The songs of Led Zeppelin are so permanently ingrained in American popular music that it's easy to forget the band's inherent potency. At the height of their incredible success in the Seventies, there were few rock bands that could touch the collective might of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham. Fusing gritty blues with powerhouse rock 'n roll, Led Zeppelin fashioned an idiosyncratic catalog -- the fantastical "Stairway to Heaven" is one of the all-time great singles -- that continues to hold up to this day; if you're one of the few unconverted, spin any of their multi-platinum albums and odds are, if you dig melody and bombast, you'll be hooked instantly.

Led Zeppelin earned as much of its reputation on its recorded output as it did its live show -- again, at their peak, this English quartet must've been something to behold in concert. For those of us born after Led Zep threw in the towel, the 1976 concert film (and midnight movie staple) The Song Remains the Same was, until 2003 and the release of the Led Zeppelin DVD, one of the only ways to see the boys rip it up onstage.

Filmed over three nights at New York City's Madison Square Garden (but not released until three years later), The Song Remains the Same comes at the concert film from an odd angle -- the quirky detours into the boys' home lives are still distracting, no matter how many times you see the film -- but is at its best when getting out of the way and letting the rock commence. Captured during their tour in support of "Houses of the Holy," most of the canonical works are presented and accounted for: "Rock and Roll," "Stairway to Heaven" and "Whole Lotta Love" pop up, as do other stone-cold classics.

For the curious, The Song Remains the Same's complete set list is as follows: "Bron-yr-Aur"; "Rock and Roll"; "Black Dog"; "Since I've Been Loving You"; "No Quarter"; "The Song Remains the Same"; "The Rain Song"; "Dazed and Confused"; "Stairway to Heaven"; "Moby Dick"; "Heartbreaker" and "Whole Lotta Love." A pair of previously unreleased performances from the same three-night stand -- "Celebration Day" and "Over the Hills and Far Away" are included as supplements on the second disc, as are full-length performances of "Misty Mountain Hop" and "The Ocean."

Previously released in 1999 on a sonically underwhelming and visually adequate disc, The Song Remains the Same has been spruced up just in time for the new two-disc compilation "Mothership," the re-mastered soundtrack for the film (for the first time, the CD tracklisting matches up with that of the DVD; the songs that appear on the re-mastered soundtrack are bonus tracks on this set's second disc) and the impending reunion of Plant, Page and Jones this December. In addition to this two-disc DVD set, there's also a collector's edition of The Song Remains the Same that includes a T-shirt, a booklet, posters and other Zep ephemera.

The Video:

The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, noticeably cleaned up from the 1999 DVD release, is probably as good as this film will ever look. The vintage visual effects display seams common in re-mastered material from the period, but sharpness and color saturation is crisp and vivid, rendering those atrocious Seventies outfits in lurid detail. Black levels are solid and while a bit of mild grain is visible, it doesn't distract from the overall presentation.

Lock the doors and dim the lights -- the pair of re-mastered 5.1 tracks on this set are, bar none, absolutely worth the price of purchase. Overseen by the band, the DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks are, in a word, stunning. Thunderous, searing and crammed full of exquisite detail, the film plays like a revelation throughout, making you feel every note of these classic songs. The DTS track edges out the Dolby Digital track ever so slightly, but going with either one won't disappoint your ears. An optional Dolby 2.0 stereo track is also onboard. Have I mentioned how great this flick sounds? According to published reports, sound engineer Kevin Shirley created new mixes of the Madison Square Garden concerts so the soundtrack would match up with the visuals. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are included, but the songs themselves aren't subtitled, merely the scant few passages of dialogue.

The first disc houses only the film, leaving the second disc to hold the supplements. As mentioned above, a quartet of additional songs -- "Over the Hills and Far Away" (6 minutes, 18 seconds); "Celebration Day" (three minutes, 38 seconds); "Misty Mountain Hop" (four minutes, 50 seconds) and "The Ocean" (four minutes, 41 seconds) -- are included, presented in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1 and Dolby 2.0 stereo tracks. A three minute, 25 second clip of a Tampa, Fla. news report about Led Zeppelin's 1973 performance at Tampa Stadium is here (in anamorphic widescreen), as is the eight minute, 18 second vintage featurette "Boating Down the Thames," which features manager Peter Grant and Plant discussing The Song Remains the Same. The five minute, one second featurette "The Robbery" (presented in fullscreen) explores the heist of Led Zeppelin's box office receipts from New York City's Drake Hotel; the 59-second theatrical trailer is included, in anamorphic widescreen, with a 14 minute, 58 second "Radio Profile Spotlight by Cameron Crowe" from 1976 and three minutes, 55 seconds of DVD credits for the 2007 re-release rounding out the set.

The songs of Led Zeppelin are so permanently ingrained in American popular music that it's easy to forget the band's inherent potency. At the height of their incredible success in the Seventies, there were few rock bands that could touch the collective might of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham. Captured during their tour in support of "Houses of the Holy," most of the canonical works are presented and accounted for in The Song Remains the Same: "Rock and Roll," "Stairway to Heaven" and "Whole Lotta Love" pop up, as do other stone-cold classics. The re-mastered Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 tracks are far and away the biggest incentive (and to a lesser degree, the spruced-up image) to snag this two-disc set; the second disc of extras is just icing on the cake. Does anyone remember laughter? Highly recommended.