How the West Was Won is a live triple album by the English rock group Led Zeppelin, released by Atlantic Records on compact disc on 27 May 2003, DVD-Audio on 7 October 2003 and Blu-ray audio in 2018. The recordings are taken from two 1972 performances in California during their tour of North America: L.A. Forum (25 June 1972) and Long Beach Arena (27 June 1972).
Background Guitarist Jimmy Page considers Led Zeppelin at this point to have been at their artistic peak, as is mentioned in the album's liner notes and in an interview he gave to The Times newspaper in 2010.James Jackson, "Jimmy Page on Led Zeppelin IV, the band's peak and their reunion, The Times, 8 January 2010 .
For many years, recordings of these two shows circulated only in the form of bootlegs, such as Burn Like a Candle. Though soundboard recordings of Led Zeppelin concerts were circulated among fans after being stolen from Page's personal archive in the mid-1980s, no such versions of the 1972 Long Beach or LA Forum shows were taken, meaning How the West Was Won was the first chance fans had of hearing the soundboard versions of these concerts. The songs from the two shows underwent extensive editing and audio engineering by Kevin Shirley and Page at SARM West Studios in London before being released on the album.
"It wasn't in our thoughts to try and outdo The Song Remains the Same…" remarked engineer Kevin Shirley. "The reason those performances still stand up now is because Jimmy really was a genius. He could create tempests, summon storms. He really was the master of light and shade. And the musicians around him allowed him to flesh out that vision. Especially John Bonham, without whom Jimmy and Zeppelin would never have been able to do what he did."
The album was remastered and reissued on 23 March 2018 in many formats, including 3CD, 4LP, Blu-Ray Audio and a Super Deluxe Edition box set.
Reception
The album debuted on the Billboard 200 chart for the week ending 14 June 2003 at number 1, with sales of 154,000 copies. It remained on the chart for 16 weeks. It was certified gold and platinum by the RIAA on 30 June 2003. How the West Was Won received an overall score of 97 by review site Metacritic.
+Accolades for How the West Was Won Publication Country Accolade YearRank Classic Rock UK "The 50 Greatest Live Albums Ever" 2003 4 Les Inrockuptibles France "2003 Best Reissues" 2003 4 Record Collector UK "New Albums: Readers Top 10" (2003) 2004 4 The Village Voice US "Albums of the Year" 2004 37 Q UK "10 Live Albums You Must Own" 2005 * Q UK "The 20 Greatest Live Albums" 2006 11 Rock Hard Germany "The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time 2005 342 Rolling Stone USA "The 50 Greatest Live Albums of All Time 2015 23 Guitar World USA "The 10 Best Live Albums You Must Hear 2019 7 Planet Rock magazine UK "The 100 Greatest Live Albums Ever" 2020 *
Track listing
Notes: The DVD-Audio version of the album has tracks 1–11 on disc one with tracks 12–18 on disc two. It features the whole album in 24bit/48 kHz for both 5.1 and Stereo. The Blu-Ray Audio version of the albums has all tracks on one disc. It features the whole album in 24-bit/96 kHz DTS-Master Audio 5.1, as well as two stereo tracks (PCM and DTS-MA) The 4 LP version of the album has tracks 1–4 on Side A, tracks 5, 12 & 13 on Side B, track 6 & 7 on Side C, track 8–10 on Side D, tracks 11, 14 & 15 on Sides E, F & G respectively, and tracks 16–18 on Side H The medley omitting "Hello Mary Lou" has a runtime of 20:59 in the 2018 reissue
Personnel Led Zeppelin Robert Plant – vocals, harmonica Jimmy Page – guitars, mandolin John Paul Jones – bass guitar, double bass, bass pedals, keyboards, mandolin, backing vocals John Bonham – drums, percussion, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp"
Additional personnel Jim Cummins – photography James Fortune – photography Drew Griffiths – sound assistant Ross Halfin – package creative consultant Eddie Kramer – engineering Phil Lemon – design, artwork Jeffrey Mayer – photography Michael Putland – photography Kevin Shirley – engineering, mixing John Davis – mastering (2018 reissue)
Charts
Weekly charts +Sales chart performance for How the West Was Won Chart (2003) Peakposition Japanese Albums Chart 3
+Sales chart performance for How the West Was Won Chart (2018) Peakposition
Year-end charts +2003 Year-end chart performance for How the West Was Won Chart (2003) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 51 UK Albums (OCC) 136 US Billboard 200 140
Certifications
Release history +Release formats for How the West Was WonRegionDateLabelFormatCatalog #United States27 May 2003Atlantic RecordsCompact Disc (×3)83587-27 October 2003DVD-Audio (×2)83587-9Japan27 May 2003WEA JapanCompact Disc (×3)11585-7Worldwide23 March 2018WarnerBlu-ray (×1)Worldwide23 March 2018WarnerVinyl (×4)
References
External links How the West Was Won from Led Zeppelin's official site The Garden Tapes – analysis of live tracks edits for the album