This is the thirteenth in a series of Rock & Roll features I'm writing for this site. I'm a rock and roller, so this column is a way for me to feature a different album that I like, from different genres every month.
For this month's feature I thought I would celebrate the current band of the hour, the one with their first reunion show in years scheduled for December 10th (perhaps the biggest announcement of the year) and the one I, and so many other fans are hoping to hear the confirmation of a full fledged tour from.
Of course, the band is the legendary Led Zeppelin. I debated for quite some time which album I wanted to discuss as the first six are incredible (to say the least), and even the more varied releases from their later career contain some stellar tracks. Eventually I decided that the best way really to celebrate at least the partial return of Led Zeppelin to the concert stage would be to discuss where they started. Led Zeppelin's beginings go way back to the late 60s, where they rose from the ashes of the Yardbirds, with their very first studio album: the self titled Led Zeppelin (or Led Zeppelin I if you prefer).
Released in the second week of January 1969, with it's trademark Hindenburg cover art, these songs mark a major part of the beginning of what would become heavy metal, as well as the establishment of the Led Zeppelin sound. The band had already been through a tour as the New Yardbirds before. So the songs were so well rehearsed that in a mere 30 hours, the unique mix of bombastic hard rock, blues, psychedelia and folk that would change rock forever, was committed to tape.
Most people probably know these songs backwards and forwards, but it's still interesting to take a look at them individually, as they've obviously stood the test of time.
It starts out exactly as you'd expect the first Led Zeppelin album to start: with a hard hitting rocker. “Good Times Bad Times” has a simple driving rock style and a killer solo, both done with the huge, overdriven guitars that remain one of the most identifiable aspects of their sound. For people who came to this track perhaps as their first real experience with Zeppelin, it sets the tone perfectly. From the very first chord you know this is going to be some heavy rock and roll.
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
Nice piece D.A.N., although maybe you oughtta just try writing a book next time. The comparisons with Beck's Truth album (with Rod Stewart playing the role Robert Plant would prefect in Led Zeppelin) are particularly appreciated. Although Zep was the band that it took it all the way to the startosphere, a lot of people don't know or remember the fact that Beck's group was really the one that came first (although if you want to get really technical you'd have to start with Cream).
Again, though nice and very thorough article.
-Glen
2 - JC Mosquito
The main point of differentiation between the two albums is the sonic production. Zep's is huge - Beck's is thin. With very little tweaking, Zep I sounds current - sadly, Beck's effort will always sound dated unless maybe if it's ever remixed from the ground up.
3 - ray
Not the birth of a legend, instead the birth of a myth. The birth of one of the most allround overrated and overcredited bands in musical history. It is obvious that this isn't a perfect world that we live in when mediocrity such as this are lauded as legends, instead of the unoriginal, uninteresting rip-off artists they are. Much better music to be found almost anywhere else.
P.S. If Jimmy Page is a virtuoso, then the club is a little too easy to enter.