The Story Behind Led Zeppelin's "Travelling Riverside Blues"

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When Led Zeppelin released their four-CD box set Led Zeppelin on October 23, 1990, Led Zeppelin fans were treated to two Led Zeppelin recordings that had never been released before. One was a BBC studio recording entitled “Travelling Riverside Blues.” The other was a live performance of “White Summer/Black Mountain Side.”

The Led Zeppelin box set was the first compilation of Led Zeppelin material ever released. The box set was released in three different configurations. There was a four-CD set, a six-vinyl-record set, and a four-cassette-tape set. All three configurations contained a 36-page deluxe booklet. The box set was released in a large album-sized hard cardboard box. All the songs on the album had been remastered. The initial Led Zeppelin CD releases in the 1980s sounded horrible. The Led Zeppelin box set contained the best-sounding versions of those classic Led Zeppelin songs that we all grew up with. It was the first of many attempts at remastering the Led Zeppelin material.

Led Zeppelin was never known as a band that released rare material. With the exception of “Hey, Hey, What Can I Do,” all the singles released from Led Zeppelin albums contained only album tracks on the B-sides. No greatest hits albums were released during their tenure. Led Zeppelin was always very guarded about their material. The arrival of the box set in 1990, less than ten years after the band had broken up, surprised many Led Zeppelin fans. The grand surprise was the inclusion of the two unreleased tracks.

The inclusion of “Travelling Riverside Blues” on the Led Zeppelin box set was the crown jewel of the box set for Led Zeppelin fans. The song had been recorded in 1969 at the BBC’s Maida Vale Studio 4 in London, England. Because it was a BBC recording, Jimmy Page later negotiated with BBC Enterprises for the recording’s release. Led Zeppelin’s “Travelling Riverside Blues” performance was recorded by the BBC on June 24, 1969. At the time, Led Zeppelin was touring the United Kingdom. John Walters of the BBC produced the recording, while Tony Wilson engineered the session. The song was broadcast on the John Peel Top Gear show on June 29, 1969.

“Travelling Riverside Blues” was released as a promotional single from the Led Zeppelin box set in 1990. Atlantic Records also released a video of the song that included clips from Led Zeppelin’s film The Song Remains The Same. Those video clips were intermixed with stock footage of various historical events and other filmed clips.

The “Travelling Riverside Blues” recording is vintage Led Zeppelin circa 1969. Robert Plant’s incredible vocals fuel the song. Robert Plant is pitch-perfect on the tune, while Jimmy Page lays down his signature guitar solos and riffs. It’s a stunning recording of a band that seemed to be in their prime early on—a prime that never ended until the band broke up.

“Traveling Riverside Blues” is a song by Robert Johnson. He recorded it in Dallas, Texas, on June 20, 1937. However, because it was never released at the time, the public did not hear the song until 1961, when it was released on the album King of the Delta Blues Singers.