Critical Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | (original version) |
| Robert Christgau | (C+) (original version) |
| Q | (original version) |
| Blender | (original version) |
| Uncut | (reissued version) |
| Mojo | (reissued version) |
Upon its initial release in 1976, the album received some poor reviews, with some critics considering it to be over-produced and lumbering. Indeed, the band's members themselves have since expressed a lack of fondness for the recording. Page has admitted that the end product was hardly the best representation of Led Zeppelin as a live band:
Obviously we were committed to putting this album out, although it wasn't necessarily the best live stuff we have. I don't look upon it as a live album...it's essentially a soundtrack.
In an interview he gave to rock journalist Cameron Crowe, Page elaborated:
As far as Led Zeppelin's studio recordings went, every single one of them has a certain ambiance, certain atmospherics that made them special. When it came to the live shows, we were always trying to move things forward and we certainly weren't happy leaving them as they were. The songs were always in a state of change. On Song Remains the Same you can hear the urgency and not much else. The live shows were an extension of the albums.
In contrast, the 2007 reissued version received generally much more positive reviews. In a review published in Mojo magazine in December 2007 James McNair gave the album four out of five stars, as did David Cavanagh in Uncut magazine, who wrote:
... The sound is vastly improved, as is the playing of the musicians (due to digital re-editing of the three MSG concerts, presumably). Not so much remastered as reconstructed, the 15 tracks (six previously unreleased) showboat, strut and snarl.
Read more about this topic: The Song Remains The Same (album)
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