Moss

Those drums in Bargain are what you play when someone claims Keith Moon is over rated. Love that album. Our band does an acoustic Baba O' Riley that never fails to get huge applause. We usually close with it. Amazing album start to finish.

Chula Vista

You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun


Almost hard to believe there was a time when nobody had heard of this album. Back when it was released no-one I hung with knew who or what Pink Floyd was. When the song Money started getting played on the radio a lot and ears perked up, but in all honesty, we actually thought that the band was a black funk group based on that track.

Listening to the full album for the first few times was a pretty mind blowing experience. Especially since pot had made the scene in a big way in our group. DSOTM was the first "concept" album for me. The lyrics were deep and really struck a chord - especially since my life was crap at the time. Here was a group of songs that spoke of despair, loss, dreams, war, insanity, regret, anger, greed, and ultimately, hope. Really heavy stuff for this 13 year old kid.

About 6 years ago (35 years after it was released) I gave a copy of this to my son and asked him to spend some serious time with it. He was absolutely blown away and ranks it as one of his faves to this day. Gotta love that.

They say some records will never be broken. DSOTM spending 741 consecutive weeks (over 14 years!) on the Billboard charts is one of them.

Do I really have to post samples? Actually I won't since the album is really meant to be listened to as a whole anyway.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Chula Vista

Hey, laughing in the playground
Gets no kicks from little boys
Would rather make it with a letching gray, yeah
Or maybe her attention is drawn by Aqualung
Who watches through the railings as they play


What a strange, and somewhat disturbing album. Here's a guy (Ian Anderson) talking up God while absolutely slamming organized religion. Pretty commonplace today but not so much so 43 years ago. Up to this point Tull had been somewhat of a cult band and hadn't quite honed their melding of hard rock with old English acoustic stylings. This album changed all that becoming a big success on both sides of the Atlantic on the strength of its FM hits Cross-eyed Mary, Locomotive Breath, Hymn 43, and the title track. From this point on Jethro Tull was a full blown arena rock act.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Chula Vista

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.


Years back I spent a few months on another forum profiling every song that Led Zeppelin ever recorded. Here's what I wrote about each of the tracks on LZ IV.

Black Dog: How the hell did these guys come up with stuff like this? John Paul Jone's riff fleshed out to an unbelievable degree. The entire group at the top of their game. One of my fave Page solos rides the outro. Plant's voice has never been better. And hard to argue against Bonham and Jones being the greatest rock rhythm section if you pay close attention to what they did with the track. What a brilliant song on so many levels. Another one that, plain and simple, defines Led Zeppelin.

Rock and Roll: Started as a spontaneous jam in the studio when Bonham played the drum riff from Little Richard's "Keep a Knocking". If you are a rock guitarist and you've never in your life given this tune a whirl.... shame on you.

The Battle of Evermore: This one doesn't need any yapping from me. (That's Sandy Denny from Fairport Convention trading vocals with Plant)

Stairway to Heaven: It's really unfortunate that FM radio has ruined this song for so many. It really is an amazing accomplishment for the band and works so well on lots of levels. The pastoral feel of the first few verses that have some of Plant's most unaffected vocals he ever did along with the first real example of Page's guitar army with the lovely mix of acoustic and electric. And then Bonham enters and the tempo begins to increase with anticipation of the epic fanfare right before the guitar solo. When was the last time you really listened to that part to hear how Page placed everything in the stereo field of the mix? Brilliant stuff.

And that guitar solo. Perfection. Love how Page adds the vibrato at the end of the bends and how it builds in intensity with the call and response at the end. Then the outro with Plant really pushing hard. And it all ends with a solo vocal line that's recorded beautifully.

Frank Zappa would often poke fun at Zep. But he revered Stairway enough to perform an amazing version of it live with his band. You can find it on YouTube. Gives me goosebumps.

I'm gonna wager that about half of the replies in this thread are going to be negative, but I'd ask that you do me a favor - sit down and give the tune a listen with fresh ears. Block out all of your own preconceptions and just listen to it on it's own merits. You may not dig it, but it's hard to argue that it's not one of the most musically successful songs that any band has ever written and recorded.

Misty Mountain Hop: This song was inspired by a big hippie love-in in London that was busted up by the cops. A bit more of the Tolkien stuff with some of the lyrics.

This is pure Zeppelin. The cool riff, the guitar, keyboards, and bass driving it home, Bonham pounding away underneath, Plant wailing on top, some nice voice and guitar harmonies, and a very unique solo that could only come from the brain of Page.

Was a live staple that went over really well (didn't they all?). Looking at the song on paper it really shouldn't groove, but as usual, Bonham, JPJ, and Jimmy make it groove like hell.

Four Sticks: This may be the first real example of "world music" by a rock band. Up to this point you had rock musicians using exotic instruments but usually in standard rock/pop compositions. The sitars used in Norwegian Wood and Paint it Black being examples.

In this track the verses are basically a form of raga with Robert Plant soloing over them rather than singing a melody. And he uses lots of quavers and semitones just like Indian musicians would do.

The bridge section that starts at 1:06 is another great example of Page's guitar orchestrations. The mix of acoustic and electric is just so cool. JPJ used his VCS3 synth to create the drone that underlines the section that starts at 3:08 and also the sweeping orchestration that accompanies Page's guitar.

And again, Bonham is just plain brilliant on this - using two sticks in each hand to create a very unique sound.

Here's another one where you say: "What kind of music is this?"

Going to California: A direct result of Page and Plant's love of Joni Mitchell, this tune is Zep at it's mellow side best. Want to experience nirvana? Drive through Laurel Canyon, just outside of LA, in the late afternoon on a sunny day with this song blaring from the radio.

When the Levee Breaks: First recorded by Memphis Minnie and Joe McCoy in 1929 and based on the great Mississippi floods of 1927, Levee has been reworked by numerous artists throughout the years. Zep did the right thing and credited Minnie on the original LP cause they used a lot of her lyrics.

The music? This is maybe the best example of Zep using an age old traditional arrangement and taking it into the future as only they could. This is ultra heavy, cosmic blues to the 10th degree. It's been said that Bonham's intro riff is the most sampled piece of percussion ever. Eminem, Dr. Dre, The Beastie Boys, Bjork, and Coldplay are just a few who've used it. Page talks about how much of a happy accident the drum sound was in It Might Get Loud.

Check this one out with headphones. Jimmy does some great stuff with panning as the song progresses, re-arrangeing the instruments in the stereo field and adding effects with each passing verse. Killer stuff.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Trollheart

First off, I'm no big fan of Zep, but I don't get this hate for "Stairway". I mean, it's a pretty perfect song, and a classic. So what if it was overplayed on the radio and covered by so many bands or performers? That's not their fault and it doesn't detract from the song itself. I love that song, and if I had to pick three favourites from that album they'd be that, "Going to California" and "When the levee breaks". As close to perfection as you're gonna get.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Chula Vista

Addendum I: (and more to follow)

As of the year 2000 it's estimated that Stairway to Heaven has been played on the radio 3 million times. Back to back that would equate to well over 45 years of playtime.

In 2012 Zeppelin was celebrated in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center Honors. This may be a bit too old school for some here but the performance of Stairway that night was incredible. The Asian guy with his eyes closed completely grooving to the song midway through is the universally heralded classical cellist, Yo Yo Ma. Rock and roll baby!

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Psy-Fi

I actually got to see and hear Frank and his band play Stairway to Heaven live during what would turn out to be his last ever US tour back in 1987. On my birthday, no less! Great version and a great show!

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She's a Brick House

Chula Vista

Addendum II:

Led Zeppelin IV is the second best selling album in the United States at 23 million units. Only Michael Jackson's Thriller has sold more.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Chula Vista

Last addendum:

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Chula Vista

"Same three guys, right here. Same three chords right here. And we've been doing this for 35 years."


That "Little Ole Band From Texas" - can I get an Amen? After a pretty steady diet of admittedly pretentious British artists, stumbling across this one was a bit of needed fresh air.

Screw the 80s MTV synthesizer version of ZZ Top. THIS is what the band was truly all about.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”