Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin

290

5 Stars

The famous artwork of the band’s debut single by George Hardie. They called themselves Led Zeppelin as The Who’s drummer Keith Moon said that is how they would fly in a live concert. Another slight error from our Keith.

Audio CD (paid link)

For 12 years, Led Zeppelin ruled supreme as the head of state in Rock ‘n’ Roll. Dragged, kicking and screaming, to superstardom by their powerhouse manager Peter Grant – you didn’t mess with our Peter; if he put the bad eye on you for selling bootleg Zeppelin T-shirts, you stayed sorted.

Led Zeppelin came up in the age of singles. However, on the manager’s instructions, Led Zeppelin did not release one single. Nevertheless, right from the day that the New Yardbirds turned into the beast that was to become Led Zeppelin, the principal players were superstars. They arrived to packed out concerts in stretch limos with masses of P.A. The albums were riding at the top of the charts, and they enjoyed all the excesses of the Rock ‘n’ Roll lifestyle. One minute you’d never heard of them; the next they were everywhere.

**Led Zeppelin in 1969.** **Who would’ve believed that these fresh faced young lads would soon become the juggernauts of Rock Music, redefining its very essence?**

Listening to this album 53 years later on, does it live up to the hype? Has it stood the ravages of time? Is a Dalmatian a beautiful dog? Of course it has; the brilliance of diamonds does not dim over a few years.

As soon as the band breaks into the opening song, you know you are listening to musical magic. Led Zeppelin had only been together for six weeks when they were ushered into the studio to record their inaugural album. Glyn Johns was the only outsider required to do the engineering, and less than four weeks later, they emerged with this masterpiece. Basically, they had laid down their stage act on tape, so no wonder the sound is so vibrant and alive. Most of these songs stayed in the live set right to the end and are regularly brought back whenever Page or Plant decide to strut their stuff on the boards.

*With gigging almost every night, fitting recording sessions in when they*
*could, it’s amazing they ever sat still long enough to get a publicity shot done.*

There are nine songs in all, ranging from the blitzkrieg heavy metal thrash of ‘Communication Breakdown’ at 2 minutes 26 seconds to the control and magnificence of ‘How Many More Times,’ at 8 minutes 30 seconds. This closes with an uncredited run through of ‘The Hunter,’ a favorite for this dog. However, it is the amazing slow blues, ‘You Shook Me’ by Willie Dixon that really shows off the talent of all the group members. The Jeff Beck Group (Jimmy Page’s old running mate in the Yardbirds) had, six months previously issued a version of this song on his band’s debut album “Truth” (August 1968), and it had Rod Stewart on vocals. Despite this, after Beck heard Zeppelin’s version, it gave him an inferiority complex that has lasted up until today, despite now being regarded as the finest electric guitarist on the planet. Please note that the Beck version is brilliant; it’s just that Zeppelin took it to another level.

**Quite rightly it was Jimmy Page that was front and center for Led Zeppelin. But the longer the band pulled together the more of an identity the others got.**

Of course, over the years, ‘Dazed and Confused’ became Jimmy Page’s Tour De Force. It stretches up to 30 minutes on stage, with the guitarist using violin bows and all sorts to show his virtuosity. On the album, though, you get the original tune, which is often easier listening to, without having to suffer the overindulgence from Page. The opening bass line of this song before Jimmy Page comes in on lead guitar sends a shimmer through the fields of Rock’n’Roll every time it’s played.

Zeppelin achieved this magnificent album without bothering the writing skills of Robert Plant. All that was still to come when Page/Plant became as famous as Lennon/McCartney or Jagger/Richards.

From here, Led Zeppelin went on to conquer the world, and this was their glorious start.

These days when you buy the Led Zeppelin debut album, you get two discs; the second disc has a fabulous live recording from 1969 of the band at the Paris Theatre. Worth buying the album for that alone. Even in 1969, Led Zeppelin were a mighty beast.