Tom -
Well??? How does it sound? I have no Led Zep vinyl at all, I need to correct that.
G
Led Zeppelin IV - Deluxe Edition
Atlantic 2 Disc 180g LP set
OK Gene, here are my impressions after a quick shootout. Using Stairway to Heaven I compared they CD, the 180 G LP Pressing of the Mothership set and the new LP release.
My CD copy is a late 80s Japanese pressing and has a sound that is typical of many of its time. Very quiet, but flat, dark, closed in with a decent lateral sound stage but very little height or depth. Perfect sound forever. Nuff said.
Next I put on the Mothership LP. Now this is more like it. The soundstage has height seems like it is coming from the vertical plane of the speakers instead of as a point source from the speakers themselves. Likewise although the recording does not have much depth in terms of instrument placement the reverb around the instruments sound gives more of the impression that it is occurring in a space as opposed to coming from the same point at the instrument, thereby giving the whole stage a sense of depth. And there more detail and transient information (both attack and decay. On the acoustic guitar you can hear the body of the guitar as opposed to just the strings. And the flute also has a natural resonance to it that make you feel more like you are listening to an actual flute whereas on the CD it could have been a synthesized keyboard flute sound.
The differences between the Mothership LP and the new LZ IV reissue were much smaller. Overall the were very close although the new release seemed to have a lighter presentation to it. Neither was clearly better than the other, just different. This is the kind of thing where you would really have to listen to both a number of times to form a longer term opinion.
If you don't have any LZ vinyl at all you should take a look at the Mothership set. It is a 4 180g LP set of LZ greatest hits. Chad has them for $60, which is a good bit cheaper than buying all of the reissues individually.
http://store.acousticsounds.com/d/42332/Led_Zeppelin-Mothership-Vinyl_Box_SetsIf you are a completist, the individual albums are the way to go. But if you are only looking for a smattering of Zeppelin on vinyl check out the run list on the set. It just might do the trick for you.
