Last week, Led Zeppelin gave us a taste of their upcoming Led Zeppelin IV remaster with an alternate mix of their classic track "Rock & Roll," and today they have shared an alternate mix of another one of the album's classics: "Stairway to Heaven."
This alternate mix, done at Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles, is overall less intense than the final version we all know, with more prominent keyboards, quieter drums and a different guitar mix. The most obvious differences in Robert Plant's vocals can be heard in the song's climax, which are drier and less layered than in the final mix.
You can check out the Sunset Sound mix of "Stairway to Heaven" here:
"It's always interesting to hear stuff that you know really well and hear it differently, but the same," bassist John Paul Jones told Rolling Stone about the track. "It does give a different perspective on it. You hear different things."
"I did read somewhere that the end of 'Stairway to Heaven' contained one of the best rock bass parts ever recorded," Jones continued. "Unfortunately, it comes underneath one of the greatest rock guitars so ... But 'Stairway' is a favorite still. It's just got everything that we are about."
Guitarist Jimmy Page also spoke to Rolling Stone about the mix, saying, "The Sunset Sound mix of 'Stairway to Heaven' was actually mixed at Sunset Sound in L.A. in advance of the version that everybody knows ... I think it's a really good embodiment of everything that's on there. It's a guitar mix, really."
The deluxe edition of Led Zeppelin IV, along with the deluxe edition of Led Zeppelin's fifth album Houses of the Holy, are set for release Oct. 28.
