Early Days: The Best of Led Zeppelin Volume One

Early Days: The Best of Led Zeppelin Volume One is a single compilation release (One CD or double vinyl album) by English rock group Led Zeppelin, issued by Atlantic Records on 23 November 1999.

After the multi-disc box set releases in the eary 1990s, it was decided by Atlantic Records to issue a compilation of Led Zeppelin's material on an affordable single disc for ease of use to new listeners. It features a total of 13 tracks selected by Jimmy Page, to highlight the band's early career from 1968 through to 1971. As an added bonus, the CD format is enhanced with the addition of a promotional music video, "Communication Breakdown. This video was recorded on the afternoon of 14 March 1969, in a television studio in Stockholm, Sweden, and is one of the few occasions John Bonham had set-up a double Ludwig drum kit. The footage was rediscovered in February 1999, and also added to the Led Zeppelin DVD in 2003.

The front cover illustration is based on an original collage poster by French photographer M. Dubra in the 1970s French magazine Salut les Copains. The heads of the band members were superimposed over the Apollo spacesuits, to tie in with the original working title Blast Off: The Best of Led Zeppelin Volume One. The idea was eventually dropped but the cover was retained. Coincidently, 1969 was the year Led Zeppelin achieved widespread popularity and when man first landed on the Moon, via the Apollo missions. As a pun on the symbolism, a winged Apollo was also the logo for their record label, Swan Song Records. The album débuted at Number 71 on the Billboard's 200 Albums chart, and charted for a total of 26 weeks. It was followed by Latter Days (2000), rounding out the later years of the band's catalogue.