Finally got around to watching the latest documentary on Led Zeppelin. Now available on streaming platforms Becoming Led Zeppelin looks at the early years of the band before they met and up to and including the release of Led Zepelin 2.

This is the first time the remaining members of the band have all agreed to be interviewed for a documentary in many years, they said they were admirers of the producer’s previous work and that the time was right to go on record.

As a fan of some forty five years I was looking forward to seeing this and having watched it I am struggling to form an opinion either way on it. Personally, I find their early years the least interesting of their time together and musically I prefer the third album onwards but of course that is subjective but this is still Led Zeppelin and anything ‘new’ is very welcome.

What I saw though was a lot of time filling with video footage of global events from that period and longer than needed concert footage, much of which is already available online. What does rescue it is undoubtedly the never before heard interview with John Bonham, played to Page, Plant and Jones to see their reaction to hearing his voice after so long. He was notoriously shy in interviews so this felt special. Robert Plant can always be relied upon to give a good interview whilst Page has spent most of the last few years re-releasing their back catalogue and talking extensively about the bands history.

It seemed to end abruptly, in the kind of way you expect there to be a part two but that doesn’t seem likely. I am not sure how much of this wasn’t already in the public domain, Page and Jones’ session work pre Zeppelin is well known but interesting to hear about from them nonetheless.

So all in all, I am sitting on the fence on this one, it would have been nice to see them all together and less footage on the moon landings and Little Richard etc but Led Zeppelin beggars can never be choosers!

Further reading:

Jimmy Page and XYZ

Jimmy Page and the Death of Philip Churchill-Hale

Led Zeppelin Forty Six Years Gone…

Pure Blues Led Zeppelin Collectors Newsletter

The Rover-Led Zeppelin Newsletter