[NOTE: In 2014-15, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page remastered all of Led Zeppelin’s albums and included a second disc full of rarities and/or rough mixes.]

After the exhaustion of touring and writing music, Led Zeppelin holed up in a cabin in Wales for some much needed rest and relaxation. It was there that they decided to pursue some more folk elements in their sound, expanding on the hard rock and blues palate they had been developing the year prior. It was out of this sense of rebirth and experimentation that one of their best albums was born.

Critics did not know what to make of Led Zeppelin III at the time, and to this day it is sort of sandwiched between what many consider the twin peaks of Zeppelin’s output, the overrated Led Zeppelin II and the untitled fourth album. Those people are wrong; not only is this better than the first two records, it is the first of a four-album run of masterworks of hard rock, four of the best hard rock albums of all time, even 40 years later.

Basically, it sums up everything right about Zeppelin: the power, the majesty, the sense of humor, the emotion and yearning, the swagger on the surface belying an inner search for meaning. This is found in Plant’s lyrics as much as Page’s guitars, in the roar of “Immigrant Song” as much as the pensive acoustic guitar of “That’s The Way,” one of the band’s most vulnerable and appealing songs (next to “Thank You” and “Tangerine”).

Few album openers kick harder than “Immigrant Song,” and you can’t help but yowl along with Plant as he rides in on Bonham’s thundering drums. The songs then seamlessly transition to the psychedelic Indian-influenced “Friends,” the hard rock mission statement “Celebration Day,” and the powerful, self-assured blues workout “Since I’ve Been Loving You.” They ease back slightly for “Out On The Tiles,” a fine track but not quite at the level of majesty as what has come before.

The second side is all acoustic and the one that puzzled everyone back in 1970. A quartet of masterpieces greeted them, showing that power and might doesn’t always mean cranking the amps to 11. “Gallows Pole” gallops with fervor; you’re never quite sure if Plant is invested in his subjects or is having fun telling a decades-old story, but it’s fun all the same. The wistful “Tangerine” and the hurried finger-picking meets driving chords of “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp” simply underscore the band’s versatility (and there ain’t no companion like a blue-eyed merle, apparently). That it all falls apart on the annoying slide-guitar workout “Hats Off To (Roy) Harper” is beside the point; when experimenting, one can be forgiven for a minor misstep, especially if it’s buried at the end.

The deluxe edition contains a second disc with nine songs, eight of them rough or alternate mixes of songs that would appear on the album (only “Tangerine” and “Hats Off To (Roy) Harper” are missing). As with many reissues that peel back the curtain, there is little that is revealing here to anyone outside of hardcore fans, and with these in particular it was evident that Page was pretty close on the first try to getting what he wanted. Instrumental versions of “Friends” and “Out On The Tiles” (here named “Bathroom Sound”) are simply that and no more. “Immigrant Song” lacks the echo that gives the original its power and “That’s The Way” is sped up and loses something. “Since I’ve Been Loving You” is worthwhile for the alternate vocal that Plant provides; raw and soulful, with seemingly more invested than on the album version, it’s the take that should have been used. Toward the end of the second disc, the six-minute “Jennings Farm Blues” is an electric instrumental version of “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp,” and it’s both repetitive and overlong without offering much. Clearly, Page felt the song would work better with vocals and acoustic guitars, but it’s still fascinating to see the song’s birth, and any Zeppelin that has not seen the light of day is interesting. Things close with “Key To The Highway/Trouble In Mind,” an old-timey front-porch blues with a hint of the Stones’ “Midnight Rambler” thrown in that was seemingly reworked to become “Hats Off To (Roy) Harper.” They shouldn’t have bothered; this one is more fun and less irritating.

Rating: A-

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