“Mine’s a tale that can’t be told, my freedom I hold dear
How years ago in days of old, when magic filled the air
‘Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair
But Gollum and the Evil One crept up and slipped away with her“

The famous lyrics to “Ramble On” epitomize the mixture of mythology and masculinity at the heart of Led Zeppelin. In Bernard MacMahon’s new documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin, singer Robert Plant explains how childhood visits to ruins around England instilled a fascination with people from other times and places. More than just Lord of the Rings, the song is about each person’s journey in life; or in Plant’s words, “it’s about you, me, and the other people.”

Becoming Led Zeppelin invites moviegoers to revisit the days of old, when radio stations would play through the entire side of an LP, introduce what listeners had just heard, and then flip the LP over to side two. We follow Led Zeppelin’s journey starting from each individual’s first musical endeavors and influences, through the band’s formation and up to their first year of touring and release of their second album. While Zeppelin’s explosive blend of hard rock, blues and folk was anything but conventional in 1969, the documentary follows a conventional chronology narrated by new interviews with the three surviving members plus a rarely heard 1980 interview with the late John Bonham.

The broad strokes of Zeppelin’s history should be familiar to fans: young Jimmy Page earned his stripes as a London session guitarist until he inherited The Yardbirds. When that band dissolved in 1968, he recruited London session mate John Paul Jones on bass, and singer Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham from the Midlands to pursue his unique musical vision. The Who’s Keith Moon suggested the name Led Zeppelin as a joking prediction of how the project would flop. The rest, as they say, is history.

The journey was smoother for some than others. The only point of contention between John Paul Jones and his musician parents was his choice of bass guitar over the sure money-maker saxophone. By convincing a preacher to let him direct his church’s music as a teenager, he learned to play organ, adding a moody dimension to the band’s sound on classics like “Your Time Is Gonna Come” and “No Quarter.”

Robert Plant, on the other hand, left home early and was homeless before Zeppelin formed. John Bonham’s wife thought Plant was nothing but trouble, and consistently warned her husband to stay away from him. Their reckless partnership led to a decade of superstardom, but perhaps her warning was prescient when he died in 1980 at age 32.

The film doesn’t discuss Bonham’s alcohol-induced death, but seeing the other three members tear up while hearing his voice underscores the depth of their bond. Plenty of bands have continued on to great success after losing a core member (The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead, and Metallica come to mind), but Zeppelin’s decision to stop speaks to how irreplaceable his sound and spirit were. And the fact that the band barely existed over a decade makes it all the more impressive that we’re still talking about them today.

The film immerses viewers in real locations associated with the music. We see the stairs leading to the basement where they first jammed, the idyllic riverside retreat where they worked on their first album, and many an audience awestruck by the sheer power coming off the stage. We also learn how manager Peter Grant’s aggressive bargaining with Atlantic Records got them complete artistic control, enabling Jimmy Page to avoid releasing singles because he wanted his music to be consumed by the album.

The best reason to see this documentary in a theater is hearing Zeppelin’s music on large speakers. Plant’s wailing vocals and Page’s guitar prowess always shine, but Jones’ smooth-as-r&b bass and the details of Bonham’s thunderous drumming sounded particularly enhanced in the audio mix.

Playing all the way through the first two tracks of Led Zeppelin II (“Whole Lotta Love” and “What Is and What Should Never Be”) over montages of tour footage comes as an indulgent choice near the end of the film. That time could’ve been devoted to additional interview clips, but it illustrated how the band recorded their second album in assorted studios during that first North American tour.

Becoming Led Zeppelin is a consistently enjoyable ride, though it never jumps out of its traditional structure to surprise viewers. If you’re looking for the definitive Led Zeppelin statement on video, that’s still the fantastic Madison Square Garden `73 concert footage in The Song Remains the Same. The band’s history is easily found elsewhere. But if you want to spend additional time savoring the music and watching the band members recall how magic filled the first basement they jammed in, catch Becoming Led Zeppelin while it’s still in theaters.