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Led Zeppelin Album Discussion

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Offline metaldams




      Robert Plant - vocals.  Jimmy Page - guitar.  John Paul Jones - bass. John Bonham - drums.  The mighty Led Zeppelin.  Page and Jones have been around the British music scene as studio musicians and Page was also a member of The Yardbirds - check out their 1967 album LITTLE GAMES to hear early Jimmy.  Jones actually did orchestral arrangements on some of those psychedelic era Rolling Stones songs, among other things.  So we get two veterans meeting up with two unknown kids from Birmingham named Plant and Bonham and Led Zeppelin is born.  Over a twelve year period, they would stage massive hedonistic arena and stadium tours, release eight studio albums exploring all different kinds of musical influence and pioneering this thing called heavy metal.  Jimmy Page will evoke Crowley and put a spell on me for stating that last part as he refuses to have anything to do with metal, but from a sound point of view, Zeppelin unquestionably made rock heavier - even though only a small handful of their songs actually classify as metal.  Which takes us to their first album, 1969’s LED ZEPPELIN.

      I am going to make a controversial statement here.  Even though I enjoy the first Zeppelin album more so than not, it is my least favorite Zeppelin album, not including CODA.  There is a lot to recommend for this album, but my relatively low ranking of the first Zeppelin album really boils down to one thing - songwriting.  A person’s love for this album really depends on how much one loves the blues.  There is A LOT of blues on this album.  If you read my Black Sabbath discussion, you’ll notice I state their first album as being my second to least favorite of the Ozzy years.  Well, that album is Sabbath’s most blues based as well.  Zeppelin, even more so than Sabbath, were really neck deep into the blues and a lot of these songs are covers.  I just happen to prefer the advancements both bands made as they marched towards the mid 70’s, which is where you’ll eventually notice a certain year I consider a landmark for both bands.  So my track by track opinions of course boil down to a personal taste, heavy metal mindset that can appreciate certain other styles of music.  Take it with a grain of salt.

       One other thing I want to add - the sound of this album is amazing.  This is in the early days of stereo mixing and Jimmy Page as a producer was certainly at the forefront of making headphone worthy mixes.  Even the tracks I consider lesser on this album all sound great.  Interesting mixes and instrumentation throughout, a great sounding album.  Oh, and as far as the heaviness?  This may not be metal songwriting (for the most part), the sound of those Jimmy Page rhythm guitars was massive for the time as was the sound of thunder coming from Mr. John Bonham.  About the hardest hitting drummer you will find.  Now onto the songs.

      “Good Times Bad Times” starts the Zeppelin journey and is one of the few original songs on the album.  It’s a pop song - but a damn good one.  I’ve always enjoyed this one.  Listen to Bonham’s complicated kick drum pattern in the beginning.  He’s doing that with one foot, which is really hard to do.  Page wouldn’t allow double bass drums in Zeppelin for some reason.  The riff is really cool and written by John Paul Jones.  The story goes if the riff in Zeppelin has a lot of notes, a good chance JPJ wrote it.

      “Babe I’m Gonna Leave” you is the acoustic folk moment on the album and is a cover.  I’ve always loved this side of Zeppelin and this song is another classic.  The dynamic shifts between the verses and chorus are very pronounced and emotional.  It’s awesome how Jimmy makes it really heavy during the chorus while maintaining an acoustic sound and Plant’s vocals are incredible throughout.  A classic for sure.

      “You Shook Me.”  Now we’re into the blues, a Willie Dixon cover.  Page’s guitar and Plant’s vocals are great and it saves what to me is such a repetitive song.  Jones is on the organ here and I think for this one, I’d rather hear some bass.  The groove and chord progression lack variety and while that may be a plus to some, it kind of bores me after a while.  Jeff Beck’s TRUTH album is a must listen for fans of this album.  Released six months before this, there is also a cover of “You Shook Me” I like a little better.  A more playful Rod Stewart vocal and bass from Ron Wood.

       “Dazed and Confused.” Another blues cover, but man, this one is interesting.  Totally heavy and something Page was working on stage developing back in The Yardbirds days.  There is YouTube footage of him playing this with The Yardbirds for proof.  Iconic bass intro and just a really heavy tone.  Those riffs when the song gets heavy are way ahead of their time and of course the song gets psychedelic in the middle.  The latter part will REALLY get developed further live and we’ll discuss that with THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME.

      “Your Time Is Gonna Come.”  Eh, never cared for this one.  Just a regular pop song to me, but I do like some of the percussion and acoustic acoustic guitar choices throughout.  This is what I mean when I say the production keeps what I perceive to be the less musically interesting songs pleasing to the ear.

      “Black Mountain Side” is a brief Jimmy Page acoustic number with some Indian style percussion backing him up.  Pretty cool, I’ve always enjoyed Page’s acoustic playing and this is no exception.  Flirting with Eastern sounding music and this will continue is future recordings. 

      “Communication Breakdown.”  Now we’re talking!  Instead of beefing up the blues, here we get forward thinking songwriting.  That machine gun like rhythm guitar is both a precursor to punk rock and thrash metal and more recently after this, Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.”  A total classic, love it.

     “I Can’t Quit You Baby” Another blues based Willie Dixon cover.  For years I have preferred the live BBC recording that shows up on CODA and I still stand by that.  However, upon recent listen, this studio version resonated with me more than usual.  A nice bit of atmosphere, sounds like 1 AM in a smoke filled pool hall.

      “How Many More Times”. Catchy and repetitive swinging bass riff that gets doubled by loud guitars and the occasional crashing chords for several minutes before going into another feedback drenched psychedelic bit followed by “The Hunter” part - which cops another blues standard.  Hell, even Blue Cheer covered “The Hunter” a year prior.  Fantastic Plant vocals throughout, the lesson from these lyrics is boys, keep your fly up or you’ll go broke.  Classic heavy blues rock here.

      So yes, a good album overall, but again, like Sabbath, I like it when they get a bit more adventurous.  Not that there isn’t some adventure here in the production and sound.  Definitely cutting edge for early 1969.

     

 


     
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline HomokHarcos

"Good Times Bad Times" sounds like it was created to be the hit of the album, it is short and efficient. I wouldn't have noticed that there was only one bass drum.

"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" is the song I've heard the most on this album. I thought the guitar was memorable, partly because it sounds a lot like Chicago's "25 04 6 to 4" the riff is almost the same. I'm aware that Chicago's song came after, but that was what I first heard. I think I prefer the Led Zeppelin song.

"You Shook Me Up" went on for too long. I thought it was good at first, but it ended up wearing out its welcome since it didn't have much change throughout the song.

"Dazed and Confused" was my favorite song on the album. The one guitar riff that plays throughout reminds me of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid". The drums in that section make it really good. The guitar solo in the middle of the song also reminds me of what we heard throughout the Paranoid album.

"Your Times is Gonna Come" and "Black Mountain Side" were the weak points on the album. The former is not up the the standards of the rest of the album and the latter sounds like filler. I was expecting it to build up to a climax but it never did.

"Communication Breakdown" sounds most like what we'll hear later from Zeppelin. "I Can't Quit You Baby" sounds like a song they were probably playing when they first started out. The guitar certainly sounds bluesy.

"How Many More Times" is a cool jam-like song that is much better than "You Shook Me Up" earlier in the album. It didn't feel like it it lasted as long as it was. The guitar was fun.

What's surprised me most is aside from "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" I was not familiar with the songs on the album.


Offline metaldams

I’m a bit surprised you haven’t heard at least “Dazed and Confused,” which is a pretty famous one.  I agree about the guitar in the middle being like “Paranoid.”  Actually, the riff is pretty similar, though in a different key.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Umbrella Sam

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I know I said I probably wouldn’t take part in this discussion, but I still wanted to give this a chance because I know Led Zeppelin does have such a large following, and I’ve also had instances in the past where I came to enjoy something I didn’t initially. Keep in mind, I didn’t really watch Laurel and Hardy for years due to how much I hated ATOLL K on first viewing, and now I not only really enjoy their work, but even found ATOLL K better than I remembered.

So I listened to LED ZEPPELIN and, sure enough, there were actually a lot of things I liked about it. Even though it’s not a major part, I find I actually enjoyed the acoustic work the most. Is “Babe I’m Gonna Miss You” really played that much? I really wish I had heard it previously, because I really enjoyed it; it has that quieter acoustic feel, but when it changes to the harder rock style, it really does feel completely natural. I also really liked “Your Time Is Gonna Come”. Maybe I’m missing something you guys are seeing, but I felt it sounded the most unique of all the songs here, again with a heavy acoustic focus while also featuring a really great organ intro.

“Dazed and Confused” is also really cool with its screeching guitar sounds throughout, and “Communication Breakdown”, “How Many More Times” and “Good Times Bad Times” were all pretty solid. I have to agree with HomokHarcos that “You Shook Me” is too long and not helped by a very generic blues riff, and both “Black Mountain Side” and “I Can’t Quit You Baby” feel very forgettable to me.

So, yeah, I actually did enjoy a good amount of this. Looking forward to exploring more into this.
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Offline HomokHarcos

I know I said I probably wouldn’t take part in this discussion, but I still wanted to give this a chance because I know Led Zeppelin does have such a large following, and I’ve also had instances in the past where I came to enjoy something I didn’t initially. Keep in mind, I didn’t really watch Laurel and Hardy for years due to how much I hated ATOLL K on first viewing, and now I not only really enjoy their work, but even found ATOLL K better than I remembered.
If you like the acoustic work best you'll probably like their third album.


Offline metaldams

If you like the acoustic work best you'll probably like their third album.

That’s an album I can’t wait to discuss.

Zeppelin and Sabbath are different bands but have some similarities.  Both pioneered harder rock and as the seventies progressed got more diverse in their sound,  Zeppelin gets all the credit in the world for it but only the die hards recognize it with Sabbath, which is unfortunate.  I hope you guys notice the parallels as these albums progress.

Of course, the big difference is Zeppelin called it a day in 1980 while Sabbath went on forever with a zillion line up changes.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Shemp_Diesel

When I think of my favorite Led Zeppelin album, for me this album seems to fall in the middle of the pack, tied with the legendary fourth album. No slight on those albums at all, it just speaks to the level that I have at least 3 Zeppelin albums ranked above them (HOTH, PG and ITTOD). That might make for some controversial opinion, but I remember loving those other albums because of their uniqueness & the "light and shade" as I've heard Jimmy and Robert refer to it, when it comes to the musical variety of Led Zeppelin.

Not that there's anything wrong with an almost blues based album. When I think of debut albums for my favorite bands, I think STP's Core may be the only one to challenge it.

Good Times, Bad Times kicks the album off with style & may be one of the few original compositions on the whole record. I think when I look over the track listing of the whole album, there's nothing here I don't like. Maybe I'll throw out the brief Black Mountain Side as the "weak" track of the album, but then I remember live Zeppelin and how BMS would transition into something even greater.

How Many More Times I think may be my favorite track. I often get stuck picking between that & BIGLY.

Killer first album & amazingly, the 2nd album was just as great & the band would start flexing more of their creative muscle & not just nick the old blues numbers.

9.5 out of 10 rating....
Talbot's body is the perfect home for the Monster's brain, which I will add to and subtract from in my experiments.


Offline metaldams

Maybe I'll throw out the brief Black Mountain Side as the "weak" track of the album, but then I remember live Zeppelin and how BMS would transition into something even greater.

This is what it transitions into.



Out of the three you mentioned, one of those is my favorite.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Shemp_Diesel

I was thinking about the heavy blues influence of this album & it got me to thinking about other bands who were known for the blues. I think early Rolling Stones did a lot of blues based stuff--correct me if I'm wrong--and maybe a band I'm a lot more familiar with, Cream.

I've even been told that early Pink Floyd dabbled in blues based Rock, but I could be wrong about that. I never was much of a fan of the Syd Barrett Era.

They may be "nicking" a lot of old standards on this album, but I'll be damned if they don't rock, anyway. It's almost as if they put their own personal stamp on the old Delta Blues & made it seem original to a first time listener--like I was back when I first bought this CD. Hell, Zeppelin is probably most responsible for me going back and digging into the archives of a lot of the old blues legends like Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, etc....

On their first try, Zeppelin had let the world know they had arrived....
Talbot's body is the perfect home for the Monster's brain, which I will add to and subtract from in my experiments.


Offline metaldams

I was thinking about the heavy blues influence of this album & it got me to thinking about other bands who were known for the blues. I think early Rolling Stones did a lot of blues based stuff--correct me if I'm wrong--and maybe a band I'm a lot more familiar with, Cream.

I've even been told that early Pink Floyd dabbled in blues based Rock, but I could be wrong about that. I never was much of a fan of the Syd Barrett Era.

They may be "nicking" a lot of old standards on this album, but I'll be damned if they don't rock, anyway. It's almost as if they put their own personal stamp on the old Delta Blues & made it seem original to a first time listener--like I was back when I first bought this CD. Hell, Zeppelin is probably most responsible for me going back and digging into the archives of a lot of the old blues legends like Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, etc....

On their first try, Zeppelin had let the world know they had arrived....

With heavy blues, Cream, Hendrix, Blue Cheer, Yardbirds.  The studio part of WHEELS OF FIRE from Cream has parts that sound like they can be in Zeppelin III.  TRUTH from Jeff Beck is a must listen.  Very blues based, predates Zeppelin by several months.  Jimmy Page wrote and plays on “Beck’s Bolero” as does John Paul Jones, who also plays on a few other tracks on the album.

I never got deep into the originals other than an occasional listen.  I should listen to that stuff more.  It’s cool Zeppelin opened you up to that music.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Shemp_Diesel

Dazed and Confused in the early years of Zeppelin may have been the best. I won't get too in-depth, since some of this discussion might be better saved for when the live album comes around, but I think I prefer the shorter, more compact live renditions of "Dazed."

Not that I don't enjoy a lot of the live tracks that got bigger onstage (No Quarter, Trampled Under Foot), I think Dazed may be the exception, rather than the rule--for me, at least....
Talbot's body is the perfect home for the Monster's brain, which I will add to and subtract from in my experiments.


Offline metaldams

Dazed and Confused in the early years of Zeppelin may have been the best. I won't get too in-depth, since some of this discussion might be better saved for when the live album comes around, but I think I prefer the shorter, more compact live renditions of "Dazed."

Not that I don't enjoy a lot of the live tracks that got bigger onstage (No Quarter, Trampled Under Foot), I think Dazed may be the exception, rather than the rule--for me, at least....

When we get to SRTS, I think I’m going to do a catch all post and briefly comment on the post breakup live releases as well.  Yeah, I’ll definitely have an opinion on the almost half hour version of “Dazed and Confused” when we get there.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline metaldams

 


      Album numero dos from the mighty Led Zeppelin and it’s titled accordingly - LED ZEPPELIN II.  In my opinion this makes a nice companion to the first album.  The same way I refer to the first three Black Sabbath albums as their phase one, I refer to the first two Led Zeppelin albums as their phase one.  It’s Zeppelin at their most blues based and basic for the most part, with elements of things to come occasionally rearing their head.  Overall I prefer this to the first album because I think the songs show more focus.  There are not quite as many 12 bar workouts and when there are, there’s a bit more fire.  From a bass player’s perspective, and only a bass player’s perspective, this is my favorite Led Zeppelin album.  Not my favorite in any other way, but John Paul Jones as a bass player was never better than he was here.  JPJ was of course much more than the bass player for Led Zeppelin, he was also an arranger and multi instrumentalist.  Future albums would see him focusing on keyboards, mandolins and various other instruments besides bass, but here, there is a lot of killer bass playing throughout.

      The album opens with a song I’m guessing you guys are familiar with, “Whole Lotta Love.”  I believe their highest charting single at #4, but Zeppelin were defiantly a non singles band after this, even though plenty of their songs get played like crazy on FM radio.  There’s no denying that opening riff and the groove that accompanies it, I defy you not to shake your butt listening to that.  Robert Plant has never been more….virile than he was here.  Yeah, make no mistake about it, the sex aspect is one of the things that separates Zeppelin from Sabbath, who did not really go down the that route.  The middle part of this song is crazy stereo separation and psychedelic noises and Robert Plant being Robert Plant.  A classic and like I said, I’m assuming you guys know this one.

      “What Is and What Should Never Be.” A really cool original song that has some diverging dynamics between the verses and choruses. Some tasty bass playing from JPJ throughout and I love Jimmy’s  guitar solo, really does a great job of telling a story with just music.  Very lyrical.  My favorite part are those chords Page busts out towards the end.  Listen in headphones the way each chord trades off in each speaker, really cool stereo separation.

      “The Lemon Song” This one has the infamous “squeeze my lemon” line which I guess was taken from an old blues standard.  I was listening to some Zeppelin BBC recordings the other night and Plant was throwing that line in all sorts of songs, very off the cuff.  Anyway, the whole band is on fire here and the star is John Paul Jones.  A pure masterclass of 12 bar bass playing that really drives the song.  Simply incredible. 

      “Thank You” Kind of like “Your Time Is Gonna Come” for me on the first album.  I can tell objectively it’s well produced, there are some good dynamic touches, I like Page’s solo, the band plays well, but this studio version just seems a bit flowery for my tastes.  Your mileage may vary.

      “Heartbreaker” Yes!  One of the great early hard rock riffs opens this song.  I love the way it starts at A, modulates to B and then goes back to A and once the verses start, we get those great Plant vocals and thick bass chords backing him up.  The jamming middle section is intense, Bonham tearing up his kit and Page playing his butt off.  Really one of Jimmy’s finer guitar moments and a true classic.

      “Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)” Yes again!  The song starts with an impassioned Robert Plant vocal that gets interrupted with another killer riff.  The band is grooving on this one and this is basically soul cleansing hard rock that just feels good coming out of the speakers.  Another undeniable classic.

      “Ramble On” More great bass playing, very melodic in the verses and bouncy and energetic in the chorus.  Another song with the light and shade, some mellow verses and harder choruses.  Love Page’s melodic licks before hearing back to the verse.

       “Moby Dick”. It’s a 12 bar riff followed by a John Bonham drum solo.  Bonham is absolutely killing it here.  I’m not usually a fan of drum solos but Bonzo is one of the small handful of guys I can listen to.  A lot of dynamic shifts, I’m pretty sure he’s playing bare handed/sans sticks in parts.  Legendary drum solo.

      “Bring It On Home” Starts out with a mellow blues and then goes into that crushing riff.  I remember one time maybe twenty years ago I used to work at a hot wing joint and I brought my bass and amp in cause the boss wasn’t there and a co worker brought his guitar and amp.  He just went into that riff unannounced and I backed him up, completely off the cuff and fun to do in a public place.  Anyway, the verses when heavy have this real funky, rhythmic, syncopated drive to it and things get mellow again for a few bars to end the album.

      I really like this album.  It’s strange, I used to consider this about even with the first album but over the years, 2 has gone up a little for me and 1 down a tad.  I still like them both.  That said, the best stuff, in my opinion, is ahead.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Shemp_Diesel

Doug, I like your description of Zeppelin's early albums--definitely a heavy blues influence on these records. I 'm sure as the albums progress, there is a little bit of the blues on all of them, and their last definitely ended with a blues based number, but I'll expound on that when the time comes.

As far as personal taste, I've always had 2 in a virtual tie with the debut album. I also believe this is the LP that gets the most heavy rotation on FM radio Classic Rock--nothing that has hindered my enjoyment of these tracks.

JPJ definitely stands out on this album (and a few others). The Lemon Song is definitely my favorite track here & the 1,2 punch of Heartbreaker immediately followed by Living Lovin Maid is a close second.

No bad tracks here, I'll just say that "Thank You" definitely has more punch performed live--a statement I could use for many a Led Zeppelin song.

9.5/10...
Talbot's body is the perfect home for the Monster's brain, which I will add to and subtract from in my experiments.


Offline metaldams

Zeppelin II stuff gets played a ton on classic rock radio, but I’d say tracks off a certain Untitled album also fit that claim.

Oh yeah, agreed, Zeppelin always had blues based stuff on later albums.  The difference is these first two albums they were a blues based band who would dip into other sounds.  After this, they used a wider variety of sounds, one of them being blues.

As far as “Thank You” live, agreed. 
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline HomokHarcos

This album was very familiar to me even if I haven't listened to the whole thing many times before, but simply because of how many of these songs get played on classic rock stations. I'm assuming this album was their commercial breakthrough. I've had a strange realization. These first two albums came out in 1969 and The Three Stooges didn't disband until 1970. That means The Three Stooges and Led Zeppelin were once acts during the same time.

"Whole Lotta Love" is a catchy song with a good guitar riff. The psychedelic stuff was pretty cool. "What is and What Should Never Be" had a very blues-like feel. I also noticed a vocal effect used a few times on this album. "The Lemon Song" I think gives us a taste of what Led Zeppelin would have sounded like live in their early days. The jam session feels more like it was tailored for a live performance than a studio recording. It's cool you get to hear them playing like that.

"Thank You" is a pretty unique song on this album; it doesn't sound like the rest. It's also a song I didn't recognize, possibly the only track on this album where that was the case. I like the feeling of this song, it reminds me of some of the early Genesis songs. "Heatbreaker" and "Living Loving Maid"? Both very catchy songs and are what I consider the quintessential Led Zeppelin-style songs and shaped hard rock as a whole. "Living Loving Maid" is my favorite track on this album. Has one of my favorite Zeppelin riffs and the bluesy guitar sections seal the deal. Could listen to this song over and over again.

"Ramble On" I remember mostly because my uncle would use this as an example of why (he thought) Led Zeppelin were the greatest band of all time. The way he put it was most bands are lucky to have one great song, yet this is one of Led Zeppelin's lesser hits but is still better than most music. I'm not necessarily agreeing this is one of their lesser songs. The opening section is very good, and I didn't realize it until recently. I was focused on the chorus which is also excellent, but I like the acoustic guitar verse sections. Probably my favorite part of the song now.

"Moby Dick" seems like it was mostly used to showcase the drummer. That was a good idea because usually they tend to get overshadowed by the rest of the band. No drum machine here. "Bring it On Home" is two things: probably their bluesiest song yet in the verse, and their heaviest yet in the chorus. Another song I didn't notice how cool it was when I first heard it.

I noticed the picture you used looks like a copy of the album cover or booklet. Is that a picture you took yourself?


Offline metaldams

As far as this album being the breakthrough, the first Zeppelin album made the top 10 in most countries and all the other albums made number one or close to it.  So they were a big act from the beginning.

The album covers I take from www.discogs.com.  I think they use pictures of actual albums and frankly, I notice album covers from that web site post easier here.

Too bad Larry couldn’t hang on a little longer, maybe he could’ve played violin on LED ZEPPELIN III.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Shemp_Diesel

The first album went 8x Platinum here in the US & the second sold over 12 million, so they were definitely a juggernaut in their early days.

I wouldn't be surprised if the heavy touring they did of the States also contributed to that...
Talbot's body is the perfect home for the Monster's brain, which I will add to and subtract from in my experiments.


Offline Moose Malloy

Amazing rendition of STAIRWAY  in front of the three surviving members of the group



Offline metaldams

Amazing rendition of STAIRWAY  in front of the three surviving members of the group



That is great, thanks.  Some of the early Heart stuff has a Zeppelin influence and John Paul Jones even produced them in the 90’s.
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline Moose Malloy

Ah ha
 Wilson had lost a bit but the production,  a massive undertaking was powerful and I was moved


Offline Umbrella Sam

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Personally, I think LED ZEPPELIN II is a pretty big improvement over the first album. I liked the first album, but there were some songs I thought were a bit too unfocused and, outside of “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You”, I didn’t find the riffs quite as memorable as the ones here. I like pretty much every song on this album. “Whole Lotta Love” starts things off with a catchy guitar riff and strong vocals from Robert Plant. “What Is and What Should Never Be” kind of reminded me a bit of “Sun King”, mixed with the style of “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You”, where it starts off a ballad, transitions into hard rock mode and back. I really enjoy the fast guitar part in “The Lemon Song”, but agree that the bass playing is the standout on it. As I mentioned in my LED ZEPPELIN review, I actually liked “Your Time Is Gonna Come”, so I also really liked “Thank You”. In fact, I actually kind of preferred it to “Your Time Is Gonna Come”, mostly because I think the vocals are a bit better on it.

I actually recognize “Heartbreaker” and “Living Loving Maid”, yet somehow never knew that they were by Zeppelin. Once again, some really cool bass playing and those riffs are extremely memorable. I’ve mentioned before how much I’ve liked the acoustic playing on these Zeppelin songs, so “Ramble On” is another standout for me. I’m not the hugest fan of long drum solos, so “Moby Dick” is my least favorite song here, but even then, it clearly shows how great of a drummer Bonham was, and once again, I really enjoy the riff here. If it was maybe just a minute shorter, I would probably like it a lot more. “Bring It On Home” ends things with some cool harmonica playing and another transition between musical styles, almost like a passing of the torch from blues to heavier rock.

If this really isn’t considered one of their best albums, then I’m really looking forward to the later ones.
“I’ll take a milkshake...with sour milk!” -Shemp (Punchy Cowpunchers, 1950)

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Offline Shemp_Diesel

The only unfortunate part about the Royal Albert Hall footage from the Led Zeppelin DVD is that Heartbreaker is missing. The thing I probably enjoy most about live Zeppelin is how most songs would get an extended instrumental jam & that song is up there for my personal favorites...
Talbot's body is the perfect home for the Monster's brain, which I will add to and subtract from in my experiments.


Offline metaldams

I’m glad you’re enjoying these albums Sam and Homok.

About Zeppelin II not being considered one of the best, well……

The 4th album is generally considered the best (I think it’s the 5th best selling album of all time), but after that, really any of their first six albums are hailed as classics and are liked just about the same.  After that there is some critical drop off, but Diesel and I may or may not agree with that.  I am going to link to the www.rateyourmusic.com page for Zeppelin, as well as Sabbath and Elton in their respective threads.  This is basically the IMDb for albums and is a really valuable site. 

https://rateyourmusic.com/artist/led-zeppelin
- Doug Sarnecky


Offline metaldams