Bernard MacMahon assumes we know a lot aboutLed Zeppelin.
Or the session work he and Jones would do on Shirley Basseys Goldfinger.
Or how James Brown influenced Bonhams straight-ahead, four-on-the-floor drumming for the Senators hit Shes a Mod.
John Paul Jones, Robert Plant, and Jimmy Page, onstage on March 11, 1970 in Dusseldorf, Germany.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
(He may or may not compare the axe to Excalibur!)
It also told him everything that would be included.
He could see that anything superfluous to those songs would be M.I.A.
Its revelatory even if youve heard live versions of these songs before, and often straight-up gobsmacking.
Hes unearthed some rough gems in the process.
The 69 London performance of Dazed and Confused looks and sounds better.
Its worth sitting throughBecoming Led Zeppelinfor those clips alone.
Theres a whole lotta love for those initial glory days.
You still want a whole lot more of what happened and why.
