage from their Madison Square Garden concerts. Interspersed with this is footage of the band on tour, their private lives and dramatised images of what the songs mean to them. Songs include: Rock 'n Roll, Black Dog, Since I've Been Loving You, No Quarter, The Song Remains the Same, The Rain Song, Dazed and Confused, Stairway to Heaven, Moby Dick, Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love.The greatest band in the history of music, and certainly the greatest ever live band, captured at their peak and in their element. The live footage shows a superbly talented band in full flight, playing with incredible power and cohesion, and highly confident in their abilities and popularity. There's a mystique to the performance - it transcends mere music.However, reducing the impact of live music is some of the non- musical stuff. The behind the scenes of a touring band and home lives stuff is fine, and gives a good indication of what it must be like to be the world's greatest band. No, it's the dramatisations and symbolic imagery that take the edge off what was otherwise a fantastic movie. They just seem so cheesy and unnecessary.

The Song Remains The Same gives everyone a front-row seat, center, to see Led Zeppelin live. OK. This may not matter much now, but, back in 1976 it was a very big deal. Very.Back in the 1970s when Led Zeppelin reigned supreme as the ruling gods of heavy-metal rock'n'roll any fan would've gladly given their eye-teeth to attend one of their concerts.This film documents the band's 1973, sold-out concert at Madison Square Gardens, NYC. Besides there being plenty of hard-drivin' on-stage footage, this film also contains several backstage clips of the band members, plus 4 fantasy sequences (featuring the band members individually) that are basically foolish nonsense. But all is easily forgiven if you happen to be a Led Zeppelin fan.As an added bonus, the viewer also gets a rare chance to see each of the band members, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham, at home, back in England, with their respective families.On stage Led Zeppelin (who are in top form) put on a satisfactory show for a roaring, enthusiastic audience. In this film's 2.5-hour running time they manage to deliver all of their greatest tunes, including a 23-minute-long rendition of "Dazed and Confused".For anyone who enjoys Led Zeppelin, this is a highly-recommended film.And, no, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but, Led Zeppelin do not play "Stairway To Heaven" backwards.

Without meaning to offend the more sensible amongst you, what is it about the American psyche which makes shrines out of this rubbish? It's impossible to get nostalgic about this just because it happened a long time ago: hype will always be hype.The town goes wild as the bloated ego of the dirigible floats into town. As the group goes through the predictable motions yet again, we're treated to another robotic roller coaster ride to the tune of "look how well we can play our instruments"; yes, it's virtuoso time once more, like a tale told by an idiot, a screeching, cacophonous din full of sound and fury, going nowhere and signifying nothing – except any old mystical interpretation you choose to slap on it, of course. This is overlong, fortified, dreary muck forked out of the old Yardbirds' stable, accompanied by the same old borrowed mindset reflected in feeble, misogynist lyrics about women being unobtainable goddesses or vassals of Satan, low harlots to be bedded before they abandon their lover to turn the next trick. Led Zeppelin: the sniggering rugby club of narcissistic cock rock.Meanwhile, backstage, charmless manager-bully Peter Grant fuels the stupid mythology and rehearses his fatal heart attack by huffing and puffing himself up, roundly abusing the polite local staff and nearly bursting into tears at discovering a black guy selling old photos of the band for a few bob at an unlicensed stall. "Nobody makes a crooked buck from my boys, etc, etc." Poor quiet John Paul Jones! No wonder he occasionally got sick to death of it all! Such a waste of an excellent musician, too.Perhaps my introductory question can be partly answered by the extraordinary visual appeal Zeppelin holds for the Big Hero Worshipper, the spoilt suburban brat and the clueless Walter Mitty who tenses his pectorals in the bathroom mirror and wishes his groin were girded by a gaggle of gorgeous, grovelling groupies, all of them gagging for it! Yeah, yeah, baby, push, push. So, while the weighty wish-fulfilment of the fantasy sequences is laughably childish, it's no surprise that Robert Plant's preening posturing hits the embarrassment jackpot, together with his sing-talking in the middle of "Whole Lotta Love", in which he ingratiates himself with the audience by adopting the famous false American accent, much derided, and deservedly so, by the British punk rockers of the day.But there is a moral, or at least a message to the film; it is an unpalatable foretaste of the message sent by the even more monstrous example of Michael Jackson in the following decade: even if you're pushing thirty, provided that you have a seemingly inexhaustible income and you are mollycoddled and protected by ruthless muscle, you can spend time in a plastic bubble fantasy world of undiluted puerility, whilst penning the next constipated opus which you bequeath fit for an awestruck and ever-grateful public.

Despite having been a fan of Led Zeppelin (owning all of their studio albums on CD) for the past 13 years and having had this film on VHS for years, it is only now on the occasion of Robert Plant's concert in Malta that I decided to give it a spin. Its somewhat maligned reputation and substantial length is mainly what kept me away for so long but, now that I've seen it, while certainly not the best rock concert movie, it is not worthless either. The band's stage performance itself (filmed at the Madison Square Garden) was generally held as being subpar and rumor has it that, for a time, they tried to block this film's release but, again, I'd say their live act is, at the very least, above-average.The movie takes its name from the opening track on the band's then-current 1973 album, "Houses Of The Holy" which I myself found disappointing at first and decidedly anti-climactic after their majestic untitled fourth album…but I eventually warmed up to the album on subsequent listens. The film contains 10 songs from their first 5 albums – including the band's signature tunes "Whole Lotta Love" and "Stairway To Heaven" and an overblown nearly half-hour rendition of "Dazed And Confused"! – which is occasionally accompanied by fantasy footage of the band members in mythical attire; I'm not too sure what the idea behind this was but the effect is more distracting than inspiring and, in any case, the best fantasy sequence is at the film's very start with their late drummer John Bonham and their bear-like manager Peter Grant dressed up as mobsters and taking out a rival clan in their hide-out in an outrageously bloody fashion! P.S. I can't post this review without making a few comments on the Robert Plant concert I attended later on: the 59-year old Plant, understandably no longer the bare-chested Adonis of THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME, took to the stage at around 22:40 and proceeded for the next 90 minutes to belt out several tracks from his latest acclaimed solo album, "Mighty Rearranger", a surprising cover of Love's "7 And 7 Is" and, naturally, a handful of Led Zeppelin classics which, tinged with his now-trademark World Music rhythms were all but unrecognizable at first! Curiously enough, he did not elect to sing the band's anthem, "Stairway To Heaven", or any songs off of my favorite Led Zeppelin record, the 1975 double-album "Physical Graffiti". Having been preceded by a mini-performance by John Bonham's sister Deborah (who was quite impressive herself, in a Janis Joplin-way), I was half-expecting Plant to duet with her on one of my favorite Led Zeppelin tunes, "The Battle Of Evermore" but, alas, this did not come to pass, either. Amusingly, an hour into the performance, Plant stunned the audience with an abrupt "Goodbye Malta" after which he and his backing band quit the stage…only to return a couple of moments later for an encore consisting of among others "Whole Lotta Love" which really brought the house down. Finally, an unexpected personal thrill I had during the concert was getting to meet, indirectly, John Bonham's mother – who was there to support her daughter and, despite being in her late seventies (I guess), could be seen to mildly headbang and sway to the music all through her set!!