Led Zeppelin: From I to Coda
LED ZEPPELIN I
12th January 1969
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 Time
I have a very low blues tolerance threshold. No-one was happier than me when it turned out that so little of Fleetwood Mac's early back catalogue was available on Spotify. It is therefore with some trepidation that I approach this task since Led Zep also started out with blues riffs. I'm also a bit ambivalent about Robert Plant and all those "WOMAAAAN"s and "BAY-BEEE"s. They obviously had half an eye on their own future myth by not bothering to come up with a name for their first 4 albums and they weren't put off by the poor forecast of their success that led to the band's name. So here I'm expecting some fairly heavy blues influence and I'm a little surprised by the opening 'Good Times Bad Times' which has a sixties pop feel to it, albeit with some quite heavy guitar. Jimmy Page's style was formed and recognizable from quite early on. 'Babe I'm Gonna Leave You' allows Plant to get the first of many career "BAY-BAY-BAY-BAY-BAY-BY"s out of his system. Again, you can hear the seeds of what came later with fairly quite passages accompanied by Page's strummed guitar followed by crashing drums as Plant gets some serious wailing in. They also finish it in a proto-Stairway style. 'You Shook Me' must be a blues standard I guess, but they do something weird with Plant's vocal as it falls off alarmingly at the end of each line. It's what I would call 'plodding blues'. It finishes with a kind of call-and-response between Page's guitar and Plant's shriek. 'Dazed and Confused' could be mistaken for a continuation of the same song, but it soon morphs into that familiar declining central riff. It actually all feels like a bit of a mish-mash (hence the name?). There's bits that would later be re-hashed into 'Whole Lotta Love', quiet parts which are just John-Paul Jones twiddling on his bass and then pacier sections driven by Bonham. You could almost say the song is a Led Zeppelin sampler, showcasing all the different parts that each member brought to the band.
A bit of church organ opens up 'Your Time Is Gonna Come', and it is a much gentler thing than what has come before. It's even a bit rock-operatic. 'Black Mountain Side' establishes their hippy credentials with some nice tabla playing (those Indian bongos - I had to look it up) and Page mucking around with a sitar or somesuch. 'Communication Breakdown' is archetypal Zeppelin, we all know the riff even if we couldn't name the song. It's striking how Page, Jones and Bonham all manage to merge their contributions seamlessly into a single repeated phrase. Next is 'I Can't Quit You"........can you guess? Yes "...Baby". These days referring to women as 'baby' must be deeply misogynist. The modern woman much prefers to be referred to as a "Ho" or "Biyatch" I believe. Thank God we've left those male rock dinosaurs behind. Anyway it's more standard blues given the Zeppelin twist. Finally (on the original version, as I'm sure you can imagine there are heaps of additional tracks on reissues, remasters, barefaced cash-ins etc) there is 'How Many More Times'. Bonham gives it some whispering cymbal action, Page noodles with his geetar. Plant moans on about 'Rosie', Jones holds it together.
A word on the cover art, which I believe is a key part of the Zep mythology. This one is rather disappointingly literal. A monochrome picture of a, well, Zeppelin. The Hindenburg doing what it is most famous for I think.
LED ZEPPELIN II
22nd October 1969
Whole Lotta Love
What Is And What Should Never Be
The Lemon Song
Thank You
Heartbreaker
Living Loving Maid (She's A Woman)
Ramble On
Moby Dick
Bring It On Home
Pity poor Percy's partner. If Robert Plant carries on like this in the throes of passion then it can't be a very rewarding experience. Released the same year as I, the excellent '1000 Albums To Listen To Before You Die' reckons that recording it between touring left it with an unpolished edge which works to its benefit. I'm not so sure and I found this one a bit difficult to get on with. AND it is rude, rude rude! So anyway, it starts with 'Whole Lotta Love' which was recently voted by listeners of BBC Radio 2 as being the greatest guitar riff of all time. One has to assume that the genteel listeners of the nations favourite radio station haven't examined the lyrics too closely. The riff itself is enhanced by that vertiginous drop at the end of each phrase. In the middle section Plant hitches himself up to the orgasmatron while Bonham appears to be clattering around the pantry, before Page hauls it back with a clean little guitar twiddle."Way down inside, Woman, you need me", says Plant. "shake for me girl, I wanna be your backdoor man!" Hmm. Steady on.
'What Is And What Should Never Be', calms things down a bit but then we get more filth with 'The Lemon Song'. They're still not straying that far from the blues, but there are some jarring changes of pace in this one.and Page and Jones appear to be trying to outdo each other for intricacy. As for the aforementioned unsavouriness, Plant's woomaan makes the juice run down his leg apparently. Yuk. 'Thank You' is gentler and they make quite prominent use of keyboards, which is something I at least don't associate with Led Zeppelin. A note on the production at this point too. They seem to favour a kind of echoey effect on Plant's voice which sounds like they sent him into a cave to sing. Maybe it's the limitations of the time and I'd say it's less noticeable on the remastered version. Another instantly recognizable riff opens 'Heartbreaker. This one is particularly throaty and deliberate. Page also does a bit of showing off in the middle before it cranks up again to something which has an alarming resemblance to Kenny Loggins' 'Footloose'. We all know Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)' and it's the catchiest thing on this. I was singing it for the rest of the day after my first listening. 'Ramble On' starts a bit more wistfully but it's not long before Bob starts screeching again.
They also do untold damage to the reputation of rock music at the time by all that nonsense about being being in the Land of Mordor (pronounced "Morder" here) and Gollum, the evil one, stealing Bob's woomaan away. I count myself as pretty well informed about the works of JRR Tolkien, but even a cursory glance through the Hobbit, would tell you that abducting rockstar's girlfriends was not Gollum's bag. He was more of a doom-laden jewellery type of guy.
Bonham gets centre stage in 'Moby Dick', I don't care how good the drummer is, drum solos are dull, even when bongos are involved. 'Bring It On Home' starts as standard, harmonica driven blues with Plant sounding like he's singing through a sock. It gets heavier before reverting at the end.The cover is a doctored photo of a German WWI flying squadron with the bands faces superimposed. There's also the outline of another Zeppelin. After a few listens, this DID grow on me, but it does deliver genius and absurdity in equal measure.
LED ZEPPELIN III
5th October 1970
Immigrant Song
Friends
Celebration Day
Since I've Been Loving You
Out On The Tiles
Gallows Pole
Tangerine
That's The Way
Bron Yr Aur Stomp
Hats Off To (Roy) Harper
Here comes Bob with his banshee wail on 'Immigrant Song', used in Shrek II (I think) as the princesses launch their assault. It has that chugging, insistent riff too. Puts me in mind of Game Of Thrones with all that stuff about the "land of the ice and snow". There's shades of 'Kashmir' in 'Friends' and they enter into the realms of southern boogie on 'Celebration Day'. I think Marc Bolan might have liked that one. I found it a bit messy. 'Since I've Been Loving You' is slow blues - in fact side 1 is quite a bit more blues-ey than the previous two, which is saying summat. Plant's vocal is pushed right to the back again on 'Out On The Tiles'. As I listen to it, my 11 year old son, S. is tapping his toe to it, so it must have something going for it. It's also one of Plant's wailier efforts - "ooh yeah!". I did a bit of reading up on 'III' and it wasn't given a great critical reaction on release, because apparently they went 'acoustic', well there's plenty of heavy electric guitar about and the acoustic songs on here are good, so I don't know what they were on about. Maybe the fact that come in quick succession on side 2 was a factor? 'Gallows Pole' is a traditional song and has that nice mix of folksy sounds and a decent rhythm. I also think Plant's voice brings something additional to the mix. Some good banjo-picking from Page too. They work themselves into a frenzy toward the end. A false start at the beginning of 'Tangerine'. Not sure why they left it in, it adds nothing. Something slightly Starway-ish about it. Probably the chord progressions (like I have any idea). There's the subtlest wah-wah on the guitar too. Plant reins his voice in and it's all rather good. Same with 'That's The Way', which reminds me a bit of Yes too.
'Bron Y Aur Stomp' takes it's name from the Welsh farmhouse where they recorded the album. It's a sort of slidey, swamp blues but with a more upbeat rhythm than that description might suggest. Hand-claps too! On the subject of the rhythm section, it's just occurred to me that I've hardly noticed the percussion on this, which given Bonham's reputation is quite surprising. It finishes with 'Hats Off To (Roy) Harper' which is probably the clearest indication that they were migrating from blues to folk by paying tribute to the old curmugdeon (which he probably was even then). Now they knew how to package a record in the late sixties and early seventies. This one had a main cover with numerous holes and a wheel underneath so that you could rotate it and see different images appearing. Kind of like you get in kids pop-up books. Fun with Led Zeppelin!
LED ZEPPELIN IV
8th November 1971
Black Dog
Rock And Roll
The Battle Of Evermore
Stairway To Heaven
Misty Mountain Hop
Four Sticks
Going To California
When The Levee Breaks
We all know what's coming, and no-one is dreading it more than me as I seek some kind of original angle on Stairway. But first, 'Black Dog'. Churchill's euphemism for depression, but it ain't a depressing song. In fact I find it particularly uplifting as it reminds me of Vic and Bob on Shooting Stars screaming "He's a baby, he's a baby!" as George Dawes made his infant-attired entrance across the set. Otherwise it's a bit of a glorious mish-mash. 'Rock And Roll' lives up to it's name perfectly as virtually every trope of that particular genre gets a look-in.Honky-tonk piano, crashing drums, blues riffs, banal lyrics, it's all there.'The Battle Of Evermore' is one of those songs I've always known about, but never really listened to. Page gets the old lute out. There's plenty of folksy, Arthurian imagery in the words.
And here we go...It's frequently at the top of any poll of the greatest ever songs and we must assume that folk see it as an uplifting, feelgood song about redemption and all that. For all I know it could just as easily be about being off your chump on banned substances. You can see similarities with that other boringly predictable all-time chart topper - Bo Rhap; starts with a quiet reflective section, then ramps up into a more pacy bit before going into mental, guitar strangling mode at the end. I'm quite familiar with the live version from 'The Song Remains The Same' where Perce follows the line "and the forests will echo with laughter" with a rather trite "does anyone remember laughter?". I never really got the "bustle in your hedgerow" lyric, unless I'm mishearing it (maybe "rustle"?). I'm not going to look the lyrics up on a point of principle. Not entirely sure if the "aaa-aaaa-aaa-aaahs" are Plant's voice or Page's guitar. When I was 18, the line "to be a rock and not to roll" seemed like the ultimate in the wisdom of life. Not so sure now.
'Misty Mountain Hop' sends them right back to their sixties pop roots. Could be Herman's Hermits (albeit with a slightly harder edge). 'Four Sticks' is a bit disjointed and Plant is at the upper limit of his vocal range. 'Going To California' is a pleasantly plucked bit of hippydom. It's all wrapped up in 'When The Levee Breaks'. Swooping guitar over a steady beat with Plant doing his usual thing. Cover is a bit dull really. A 19th Century oil painting. However in true Spinal Tap style they came up with a symbol to represent each band member, which are also pictured. I wonder if you can guess which is which?
HOUSES OF THE HOLY
28th March 1973
The Song Remains The Same
The Rain Song
Over The Hills And Far Away
The Crunge
Dancing Days
D'yer Mak'er
No Quarter
The Ocean
Hey, hey, hey! They deign to actually name an album. 'The Song Remains The Same' strays dangerously into prog rock territory. Are Led Zeppelin prog? They overlap with many of the classic prog acts (Genesis, Yes, ELP etc) both in terms of heyday and musical style, but then I guess one of the characteristics of prog is it is hard to characterize. This has most of the elements however, complicated melodies, changes of pace, 'poetry'. The guitar is very much Pete Townshend in style, that kind of chiming, crashing thingy (musos take note of my precise use of terminology). Doen't everyone write a song about rain? I think I even had a go with a guitar I picked up one day in primary school. Thematically then, Zep aren't breaking any new ground with 'The Rain Song'. I'd even go so far as to describe it as a bit drippy (geddit?). 'Over The Hills And Far Away' has more of a west coast rock feel to it. It's quite breezy, with a more muted riff from Jones and Page.
'The Crunge' (no Inbetweeners fans, thats an 'R' not an 'L') is pure James Brown, with Planty doing a reasonable impression of him. Wikipedia suggests it's just this side of a piss-take. I think 'Dancing Days' is my favourite track and it was a pleasant surprise when it cropped up, I'd forgotten about it. It has at least three killer riffs.'D'yer Mak'er' is an inspired take on reggae. If it too is a pastiche of another style of music then it's done incredibly well. Surprisingly that little crack in Plant's voice suits it perfectly, although it's a crack that has widened in recent years. I'm straining my ears to hear the beginning of 'No Quarter' before a quite down-and-dirty guitar comes in over the sparse keyboard.We're back to prog stylings aren't we? But Zep DO mix it up throughout the album so we must show forebearance. They use that over-the-phone scratchy effect on Plant's vocal. Another classic riff to finish on 'The Ocean' At the end Bob goes so quiet as to be inaudible with some na-na-na-na-na's.
Album artwork is naked kids crawling over the Giant's Causeway. I had it in my mind that it was the subject of some controversy but research (2 mins max) reveals nothing major. There'd be questions in the House these days.
Addendum May 2023. The Houses of the Holy album cover has seen me falling foul of Facebook’s algorithms in the past, but I understand that eventually it did get issued with a clean bill of social media health.
PHYSICAL GRAFFITI
24th February 1975
Custard Pie
The Rover
In My Time Of Dying
Houses Of The Holy
Trampled Under Foot
Kashmir In The Light
Bron Yr Aur
Down By The Seaside
Ten Years Gone
Night Flight
The Wanton Song
Boogie With Stu
Black Country Woman
Sick Again
When I were a lad, about 10 years old I guess, I owned 'The New Goodies LP'. This included hits such as the Goodies Theme, with more obscure items in the Oddie/Brooke-Taylor/Garden canon, such as 'Baby Samba', 'Rock With The Policeman', 'Nappy Love', 'Panic' and 'The Cricklewood Shakedown'. Also on the album was a track called 'Custard Pie', a tribute to the slapstick staple. Imagine my suprise when I saw the same title opening up Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered this was no well-executed cover version but a rather huumdrum blues-rocker. The Goodies achieved lyrical perfection with "C'mon everybody, hold it up high, everyone's ready for a custard pie!". No such genius from Planty and friends.
'The Rover' is much more satisfying with some exciting cascading riffs It too is bluesy but in a much more interesting way. I guess by now they had perfected their 'heavy blues' formula. Plant's constipated voice added a unique dimension too. They go back to a slow southern style with 'In My Time Of Dying' although Page overplays his hand about halfway through. It's long too, over 11 minutes, and seems to be a fairly freeform affair, I assume it's a jam session judged good enough to fill a chunk of one side of vinyl. Bob starts getting over-excited again (if you know what I mean) near the close. There's some studio mumbling at the end to accompany a 'dying cough' joke. Confusingly, next comes the title track....of the previous album. I'm not interested enough to look up why on Wikipedia. It's a decent song, the central riff gets a bit wearing after a while though. 'Trampled Under Foot' is a right old mish-mash of Stevie Wonder, Doobie Brothers and James Brown (again). You can also hear that it must have influenced Franz Ferdinand with that kind of funky choppy guitar. Good though.
Next plodding, remorseless 'Kashmir'. Perce gives it plenty of ooooooooohhhh-yeh's. This is a double album so there's, count 'em, 15 tracks here and Kashmir closes side 2 (as was). 'In The Light' is a bit mystical and ultimately rather boring. Some acoustic noodlings follow on Bron-Yr-Aur (presumably they returned to their Welsh holiday cottage following a pleasant stay while recording III). 'Down By The Seaside' is about as twee as the title suggests, but unsurprisingly they get bored halfway through and pick up the pace. 'Ten Years Gone' sees them straying perilously close to Rod Stewart territory, always a risk when Plant's hoarse whine becomes too pronounced. 'Night Flight' was dull but I found 'The Wanton Song' somewhat reminiscent of Kasabian's recent excellent 'Ee-Zeh'. A touch of honky-tonk pianner carries through on 'Boogie With Stu', but it's nowt special apart from some interesting percussion from Bonzo at the end. 'Black Country Woman' has sparse pizzicato guitar under Bob's whines. Finally, 'Sick Again'. Standard, admittedly well-executed rock. Dare I say, Zep may have overstretched themselves with a double. There's enough really good stuff for a couple of sides, but there's some filler too.
Apparently the packaging was another kiddie-friendly rip-the-flap affair, but the description of how it all worked that I read on the web left me with little clue. Incidentally, the aforementioned Goodies album ended with a remarkably committed version of the Troggs 'Wild Thing' ("C'mon hold me tight, Not. Quite. That. Tight"). It had a separate lyric sheet with witty handwritten annotations in red and the pink ribbon on the cover was embossed. I wish I could hear it again to bring back happy memories but alas it is unavailable on Spotify.
PRESENCE
31st March 1976
Achilles' Last Stand
For Your Life
Royal Orleans
Nobody's Fault But Mine
Candy Store Rock
Hots On For Nowhere
Tea For One
Presence - sounds like the latest fragrance from Calvin Klein, but I don't think the odour of patchouli oil and sweaty, hairy men from Wolverhampton would sell. Only seven tracks this time, more prog accusations are inevitable. It's not helped that they sound a lot like Rush in the opening track, 'Achilles Last Stand'. Couple that with Greek mythology theme, frenetic drums and bass (although certainly not Drum 'n' Bass) and twiddly guitar bits and they really don't have a leg to stand on. OK, I'm being a bit harsh, I actually quite enjoyed it. 'For Your Life' seems to be about drugs. It's a bit dull if I'm honest. Same with 'Royal Orleans'. It feels like they are going through their paces with not a lot of oomph. Throughout Plant seems like he's been reined in, Page and Jones stick to reasonably simple guitar riffs and leave the fancy stuff for the breaks and Bonham thumps away. Noel Gallagher is often accused of being a straight Beatles rip-off merchant, but the intro to 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' reveals he's not averse to a bit of plagiarism from Zep as well. It could be the intro to 'What's The Story Morning Glory'. You can hear where Guns n Roses got some of their ideas too. 'Candy Store Rock' and 'Hots On For Nowhere' are more examples of blues-tinged rock. We finish with 'Tea For One', a slow, doleful blues that goes on and on and on. Apparently the album was not that well received, and I can see why. It's fine, but doesn't have any fireworks or stone cold classics. Artwork - pictures of people 'interacting' (WP's word) with a 2001-style black obelisk that is supposed to represent the band.
IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR
15th August 1979
In The Evening
South Bound Suarez
Fool In The Rain
Hot Dog
Carouselambra
All My Love
I'm Gonna Crawl
There's a richer sound on the opening 'In The Evening' than we're used to, once they get over the vaguely Eastern opening. Then 'South Bound Saurez'. If this is a 35 year old prediction of the big-gnashered Uruguayan's move from Anfield to the Camp Nou, then whatever spirit guide helped the fellas with the title could't spell his name. It's quite frantic with some serious hammering on the piano. 'Fool In The Rain' has a Billy Joel-esque title and even sounds a bit like him. It has a slight Hispanic/Salsa feel to it (in fact, as it goes on, it gets more and more pronounced) I think Plant sings pretty well on this album actually. 'Hot Dog' is a rather jolly hoe-down and 'Carouselambra' relies heavily on a kind of simulated piano accordian. What it reminds me of is really tugging at the back of my mind but I just can't place, it's probably something by ELP - it's that kind of over complicated clever-clever keyboard stuff. It's blimmin' long too, over 10 minutes and wanders all over the place in that time. You've got to admire their willingness to experiment I suppose. THEN we get cod-classical with 'All My Love'. Actually this one is quite good, but you do get the impression that John-Paul Jones got one of those new fangled keyboards for Christmas. Finally, 'I'm Gonna Crawl', a more familiar jazz blues, which I also liked a lot. Not a classic, and not even very Zeppish, but it has it's moments.
As for the packaging, well, from what I can gather the kind of ploy now used by magazines such as Radio Times (one of 12 collectible covers) was used. It had a plain brown paper outer cover and inside was one of 6 alternative sleeves featuring two photos of a single bar scene taken from different points of view. But it gets better! The inner sleeve (I think - this is complicated) also featured line drawings which magically became coloured if you applied water to them. A similar technique used to feature in old Rupert Bear annuals (Rupert's Magic Paintings). This was their last proper studio album before Bonham's vomit-assisted exit from this Vale of Tears, but I will be doing Coda to finish off.
CODA
19th November 1982
We're Gonna Groove
Poor Tom
I Can't Quit You Baby
Walter's Walk
Ozone Baby
Darlene
Bonzo's Montreux
Wearing And Tearing
I remember my big brother having this one. Led Zeppelin are definitely a big brother's band. I also remember listening to it and liking it, so this is a happy trip down memory lane. I'll tell you what else, it's mercifully short for a change. It's a collection of studio outtakes so doesn't quite fit the criteria of a studio album but is close enough since it's all original material. 'We're Gonna Groove' owes a debt to Hendrix's (how do you do the possessive on Hendrix? Hendrix'? Hendrix's? Hendrixes?) 'Crosstown Traffic'. 'Poor Tom' is harmonica driven blues and is followed by 'I Can't Quit You Baby' which is classic slow blues. After about 3 minutes in they seem to give up before doing a little reprise. 'Walter's Walk' is an efficient bit of rock. Bob gets a few standard-issue groans in. 'Ozone Baby' is a bona fide classic and one wonders why they left it off In Through The Out Door. I'd happily trade this and 'Darlene' for 'Carouselambra'. Maybe they felt they were too 'pop'. 'Darlene' has a terrific spiky guitar riff, honky-tonk joanna and Perce giving it his best shot. There's also some kind of reference to 'American Pie', because the lyrics mention 'a green carnation and a pick-up truck'. 'Bonzo's Montreux' is another drum solo, as you might expect. I'll let it go since it's obviously included as a tribute. He does throw in some steel drums, which adds a bit more musicality. 'Wearing and Tearing' is a fitting climax. Classic Zep in every way, 100mph drums, complex guitar and Planty apparently at the end of his tether. Nothing to say about the packaging, very boring.