Once again, here we are in the perpetually listening to every record in my collection alphabetically and blogging unscholarly thoughts project. This installment stars Led Zeppelin.
Once upon a time, I published an unscholarly review of every album by Rush. It was fun, so I thought I’d do the same thing with Led Zeppelin, but I grew tired of my writing. Actually, I reminded myself of C. Montgomery Burns, in the closing lines of his memoir (The Simpsons, “Will There Ever Be a Rainbow?”), so I was grossed out by my writing, and stopped.
Anyway, so here we are with just a few Led Zeppelin LPs. Rather than the complete anything, just a few.
Led Zeppelin – We were talking a little bit about the opening moments on an album in today’s The Music of Stevie Wonder that I teach at Berklee. “Love’s in Need of Love Today” is such a fantastic and special way of bringing in the listener. The opening moments of Led Zeppelin are like that too, I think; different emotions, but similar effect. The back and forth between the guitar and drums capture my attention and make me wonder what is about to happen. What I love about this record is the feeling that this band is just about to be awesome. They are caught between the identity of the post-Yardbirds and the Led Zeppelin of the next record. Blues band? Rock band? English blues rock band? Hard rock? It’s all in play. And on this record, John Paul Jones is essential, but he’s not the astonishing genius that we are about to hear.
Led Zeppelin II – An astonishing album, by pretty much any measure. Each track is its own universe, somehow contributing to the whole, leaving the listener (me, anyway) blown away by the strength and breadth of the music, and the depth of the musicianship. Plant sounds great, Page sounds just like himself, Bonham is thunderous, and John Paul Jones is a genius.
As for the tracks, I was never really a fan of “Whole Lotta Love”, but moments like the beginning of the development section (as if this were sonata form), Plant says “now, remember…”, or the reverb on the bell of Bonham’s cymbal are things I look forward to hearing every time. I don’t need to listen to Plant’s panting, though.
Right after “Whole Lotta Love,” the John Paul Jones Rules Festival begins. What he plays on “What Is and What Should Never Be” and on “The Lemon Song” is amazing, and the kind of thing that bassists since then have been doing their best to learn. I know I spent hours working on it back in the day. The lines are strong and functional, but also beautiful, with wonderful melodic elements. The rest of these two tunes are great, too (although, again, I don’t really need to hear Plant sing “Squeeze my lemon” or “Squeeze me babe, ’til the juice runs down my leg”), but for me, John Paul Jones is the reason to listen to these songs, and captures my attention for the rest of the record.
And the rest of the record is great! “Ramble On”? C’mon, that’s awesome. As for the drum solo, let’s just say this: “Moby Dick” beats (Cream’s) “Toad” every time.
Led Zeppelin III – My favorite. Each track is awesome, and each track showcases a different direction and set of musical challenges and opportunities. It obviously took amazing musicians to make a record like this one. No, there aren’t as many “hits” on this record, but it’s worth checking out, deeply. John Paul Jones!
Led Zeppelin IV (ZOSO) – So much has been written about this landmark recording it’s hardly worth mentioning anything. My favorite track is “When the Levee Breaks”.
Houses of the Holy – Left turn. Strange vocal effects, weird James Brown reference, what ever a “D’Yer Mak’er” is, and the iconic album cover. But then there is also the incredible songwriting and flawless performance of these songs. “Rain Song” and “No Quarter” are masterpieces, and there are time warps all over the place on this record – when you think the meter is one thing, but it isn’t. Great record, but for me, this is also the beginning of the end. I don’t have an LP copy of “The Song Remains the Same”, the live album after this, nor do I have “Physical Graffiti” and although it sounds sacrilegious, I don’t own them because I don’t like them. But there is a weird record to follow that I DO like. And let’s not forget that John Paul Jones is amazing.
Presence – Of the later Led Zep albums, this is actually my favorite, even though it’s pretty widely vilified. I go against the grain, I guess. For me, the wildly unfocused, musically debauched universe of Physical Graffiti makes that album virtually unlistenable. That’s funny. Do I prefer the sound of, like, a dentist’s drill over Physical Graffiti? Not really. But it’s still not that happening. Presence is focused, even with the throw away track “Candy Store Rock” (preview of Honeydrippers to come). It has the sound of struggle, which I like, and comes from the biography pretty clearly. Plant was all kinds of messed up after that tragic car accident, and Bonham was drinking too much, and Page was…something involving Alister Crowley probably. But who is amazing the whole time? John Paul Jones. “Achilles Last Stand” has some of the most shredding John Bonham on record, I think.
I’m missing a bunch of records. I don’t have LP versions of The Song Remains the Same or Physical Graffiti or In Through the Out Door or Coda. That’s ok. These are my favorite Led Zep records anyway.