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Post by B.E. on Oct 13, 2019 16:23:43 GMT
Led Zeppelin II - 7/10 This may be an unpopular opinion, but I actually prefer Led Zeppelin I. I can't deny the creative growth of the group or the incredible musicianship, but I suppose the songs just aren't as memorable to me. Also, I'm not as interested in guitar riffs as you might expect a Led Zeppelin fan to be. It's just one element of a song and the (over) emphasis can actually become a distraction at times. Case in point, the "sloppy mess of a solo" in "Heartbreaker". That's my least favorite part of the song. Speaking of solos, I have no need for 3 minute drum solos. But, when the band comes back in at the end of "Moby Dick", I love the drum fills. Another misstep, in my opinion, is the experimental break in "Whole Lotta Love". I'd say that's probably their most overrated song through Led Zeppelin IV. Even "What Is And What Should Never Be" doesn't quite live up to its reputation. I hate to seem so critical, but I'm just trying to explain where this album misses the mark for me. Undoubtedly, my favorite song is "Ramble On". I'm also really high on "Living Loving Maid" and "Thank You". I agree with Kapitan on John Paul Jones' bass playing. Incredible! Your singling out of "The Lemon Song" and "What Is And What Should Never Be" is right on the money. Though, I also want to mention "Ramble On". His bass playing is so integral to that track. And, yes, I appreciate the muted percussion as well. The best has yet to come...
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 13, 2019 16:45:54 GMT
Another misstep, in my opinion, is the experimental break in "Whole Lotta Love". I'd say that's probably their most overrated song through Led Zeppelin IV....The best has yet to come... Two sentiments with which I agree entirely! (Speaking of which, I just listened to III to get myself ready to talk about that one.)
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 16, 2019 11:01:57 GMT
On this day in 1968, the New Yardbirds played their first show.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 18, 2019 13:59:48 GMT
Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin III, 1970
Often referred to as the band’s acoustic album, or a foray into folk, I often wonder which is more likely: did these people not listen to Led Zeppelin III, or did they not listen to Led Zeppelin’s first two albums?
One suspects that, as usual, critics are tied up in the narrative more than the sounds. And after a grueling first few years on the road, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page famously retreated to the Welsh cottage Bron-Yr-Aur, to write new material for this album. The full group then rehearsed at Headley Grange—a mansion as opposed to the no-electricity cottage where songs had been written—in preparation for recording. Quiet settings in the country? Must be a quiet album!
The protometal opener “The Immigrant Song” is the perfect antithesis of a pastoral folk tune, truly the hammer of the (Nordic) gods. Valhalla, I am coming, indeed. What a riff! What a shriek! “Celebration Day” is another rocker, this one with a bizarre distorted electric slide guitar part and an inside-out sort of rhythm that keeps it off-kilter … right up until a powerful, near singalong chorus: “my my I’m so happy I’m gonna join the band!”
Speaking of off kilter, “Out on the Tiles” is enough to make a fella fall down. The riff is almost dizzying, and it doesn’t help when the time changes throw off the beat. But as with “Celebration Day,” the refrain straightens it all out into a pure rocker.
There is of course a softer side, if not always exclusively (or even particularly) acoustic. “Gallow’s Pole” is an old English folk song given new life with a veritable kitchen sink of an arrangement: acoustic guitars, electric guitars, banjo, mandolin, electric bass… That doubled line of bass and banjo during the “hangman, hangman” refrain is genius.
“Tangerine” is among the prettier songs the band ever released, a simple song in the time-tested “(mostly) acoustic song in G” tradition! But that electric guitar solo has a menacing tone, heavily distorted with loads of echo atop a (as usual) brilliant bass part, entirely opposite the rest of the song.
Immediately thereafter, “That’s The Way” continues the softer vibe, based on a nontraditional tuned guitar part—a Page specialty—with the prominent electric guitar with wah as “pedal steel” that dominates this album.
And there’s always “Since I’ve Been Loving You.” It’s just a minor blues, nothing special as a song, but what a performance. As a personal note, I probably spent a year of my life absorbing and playing along these lines, hearing and emulating Page’s use of light and dark, soft and loud, slowed and rushed lines. The only problem I have is one Page himself pointed out in his comments about the ‘90s remasters: there was a squeak in the kick-drum pedal that, once you hear, you cannot unhear. It becomes the loudest noise on the track!
III is one of the band’s best even though it lacks a “Whole Lotta Love” or a “Stairway to Heaven.” One song after another does its job setting the mood, building, releasing, hammering home, relaxing again. It’s a masterpiece. Perhaps the time off touring and year to prepare and release it did the band some good.
The public thought so, too: it went to #1 in both the UK and US, and while its sales dropped after an initially positive reception, it eventually went 6x platinum.
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Post by kds on Oct 18, 2019 15:45:59 GMT
LZIII is my favorite Led Zeppelin album. I don't think any of their albums show off their talent more. You've got the hard rock of the Immigrant Song and Out on the Tiles. The blues Since I've Been Loving You. The mellow songs like That's the Way and Tangerine, the later has become one of my all time favorites in recent years. Then, there are the acoustic, folkier rockers Gallow's Pole and Friends.
I actually got into a lot of the material from III via the Page / Plant Unledded / No Quarter show that was broadcast on MTV in the fall of 1994, as I was starting high school. They performed great versions of Friends and Since I've Been Loving You, as a version of Gallow's Pole was even a hit.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 18, 2019 20:48:23 GMT
I actually got into a lot of the material from III via the Page / Plant Unledded / No Quarter show that was broadcast on MTV in the fall of 1994, as I was starting high school. They performed great versions of Friends and Since I've Been Loving You, as a version of Gallow's Pole was even a hit. I had been a fan for four or five years by then, but I also really enjoyed that show and even the subsequent Walking Into Clarksdale album to some extent. (Of course, I even liked Coverdale/Page.)
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 18, 2019 21:04:54 GMT
Spectacular album. Maybe my favorite opening three songs of any Led Zep album. A tremendous showcase for the writing talents of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant...their versatility. Again it was frightening to hear Zeppelin on AM radio with "Immigrant Song", and it clocks in at only 2:26. Other than "Hats Of To Roy Harper" almost every song on Led Zeppelin III has carved out a niche of its own, they've become classics..."Gallows Pole", "Tangerine", "Celebration Day", "Since I've Been Loving You"...I even love "Friends". It would've made a great album opener!
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 19, 2019 1:51:34 GMT
Maybe my favorite opening three songs of any Led Zep album.
That is saying a lot! This band was very good at sequencing. (I feel funny pointing that you to you, considering your particular interest and talent in that art.)
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 19, 2019 6:03:36 GMT
Maybe my favorite opening three songs of any Led Zep album.
That is saying a lot! This band was very good at sequencing. (I feel funny pointing that you to you, considering your particular interest and talent in that art.) Ha ha. I have to clarify my comment. Maybe I was misleading by using the term "opening". "Immigrant Song", "Friends", and "Celebration Day" might be my three favorite opening songs on a Led Zeppelin album. I love all three; they're among my favorite Led Zep songs period. They just happen to be the first three songs on the album, I don't necessarily agree with their sequencing.
Because of the excellent writing in this thread and the Queen and KISS threads, I've tried to refrain from my silly sequencing theories, not wanting to muddy the water or distract. At least not yet. I'll simply say this. I would've opened Led Zeppelin III with "Friends", "Celebration Day", and "Out On The Tiles", in that order. "Friends" is the perfect opener. It's like dropping the needle on the beginning of the album. You then begin eavesdropping on the session. You can hear, you can feel the musicians, the friends, in the room, in the studio. Jimmy starts strumming and we're off on the journey. Come on along, Robert, and bring the strings, too. The song comes to a climax, the airplane takes off and we're flying now. It's a celebration day!
I only have one more sequencing idea that I feel strongly about, and I'll be sharing that shortly.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 19, 2019 15:00:29 GMT
I say get those sequencing suggestions out there: the writing (good or bad) in someone else's post doesn't need to keep you from saying what you've got to say.
Personally I do think the sequencing on Zep III is great. I love it as-is.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 19, 2019 15:53:38 GMT
OK, but I only have two different sequences - for Led Zeppelin III and Led Zeppelin IV:
Led Zeppelin III
Side 1 1. Friends 2. Celebration Day 3. Out On The Tiles 4. Since I've Been Loving You 5. Immigrant Song
Side 2 1. Tangerine 2. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp 3. Hats Off To (Roy) Harper 4. Gallows Pole
5. That's The Way
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Post by B.E. on Oct 20, 2019 0:51:46 GMT
Led Zeppelin III - 9/10
You know, I've never had a favorite Led Zeppelin song. I guess I just never bothered to try to choose between the 15 or so songs that I thought were equally great. Well, today, "Since I've Been Loving You" came for the crown. I had a lot of work to do outside, so I just had this album on repeat, and each time I listened, it became clearer and clearer - this is my favorite group performance (and quite possibly, as a result, my favorite song). Is there a better Plant vocal? Is there a better Page guitar solo? And I love the drumming, too. Perfect.
This album is so great I considered giving it a 10, but I think it fizzles out a bit. "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" and "Hats Off To (Roy) Harper", back-to-back, to end the album, just doesn't quite live up to everything that came before it. "Hats Off To (Roy) Harper" probably could have used a trim. Doesn't it kind of remind you guys of ending Led Zeppelin II with "Bring It On Home"? Similar feel. Significant usage of vocal effects. Not exactly ending on the highest of notes.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 20, 2019 0:56:16 GMT
I really don't like "Hats Off (to Roy Harper)" at all. I basically never listen to it. But I do like "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp" quite a bit.
"Since I've Been Loving You" is indeed so great! Am I alone in being bothered by that kick-drum pedal squeak, though? Seriously!? (Don't get me wrong: it "bugs me to death" in a very, very nonlethal way...)
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Post by B.E. on Oct 20, 2019 1:11:12 GMT
Other than "Hats Of To Roy Harper" almost every song on Led Zeppelin III has carved out a niche of its own, they've become classics..."Gallows Pole", "Tangerine", "Celebration Day", "Since I've Been Loving You"...I even love "Friends".
A few months ago, I listened through Zeppelin's discography for the first time in years. This album was my biggest surprise! It's not that I was unfamiliar with the songs, it's just that I hadn't formed as strong of an association between the individual songs and their inclusion on Led Zeppelin III. For whatever reason, my most listened to Zeppelin albums growing up were I, IV, and Physical Graffiti. Over the last ten years or so, unbeknownst to me, I've been getting a heavy dose of III on classic rock radio. It's damn near a greatest hits album! I had kind of forgotten about "Friends". I love the strings. What a cool track.
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Post by B.E. on Oct 20, 2019 1:17:47 GMT
"Since I've Been Loving You" is indeed so great! Am I alone in being bothered by that kick-drum pedal squeak, though? Seriously!? (Don't get me wrong: it "bugs me to death" in a very, very nonlethal way...)
I've never noticed it! And I made a mental note not to listen for it. Not sure if that's gonna work.
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