Classic Rock Bottom

ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 12 LED ZEPPELIN - LED ZEPPELIN I (1969) AUDIO EXCELLENCE BY THE DECADE (PART ONE)



Side One:

1. Good Times Bad Times
2. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
3. You Shook Me
4. Dazed And Confused

Side Two:

1. Your Time Is Gonna Come
2. Black Mountain Side
3. Communication Breakdown
4. I Can't Quit You Baby
5. How Many More Times

As promised last week, we jump way back in time to 1969 for part one of my "Audio Excellence By Decade" series.  Writing about Led Zeppelin's debut is a daunting task for me.  Zep is almost larger than
life, and I feel that I'm bound to disappoint some folks in my
assessment of this album.  I guess I'll just tell you how I feel about
it and not worry too much if I'm not agreed with.  As I said in last
week's preview, Led Zeppelin is the poster child for the classic rock
genre.  This album was heavy and acoustic at the same time. It only had
one single (according to Wikipedia, which I assume is correct).  That
means 8 album cuts to digest. 
 
Single:
 
Good Times Bad Times
 
What a great way to start this album off.  This song proved right off the bat that LZ possessed an excellent vocalist as well as superb musicianship.  The guitar solo by Jimmy Page is blistering.  And to show
how well the song holds up, it was just covered by Godsmack a year or
two ago and, although Godsmack is certainly no Led Zeppelin, they did a
decent job and the song itself still sounds great.
 
Album Cuts:
 
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
 
 
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You is my favorite LZ tune.  This is just a beautiful song that is soft and loud at the same time.   I believe Page and Plant adapted this version from a previously written song.  The
vocals are stupendous.  Next is You Shook Me.  Talk about the blues. 
Wow.  This should be the very definition of the blues.  Don't you just
love the harmony and play between the vocals and the guitar?  I do.  And
just listen to the guitar.  I wonder if JP knew just how great this
sounded when the guys were making this album.  Closing side one is Dazed
And Confused
, which is a signature LZ song and a feature piece in most
of their shows.  It's just more blues, with a freaking haunted
descending riff.  Other than that, it's an awesome jam session. 
 
Side two starts with a really cool organ intro, probably played by John Paul JonesYour Time Is Gonna Come is another very, very good acoustic ballad.  Again, soft verses, heavier choruses.  Great drumming
on this track.  A nice instumental (Black Mountain Side) follows.  Then
comes Communication Breakdown, another LZ classic.  This is the most
up-tempo song on the album.  Next is I Can't Quit You Baby, a cover
tune.  It's more of that blues thing.  Jimmy Page, Jimmy Page, Jimmy
Page
.  Outstanding lead guitar work.  How Many More Times wraps up the
album.  This is more blues, but I noticed something today.  The lead
guitar tone is really fantastic, and this is the sound I'm hearing on
some of these new bands that are looking for that retro sound.  It's
quite a compliment to Page and the band in general.  Also, the drumming
makes me think of Dave Grohl's drumming on his
supergroup's (Them Crooked Vultures) debut album.  Of course, that's
John Paul Jones current band (that's a lot less than 6 degrees of
separation).  I'm sure Grohl was influenced by John Bonham
 
In conclusion, this is a great album.  It's very deserving of it's spot in my 5 decade series.  I'm not even gonna tell you about it's availability on Amazon because I'm sure that everyone who is reading
this already owns it.  If not, you should. 
 
Hidden Gem Award:
 
This may be the most difficult album to pick a hidden gem, because almost every song is regularly played on classic rock radio, so there really isn't much here that is hidden.  But I have to pick one, so I'm
going with the acoustic instrumental Black Mountain Side.

Next Week:
 
Stay tuned next week as we move into the 70's.   We will visit a live album from 1975, or is it?  Anyway, here's some of the great albums that I didn't choose from the 70's:
 
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Boston - Boston
Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell
Van Halen - Van Halen
Pink Floyd - The Wall
 
and many, many more.  See you next week.








 
 


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Replies to This Discussion

Great Album. From 1969 you could have picked

Abbey Road, Let It Bleed, Ummagumma, and Tommy among some other very strong releases from that year. I'm glad it wasnt me who picked, I would be going back and forth too much to settle on one...

Ive always thought the real hidden gem was "Your Time Is Gonna Come".

Havent heard this for awhile, still sounds great!
I agree with Your Time Is Gonna Come, I just tried to pick something that you don't hear on the radio, and that only leaves a couple of choices.

Abbey Road was almost my pick, but I think I'm gonna do a Beatles series in the near future.
The riff in "How many more times" is outstanding.
It's Zeppelin...thus it cannot be wrong.

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