Music: Led Zeppelin IV

Been hearing lots of buzz about the LZ remasters, but IV is the only album I have any fondness for. Decided to try it to see.

Well, if it's remastered it's not apparent. To my ears -- and I've played the 1996 CD enough times to be able to say this -- the new version is IDENTICAL.

I thought perhaps the second disc of "alternate versions" would be the saving grace.

Nope.

The entire album is reproduced, in order, from what are called "alternative mixes" -- not alternative recordings, mind you -- MIXES. This means the original tracks for the original album are laid down, AGAIN, with one or two EXCEEDINGLY slight variations -- the mandolin's a shade louder in "Going to California" and "The Battle of Evermore" -- and basically THAT'S IT. The other six tracks sound identical to my ears, or close enough that you'd have to do a waveform analysis to find the differences.

I feel ripped off, I do.

I take it back. On "The Battle of Evermore" and "Going To California" the vocals are mixed out on the bonus disc.

I'm still selling it back to Amazon -- but for some reason that option is grayed out? WTF is up with that?