The Official Led Zeppelin Thread (house, albums, fan, quote)

[lucifer_sam]

Originally Posted by Rainard Jalen

So yeah, Led Zep. I think it's much easier to appreciate how good/important of a band they were when you become more familiar with the other blues bands of the time.

Am I the only one who thinks that they were at their best when they just plain rocked out? I don't really like their slower and weirder tracks (including Stairway To Heaven) much, and think their absolute best material is when they're actually being a hard rock band. Take the harder stuff from Led Zep 3 and 4 and you've got some truly great material there.

I really do think though that the mystical stuf is absolute rubbish, even if the songs are pretty enough.

I agree somewhat, but those tracks just show how versatile a band Zep truly is. Take Kashmir, for example. Definitely a classic, and I think Plant called it his favorite Zep song. (Incidentally, the main guitar riff was written by...Bonham!?!?!) My absolute favorite song is one of their most bluesy: Since I've Been Loving You. The guitar accents Plant's vocals perfectly. The live versions are insane. Plant simply pours his soul out into the mic. Another of my favorites is Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp, which is most decidedly NOT a hard rock song. It is all the more fitting that their broad talents allowed them to write such vastly different material (and do it well!). Its what makes Zeppelin such a great band. Stairway may be their most famous song, but its not the only thing they did.

Even so, my favorite album isn't 3 or 4 but HOTH. The album opens with such force and clarity, and it offers great insight into their talents as musicians. It has a "classic" Zeppelin song (The Ocean), an amazing fusion of acoustic and electric (OTHAFA), one of the greatest rock ballads (The Rain Song), and yes, another spacey song (No Quarter). But that spacey song isn't like Stairway or any other song they wrote; it is justifiably so and it is concise. The octave solo is simply asounding, and the lyrics are poignant. Dancing Days and The Crunge aren't too bad either...

And if you want proof that its still hard rockin Zeppelin in that spacey song, go listen to the Tool cover (which is really good). Adam Jones just exchanges the flanger for distortion...and holy ****! its hard rock again!