Best Led Zeppelin Album?

Did we poll Presence? I can't find it in the search.

Apparently not! I thought ILM had polled every album ever released by this point.

That'll be a tough poll but can't see not voting for ALS

Listening to ALS again after years, I'd never noticed how much JPJ drives that galloping groove. His muted bass chug on the up beats is killer.

Say what you will about that Pitchfork review of Presence, but that part about this album being a Page / Bonham album and ITTOD being a Plant / JPJ album is pretty spot on (if somewhat reductive). Never really thought of these albums in those terms, but it makes perfect sense.

I'd rank them as:

III
Houses of the Holy
IV
Physical Graffiti
I
II

Havent heard them:
Presence
In Through The Out Door

IV
Physical Graffiti (Disc 1)
II
I
Houses of the Holy (would be 2-3 spots higher if not for "The Crunge" and "D'yer Maker")
Physical Graffiti (Disc 2)
Presence
In Through the Out Door

With HOTH, it's like Led Zeppelin were saying, "Yeah, here you go, an album so great that even 'The Crunge and 'D'yer Maker' can't ruin it." It's definitely #4 of the Big Four, though, for that reason.

For shame, I primarily listen to I-IV and Houses of the Holy. Haven't much heard Physical Graffiti all that much and I am a worse person for it. Should get to fixing that ASAP.

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

Houses in my favorite and imo their best-SOUNDING album in part because those goofy slight genre exercises somehow fit within it, and further demonstrate the sonic range of Page and the rhythm section

Mine too. I don't even own the first album.

that part about this album being a Page / Bonham album and ITTOD being a Plant / JPJ album is pretty spot on (if somewhat reductive)

Def. been a part of LZ lore for some time. Other guys, esp. Page, apparently hated "All My Love," which if you think about it is the most JPJ-side of Zep plus the most personal of Plant lyrics. Interesting sidenote: Bonham, Plant's bestie from back in the day and his perhaps unlikely closest compatriot in LZ, is the only member of LZ who attended the funeral of Plant's son.

further demonstrate the sonic range of Page and the rhythm section

Irony here being that the rhythm section absolutely hated "D'yer Mak'er."

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

I never cared much for 'All My Love' but it was hard to feel much antipathy towards it once I discovered why it was written.

Are people excluding III from their rankings unintentionally or is there some weird 'acoustic Zep is BULLSHIT!' backlash I'm unaware of?

Whoops I meant to include III after Physical Graffiti.

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

― Darin, Friday, August 7, 2015 6:23 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

heresy

darin coming in w/some hot takes on the zep like woah

Other guys, esp. Page, apparently hated "All My Love," which if you think about it is the most JPJ-side of Zep plus the most personal of Plant lyrics.

I wonder how much of this was Page just not being into the song, and how much was resentment of JPJ and (especially) Plant having a hit that he didn't have a hand in writing. The Barney Hoskyns oral history has more than a few instances of Page's acute jealousy of any adulation Plant got (and vice-versa).

I'm not sure I could really rank these albums. First song, first album pretty much epitomizes the band and its greatness. The rest is just riding the same high, more or less. But "Houses of the Holy" may be the best "yeah, we're that good" follow-up to a slam dunk, a really huge exclamation point stuck at the end of a particularly awesome sentence.

Reading that oral history really underscored both how huge and how hated Led Zeppelin was, not least for being huge. They really had few friends or peers, in every sense.

before the book, i didn't know that bonzo and tony iommi were that tight and also that zep was tight with fairport convention (which actually makes sense on both counts)

Yeah, doesn't the book hint that someone, somewhere has a recording of LZ and Fairport jamming one night at the Roxy?

Presence
PG

IV, III & HOTH roughly on the same level

I
ITTOD

Coda and II at the bottom

Here's a Zep question I've never seen answered. Page could be sloppy live, but his albums are exceptionally precise ... except the solo on "Heartbreaker," which is a total mess. What's up with that? How can the guy who could pull off the solo on "Good Times, Bad Times" (again, first song first album!) be that messy, and why didn't he just do another take? Is it supposed to be a joke?

I disagree. Page is sloppy as eff throughout their discography. I mean, he's amazing and does some astoundingly intricate stuff, but he's certainly no perfectionist. Part of the charm.

And I would imagine that the eighth letter of the alphabet is a fairly concise explanation for much of his sloppiness.

I think the only Page misstep that I have trouble with is when the solo in 'Tangerine' starts to get a little sour towards the end.

Huh, I've never noticed anything remotely as egregious as the Heartbreaker solo.

It was never anything terribly egregious, but he was often fairly unpolished.

darin coming in w/some hot takes on the zep like woah

― Ma$e-en-scène (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, August 7, 2015 11:37 AM (42 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

next time I'll lie and pretend Presence is awesome. that's how things work around here, right?

dude i was just saying that's an interesting list, no biggie chill

but yes presence is awesome pls report to your local re-education camp

ha ha sorry...

reporting to re-education camp asap

Anyone else think Royal Orleans sounds like the Minutemen?

I thought that the first time I heard Royal Orleans, and stuck it on a mixtape of angular punk songs right away to amuse my young self.

I had no idea "All My Love" was about his son until a couple years ago and it doesn't matter -- the lyrics are generic love pap.

it's hard for me to come up with a zeppelin lyric I hold in much esteem, and it doesn't really matter, the words are mostly just vehicles for Plant's vocalizations

walking in the park just the other day doo do dooo

WHHHADYA...WHHHADYA THINK I SAW-AW?!

Yeah I can't hate a lyric like that, I mean it could have been a Fogelberg lyric too but when plant's singing it sounds incred

I think of Plant the way I think of Beefheart and Tom Waits (and probably many others): incredible singer, but sometimes I wish they'd shut up so I could better hear the awesome band.

Would pay good money for instrumental versions of Rain Dogs, Presence, etc. (The Trout Mask instrumentals on that Beefheart box set a few years ago was a revelation).

Yeah, doesn't the book hint that someone, somewhere has a recording of LZ and Fairport jamming one night at the Roxy?

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, August 7, 2015 1:44 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Joe Boyd mentioned this in the liner notes to House Full, going on to something to the effect that everyone was drunk and it was awful.

plant's commitment to hobbit core is a major secret charm of zeppelin

i'd rank the studio albums as follows

PHYSICAL GRAFFITI
IV
II
HOUSES OF THE HOLY
I
III
IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR
PRESENCE

xpost

re people excluding III from their rankings unintentionally or is there some weird 'acoustic Zep is BULLSHIT!' backlash I'm unaware of?

― Off Pudding (Old Lunch)

HOTH
III
IV
PG
Presence
ITTOD

btw I've done this on his dedicated thread but solo Plant is responsible for some awesome, rewarding music -- the most consistently interesting boomer rocker imo. No embarrassing moments after "Sea of Love."

I forgot III. Amended ranking:

IV
Physical Graffiti (Disc 1)
II
I
III
Houses of the Holy (would be 2-3 spots higher if not for "The Crunge" and "D'yer Maker")
Physical Graffiti (Disc 2)
Presence
In Through the Out Door

THE SONG REMAAAAAAINS THE SAAAME SAIIIIM SAAAAYYYYMMM SAAAAIIYYMMMMM SAEEEEEMMM SAIIYYYEMMM SAIIIEEEEMEMM!! oooOOOOOoooOOOOoooOOOOOOOOoooo!

Physical Graffiti
IV
II
Houses Of The Holy
III
I
Presence
In Through The Out Door

IV
physical graffiti
houses of the holy
II
III
I
in through the out door
presence

love them all, probably most likely to listen to how the west was won if i listen to zeppelin nowadays