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Post by Kapitan on Oct 5, 2019 0:00:55 GMT
What can I say, I'm a sucker for B.E.'s requests. Or at least this one.
The title comes from a bootleg I got of Zeppelin in my college days. Robert Plant famously said in the The Song Remains The Same version of "Stairway to Heaven" at the apropos moment, "and the forests will echo with laughter ... does anybody remember laughter?" Well, I found that on various boots, he said various things in that spot. In one--I think from a 1975 tour, possibly an LA show?--he said "does anybody remember forests?" I've also got one (last tour of Scandinavia, late 70s or 80, maybe) where he leaves it as "does anybody?" Good times, all. One assumes he was in on the joke.
Anyway, we're supposed to discuss each album of the New Yardbirds here. So let's fucking do it. Led Zeppelin I. Go.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 5, 2019 0:52:43 GMT
Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin (I), 1969
A lot of what I said about Queen's debut applies here, with the biggest (non song-specific) differences being that instead of university graduates, these are (half) seasoned professionals with major recording experience. But otherwise, from critical disdain to a debut that's representative of scope but not quality, it mostly fits.
"Good Times, Bad Times" is for me a perfect introduction to the band. It's a riff-driven tune, somehow both knock-off and wildly original at the same time, a sex-leaking Robert Plant and a slightly too clever Jimmy Page co-starring in this first exposure before retreating into covers, some explicit and some stolen. And then ... and then ... well, Led Zeppelin II.
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Post by kds on Oct 5, 2019 0:53:24 GMT
LZ I was a game changer. It set the stage for so much great hard rock in the 70s. Zeppelin enticed Blackmore to bring Ian Gillan into Purple and rock that band up. And without Zeppelin, I doubt we'd have had Rush, Queen, and the eventual invention of heavy metal.
Onto the songs. Good Times Bad Times with that classic riff. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You is probably my favorite LZ song. I think Your Time is Gonna Come is a great early example of how great mellow Zeppelin could be, something for which I don't think they get enough credit.
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Post by B.E. on Oct 5, 2019 2:28:38 GMT
Led Zeppelin I - 8/10 I had a blast revisiting Led Zeppelin earlier this summer after many years of silence. I listened to their studio albums in chronological order. Rating and ranking the songs and albums as I went. I wish I had written down my observations! Oh well, I look forward to listening to each album once more. I'm still not as familiar with their discography, as a whole, as I should be. The window in which I listened to them, extensively, was relatively short. Anyway, the music... I think the consensus, in regard to which songs are the best, is spot on. "Good Times Bad Times", "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", "Dazed And Confused", and "Communication Breakdown" are the best tracks on the album. They also happen to be the four songs selected to open the Best Of Led Zeppelin two-volume compilation (Early Days/Latter Days). This was the compilation I listened to as I was picking up each studio album on CD. I thought it might be fun to scrutinize the track listing as I listened through the discography. So far, so good. My only complaint regarding these particular songs is that "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" sometimes feels a bit too long for my liking and the quiet section of "Dazed And Confused" from 2:05-3:26 drags. I think it should have been truncated. The rest of the track is killer. The guitar playing and drums really standout (even more so than usual!). kds I agree with you on "Your Time Is Gonna Come". It perfectly foreshadows a side of Led Zeppelin that I really enjoy and which would become more prevalent on future albums. I rank the song just slightly below the top 4. I get a very strong Rolling Stones vibe from it. I think it reminds me of "You Can't Always Get What You Want". Though, didn't "Your Time Is Gonna Come" precede it? It's been ages since I listen to the Stones. "You Shook Me" is one of those songs that you love at first, but then just goes on too long. Doesn't the instrumentation remind you guys of L.A. Woman (the album)? "How Many More Times" has some great sections and some boring sections. "I Can't Quit You Baby" just lacks something. I can't quite put my finger on it. Great guitar playing. I'm not sure what to call it, but this "turnaround" really makes the song. It should be cued up.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 5, 2019 13:57:57 GMT
"Goes on too long" is a big issue with this album for me. And while Zep certainly continued to release songs that clocked in at impressive durations, this album's long songs don't really deserve it: they're basically long blues jams or psychedelic improvisations. Fine if you're in that mindset, but not generally what I'd want on a studio album. (This doesn't apply to some of their later, longer songs, where the composition itself just resulted in high running times, as opposed to jamming or sound effects.)
The best things here for me are the more concise numbers.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 5, 2019 14:41:44 GMT
BTW, Robert Plant also famously reprised his "does anybody remember laughter? line at Live Aid.
I'm a Led Zepellin fan but I don't have all of the albums; I'm mostly a comp fan. I do agree with kds that Led Zep set the stage for what was to come. I always thought that Jimmy Page was ahead of his time. He was a fan of early rock and roll and actually cut his teeth playing blues and even pop music, but it was quite creative to record an album comprised of rock, pop, blues, and folk music. And dare I say heavy metal? And this was 1968.
Led Zeppelin I isn't an easy listen for me, probably due to the length of some of the tracks, yet some of the longer songs are the best ones! I read that this album was recorded in a short period of time; the band had been performing and actually rehearsing the material. It shows. The music has a haunting quality. I like that aspect. All of the musicianship is brilliant. Plant's vocals take some getting used to. But this was Jimmy's show. He did produce the album. I guess Led Zeppelin was one of the, if not the first "super groups". They lived up to their reputation here.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 5, 2019 14:51:19 GMT
I believe Cream was considered something of a supergroup when they formed. Blind Faith was another early one (what's with Clapton and supergroups?), but I think a little later than Zep.
You're right about the quick recording. Zeppelin had to go on the road immediately to satisfy Yardbirds contractual obligations, I believe to Scandinavia but also to the USA quite early on. (Maybe not before recording though.) But because they played live on tour first, they had figured out more or less what they were doing and cut the album in something like a few dozen hours of studio time.
Page and Jones were such pros in that context. Had to be tremendously advantageous. I actually think Page is one of the greatest producers of all time for his work on the Zeppelin catalogue. He brought a sense of depth that is mostly absent from previous recordings. Very inventive.
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Post by kds on Oct 9, 2019 19:54:22 GMT
"Goes on too long" is a big issue with this album for me. And while Zep certainly continued to release songs that clocked in at impressive durations, this album's long songs don't really deserve it: they're basically long blues jams or psychedelic improvisations. Fine if you're in that mindset, but not generally what I'd want on a studio album. (This doesn't apply to some of their later, longer songs, where the composition itself just resulted in high running times, as opposed to jamming or sound effects.)
The best things here for me are the more concise numbers.
I didn't mind their longer songs in the studio, but in concert, they'd go on for 20-30 minutes sometimes. That's too much for me.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 9, 2019 22:16:35 GMT
For your viewing and listening pleasure. What a band!
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 10, 2019 13:58:36 GMT
I remember seeing a clip from that performance on MTV when I was a kid, possibly on the "guitar gods" rockumentary episode. It's great what those three instrumentalists could do together, what a glorious racket. Obviously everyone knows and worships John Bonham and Jimmy Page, but John Paul Jones is one of the least heralded, most brilliant rock musicians ever. Even in a simple song like that, what he did on the bass to fill space is worth noting. And that's not getting into his talent on organ, mellotron, mandolin, and (as called out by Robert Plant on their mid-00s live DVD) "triple-necked acoustic instrument."
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 10, 2019 14:53:06 GMT
Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II, 1969
If the band’s debut was a harbinger of things to come, Led Zeppelin II was those things to come. It may not be their best album—though arguably it may well be their best album—but it is certainly a confident and brilliant album that isn’t embryonic in the least. In the span of about 10 months, Led Zeppelin grew up and became themselves.
Considering the circumstances under which the album was conceived and created, that’s remarkable. It should have been a ramshackle, uneven piece of amateurish nonsense: the music was written, recorded, and mixed during an eight-month period that saw the band undertake four European and three American tours. Sessions were held when- and wherever they could in studios of varying qualities. Somehow Jimmy Page (who produced) and engineer Eddie Kramer built a not-just cohesive, but classic album.
The album hit #1 in America, the UK, Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, West Germany. The single “Whole Lotta Love”—released in an unauthorized version by Atlantic without the band’s permission—reached #4, which is a fine placement for a band that never actually released a (authorized) single. As usual for this band, however, critical reception was mediocre at best. Rolling Stone and famed critic Robert Christgau (then of the Village Voice) both claimed the album sounded like one long song (somewhat astounding considering the variety across the album’s tracks).
It should be said this is also a prime example of the band lifting material with dubious accreditation. The opener, “Whole Lotta Love,” is one of their classics … with the issue being it was already one of Willie Dixon’s classics. (After being sued, they eventually settled out of court.) “The Lemon Song” and “Bring It On Home” are also currently at least partially credited to previous writers. It’s an issue that also returned for Zeppelin through the years.
The music, as one would expect from this band, covers a lot of territory: from the thunderous blues-rock of “Whole Lotta Love” to the straight-ahead rock of “Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)” to the sweet and mellow “Thank You,” the group shows off its chops.
On an album with at least four or five all-time classic guitar riffs, it might be out of left field to say so, but the standout instrumentalist here is John Paul Jones on bass and organ. Whether on the double-time section or the guitarless section of “The Lemon Song” or bouncing along in “What Is and What Should Never Be,” Jones (and, though he isn’t known for it, John Bonham) brings a surprising amount of swing. It’s that swing that kept the countless imitators over the years from ever getting it quite right. It’s that swing that was Zeppelin’s secret weapon. This album might be my favorite bass performance of any album, ever.
Of course the band’s dual frontmen, Page and vocalist Robert Plant, are no slouches. It’s here that Plant first contributes songwriting, and Page has said in interviews that he was surprised—and delighted. Sure, there are adolescent, hormone-driven faux blues and Tolkienesque cliches, but there’s also a tender beauty that Page wasn’t capable of in songs like “Thank You.”
Page, well, my god, what do you want? “Whole Lotta Love,” “The Lemon Song,” “Heartbreaker,” “Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman),” “Moby Dick” … name a classic rock-loving guitarist who hasn’t learned these riffs. And in the case of “Heartbreaker,” that glorious, sloppy mess of a solo, something that despite its clumsy picking continues to be worshipped even by far more proficient guitar gods like Steve Vai. It is rock guitar.
As one might expect from the circumstances, there wasn’t much of Page’s production wizardry on display here—the wizardry was mostly spent on making a proper album! (I suppose it’s a near-pun to talk of wizardry from the famously occult-friendly Page, but none intended…) But there are clever moments, such as the muted percussion (hitting a guitar case, maybe?) and sweetly overdubbed lead guitar sounds in “Ramble On” or the mixing-board playground in “Whole Lotta Love.”
Bonham is not forgotten. Sure, “Moby Dick” is the showpiece, but his work throughout is like Jones’s, maybe at its best when nobody notices it. He was not just a basher, but a tasteful, swinging master of the instrument—probably the greatest rock and roll drummer of all time. We could point out examples, but there are nothing but examples.
Each song warrants a lengthy essay, but that’s not something anybody wants from an introductory post (or from me, quite frankly), so I’ll just say again that this album IS Led Zeppelin, a classic album. A canonical album. An essential album.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 11, 2019 13:52:49 GMT
The single “Whole Lotta Love”—released in an unauthorized version by Atlantic without the band’s permission—reached #4, which is a fine placement for a band that never actually released a (authorized) single. It was quite thrilling to be a young kid in 1969/70, listening to some faraway AM radio station on a transistor radio late at night, and "Whole Lotta Love" comes on. It was definitely a WTF moment - in a good way of course.
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Post by kds on Oct 11, 2019 17:02:57 GMT
Much like Queen, Led Zeppelin II is a tad greater than the original self titled album, and a masterpiece.
Almost every song is a classic, with some of the greatest guitar riffs you'll ever hear. Due to just hearing some of the songs too many times, I kinda checked out on Zeppelin for a while. But, I can listen to most of their material now and appreciate it.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 11, 2019 17:21:38 GMT
Due to just hearing some of the songs too many times, I kinda checked out on Zeppelin for a while. But, I can listen to most of their material now and appreciate it. The fun thing about these album discussions--Zep, Queen, and KISS--has been exactly that, revisiting albums I used to listen to CONSTANTLY but frankly haven't given much attention to in years, and in some cases, decades. Yet I'm finding myself singing along to words I haven't heard in forever (and not messing up much), or doing little nods and gestures for this or that musical point. It's a lot of fun to revisit something and find it every bit as great (and as enjoyable!) as ever.
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Post by kds on Oct 11, 2019 17:33:02 GMT
Due to just hearing some of the songs too many times, I kinda checked out on Zeppelin for a while. But, I can listen to most of their material now and appreciate it. The fun thing about these album discussions--Zep, Queen, and KISS--has been exactly that, revisiting albums I used to listen to CONSTANTLY but frankly haven't given much attention to in years, and in some cases, decades. Yet I'm finding myself singing along to words I haven't heard in forever (and not messing up much), or doing little nods and gestures for this or that musical point. It's a lot of fun to revisit something and find it every bit as great (and as enjoyable!) as ever. I honestly can't remember the last time I actually sat and listened to House of the Holy, Physical Graffiti, or In Through the Out Door. Maybe not since high school. So, I may have to revisit them.
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