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.
