Best Led Zeppelin Album?

Led Zeppelin lyrics are not great, in keeping with the tradition of 90% of rock music.

love zep's lyrics in general, real nice mix of mysticism and wit

I can deal with pretty much everything, but the Mordor/Gollum line is kind of a problem in an otherwise fine song. Other than that, the lyrics are fine...

Also, I'm realizing on relistening that I must have played In Through The Out Door more than any of their other full albums as a kid. I was pretty surprised to find that I knew the whole thing by heart. That and Houses of the Holy are the only albums I'd ever played as albums. The rest I knew from the radio. Interesting thing about growing up during the radio era is that you often didn't actually buy the albums that were on the radio all the time...because they were on the radio all the time.

I don't pay attention to lyrics. Like, ever.

BTW, the 2007 expanded remaster of The Song Remains The Same is a revelation. Yes, "Dazed and Confused" is still boring. But the bonus tracks they added really do make it flow much better, and the sound is amazing. I listen to it almost as often as the studio albums.

I've long suspected that Page's guitar soloing is rooted in his hired gun studio background. Come in, go splat on a track, get out. I think I like the later Zeppelin albums more because I just like that sound for them more. Jimmy Page producer >>>> Jimmy Page guitarist.

In Through The Out Door was the first albums I ever bought - I suppose it's the only time I ever bought a *new* Zeppelin album. Have always wondered how they would have fared had Bonham lived and kept things from being just a mash of Firm riffs and The Principle of Moments spaciness. I suppose that isn't bad...

Have always wondered how they would have fared had Bonham lived and kept things from being just a mash of Firm riffs and The Principle of Moments spaciness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKlu3A3BBgE

I'd probably go:

III
Physical Graffiti
I
IV
HOTH
II
Presence
ITTOD

IV
1
PG
Houses

The only things I feel certain about though are that ITTOD is my least favorite, that III or Physical Graffiti should be at the top, and that I like I more than II. Otherwise the order could shuffle a bit.

Houses was a record I listened to a lot when I was 13/14, learning to play the guitar, and developing my first crushes, and I have very strong memories of listening to the Rain Song a lot one summer on my walkman, thinking about my crush, and just kind of generally being into the feeling of having a crush.

The moment when you first learn how to play The Rain Song opening on a 12-string is pretty singular.

I've long suspected that Page's guitar soloing is rooted in his hired gun studio background. Come in, go splat on a track, get out. I think I like the later Zeppelin albums more because I just like that sound for them more. Jimmy Page producer >>>> Jimmy Page guitarist.

― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, August 8, 2015 1:35 AM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Weren't most of the guitar overdubs on Presence done in one continuous session, with Page staying up all night fuelled by goodness knows what?

The moment when you first learn how to play The Rain Song opening on a 12-string is pretty singular.

― Elvis Telecom, Friday, August 7, 2015 9:23 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Totally, I spent so much frustrated time trying to figure out how to get that opening strum on a six-string in standard tuning. "I don't get it, it just sounds like a G chord but it doesn't sound like my G chord!"

Weren't most of the guitar overdubs on Presence done in one continuous session, with Page staying up all night fuelled by goodness knows what?

Supposedly...

Page had simply stayed awake for two days straight to perform all of the guitar overdubs. As he later explained:

I just had to lay it down, more or less: first track... second track – you know, really fast working on that. And all the guitar overdubs on Presence were done in one night. But I didn't think I would be able to do it in one night, I thought I'd have to do it across maybe three different nights to get the individual sections. Everything sort of crystallised and you'll notice everything was just pouring out. I was very happy with the guitar playing on that whole album, you know as far as the maturity of playing goes.

--- In an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine in 1998, Page stated that he worked an average of 18 to 20 hours per day during the mixing period at Musicland Studios:

After the band finished recording all its parts, me and the engineer, Keith Harwood, just started mixing until we would fall asleep. Then whoever would wake up first would call the other and we'd go back in and continue to work until we passed out again.

BTW, the 2007 expanded remaster of The Song Remains The Same is a revelation. Yes, "Dazed and Confused" is still boring. But the bonus tracks they added really do make it flow much better, and the sound is amazing. I listen to it almost as often as the studio albums.

Agreed, though I don't even think Dazed is boring (Moby Dick is still unlistenable though). The version of Rain Song is sublime.

PG
III
HOTH
II
IV
I
Presence
ITTOD
.
.
.
.
.
.
Coda

also, when my friends and I were discovering Zep in our teens, the shittiness of the solo on Heartbreaker was a regular topic of discussion. I kind of like it now, though, after years of listening to other musicians fucking with the concept of "good" musicianship.

PG
I
HOTH
IV
III
II
Presence
ITTOD

I'd rank them as:

III
Houses of the Holy
IV
Physical Graffiti
I
II

Havent heard them:
Presence
In Through The Out Door

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 7 August 2015 17:06 (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'd agree with this - I have heard Presence and ITTOD and would put them both at the bottom.

Although really it's a case of three groupings - the first three are classic, the next three are great and the bottom two just good.

I tried listening to HOTH for the first time the other day and was trying to enjoy it but really I was just waiting for No Quarter to come on. That's the problem with discovering a band through a best-of compilation, the individual albums get dissipated, as in there are always 2-3 songs you know really well spread out between songs you've never heard. Also makes the chronology and the stylistic shifts therein sound less obvious.

I know exactly what you mean although Zep weren't like that for me - before I started working my way through the albums I knew maybe five of their songs, so it was interesting to find out which were the favourites/radio hits off each record coming at them that way.

I > II > IV > Houses > III > In Through the Out Door > Presence > PG > Coda

I first learned Zep through the Remasters comps of 1990 or so, and so exploring the parent albums (which I nabbed off my dad's girlfriend - still have her copies of I, HOTH, PG and TSRTS) was like rehydrating astronaut food.

Physical Graffiti
In Through the Out Door
III
Houses of the Holy
Presence
IV
II
Coda
I

xp that's exactly my experience with now trying to listen to the individual records. I listened to Remasters SO MUCH as a sixth-former, but never the albums.

I'm trying to understand the perspective of those among you who rate ITTOD so highly. I've listened to all of the albums dozens of times, but I'm certain that I've listened to IV through PG >100 times and never ever get tired of them, whereas getting through ITTOD is sometimes a chore. I'll grant you that it starts very strong, but it's a pretty limp noodle overall in comparison to their catalogue as a whole.

I put ITTOD on for my walk to work this morning and enjoyed it but some of the songs really do outstay their welcome, In the Evening especially.

Yeah that's one of the most draggy Zep songs, sad not in an expressive way but in a not-feeling-this-anymore way. It does have that neat effect on the intro to the guitar solo though.

xpost:

I listened to it today and I don't plan on listening to it again. Ever.

If ITTOD was on fire, I'd rush in and save 'South Bound Suarez' and console myself with the loss of the rest.

ITtOD is their only bad studio album imo. I'd rather listen to solo Plant.

xp "All of My Love" is my keeper.

If In Through The Out Door was on fire, I'd be out the fire exit and be all like "see ya!"

oh cool no one can agree on which children, er, tracks, to save

And no one's mentioned goddamn "Fool in the Rain."

^I'd save the drum track and pour gasoline on the rest.

love In The Evening and All of my Love and Carouselambra, but sort of feel like saying "The John Bonham drum out-takes bootleg is better than the actual album" is only partly challops

The thing is...ITTOD would probably be a fine album for a different band. It's just lackluster as a Led Zeppelin album. By that measure, 'Fool In The Rain' is perfectly pleasant, but not really what I'm looking for when I turn to the Zep.

Check the date on this...1000 Led Zeppelin fans soon to be majorly bummed out:
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1980/09/25/page/55/article/ad-for-led-zeppelin-lures-1-000

man

Wow. I complain about paying ticket fees, and there were people flying in from Denver just to get the order form for the tickets!!

So based on this drum cover (which seems insanely accurate), there's more kick going on than I thought, however none in the "One" part
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryxZFqWKQdo

What do you mean by the "One" part?

Okay, just watched.... Maybe the 5/4 part for the guitar solos? Not the first time nor the second, but the third/fourth times he accents the first 4 of the 5/4 on the bass drum (while doing metronomic modulation of the eighth notes to triplets... pretty amazing composition).

It's always been a pleasure for me to listen to Bonham's drumming on 'Achilles' - there's a couple of moments in there, especially one particular drum fill, which make me go "fucking hell!" even after listening to it countless times. It's a very exciting track, particularly the rhythm section. The opposite for me would be something like 'Kashmir' - I can completely understand why Bonham is holding the groove down and keeping it simple, but in terms of drum work I find it on the duller end of what Bonham was able to pull off.

(xpost) ^^see 6m43s & 8m20s

The 2m13s fill is the one that always kills me.

2:26 is the one that gets me, but that one too

I can't believe I'm considering buying the reissues...anyone here batted for the cycle (vinyl, cd, box set, and reissues)?

fp'd everyone who bothered ranking coda

killfiled ez snappin for ranking it ahead of something else

I'd like to know whether or not the HotH reissue is 'ok' now ... My buddy's copy had some weird clipping on crunge & ocean...

I can't believe I'm considering buying the reissues...anyone here batted for the cycle (vinyl, cd, box set, and reissues)?

― Iago Galdston, Monday, August 10, 2015 6:43 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Kinda thinkin' the same thing. I'd totally missed that any reissued had been issued until the sudden rash of LZ thread revives. I only actually own cassette copies of all the albums. I've hardly ever gone in for the "deluxe two-disc remaster with unreleased demos and alternate tracks!" thing but I think I could make an exception in this case.