Led Zeppelin Took My Blues Away (lossless)

Led Zeppelin Took My Blues Away is an unofficial compilation of recordings that were plundered and/or covered by Led Zeppelin between the years 1969-75.  It first appeared on the fabulous (but now defunct) website Willard’s Wormholes.  The album has now all but disappeared from the internet.  

The point of this collection is not that Led Zeppelin borrowed an awful lot of music in the creation of their live set and first 6 albums.  The recycling of songwriters’ words, chords and riffs by other musicians has been going on for centuries.  But in the case of Page, Plant & Co, they appear to have gone out of their way to avoid crediting songwriters and paying royalties.  And in the process, becoming one of the biggest rock bands on the planet.

This is by no means the first attempt at assembling music that was borrowed by Plant & Page (Mojo magazine’s excellent Roots of Led Zeppelin from 2004 comes to mind) but this album covers a lot of ground and is exceptionally well researched.  

Attached is a set of trading cards that detail how and when Led Zeppelin purloined each song - and who (eventually) got the credit.   For example, trading card 3.2…

“How Many More Times" is a distillation of many different songs, but none were written by the guys who’ve collected royalties from it for decades. Chester Burnett, a.k.a. Howlin’ Wolf, wrote and released “How Many More Years" in 1951 (a song initially credited to “Carl Germany," a local DJ who was owed a few favours by Burnett's music publishers). Wolf’s 1959 album, Moanin' In The Moonlight, included that 1951 recording... as well as a different version of the same tune, re-titled “No Place To Go,” which is stylistically more in line with Led Zeppelin's cover. During the recording sessions, Robert Plant “improvised” lyrical segments from (at least) three additional tunes within “How Many More Times," including Albert King’s, “The Hunter” (co-written by Booker T. & The MG’s), plus “Rosie" and “Steal Away,” two Alan Lomax field recordings covered by Alexis Korner (the latter tune, when Plant himself was briefly a member of Korner’s outfit). As bands often do, Zeppelin incorporated numerous influences into “How Many More Times.” Unlike a lot of bands, however, Zep took full songwriting credit for the many compositions of others. Wolf’s publishers sued and the song was - for a time - partially credited to Burnett. But the 2014 Led Zeppelin remaster, still credits the song to the guys who (apparently) wrote it in 1951... Page, Jones and Bonham. 

Maybe you already have most (if not, all) of the tracks contained in this album.  Nonetheless, taken as a whole, Led Zeppelin Took My Blues Away is a real eye (and ear) opener.  Best of all, the original upload was in mp3 format.  I’ve taken the trouble to locate lossless (FLAC) copies of every track.  Crackly old 78 transfers have been de-clicked; playback volumes have been equalized and metadata added.  

All credit to Willard.  

Tracks

1.      Jake Holmes - Dazed And Confused

2.       Bert Jansch - Blackwaterside

3.     Howlin' Wolf - No Place To Go (a.k.a. How Many More Years)

4.       Albert King - The Hunter

5.       Alexis Korner Blues Inc. - Rosie

6.       Alexis Korner Blues Inc. - Steal Away

7.       Joan Baez - Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You

8.       Muddy Waters - You Need Love

9.       Small Faces - You Need Loving

10.   Howlin' Wolf - Killing Floor

11.   Robert Johnson - Travelling Riverside Blues

12.   Sonny Boy Williamson - Bring It On Home

13.   Bukka White - Shake 'Em On Down

14.   Moby Grape - Never

15.   Bert Jansch - The Waggoner's Lad

16.  Kansas Joe McCoy & Memphis Minnie - When The Levee Breaks

17.   Spirit - Taurus

18.   Sleepy John Estes - Drop Down Mama

19.   Blind Boy Fuller - I Want Some Of Your Pie

20.  Josh White - Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed (a.k.a. In My Time Of Dying)

21.   Ritchie Valens - Ooh, My Head

22.   Blind Willie Johnson - It's Nobody's Fault But Mine

23.   Davy Graham - She Moved Thro' The Fair

24.   Sleepy John Estes - The Girl I Love, She Got Long Curly Hair

25.   Bobby Parker - Watch Your Step

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