Tracks
- Good Times Bad Times
- Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
- You Shook Me
- Dazed and Confused
- Your Time Is Gonna Come
- Black Mountain Side
- Communication Breakdown
- I Can't Quit You Baby
- How Many More Times
Led Zeppelin is a timeless album. This songs are heavy blues-based rock and roll. It's some of the most loudest and heaviest sounding music up to this point of the 1001 Albums list.
There's an intangible quality about both Led Zeppelin, the album, and Led Zeppelin, the band. Like, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin seems to transcend their contemporaries. However, where the Beatles were mostly way ahead of their time, Led Zeppelin was not; they transcend by creating a mood, an atmosphere, an attitude, an aura that makes the music timeless and mysterious.
How does this transcendence emerge?
John Bonham and John Paul Jones are another reason. No one hits the drums harder than John Bonham does or hits as many drums at once. Well, Keith Moon might, but Keith Moon is a wasteful and erratic drummer. John Bonham was very conservative and utilized fills smartly. John Paul Jones is also someone who played his instrument smartly and conservatively. Together, they form a rhythm section like no other.
Robert Plant sings classic blues lines which themselves are eternal and he sings lyrics that are abstract enough and non-contemporary that they can transcend. It would have been curious if Rod Stewart had been the singer rather than Robert Plant. Rod Stewart is just as good, if not better, and has a similar style.
Jimmy Page isn't the most technical, talented or graceful guitarist, but he played what was necessary and nothing more. Jimmy Page was a smart producer. The album is serious and gets to the point immediately. It also stays focused and doesn't stray from it's purpose: which is heavy blues rock. There's nothing extraneous on the album. There's no idle banter, no pointless introductions, and no songs that were half-baked.
Also, the music sounds very compact almost to the point of being claustrophobic. Jimmy knew how to record the instruments. John Bonham is a great drummer, but the drums are recorded just the right way to enhance their power. The music doesn't sound like it was even recorded in a studio. Rather, it emerged from the infinite deep of space.
I don't know if that's how or whether it's all just a bullshit explanation. But, I've thought about it for a long time and that's all I have.
Needless to say, I love this album. I think it's an essential album in any serious album collection. There's not a bad song. It's hard to list any stand outs. I don't believe any stand out more than any other, but certainly Good Times, Bad Times, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, You Shook Me, Dazed and Confused, Communication Breakdown and How Many More Times are the most likely candidates.
★★★★★★★★★★
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