02. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin II 1969 (Atlantic)
Hard Rock
Gritty hard rock written on the road.
Overview
With the Zeppelin bomb already having landed on their debut album and through the shrewd management skills of Peter Grant, the follow-up album by Led Zep would go on to top the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic. It was on this album that the band would go from being a power blues outfit to a fully fledged hard rock band (the heavy blues influences would still be there of course but less obvious) and in many people's eyes they would gain the dubious honour of creating heavy metal through the song "Whole Lotta Love". This album like a lot of sophomore's at this time, had been rushed to build on the band's debut album. This album though would be more than just another sophomore, as it would gain the honour of being possibly the ultimate "hard rock" album in many people's eyes, largely due to the fact that it is heavily laden with juicy guitar riffs from beginning to end. It was largely written on the road due to the bands constant and hectic touring schedule and the album more so than any other recording in the Led Zep discography, would reflect their hard living and excessive lifestyle at its fullest. The album would go on to become a virtual blueprint for hard rock music throughout the 1970s and 1980s and is usually described as the band's most indipensable effort.
Robert Plant-Vocals
Jimmy Page- Guitar
John Paul Jones- Bass/Organ
John Bonham- Drums
Production- Jimmy Page
Album
Whole Lotta Love- The song that 'officially' gave birth to the term 'heavy metal' with its brutal riff
age, a true sledgehammer of a song.
What Is and What Should Never Be- Things quieten down a bit after the onslaught of the opening song...for a while anyway.
The Lemon Song- "The way you squeeze my lemon babe" another one of those heavy blues staples that are synonymous with the band.
Thank You- A reflective sounding song, that more than any other song they recorded at this time, indicates the future direction of the band.
Heartbreaker- One of the heaviest tracks on the album and famous for its amazing guitar riff with its improvised feel laid down by Jimmy Page. This leads straight into......
Living Loving Maid(She's Just a Woman)- Led Zep at their most catchy, as the song just seems to flow seamlessly from beginning to end.
Ramble On- Folky with acoustic touches but still gets heavy.
Moby Dick- An instrumental track that is highlighted by John Bonham's drum solo, when played live this track could often last upto almost 30 mins!
Bring It On Home- Another Willie Dixon cover serves to close the album, with some great harmonica work by Robert Plant. The song would also end the first phase of Led Zeppelin, as they would gradually move in a different direction for their next album.
Verdict
After just two albums, Led Zeppelin had blasted most of the competition out of the water with the intensity of their sound and on this album they took a major step forward in the development of heavy music at that time. What's actually amazing about all this, is that most of the material on this 'Such A Revered Album' doesn't hold that much originality at all and most of the material is just re-worked old rock and blues numbers, that the band had up their sleeves for a rainy day. All proving that the old adage of "It's not what you wear it's how you wear it" to be most true in this instance and Led Zeppelin wore those clothes better than anybody else around at that time, with their collection of itchy blues numbers and metal barnstormers! The album is full of tension, by a band that were red hot at the time and they also got the tracks laid down in a very limited time period due to time constraints (there was no months in the studio nonsense for this band) The end product is a direct and at times brutal display of hard rock, meshed in with some folky and acoustic moments to mellow things slightly. Overall the album serves as the perfect example of a crunching hard rock display, something that only a few other bands would actually manage to match throughout the following decade.