No one asked but here are 3000 words on Led Zeppelin. This is a big one. I hope I don’t fuck it up as much as they fucked up their Live Aid performance. First off if you don’t know who Led Zeppelin are, you are definitely lost and probably on the wrong page or followed a bad link. Most music fans have a general idea of their backstory but in principal Led Zeppelin was formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page after several years as a session guitarist and bass/lead guitarist for The Yardbirds. As they wound down Page looked to putting together a supergroup with Keith Moon, John Entwistle, Steve Winwood, Steve Marriott, and Jeff Back all being considered. Through various connections and sessions “The New Yardbirds” was created with Page on guitar, John Paul Jones on Bass, John Bonham on Drums and Robert Plant on vocals. This would be their lineup for the duration of the band as they absolutely revolutionized and fundamentally impacted music over the next 12 years. Prior to the release of their first album, they were forced to change their name and (assuming this isn’t a 60 year old urban legend) after Keith Moon and John Entwistle proclaimed they would go over as well as a “lead balloon”. They appropriated the name, dropped an “a” and revamped the balloon and ended up with Led Zeppelin – a perfect dichotomy of heavy and light. Other bands like The Stone Roses and Glass Tiger would use a similar approach.
Led Zeppelin (self-titled first album) is often cited as much for ripping off blues standards as it is for being a formative force in the emergence of Hard Rock/Metal (something also ascribed to The Kinks, The Who and Iron Butterfly to name just a few). There is absolutely no doubt that the album was a massive tour-de-force in the development of modern rock music, leaning heavily on their blues influences but with four massively talented musicians who applied the ideas along with some psychedelic infusion and created one of the all-time great debut albums, despite shitty reviews at the time. Sometimes it takes people time to realize what exactly they are hearing. Good Times Bad Times, Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, You Shook Me, Dazed and Confused, Your Time Is Gonna Come, Black Mountain Side, Communication Breakdown, I Can’t Quit You Baby, How Many More Times – tell me which song here isn’t amazing and I’ll respect the fact that you are completely incorrect. Also…the album cover…I mean it is about as iconic and perfect branding as any band…ever. Amazingly it was also recorded with almost no overdubs. This was 1968 so I’m guessing the had maybe 16 tracks total for recording, but I can’t find a reference.
Led Zeppelin II released in 1969 doubled down on the attitude, swagger, and lemons and found the band much more self-realized in their own style despite the blues influences. The sound, experimentation, and approach are clearly visible from the opening track Whole Lotta Love which immediately makes you think maybe you haven’t taken enough drugs to be listening to it, regardless of the amount of drugs you have taken to listen to it. Zeppelin II is actually much more defined in style than their debut and contains some absolutely gorgeous tunes like Thank You and What Is And What Should Never Be in addition to now rock radio standard, Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid (they should never be played separately for any reason), Ramble On, and Bring It On Home, in addition to said Lemon Song. If drum solos are your thing then there is also Moby Dick to get your drummer’s blood boiling. Now there is no denying that John Bonham is unarguably one of the greatest rock drummers ever. He often tops polls, and many people consider him to be the best of the best. For me he is definitely up there but truth be told I personally find, despite being an incredibly powerful drummer with impeccable timing, that he is generally speaking, much more of a 4/4 drummer than others I consider in higher regard. I know it is probably not a popular opinion, but I actually find the complexity and subtleties of 70s era Keith Moon and Phil Collins above Bonham’s. But that’s a different discussion for a different day.
1970’s Zeppelin III starts out like it is going to be a continuation of Zeppelin II’s heaviness with the opening track Immigrant Song. There are also other hard rockers like Celebration Day and Out On The Tiles but they are more the anomaly on this album as it actually is a much more acoustic record than electric in sound and approach. Songs like Friends, Gallows Pole, the gorgeous Tangerine and Bron-Y-Aur Stomp. Also, possibly the most sweet song they ever wrote That’s The Way. It all showed a band that was fundamentally interested in showing they were much more than just a powerhouse hard rock band. Actually, the album kind of sounds like what it would have been for the band to record the equivalent of a rocking Saturday night followed by the Sunday quietness/hangover. It is a unique album in their catalog and shows just how versatile they were as both musicians and songwriters. If you are looking for a Sunday morning recovery album you can do a lot worse than Zeppelin III.
Then in 1971 they put everything they had done to date on their first three albums…the blues, the psychedelic, the hard rock, the gentle acoustics, the formidable ability to write a great guitar and vocal hook…they stuck it all in a blender and ended up with the Dark Side Of The Moon of Heavy/Classic Rock. There is a reason it is considered by many people to be the greatest or at least one of the greatest albums of all time. Plant’s voice is amazing throughout. Bonham and Jones are totally in sync from the beginning of Black Dog through the end of When The Levee Breaks and Page is on fire everywhere. There are rocking songs like Black Dog, Rock And Roll, Misty Mountain Hop, and Four Sticks. There are beautiful acoustic songs like The Battle Of Evermore and Going To California and there is the song that is the absolute distillation of all of it into 8 minutes of pure classic rock perfection in Stairway To Heaven. I remember Q107 in Toronto used to play Stairway To Heaven every night at 10PM for years. No matter how many times you hear it, how familiar you are with it, whether you know every single drum beat, fill, guitar note, vocal intonation…whatever…it is deserving of its place at or near the top of the pantheon of truly exceptional songs ever committed to vinyl. If you really think Stairway To Heaven is a shitty song then there is a very good chance you should stop reading my posts and go find something that is more suited to your taste. Also, Jimmy Page’s solo in the song is just about the most perfect thing every laid down by a guitar player ever. This song alone makes this one of the greatest albums ever released and I haven’t even mentioned When The Levee Breaks. Speaking of songs about failed water retention…this might just be the single greatest sounding song with respect to the sheer power and quality of recording of drums I’ve ever heard. I think that this song is partly responsible for why so many people consider Bonham the best drummer ever though I stick by my original assessment. That said…I mean fuck…this song is just something else…it oozes with tension and control and suspense. It seems so simple yet so absolutely powerful. If ever a song sounded like it probably contained the secret location of a body from some southern bayou murder mystery this is it.
Here’s the thing about Zeppelin’s fourth untitled album. Is it their best album? Without a doubt in my opinion…however it is almost too good for its own good. What I mean is that most people know it and love it to the point of overfamiliarity that I think people tend to actually take it for granted, and when asked to consider their favourite album by the band…others often are cited in its place. I’m the same. I cannot deny the greatness of this album but whenever I consider my favourite album by the band, I always cite the one that followed, Houses Of The Holy. Why? I’m not sure…maybe it is because it isn’t the obvious choice. The Song Remains The Same is a frantic superb opening track. It’s all smooth and slick in the best way. It opens up the album in kind of a similar way to how Behind The Lines opens Genesis’ Duke album. There is a lot of history between Zeppelin and Genesis so who knows maybe they were inspired by it…total speculation but it is fun consider things that may be threads between seemingly disparate times and albums. Anyway, Plant really sounds like someone might be squeezing his nads on this song at points. The Rain Song, Over The Hills And Far Away, No Quarter and The Ocean are four stellar songs which bookend three songs that if I’m being honest, are not anywhere close to the greatness of any song on Zeppelin IV. The Crunge, Dancing Days and D’Yer Mak’er (which if you didn’t get the reggae-based style joke is pronounced Jermaker…aka Jamaica…it is emphatically not Dyer Maker). I think the progginess of The Song Remains The Same, The Rain Song (which might be my all-time favourite Zeppelin song), Over The Hills, and No Quarter make me want to default to this album as my top pick but I think if push came to shove I’d probably be pissed off that someone pushed and shoved me…but after that I’d have to go with Zeppelin IV as my Numero Uno.
Apart from the post break up odds and sods compilation Coda the only studio album I don’t own by Zeppelin is Physical Graffiti, their one and only double album from 1975, recorded at Headley Grange just prior to Genesis using the studio to write their Lamb Lies Down On Broadway album. A lot of people cite Physical Graffiti as their favourite Zeppelin album, and I can understand why but it’s a funny thing for me. Usually, I gravitate to albums and material that is less hits and radio oriented and really get into album cuts and songs that others may not know as well. It isn’t a conscious thing…I just find that what usually catches my interest in a band – usually being something somewhat commercial in nature, is not usually what keeps me interested in the long run. I’m attracted by things that attract others, but I sick around cause I love the weird lesser known songs or records. It is something I can trace through bands like Genesis and Marillion, and The Tragically Hip or Pink Floyd and Bruce Springsteen. So, this album is kind of like what I would view as the ultimate in album cuts for die-hard fans. It is clearly a record the band decided to use to branch out in many directions with a much lesser focus on the hooks which were all over every album prior to this. It isn’t that they aren’t there… I mean the album has Kashmir on it as well as the phenomenal Ten Year’s Gone…but much of the material is rooted in style moreso than writing the perfect catchy rock and roll song. Maybe that’s why so many people love this album but for some reason for me it just doesn’t quite click that way and I’m just not sure why. I’m not by any means saying I don’t like this album…I think maybe I just don’t get it the way others do…that happens sometimes. Maybe it is too jittery for me. Check out the beauty Bron-Yr-Aur on this album for some acoustic sweetness (not to be confused with Bron-Y-Aur-Aur Stomp from Zeppelin III which is also great as noted). FYI if you weren’t aware Bron-Yr-Aur was a cottage used by the band as a retreat to write and record some of their third album.
Presence in 1976 is considered by many to be a significantly lesser album than anything they had done prior and I must admit I don’t really find myself ever thinking “I really need to listen to Presence”. After Physical Graffiti basically things went from shit to horrible for Zeppelin in a trifecta of awful things that could happen. The album was actually written after Plant and his family were in a car accident between tour legs resulting in him breaking his ankle and elbow which ground the Physical Graffiti tour to a halt and basically sidelined the singer for two years. The album that come out of this time is a bit more straightforward after the complexities of Physical Graffiti, with its use of Mellotrons and Banjos and Pianos etc. I think many have dissected why Presence is a lesser record than others, some citing the sound quality itself of the songs which is a bit muffled in my opinion, but I think the reality is that the material is just not as engaging or enduring or interesting as what came before. I mean it is still good, but I personally don’t think it is that great…Maybe a 3/5 if I had to grade it.
While Plant was recuperating, they also released the concert film and album The Song Remains The Same before embarking on a tour in 1977, two years after his car crash. On April 19 the band played Cincinnati which led to riots and injuries in a precursor to 11 people being crushed to death at the same venue when The Who played there a year later. Zeppelin played Oakland Coliseum on July 23 and 24 1977 which would turn out to be their last ever shows in the US as Plant was informed two days later prior to a concert in Louisiana on the 30th that his 5-year-old son Karac had suddenly died of a stomach infection. In September 1978 the band regrouped and managed to put together one final album In Through The Out Door. The album probably only exists due to John Paul Jones’ perseverance, working to try to help Plant get through the grieving process by focusing on music. Stylistically the album is much more keyboard focused than any other and is much lesser infused with Page and Bonham’s input as they were respectively trying to kill themselves with Heroin and Alcohol which Bonham would successfully do on September 25 1980 just prior to leaving on their first North American tour since 1977. Basically, it was discovered he had consumed about a Litre of vodka and subsequently choked on his own vomit at the age of 32. The album itself was lighter than any previous Zeppelin album but I actually love it. I used to walk to school every day with a Sony Walkman on and for much of that time I listened to In Through The Out Door. Fool In The Rain and All My Love were massive singles (though since Zeppelin didn’t really release singles on principal I think they were just played a LOT on radio). For me it is probably their most consistent album since Houses Of The Holy. There is a levity to songs like South Bound Saurez and Hot Dog and Carouselambra. Bookending the album are two stellar songs being In The Evening and the relaxed finale I’m Gonna Crawl. It is a very different sounding Zeppelin album that in some ways is probably more similar to Plant’s solo albums that followed than Zeppelin albums that preceded it, but nonetheless it is an excellent album.
Following Bonham’s death Zeppelin effectively ceased to be. They released the odds and ends album Coda in 1982 which is fine – it isn’t essential by any means. Worth searching out are Traveling Riverside Blues which was a Robert Johnson song, and Hey, Hey What Can I Do which is their only non-album song released as the B-Side of the Immigrant Song single. The remaining members did get together for a horrible Live Aid set in 1985 and a few other one-off events where they played a couple of songs but they have managed to stave off all attempts to get them to reform over the years, citing that without Bonham it wasn’t Zeppelin. The closest they have really come was the Page/Plant reunion/tour in 1994 resulting in the No Quarter Live album and the Walking Into Clarksdale album from 1998. Plant has had a very diverse and interesting solo career. John Paul Jones has done all sorts of interesting things including recording and touring with various bands as well as doing a huge amount of producing. Page has surprisingly been the least productive member of the band outside of Zeppelin. I mean he has definitely done a lot of stuff including one solo album, Plant/Page, Coverdale/Page/ The Firm, a few soundtracks and some live stuff with The Black Crowes, but for such a phenomenally gifted guitar player his output since Zeppelin ended seems sadly less than one might have expected. I think Page is a guy who needs a band to really shine and without it he either isn’t focused or maybe he is afraid of his own legacy…whatever it is, the world could use more Jimmy Page guitar playing in it. What he has focused on however is keeping the Zeppelin legacy alive and has basically been the curator of most of the box sets and remasters that have been generated in the years following the band’s demise. His skill at polishing diamonds is actually pretty outstanding especially compared to the botched work done by many other bands trying to remaster and remix their back catalogs.
Previous
Next