There is a wealth of riches for fans of hard rockers Led Zeppelin in this documentary of the band’s early days. The tale is told through interviews with surviving band members (drummer John Bonham sadly passed away in 1980) and selected newsreel footage from the late sixties/early seventies. They became a behemoth on both the concert circuit and airwaves of the times.
One of the stand-out features is how amazing the sound is on the live clips and the separation of the instruments is superb. Bassist John Paul Jones’ low-end output floats in isolated space and drummer Bonham’s kit is fully revealed. It’s amazing how he got such a powerful low-frequency sound with only a single bass drum. Bonzo as he was affectionately known was such a powerhouse and the film fully reveals that.
Guitarist Jimmy Page goes deep into the creative process and lays out a cautionary tale about the importance of self-financing your own work to isolate yourself from the greed of that generation’s record companies. Unfortunately, not a lot has changed about the avarice of the part of the industry. Singer Robert Plant comes across as a bit of a hippy who knew he was on to a good thing.
The balance between the words of the talking heads and the live performances is spot on and it gives the film a satisfying flow. Knowing quite a bit about the mighty Zepp beforehand doesn’t prevent you from picking up a few bits of new information. Being put together with the full cooperation of the remaining band members leads to a very PG version of the story so those who want a more salacious version will have to rely on the plethora of books on the subject like Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis.
Becoming Led Zeppelin is screening now at Dendy Cinemas in a limited run.
Rob Hudson
www.dendy.com.au
