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Post by kds on Nov 4, 2019 20:19:38 GMT
Yeah, is there a Zeppelin album that has received as much radio airplay as Led Zeppelin IV? I don't think so. "Over The Hills And Far Away", "D'yer Maker" and maybe "Dancing Days" would qualify Houses Of The Holy but I still think IV is the most played. I'd agree with that. And it's also the only Zeppelin album where I've heard every track, with varying degrees of regularity, on rock and classic rock radio over the years.
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Post by B.E. on Nov 5, 2019 18:20:45 GMT
Led Zeppelin IV - 9/10 I'm tempted to bump that rating up to a 10, as I think this might be the top of the "rock" mountain! When I think of Led Zeppelin and (hard) rock, it's "Black Dog", "Rock And Roll", and "Misty Mountain Hop" that I hear. This is it! The sound of this album, the consistency, the attention to detail amidst the raucous performances, it's for all-time. Objectively, when I look for reasons as to why I think this album is better than III, and the rest of their catalog, it largely rests on the consistency in sound and quality. Side 1 of IV, for instance, I believe is Zeppelin's strongest side of music. Also, name me one other album with a stronger opener/closer combo. Seriously, I'm challenging you. Whether we use "Black Dog" and "When The Levee Breaks" or SJS's "Rock And Roll" and "Stairway To Heaven", IV wins, easily! Surprisingly, looking back, Zeppelin's closers typically weren't highlights of their albums. To me, IV is the epitome of an album that you can, blissfully, listen to in its entirety. While I find the sequencing very effective (if not perfect), it has more to do with the consistently excellent quality of each track (the only misstep for me is "Four Sticks", and a minor one, at that). As a result, the album feels short, despite being 42 minutes long (which is the top end of what I consider optimal). I listened to it yesterday, twice. I was compelled to. There's another album that we've yet to get to that I might prefer by the slightest of margins, but don't expect me to argue it's "better" than this one! ( major spoiler alert: there's just more of it, like my favorite Beatles album, The Beatles.)
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Post by kds on Nov 5, 2019 18:58:51 GMT
Also, name me one other album with a stronger opener/closer combo. Seriously, I'm challenging you. The Who - Who's Next (Baba O Reilly / Won't Get Fooled Again) Deep Purple - In Rock (Speed King / Hard Lovin' Man) Rainbow - Rising (Tarot Woman / Light in the Black)
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Post by B.E. on Nov 5, 2019 19:06:32 GMT
Also, name me one other album with a stronger opener/closer combo. Seriously, I'm challenging you. The Who - Who's Next (Baba O Reilly / Won't Get Fooled Again) Deep Purple - In Rock (Speed King / Hard Lovin' Man) Rainbow - Rising (Tarot Woman / Light in the Black) I was referring to Zeppelin albums, but this could be a thread of its own (if it's not already). Regardless, I agree about Who's Next. That's an all-time great combo. I can't say I'm familiar with In Rock or Rising.
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Post by kds on Nov 5, 2019 19:19:51 GMT
The Who - Who's Next (Baba O Reilly / Won't Get Fooled Again) Deep Purple - In Rock (Speed King / Hard Lovin' Man) Rainbow - Rising (Tarot Woman / Light in the Black) I was referring to Zeppelin albums, but this could be a thread of its own (if it's not already). Regardless, I agree about Who's Next. That's an all-time great combo. I can't say I'm familiar with In Rock or Rising. Ah, well then you got me there.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 6, 2019 15:49:44 GMT
Anybody think Jimmy copped "Taurus" from Spirit in writing "Stairway To Heaven"?
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 6, 2019 15:57:37 GMT
Anybody think Jimmy copped "Taurus" from Spirit in writing "Stairway To Heaven"? 100% I think he did.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 7, 2019 12:36:51 GMT
Jimmy Page explains the album title/cover:
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Post by kds on Nov 7, 2019 13:11:39 GMT
Anybody think Jimmy copped "Taurus" from Spirit in writing "Stairway To Heaven"? Jimmy Page was never afraid to take credit for somebody else's work, so probably.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 13, 2019 0:52:14 GMT
Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy (1973)
It took them a while to get there—about a year and a half delay after having churned out four in four years—but Zeppelin released yet another titan after IV, a commercial blockbuster, an artistic triumph, an album of epics from a band of epics.
Houses of the Holy is the album that teenage me anointed their best after moving on from IV (because we’ve all got that bit of hipster in us, don’t we? Where the most popular “best” just can’t be the best for you anymore?). It’s short in terms of the number of songs, but its eight songs go broad and deep.
The cover, questioned of course in these uncharitable days, is a perfect representation of some vague, pagan quest of innocents ascending toward some grand unknown It. That is the music! “The Song Remains the Same” is huge, an expansive, brilliant kitchen sink sort of sonic stuff. What do you call this music? It bounces, it rocks, it feels deep, it feels stupid. Robert Plant’s vocals wail (tape-sped enhancements contributing). Jimmy Page’s guitars, my god! Guitar upon guitar upon guitar. Section after section. Sound after sound. Riff after riff. What had been hinted at before was realized now and henceforth.
“The Rain Song” is the yang to that yin, but similar otherwise. Page’s open-tuned guitar(s) layered upon one another and alongside John Paul Jones’s beautiful, classically informed mellotron, make for a masterpiece. “No Quarter,” a Fender Rhodes-driven Viking saga of sorts and the classic radio staple “Over the Hills and Far Away,” the best known song on the album as certified by no lesser authorities than Beavis and Butthead (“Hey Butthead, I like the part where it goes, da-dahh, da-duh…da-dahh, da-duh…da-dahh, da-duh”), is a great representation of the dark-and-light, soft-and-loud, acoustic-and-electric dichotomy (and more) of Zeppelin.
The other songs are from another kind of planet entirely. If these four were epics, the others were jokes, mostly, or quirky at the very least. “D’Yer Mak’er” must be the least understood joke in American history, but it’s also a catchy-as-hell little British rock reggae tune that’s fun to sing. Oh oh oh oh oh oh, indeed.
“The Crunge” and “The Ocean” seem scientifically designed to confuse would-be dancers, dropping beats here and there or shifting into seven-eight just because they can. What kind of James Brown, or doo-wop, is in seven? “Dancing Days” is also not quite the typical dance song, and there’s something funny in Plant’s deadpan, nearly monotone melody: dancing days are here again … I’ve got my flower, I’ve got my power.” Don’t over-emote, now, Bob…
The album was huge. Number one in America and the UK and Canada and Australia. Eleven times platinum in the US.
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Post by kds on Nov 13, 2019 15:01:03 GMT
There was a time when Houses of the Holy was probably my favorite LZ album, but that was before I gravitated to III.
Still a great album though. No Quarter has become my favorite track, with it's Pink Floyd "Echoes" - ish intro.
While I get the joke behind the title of D'yer Maker, the popularity of the song sort of bewilders me. For all the great songs in their canon, I'm often taken aback how often D'yer Maker and the later song Fool in the Rain get spun on classic rock radio.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 13, 2019 15:30:04 GMT
Wow, KDS, we diverge yet again. I sort-of agree about “D’yer Mak’er,” at least in that it doesn’t warrant canonical status. It’s a joke song, basically. But those “oh oh ohs” in the verses and the guitar part are insanely catchy. Great? No. Catchy? Yes. But “Fool in the Rain,” which we’ll get to in more detail later, I really like a lot. Love, even. Especially the semi-instrumental break, which shows off Bonham’s and Jones’s insane talents. (And it’s yet another joke song. OOOH, maybe that’s it! KDS hates jokes!) I’m unapologetically on board for “Fool in the Rain” and most all of In Through the Out Door, for that matter.
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Post by kds on Nov 13, 2019 15:41:18 GMT
I don't mind joke songs, but they're typically not my favorites. And it's odd to me that jokey songs would get the nod over gems like Tangerine or Down by the Seaside by radio programmers. That would be like Bring Back That Leroy Brown getting airplay over Killer Queen.
Also, we're getting ahead of ourselves, but I'd like Fool in the Rain much better if it were three minutes instead of six.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 13, 2019 18:26:30 GMT
Also, we're getting ahead of ourselves, but I'd like Fool in the Rain much better if it were three minutes instead of six. I agree completely with that. I almost always would vote to trim songs over 4 minutes, frankly. Not always, but usually.
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Post by kds on Nov 13, 2019 18:57:57 GMT
Also, we're getting ahead of ourselves, but I'd like Fool in the Rain much better if it were three minutes instead of six. I agree completely with that. I almost always would vote to trim songs over 4 minutes, frankly. Not always, but usually. I typically like long songs. But, I don't care for it when songs hang around a tad too long. Comparing to Queen again, I enjoy Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon, but if it were five minutes instead of just over one, it probably would've been detrimental to the album.
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