Next in the artist catalogue journey. I am fully familiar but I am weirdly going to see a Zeppelin cover band in a few weeks that apparently has a great reputation and thought I should revisit for the first time in quite a few years...

Led Zeppelin I - just about every song on this album has a place and this is certainly a finalist for my favorite Led Zeppelin album as it’s its own sonic journey with the band sort of all over the place mixing in 2 minute rockers with 7 min spacey jams. Good Times Bad Times is a top 5 all time album opener based on the statement it makes alone in 1969. Also criminally unheralded here is How Many More Times, which is perfect Zeppelin stringing the blues and rock power riffs together seamlessly and doing the classic Zeppelin minute and a half on some other song only to perfectly come right back to it. You Shook Me is a great canvas for Page’s style to intermingle with Plant’s scorching vocals. I think now many years later this album gets overlooked for a few future gems but it shouldn’t. A+ album that is leagues beyond when my 15 year old brain discovered them.

which Zep cover band is it?

Get the Led Out

Led Zeppelin II - so many flashes of greatness on this album yet somehow I don’t think it is a great album. The classics: Whole Lotta Love, What Is and What Should Never Be, Heartbreaker, and Ramble On are great. The Lemon Song is very close to being great without that cringe inducing 15 seconds (the “squeeze my lemon...” bit). Bring It On Home is the unsung hero of the album, and is a great song, especially once you are past the country waltz intro. Living Loving Maid is better than Zep themselves give it credit.

What kills the album for me (and we are talking degree - I still love this album) are two things: (1) Thank You is some bizarre attempt at a song hardcore Zepheads can use for their wedding with a semblance of Street cred though it is cloyingly sappy; and (2) even on the great songs they went too far attempting to show us every trick in their sash on stereo production wizardry which over time comes off as annoying and taxing and detracts from the song itself.

Don't fully agree with this take but find it refreshing and valid. I never thought Plant was much of a lyricist and Thank You just adds to that sentiment.

Well the second album was recorded in chunks in various US cities while they were on tour, because they were being harrassed to put out a new album quickly. Plus it was recorded on 8-track tape, which was already old news by then. So it's a miracle that it came out as good as it did. With all of their other albums, they had the luxury of uninterrupted studio time.

The only Zep album I enjoy front to back is Houses of the Holy. My entire fandom is based on box sets and mixes.

This is fascinating in part because that does not seem obvious from the recording itself.

taxing is the way I would describe Zeppelin I. I haven't listened to that album straight through in 25 years, but I can put on Zeppelin II and play it front to back any day of the week. As for Thank You, I guess it hit me at the right age, because I loved it and still do.

He was talking about the gratuitous stereo panning tricks...not the music itself.

I think the goofy panning goes hand in hand with what I said above. They were limited with the amount of tracks they had, so they had to pan stuff around to keep it somewhat interesting in the stereo department.

It was also mixed by Eddie Kramer, who was Jimi Hendrix's engineer. So keep that in mind, LOL.

I am glad to have opened up some good discussion with this. And with that in mind...

Led Zeppelin III - THIS! Outside of the finale, Hats Off to Roy Harper, this album is pretty much near perfect. The songs rumble along exactly as they should. Jimmy’s use of acoustic guitars throughout is probably my favorite aspect of this album and makes cohesive what is a very eclectic album - at least by Led Zeppelin standards. Your unsung hero here is Out on the Tiles, but everything is pretty much spot on. Tangerine and That’s the Way provide great folksy (for Zeppelin) touches while their version of Gallows Pole soars. Since I’ve Been Loving You made a big impact for me on this listen in it’s straight bluesiness.

I'm a mainstream listener when it comes to late 60's early 70's, so maybe there were things happening in smaller settings that other bands should get credit for, but I can not adequately describe the respect and pride I have for Led Zeppelin absolutely DEFINING the landscape with these first 3 albums (In less than 24 months). Sonically, vocally, production, song writing, tone......They are the kings of rock n roll. Liebzz, so glad you are running through their catalogue!

Wendy, I'd love to hear some of your understanding of how they captured sounds, ie. That's the Way.

Thanks. I have been a fan for more than 25 years, but I haven’t focused in on them since they released the reunion show from the O2. I have also never heard all the albums in a row. I think this is my fifth attempt at that with bands (Springsteen, Neil Young, Tom Petty, r.e.m., and the White Stripes so 6th).

I'm not well versed on most of that stuff because it's unclear to me what was recorded where.

The 3rd & 4th albums (and parts of PG) were recorded at Island Studios in London but they also rented a mobile truck and mansion from Mick Jagger to record other stuff. For example, the drums on When The Levee Breaks were recorded at the top of a huge stairwell. Black Country Woman was recorded in the backyard, hence the airplane flying overhead at the start. A lot of that stuff was then mixed in the United States, where their preferred mixing engineer (Eddie Kramer) was based.

I've never seen them, but everything I've heard has been that they are awesome...was actually hoping that's who you were referring to...they do a couple of shows in my neck of the woods a year and without fail, I have a scheduling conflict that keeps me from being able to go

Yeah, another one called Black Dog is playing nearby for less but I have been hearing about Get the Led Out for about a year.

Led Zeppelin IV - I have a hard time coming up with anything of interest to say about an album so iconic since it’s been digested so thoroughly so many times. This is also the album I have heard the most times in their catalogue and I certainly went through a period of time where I tired of it but it’s been a while.

I do enjoy the double blast of pure hard rock that starts the album in Black Dog and Rock and Roll. Both are just so fantastically focused and direct for a band that sometimes suffers from meandering off course. The way that this album is sequenced is quite good for me because it seems like a very natural progression from song to song. The unsung hero here is Four Sticks, which is the least celebrated but one of my favorites here as it is just a pleasant change of pace every time. When the Levee Breaks is my favorite on the album as a whole though and probably my favorite closing track on a Zeppelin album, save for How Many More Times. Oh, and there’s this song called Stairway to Heaven on this album that many people seem to like. It’s worth a listen.

When the Levee Breaks or gtfo

This band introduced me to drugs before I tried them. Physical Graffiti stairwell drum sound is one of my favorite things in "rock" music

Houses of the Holy - my first impression hearing this after the previous 4 is how polished it sounds in comparison. For the most part, the sound is crisper and the songs themselves seem tighter. How you feel about those things I guess is subjective but it works well for this album in my opinion. That said, the songs that aren’t tight supply some of the best stuff, including a well spaced Rain Song and The Song Remains the Same...not to mention No Quarter which is a real highlight despite it being played so much in my lifetime. Over the Hills and Far Away is still awesome. I quite like The Ocean as well, though I think it is weirdly sequenced to end the album when it would have benefited from the spot The Crunge takes.