Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
The band entered London’s Olympic studios in October 1968 with guitarist Jimmy Page also taking up production duties and the results were released in January 1969. The album is essentially a fusion of blues and rock with the distortion turned up. While that may sound a bit harsh, to put it in context, this hadn’t really been done before and must have sounded revolutionary at the time. Page’s guitar is perfectly complemented by what can only be described as one of the greatest rhythm sections ever. The album opens with “Good Times Bad Times” where the blues influences are immediately on display, however it transformed by John Paul-Jones’ incredible bass playing. Second track “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” opens with an acoustic folksy guitar that would feature in much of their later work, and in terms of structure could almost be considered as a forerunner to the modern power ballad. The centrepiece of the album and also the live show was “Dazed And Confused” where John Paul-Jones’ bass is prominent alongside Page’s powerful guitar riffs and even playing with a cello bow which lends a psychedelic feel to the middle section. The song then builds to a crescendo which showcases Jimmy Page’s soloing. The albums other standout track is “Communication Breakdown”, a track whose influence is far reaching. Listen to it and it becomes clear that this is has been used as the template for most heavy metal and rock songs since. The riff also has a slight Pete Townsend quality and has also been cited by Johnny Ramone as the inspiration for his punk defining guitar style.
The album as a whole is very coherent and you see how this was the platform for the bands rise to superstardom. It would be very unfair to class this as strictly a rock album or heavy metal as the blues influences are very strong, I feel it is better to think of it as the distorted blues rock that spawned a phenomenon. A brilliant starting point with some standout songs.
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
1969 Atlantic Records
Producer: Jimmy Page
Players:
Robert Plant - Vocals, Harmonica
Jimmy Page - Guitars
John Paul-Jones - Bass, Organ
John Bonham - Drums
Tracklisting:
Good Times Bad Times
Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
You Shook Me
Dazed And Confused
Your Time Is Gonna Come
Black Mountain Side
Communication Breakdown
I Can’t Quit You Baby
How Many More Times