Within eighteen months three members of this band had gone
from total obscurity to part of the best known rock band in the world. By the
end of 1971 world domination was such that they could release their fourth album
without any sleeve notes, no band image or song titles on the sleeve either. On
pre-sales, it went to #1 all over the world, being released on November 8th and
staying at #1 into the New Year.
Over the years it has probably generated enough sales to run
a fairly large country. In the last thirty-two years it has won just about every
accolade there is to get. Voted the best rock record ever in such illustrious
magazines as ‘Classic Rock Revisited’, ‘Rolling Stone’, ‘Q’,
‘Mojo’, and even the Pattaya Mail. (We just had a vote: Toto, Ella
Crew, Andy, and Led Zeppelin experts Lars Fieste, John Boon, Graham Rudd, Dai
Coe, and the Dog - it was unanimous.)
If you had wanted to put together a super group in 1971 all
you would have had to do was put together Led Zeppelin. Out of the ashes of the
‘Yardbirds’ founding member Jimmy Page created Led Zeppelin.
Jimmy Page originally joined the ‘Yardbirds’ as bassist,
but switched to lead guitar to give the band a duel pronged guitar attack with a
certain Jeff Beck on the other axe. Jimmy Page had long been a top session
player, playing most famously on the Kinks’ ‘You Really Got Me’ famous
guitar riff that almost invented heavy metal music.
Robert Plant had quickly become the template of what a singer
in a rock band looked and sounded like. His unique style of whoops, whines, and
yells became his trademark. With his clear vocals he could always put across the
stories he wanted to tell in his song writing partnership with Jimmy Page.
Bass player John Paul Jones also had a previous successful
career as a session player, but was completely unknown outside the inner music
circles. His quiet nature, his bass playing skills, keyboard work, and help with
the song writing were integral parts in the band and essential to its well
being.
Then behind the drums was the man to set standards of rock
‘n’ roll to the present day, even after his tragic death more than twenty
years ago, Mr. John Bonham. (I mean even his name sounds like a drummer.) This
God of Thunder only got the job because he went down with Robert Plant to keep
him company on his journey from Birmingham, England, to audition for the band.
The rest - as they say - is history.
Is Led Zeppelin’s fourth album as good as its reputation?
Has it stood the test of time?
Stupid questions; of course it does. You get eight tracks,
all of which are classic. The opening one-two of the first couple of tracks
allay any fears of fans that thought they might delve back further into their
folksy roots after the rather laid back ‘Led Zeppelin III’ of the previous
year. But the year of constant touring had honed their natural rocking
instincts.
As soon as Robert Plant leads the band off with those
immortal lines,
‘Hey, Hey Mama, said the way you move,
Gonna make You sweat Gonna make You groove,
My, My Child when You shake that thing,
Gonna make you burn, Gonna make You sting’
...you know you are off into totally politically incorrect
rock ‘n’ roll heaven. The band then comes in with Black Dog’s thunderous
riff and off they all fly roaring straight the way through until you go without
a second to catch your breath into the ‘Rock and Roll’ opening drum intro.
What do you expect to get with a title like this? Page just peels off one riff
after another, building them up to a shattering crescendo. John Paul Jones backs
this up with some of the busiest fret work ever laid down in a studio by a mere
mortal of his chosen profession. As for John (Bonzo) Bonham, he is a man at the
height of his powers having the time of his life.
Other tracks include the wonderful ‘Four Sticks’, so
called because John Bonham gets the sound he wanted for the song drummed with
four sticks simultaneously. An acoustic ballad in ‘Going to California’. A
keyboard orientated rocker in ‘Misty Mountain Top’, which on any other
album, by any other band, would be the centerpiece of any collection. There is
also a raging folksy tale told with Robert Plant giving full reign to his
Tolkien whims in the wonderful ‘The Battle of Evermore’, with some dexterous
mandolin played by Jimmy Page. Robert Plant is able to display his vocal chops
in his duet with Sandy Denny (ex-Fairport Convention), who in her illustrious
but tragic career had probably never sung so sweet.
The album closes with one of the darkest songs Led zeppelin
ever recorded ‘When the Levee Breaks’, a blues as only Led Zeppelin can
play, with Robert Plant’s vocals and harmonica play and Jimmy Page’s guitar
to the fore as the others lay down a rock solid spine to the song.
This was Led Zeppelin’s finest hour, and therefore rightly
holds the claim to #1 album of all time.
Oh by the way it also includes ‘Stairway to Heaven’. Does
any body remember laughter?
The
haunting photograph on the front cover of a Wat in Lampang drew my
attention to this book while perusing the shelves. A glance at the name of
the author was enough to make me take it to the sales lady. Michael
Freeman is a researcher/writer/photographer almost without peer. To
combine someone who can take professional photographs, as well as write
lucidly, is rare. Michael Freeman is a ‘rara avis’.
Mott’s CD review: Led Zeppelin
5
Stars *****