According to the Record Store Day site this will be out on vinyl tomorrow at some independent record stores, a week before it's official CD release.

It's been my experience that some Zep fans don't like change. They only want more of the same, especially when it comes to other artists outside of Led Zeppelin. Thank goodness, Zeppelin themselves never adhered to that credo either during Zeppelin's existence or since the untimely death of John Bonham in 1980.

There are some artists that go to outside writers in a concentrated effort for them to have a hit. Since there's no secret formula for a hit song this doesn't always work but there's a huge difference between that and those that interpret the music of other writers. For instance, Emmylou Harris actually writes her own songs but she's also well known as an interpretor of other people's material. She's just the tip of the iceberg, there are many, many more. Jerry Garcia wasn't a lyricist, he wrote the music for the Grateful Dead. For the most part, the songs he sang were all written by Robert Hunter who wasn't even a member of the band. Geddy Lee sings words written by Neil Peart.

From SecretlyCanadian.com: The War on Drugs Deliver ‘Slave Ambient’ Aug. 16 On their debut, the life-affirming Wagonwheel Blues, and the follow-up EP, Future Weather, Philly’s The War on Drugs seemed obsessed with disparate ideas, with building uncompromised rock monuments from pieces that may have seemed like odd pairs. Folk-rock marathons come damaged by drum machines. Electronic and instrumental reprises precede songs they’ve yet to play, and Dr. Seuss becomes lyrical motivation for bold futuristic visions. Now, Granduciel has done it again, better than before: Slave Ambient (Out Aug. 16), their proper second album, is a brilliant 47-minute sprawl of rock ‘n’ roll, conceptualized with a sense of adventure and captured with seasons of bravado. Slave Ambient features a team of Philadelphia’s finest musicians, including multi-instrumentalists Dave Hartley and Robbie Bennett, and drummer Mike Zanghi. Recorded throughout the last four years at Granduciel’s home studio in Philly, Jeff Ziegler’s Uniform Recording and Echo Mountain in Asheville, NC, the album puts the weirdest influences in just the right places. Synthesizers fall where you might expect more electric guitars (and vice versa); country-rock sidles up to the warped extravagance of ’80s pop. Instant classic “Baby Missiles” is part Spingsteen fever dream, part motorik anthem “Original Slave” might sound like a hillbilly power drone, but “City Reprise #12″ suggests Phil Collins un-retiring to back Harmonia. “I Was There” is Harvest rebuilt by some selection of psychedelic all-stars, while the shuffling, sleepy opener “Best Night” offers a band with too many ideas to be in a hurry. During the mid-album centerpiece “Come to the City,” Granduciel howls and moans, “All roads lead to me/I’ve been moving/I’ve been drifting.” Indeed, however unlikely that might seem, all these sounds arrive cohesively in one unmistakable place. Every song on Slave Ambient is instantly identifiable and infinitely intricate, a latticework of ideas and energies building into mile-high rock anthems. It’s a remarkable work for which we have an enormous pride and respect. And for which the story is only just beginning.

From Yep Roc Records: Dave Alvin turns it up. The intensity, the focus, the volume. On Alvin's new album Eleven Eleven, he revisits the burning, guitar-centered blues rock that initially defined his career as part of The Blasters. Fast forward to Eleven Eleven and Dave is ready to raise the stakes again, calling on some Blasters including his brother Phil, with whom he duets for the first time ever on record. The inaugurals continue with Dave writing all the songs while on the road touring, a first for the seasoned performer. The new method clearly sparked new ideas for Alvin, with blistering guitar runs and Bo Diddley beats sidling up alongside gentle finger-picking. Street Date: 6/21/2011

The "No Stairway..." sign didn't have anything to do with copyright infringement. It's a take on the cliche about beginners picking up a guitar in music stores and attempting to play "Stairway To Heaven" but only knowing the introduction to the song. Same goes for several other tunes, the other most infamous one being "Smoke on the Water".

I know of lots of artists that perform material written by others. Depending upon the situation, I don't think that makes a musician any less "real".

I figured the reason he doesn't do a lot of Zep in his solo sets is because he's concentrating on his own material, not because of any sort of dislike (or "hate") of the work he did with Zeppelin.

To the contrary. I was a senior in high school when it was released. I wasn't disappointed by it then nor am I disappointed in it now. I love the record from start to finish and consider it one of Zeppelin's finest moments.

I don't think of In Through the Out Door as a "bum" album or of Zeppelin being a diminished version of their former selves at this point of their career. It wasn't until I started visiting this site that I learned that so many fans think so poorly of it. My original opinion of it still stands, I like it and feel like it shows them exploring and breaking some new ground at that stage of their career. I also don't think of Coda as proper album, I think of it as exactly what it was and was intended to be, a collection of previously unreleased material.

I've never really bought into the "true fan" concept, at least not the way it's presented in this thread. If someone doesn't like a song or criticizes something Zeppelin (or any band or artist) has done, that's perfectly fine. To "bash" their work implies something else entirely, like maliciousness. It's only natural that we are going to have differing opinions on what are our favorites and least favorites are. To constructively criticize their music shows a real passion for it. Those folks are more what I would think of as "true" fans, not the ones that think Zeppelin can do no wrong.

Yes, I have. I purchased it not long after it first came out. It was a travesty that the original CD version of it omitted two songs due to space limitations. So, not only did the expanded version add those two songs back to the running order but also a whole other disc of previously unreleased stuff. Sadly, the liner notes let me know just how much cutting and splicing went on which is something I never knew. It hasn't affected my appreciation of the album but it gave me an education about what goes on behind the scenes of so many of our favorite live recordings.

Believe it not, I have never owned the original Budokan record. This a CD/DVD combo of night one of the two nights they performed there. The original album was culled from both nights so my Budokan collection is still not complete.

Yep, it's amazing the amount of music we miss out on. I imagine there's some people out there that still haven't heard the Allman's Live at Fillmore East, or even worse, Little Feat's Waiting For Columbus, definitely one of my all time favorite live records.

I haven't actually heard any of it yet but I've read nothing but good things about this record: Andrew Bird – "Shake It and Break It" Paolo Nutini – "Between the Devil and Deep Blue Sea" Tom Waits – "Tootie Ma Is A Big Fine Thing" Yim Yames – "Louisiana Fairytale" Del McCoury – "After You've Gone" Ani DiFranco – "Freight Train" Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez-Seeger – "Blue Skies (Comin My Way)" Jason Isbell – "Nobody Knows You" Brandi Carlile – "Old Rugged Cross" Richie Havens – "Trouble in Mind" Merle Haggard – "Basin Street Blues" Blind Boys of Alabama – "There is a Light" Dr. John – "Winin' Boy" Louis Armstrong – "Rockin' Chair" Amy LaVere – "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" Steve Earle – "Tain't Nobody's Business" Cory Chisel – "Some Cold Rainy Day" Buddy Miller – "I Ain't Got Nobody" Angelique Kidjo with Terence Blanchard – "La Vie En Rose" Bonus Tracks (Deluxe CD) Anita Briem – "C'est Si Bon" Paolo Nutini – "Pencil Full of Lead" Yim Yames – "St. James Infirmary" Tom Waits – "Corine Dies On The Battlefield" Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez-Seeger – "Sailin' Up Sailin' Down" Pete Seeger & Tao Rodriguez-Seeger – "We Shall Overcome"

Spyra Gyra were there the next day. I caught part of their set as well. That also made for a near perfect day in the park on a Sunday.

It was free and a nice night for music in the park so it was very hard to turn down.

I still need to pick up that Live At Leeds set. Believe it or not, I've never heard it.

I have some friends that totally dismiss The Doors and refer to Morrison as a drunken, rambling lout. While that may very well be true, I still enjoy listening to their music and believe they had a profound impact on rock n' roll. On the other hand, Ray Manzarek has a way of getting on my very last nerve.

I have it etched in my memory and hadn't seen it in 23 years. I remembered Letterman making a big deal about the electrified mandolin so it was very nice to refresh my memory.

Me either. It's worth noting that this thread was started by someone who's never returned to actually participate in it.

"Unpacking" video for the new box set which is due to arrive on June 20th:

From Yahoo Sports: How U2′s Bono hitched a ride with Oilers’ Gilbert Brule By Greg Wyshynski On Tuesday, Gilbert Brule of the Edmonton Oilers and his girlfriend went out to walk their German shepherd. They ended up taking in an Irish singer. As strange and surreal as it seems, this is the story about how one NHL player picked up Bono on the side of the road, and ended up backstage at a U2 show. According to writer Ben Gelinas of the Edmonton Journal, Brule and Kelsey Nichols were driving in West Vancouver when Brule was convinced he had seen Bono hitchhiking. Nichols had her doubts, but Brule persuaded her to turn the car around and … well, it was Bono and his assistant, looking to hitch a ride because they had gone for a walk on a Beautiful Day, had been caught in the rain and were stuck in a moment they couldn't get out of. (We promise those are the only U2 song puns here.) From the Edmonton Journal: On the drive to Horseshoe Bay, Bono and his assistant sat in the back with the couple's dog. The four chatted about Brule's hockey career, about Dublin and Bono's apparent love for Vancouver. Bono mentioned that his band was playing a show in Edmonton on Wednesday and asked if they'd like to go. So Brule and Nichols sold their tickets for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals, bought plane tickets (three, so Brule's mom could come too) and flew back to Edmonton, where Brule is a forward for the Oilers. Bono got them backstage passes to say thanks for the ride. On Nichols's pass, he wrote: "Thanks for the ride." On Brule's pass, he wrote: "My hero Gilbert." Oh, it doesn't stop there, as Bono included the random act of kindness in his stage banter on Wednesday night. David Staples of the Journal said that Bono told the crowd: "I like ice hockey because people who like ice hockey pick up hitchhikers." He also said he wanted to be Gilbert Brule, while Adam Clayton is Grant Fuhr, Larry Mullen Jr. is Mark Messier and The Edge is Wayne Gretzky. Watch it here as Bono tells the tale (starts at the 52-second mark): As Bono discovered, hockey players move in Mysterious Brules. (OK, now we're done.) Go and read Ben Gelinas' fantastic tale of Brule and Bono, the greatest rock-and-roll-meets-hockey story ever told. Or at least the greatest one until Taylor Hall gives Chris Martin a piggyback ride to a Coldplay show.