Best Guitar Gods

Zep faithful will welcome the belated release as evidence for enduring loyalty, but younger fans may find its diversity and dynamics even more enlightening--indeed, whole careers have since been built on the musical ideas Jimmy Page and company toss off here as decorative filler. Crucially rooted in the amped-and-hammered American blues of the guitarist's former band, the Yardbirds , the marathon workouts of "Dazed and Confused" and "Whole Lotta Love" (which consume nearly an hour all by themselves) somehow encompass Ricky Nelson , Morocco, James Brown , Holst, Elvis Presley , and Muddy Waters amidst their trademark sturm und drang , while the acoustic set that closes out disc one showcases the band's--and particularly Robert Plant 's--good-natured, crypto-Celtic folk appeal with energetic aplomb.

; Life by the Drop ; his versions of the Hendrix tunes Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) and Little Wing; Crossfire; Pride and Joy , and much more.

It sounds like the beginning of a story: "So, Slowhand and the King of the Blues were riding in a car ..." If this is a musical journey, it's the kind that rolls down long, empty stretches of country highway at 80 miles an hour, with the top down and the stereo blasting. What they do here is cover 12 classic blues songs, many of them staples of King's repertoire, so the title of this album makes sense.

It sounds like the beginning of a story: "So, Slowhand and the King of the Blues were riding in a car ..." If this is a musical journey, it's the kind that rolls down long, empty stretches of country highway at 80 miles an hour, with the top down and the stereo blasting. What they do here is cover 12 classic blues songs, many of them staples of King's repertoire, so the title of this album makes sense.

An intense, high-powered performance from Stevie Ray's early days, featuring Testify; Texas Flood; Wham! Rewind to 1983 and here is Stevie Ray at the beginning of his fame, his first album with his backing band Double Trouble, Texas Flood , having just been released to critical and popular acclaim. At this early stage in his career he was still very much in thrall to Jimi Hendrix (the flower-power shirt gives it away), as covers of "Voodoo Chile" and "Third Stone from the Sun" (the latter a Hendrix-inspired guitar-abuse session) indicate. The highlight of the show, however, is his rendition of "Texas Flood," which turns out to be an amazing essay on the art of blues guitar.

; Life by the Drop ; his versions of the Hendrix tunes Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) and Little Wing; Crossfire; Pride and Joy , and much more.

What really makes this disc a blast though is the way the quartet weaves 1960s pop signatures into every tune; warping "Woolly Bully" into "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," "I Feel Fine" into "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," and so on.