LED ZEPPELIN

Few classic bands, it seems, divide popular critical opinion as much as Led Zeppelin. Either you love them and therefore worship everything they did (whilst calling In Through the Out Door an underrated classic) and won't hear a bad word said against them, or you hate them and their fans and equally bang on about how they simply ripped everybody else off, had no original ideas and are popular music's greatest fakers; and similarly won't hear a good word said in their favour. Truly 'tis a shame that discussions of the band must fall on either side of such extremes. For the truth is, it seems to me, somewhere in the middle (although, if I'm honest, I waver towards the positive position). Led Zeppelin were a great band. They did pioneer hard rock and heavy metal (even if they didn't necessary invent it) and only two of their proper albums are anything less than great. Sure, Page ripped off both the old blues-men and his own contemporaries (cf. Jeff Beck) for ideas and songs but original songwriting was never what hard rock (or rock music, in general) was all about. You don't need the melody of "Eleanor Rigby" to make a rock song rock. Indeed, for many of Zeppelin's best songs (and hard rock in general) melody would have done nothing but get in the way.

In short, don't let the fact that Led Zeppelin did not consist of John, Paul, George and Ringo obscure the fact that they were a great hard rock band (ignoring the fact there was actually a John-Paul in the group). Perhaps it is different for me, not growing up in the seventies or in America, where Zeppelin apparently dominate classic rock radio, but I don't see why people get so riled about it. Indeed, I don't think I had even heard a Led Zeppelin song before buying their first album. In this way I reckon I can get a slightly more balanced view-point on such matters. And the way I see it is there is little point debating whether they really did invent heavy metal (even though Jeff Beck's Truth did come out first I'd be surprised if Jimmy was working on some completely different idea up until that point), and it seems a little harsh to claim that because they didn't write all of their own material they have no artistic worth. Bear in mind both the Stones and even Bob Dylan "borrowed" other people's songs and, more often than not, passed them off as their own. If you don't like Zeppelin, fine, but don't go accusing them of being so much worse than other rock bands simply because they often based their own songs on other people's. I agree Page was greedy and cheeky to claim the publishing rights, and was often successfully sued, but that doesn't mean his music is any worse than properly acknowledged covers within the genre. And, on a personal note, it really annoys me that people can rant on about the superiority of the Who because Townsend wrote his own songs. Yes, he was a better original song-writer than Jimmy Page & co. but the actual music his band produced, in my opinion, was no better and (in most cases) worse than Zeppelin's catalogue. Basically, the Who's catalogue should not be positively "weighted" because Townsend wrote his own songs just as Zeppelin's should not be negatively "weighted" because they sometimes didn't.

Oh, and as an addendum, I just thought I'd mention that I was one of the few people who was able to get tickets to the Zeppelin reunion gig in London in December 2007. They were bloody amazing. Just thought I'd drop that in...

It almost appears as if Led Zeppelin burst on to the scene as fully fledged rock behemoths. Even on the debut most of the trademarks are in place - Plant's blues helium wails, Page's brilliant guitar work - flashy yet still cutting to the core, and the immense rhythm section of the uniquely talented bassist John Paul Jones and powerful, if unsubtle, drummer John Bonham. Of course, all four had been around for a while beforehand, mostly plying their trade as session men, so it is not as if they had to get used to playing their instruments or anything. Despite reportedly playing on something like 60% of the songs heard on the radio during the mid- to late-sixties Jimmy Page had only just joined his first real band, the Yardbirds, before they broke up. Thankfully, his stint had given him time to survey the situation of sixties rock and also practice and work on a new formula for rock'n'roll. Although largely credited with inventing heavy metal with this album I always think it more accurate to attribute such a claim (of dubious merit) to Black Sabbath, given they pioneered far more of the trademarks. Certainly, though, on this album Page invented hard rock and the whole concept of rock Gods that we have become familiar with today. Hendrix and Clapton (with Cream) had been immensely influential in redefining the way the guitar was played but it was Jimmy Page, with this album, that really reaped the benefits. Actually, I tell a lie - it was Jeff Beck with his 1968 album Truth that completed the circle but, unfortunately for him, it was still Led Zeppelin that grabbed the plaudits. As I said in the introduction, I don't think Page ripped Beck off but I am certain Beck did manage to get there first. In any case, it is ridiculous to suggest that such a smudging of the pages of history actually affects the quality of this album. All I can do is suggest that everyone who likes this album should also get themselves a copy of Truth as it is essentially as good (and who would have thought Rod Stewart could be so cool?).

I believe some commentators attribute this album with ending the sixties and such a claim is actually reasonably sound. Even though Page's guitar-work was not radically different from Hendrix's on Electric Ladyland the latter album still seems definitively sixties whereas this one does point towards the seventies. I guess Hendrix's faithfulness to the authenticity of blues meant he failed to convert them into hard rock in the same way Page did, plus he was still in the thrall of psychedelic pop whereas Page had seen past such transitory whimsy to a deeper, darker world of hard rock and heavy metal. The psychedelic effects on "Dazed and Confused" and "How Many More Times" (created with Page's legendary violin bow technique) are far more foreboding and downright heavier than the psychedelic acid trips of the hippy bands of the time. To paraphrase Willie Dixon: evil very definitely is going on. Alongside the psychedelic hard rock masterpieces, the band play the straight up blues tunes "You Shook Me" (which Beck originally covered and Page shamelessly ripped off) and "I Can't Quit You Baby" (both by Willie Dixon) but with such demonic force that hard rock could not have helped but be invented. Page even tries to pen some poppy numbers, "Good Times Bad Times" and "Communication Breakdown", but instead they come across as such ferocious, lightning-fast rockers that any punks who dismissed Led Zeppelin's entire career clearly suffered from memory loss. I like punk a great deal but "Communication Breakdown" is a far more exciting rock'n'roll song than the Sex Pistols ever managed. This album even pre-empts the dynamics of grunge with the contrast between quiet acoustic picking and crunching electric section with the seminal "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" which is as close as possible to being an underrated number given the insane popularity of Zeppelin. The only real complaints, and why I've just resisted giving this the perfect score, is that Page's ideas are still a little rough around the edges (the album might have ended the sixties but the seventies had not yet begun) and the album loses its focus in the middle with the technically impressive but uninteresting instrumental "Black Mountain Side" and the misplaced pop effort "Your Time is Gonna Come". In a way, though, this is probably the best Zeppelin album to get first. Obviously it is brilliant in its own right but it still contains the unique and massively influential conversion of blues into hard rock and is unassuming enough to avoid irritating those foolhardy souls who dismiss Zeppelin as pompous windbags and the like.

Although it was the first album that was the most revolutionary in terms of inventing hard rock and (depending on who you talk to) heavy metal it was this album that made Led Zeppelin superstars. Furthermore, if Led Zeppelin I ended the sixties then this album very definitely started the seventies. Due to the limited recording time (this album was released in the same year as the debut) the attempted diversity and eclecticism of the debut was forced to take a back seat to punishing hard rock riffs, brutal rhythms and the castrato wailing of Plant. Page also managed to open this album with probably his most memorable riff ever (and maybe THE most famous riff ever) in the form of the simplistic, crunching intro to "Whole Lotta Love". Although they still hadn't really broken, in terms of success and popularity, when they recorded this album you would not know to listen to it as they sound irrepressibly confident and brash, pounding out the hard blues of "Whole Lotta Love" and "The Lemon Song", revelling in the energy of "Ramble On" and "Bring it on Home" and even feeling bold enough to allow Bonham a four minute drum solo with "Moby Dick".

Therefore this is the album that causes the divide between Zeppelin's detractors and fans to appear. I would hardly say it was bloated, part of its success is in the fact it is so streamlined, but it is hard rock at its most cocky (in both senses) and self-important. Certainly you can see that people might find it utterly charmless but I fail to see how fans of rock music couldn't love it for what it is - a swaggering celebration of hard and heavy rock'n'roll. If you are content to hear Plant wail about "squeezing lemons" and "giving you every inch of my love" then there are few real criticisms to be had. Only really the drab ballad "Thank You" is an obvious mis-step (if Plant wanted to prove he could be sensitive as well as sexy he should have done so with a decent song) and the re-run of "Communication Breakdown" "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)" is the closest to filler on the album. Thankfully, we have the strident swagger of "Heartbreaker", with a notorious solo showcase from Page, and the psychedelic hard rock hell (used in a positive sense) of "Whole Lotta Love". And where the blues covers on the debut were still a touch too faithful for their own good the medley "The Lemon Song" streamlines their blues leanings into one compact assault of punishing blues-based hard rock, as well as including uncredited (tsk, tsk) covers of Robert Johnson and Howlin' Wolf classics.

Although the folk-metal of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" was never again replicated with quite the same power the same dynamics are repeated with the excellent duo of "What Is and What Should Never Be" and "Ramble On". Furthermore, I personally find two of the more notorious numbers on here to be actually rather good. Of course, one can question how good a drum solo can really be but the length of "Moby Dick" is pretty much perfect and the riff that bookends the solo is essential to the composition. The album closer, "Bring it on Home", is sporadically and utterly unfairly maligned. The contrast between the muddy delta blues and the brass-fuelled romp in the middle, for me, is a highlight of the album. It is fair to say that many trademarks of the hard rock/heavy metal genre were invented on this album from the Tolkein-esque lyrics of "Ramble On" to the instrumental showcases of "Heartbreaker" and "Moby Dick" to the variation in loud-quiet dynamics right down to the bone-headed cock-rock posturing that inexplicably impresses so many people. As I've said, such a stigma is where many music fans may well be put off but if you're willing to take the whole exercise with a pinch of salt (or moronic enough to revel in half-baked misogyny and unintelligent mysticism) then you are left to enjoy a supreme showcase of hard rock at its freshest and most exciting.

Led Zeppelin immediately showed just why they were a class above their imitators when the follow-up to the phenomenal Led Zeppelin II proved to be a refreshingly diverse and sporadically unassuming effort, counter-acting the cock-rock overtones of the previous album, but still containing enough hard and heavy rockers to show further innovation in the new-born field of hard rock. In what must have been a fairly surprising move and perhaps influenced by the folk/rock cleavage of Bob Dylan's Bringing it All Back Home this album is split roughly between two contrasting sides - the first consisting of jaunty rock classics and the second with quiet, introspective folk tunes. In this way this album also represents a milestone in the "alternative" career of Zeppelin. If you are unapologetically offended by the swaggering overblown cock-rock that they pioneered and became renowned for then you could just skip over Led Zep II and IV and pick up their debut and this one instead. Of course, despite the obvious intentions sensitivity, subtlety and intelligence are not really Zeppelin's forte and the acoustic songs on here do suggest they were better off sticking to what they knew best. The traditional "Gallows Pole" ends up rocking as much as their electric songs, which is a fine achievement, and "Tangerine" is elevated by a masterful guitar solo but five and a half minutes of "That's the Way" suggests they were hardly going to snatch Nick Drake's crown in terms of introspective folk tunes. Furthermore I've never been sold on the fan's favourite "Bron-y-Aur Stomp" as it appears to be a rather slight composition and the final "Hats off to (Roy) Harper" is an unfunny in-joke and a disappointingly poor way to finish this album. Of the classic Led Zeppelin I to IV quartet this is almost certainly the weakest but it is worth pointing out that only the last quarter (the second half of the acoustic side - from where "That's the Way" starts to drag) is less than typically brilliant.

The electric/acoustic split is not a straight dichotomy and the first half does include the acoustic "Friends", which also features for the first and only time a string arrangement (I concede it could be Jones on the keyboards but it certainly sounds authentic unlike, say, "Stairway"). In any case, it is an excellent effort and shows that it is not so much acoustic instead of electric that hinders their success as unsuccessfully attempting to act quiet and sensitive instead of rockin' hard and fast. Led Zeppelin might be a little bit more intelligent than their hard rock peers and descendents but not THAT much more and "Friends" is about as successfully clever as they get. Of course, they can also poke a bit of fun at themselves and the hysterical (in both senses) album opener "Immigrant Song" is excellent proof of this. Plant's ridiculous war-cry and the "Valhalla - I'm coming" lyrics must be somewhat tongue-in-cheek and the song itself is so punishing that, at any rate, it barely seems to matter. It is also refreshing that, whilst at a similar time Deep Purple's pounding rockers were being extended into six or seven minute jams, Jimmy Page was canny enough to end such a song after a mere two and a half minutes. Again, further evidence that when punk denounced Zeppelin as dinosaurs they clearly had short-term memories. (That said, there is no doubt Presence practically encouraged punk to kill them off.)

The jaunty rockers "Celebration Day" and "Out on the Tiles" are both enjoyably energetic and, again, devoid enough of cock-rock cliches to appeal to the more sensitive or discerning rock fan. Furthermore, this album is rounded off with probably the best pure blues song Zeppelin even managed - the seven minute "Since I've Been Loving You". It is apparently entirely self-composed but I'll walk through the Middle-East with a "God Bless America" t-shirt on if some old blues songs aren't recycled. It doesn't really matter, though, as the strength of the song mainly rests on an excellent band performance, particularly Page's lead guitar (naturally) and an excellent performance from Plant. Again it is so utterly inoffensive and, of course, brilliant that it stands as another enviable achievement. Taken altogether this might be the weakest of Zeppelin's classic quartet but it is certainly the least offensive album in their career and, therefore, can be highly recommended to practically everyone. Perhaps they should have called it Another Side of Led Zeppelin instead.

Given that Led Zeppelin were already superstars in 1971 this legendary release elevated them still further and turned them into semi-deities - rock Gods who roam through the world of mere mortals blessing them with some divine music now and again. Of course, regardless of the impressive quality of the entire album, most of this legacy rests merely on just one song - the aptly named "Stairway to Heaven". I believe it may well be, statistically, the most played song ever, which makes it all the more bewildering that I didn't even hear it for the first time until I got into Zeppelin. I have to admit that I am no longer the massive fan of it I once was - my original review heralded it as the greatest song ever - but I can appreciate just why it is so insanely popular. Firstly I feel I have to admit it is a rather stupid song. The pompous lyrics that sound so important are actually acutely nonsensical and Jones' Greensleeves-esque keyboard line, presumably intended to make it sound like a timeless medieval sonnet, comes across as pitifully corny and cliched these days. That said, the area where the song really succeeds and what it owes most of its success to is its structure - it is the most perfectly structured song ever. From the instantly recognisable guitar picking the song gradually builds up with increased involvement from the rest of the band to THAT guitar solo to the final, metallic coda which, despite its cheesiness, still sends shivers down my spine. It is not the greatest song ever but it is still pretty great, that much will always be clear. I guess it is sadly inevitable that any review of this album must concentrate on the aforementioned song (although I'd be interested to read a review that didn't mention it at all) and at least with this one I've got it out of the way quick enough.

That way, I still have plenty of space left to hail the rest of this album which is, lest it be forgotten, quite probably Zeppelin's finest and their career peak. Of course, if we are to return to the alternative credentials of Led Zep I concede that this album could be deemed horribly offensive. Not only is it THE definitive album of the seventies (and so early, as well) but it is also THE definitive rock album - self-important, brash, powerful, cocky, etc. - in short, everything that Led Zeppelin II was but with slightly improved diversity and with their confidence at an all-time high. The folk musings of Led Zep III have been retained but built upon so that they come across as proper rock songs again. Indeed, the entire album lacks any kind of unassuming charm (bar maybe "Going to California") as the boys return to the aesthetics that saw them become so successful in the first place with slick, streamlined rock songs powered along by their immense instrumental prowess. As has probably been pointed out by many other people the first half of this album is near-perfect rock music. The punishing album opener "Black Dog" is an absolute classic, although I will always prefer the relentless intensity of the following "Rock and Roll" - simply one of the most quintessentially rock'n'roll songs ever. Again proof that LZ were flexible enough to avoid their music turning into ponderous jams or metallic sludge - there is a reason they are widely hailed as the greatest ever pure rock band, you know. Obviously closing the side of vinyl with "Stairway" is going to leave a lasting impression but the intense folk duet with Sandy Denny "The Battle of Evermore" is ANOTHER deserved classic. Page's mandolin is an essential innovation and, combined with perhaps Plant's career best vocal performance (spurred on by Denny's aid), the intensity of the track makes it one of the very few Tolkein tributes that actually sounds important rather than just ridiculous.

Unfortunately the second half of the album opens with two disappointingly mediocre efforts - "Misty Mountain Hop" and "Four Sticks" - which prevent the album from really being considered one of the absolute best ever. I'm sure from a technical point of view they are reasonably impressive but the reason Zeppelin are so great is because they are so much more than just good musicians. Hell, even Presence displays great technical ability. The acoustic folk ballad "Going to California" is pleasant enough and, in all probability, an improvement over "That's the Way" but the second half only really reaches the heavens just as it ends with the almighty finale "When the Levee Breaks". Apparently Bonham's opening drum-beats are the most sampled ever and it is not hard to see why due to the unique and powerful sound he achieves. The song itself is a brilliant conversion of delta blues into heavy metal as, on top of Bonham's crunching drums, Page's slide guitar is positively demonic and Plant only adds to the carnage with more superb vocals and a wailing harmonica. As a final note I should mention that, strictly speaking, this album's title is the four symbols on the spine (each one is supposed to represent a different band member). Some people refer to this as Untitled but I always think Led Zeppelin IV makes the most sense. Still, most people probably refer to it as The-one-with-"Stairway-to-Heaven"-on. As I've tried to make clear, despite the evident brilliance of "Stairway", the rest of this album easily lives up to the association. The slight dip on the second half is disappointing but this is still not only Page & co's best album and career peak but one of the greatest rock albums ever. This album simply IS rock music.

Perhaps ending the series of eponymous albums proved to be a downfall for Led Zeppelin as their 1973 follow-up to one of the most successful albums ever proved to be the first non-masterpiece the band released. Of course, there are still loads of great ideas in evidence on this album but, likewise, there are some failed ideas to boot. Led Zeppelin might have been diverse for a rock band but delving into funk ("The Crunge") and reggae ("D'yer Mak'er") proved to be a step too far. Furthermore the two songs based around crunching riffs - "Dancing Days" and "The Ocean" - both fail to match the usual power of Zeppelin's classic rockers. Still, half the album consists of yet more of Led Zep's top-rate material and, combined with the fact that the lesser half of the album is not bad as such, results in another strong artistic success for Led Zeppelin. Of course the fact is that as THE quintessential rock band Zeppelin are subject to the quintessential problem of attempted eclecticism and diversity being, at best, red herrings. They may be the best pure rock band of all time but it ain't "D'yer Mak'er", "The Crunge" or (God forbid) In Through the Out Door that put them there.

That said, it must be stressed that the semi-success of this album does not have much to do with the pure rock songs (as I've already partially dismissed "Dancing Days" and "The Ocean") and, instead, it is the atmospheric epics "The Rain Song" and "No Quarter" that stand out highest. JP Jones is prominent on the former, layering artificial strings with his synthesiser, and dominant on the latter with brilliantly eerie keyboard playing throughout, culminating with some excellent interplay with Page. "The Rain Song" drifts along pleasantly before excellently erupting into a crunching rock section. "No Quarter", on the other hand, is a more subtle affair with Plant's vocals distorted to make them sound almost watery and makes the entire song a suitably ominous soundtrack to a tale of medieval conquest. Indeed, it is some achievement, given the suspect nature of the lyrics, that the song sounds both genuine and serious.

Started with "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" on the debut, continued with "Ramble On" from II, most fully documented on III and taken to the extreme with the momentous "Stairway to Heaven", on this album "Over the Hills and Far Away" represents the standard folk/metal crossover. It begins, like a wolf in sheep's clothing, with a lilting acoustic delivery before jumping, understandably, into an energetic rocker. The final highlight on the album is the opening title track which stands as a tour de force of production with about a hundred guitars overdubbed and Plant's vocals artificially sped up. As the opener to the album, though, it does show Led Zep were not just going to rehash Led Zeppelin IV. Certainly, this is the first album of theirs that indicates an increased interest in experimental production techniques and whilst none of Page's attempted studio wizardry sounds silly or even dated (quite an achievement for an album from 1973, check out some prog albums of the time to see what I mean) it does not sound any more impressive than the no-nonsense stream-lined approach of their first four albums (and the second in particular). One can only imagine that a dangerous case of over-confidence, spurred on by too many drugs and exacerbated by the bloated pretentiousness of prog rock at the time resulted in Page and co drifting too far away from the ideals that had made them so great. As I've said, half of this album is really good but it still does not really contain any classic take-no-prisoners rockers and I can think of more rewarding experiences than hearing Robbie Plant excruciatingly trying to impersonate James Brown and Bob Marley. Thankfully all was not over for Zeppelin and they still had one last hurrah to come to cement their position as one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

With the seventies half-way through, with punk a glint on the horizon and the corpses of the sixties dead and buried, times were changing for Zeppelin. They were still by far the biggest band on the planet but the rock revolution they had spear-headed had already achieved its task and rock music had become a far slicker, heavier and more pompous past-time. Not only had the likes of the Stones long ago floundered into mediocrity but Zeppelin's immediate peers, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, were also drifting into irrelevance to make way for the likes of Aerosmith, AC/DC and the whole cock-rock phenomenon that was soon to take off. Thankfully, unlike their aforementioned peers, Zeppelin still had juice in the tank and for their last real blitzkrieg bop they amassed eight new songs and mixed them in with studio left-overs from their previous efforts to comprise the band's only studio double album. Thankfully the scattered sources of the songs does not make for a scattered listen and, like all great double albums, the rambling flow of the album is absorbing and intriguing. Sure, there are moments of filler (the instrumental left-over from Led Zep III "Bron-Yr-Aur", the off-the-cuff "Boogie with Stu" and the "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp" re-run "Black Country Woman") but all are at least semi-enjoyable and, besides, you'd be pretty mad to fill a double album with pompous epics without any light relief.

As is often pointed out, this album is far removed from their original eponymous quartet with Zeppelin perhaps lacking a little of their youthful zest and certainly dispensing altogether with any left-over stylistic ideals of the sixties. It doesn't help, of course, that Robert Plant's voice has succumbed to the years of endless touring and, although he still packs a punch, he's no longer the possessor of the world's most demonic castrato wail. I have to say that the production also seems a little denser and grittier than the airy freshness of the first four albums but then that's probably just me. The production-heavy Houses of the Holy does appear as something as a bridge between early- and late-era Zeppelin, though. Often, when discussing double albums, people argue about which tracks would be retained on a potential abridged single-disc and, more than nearly any other double album, it is fair to say you might as well just stick with the whole of the first CD. Not that there aren't highlights on disc 2, the first side in particular, but the six songs on disc one would surely have completed a hat-trick of 10* releases for Led Zep if they'd been released as a single. I'm not even saying that they should have resisted releasing this as a double (my life would be somewhat worse off for not having heard "Ten Years Gone") I'm merely pointing out the structure of the album. In any case, if they wanted to mix it up they could have done, I honestly think they wanted the more light-weight numbers grouped together on the fourth side of vinyl.

The only popular classic on the two discs is, obviously, the sublime "Kashmir" which was famously raped and mutilated by Piff Duddy in the late nineties (and poor old Jimmy Page thought it would boost his credibility to help him destroy it). Truly 'tis rather pointless to describe such a wide-spread classic but I will reserve words of praise for the stunning chord progression and the superb brass backing. My favourite song on the album, though, is almost certainly the superb rocker "The Rover" with fantastic lead playing by Page throughout. Amazingly it is one of the session left-overs from Houses of the Holy but one can only stutter in disbelief that they didn't think it fit to be included on its original album. Similarly, the would-be title track from those sessions, "Houses of the Holy", is also included on the first disc on here and is also another of the best songs, either on this album or on HOTH should they have decided to include it. Along with "Kashmir", the remaining three tracks on the first CD date from the contemporary sessions and all are typically excellent. The grinding opener, "Custard Pie", is simply a great rock song, the sleazy "Trampled Underfoot" is a far more successful hard rock appropriation of funk than "The Crunge" and the eleven minute jam of "In My Time of Dying" is mainly noticeable for not lagging at any stage.

The second CD is not devoid of epics and it opens with the nine minute ethic-fest "In the Light". Indeed, over the first three songs you are taken from a mystical Asia ("In the Light") to rural Wales ("Bron-Yr-Aur") to the homely seaside resorts of Blackpool or Weston-Super-Mare ("Down by the Seaside"). The latter number dates from the Led Zeppelin IV period and, while it ain't good enough to fit on that particular classic, there is no doubt its laid-back organ and excellent guitar break mid-way through makes for an enjoyably diverse offering. In terms of maturity the second disc features the regretful ballad "Ten Years Gone" which finds Plant wistfully mulling over a failed relationship ten years down the line with underrated subtlety from the rest of the band. As I've mentioned, the second half of the second disc represents the only lapse in quality over the entire album but at least it ends with the cock-rock celebration of "Sick Again" which, like the opener "Custard Pie", is nothing 'cept a great hard rocker. Maybe, overall, you can sense a slight whiff of lack of ideas creeping into the odd song but mainly there is easily enough classic material on here to make it Zeppelin's last great artistic triumph. That said, time was running out for Zeppelin and their bloated rock peers and, whilst they did insist on tainting their legacy with two further mediocre releases, at least this album shows it wasn't all down-hill from the early seventies.

It is one thing to better your fading peers in the mid-seventies by releasing one last great hard rock album, it is quite another to think you can take on the amassing punk rock hoards and prevent the turn of the musical tide. Obviously there were hints of what was brewing, with underground acts like the New York Dolls, MC5 and the Stooges gaining in popularity retrospectively, but the day the Ramones' eponymous debut was released was the day the worm forever turned and Led Zeppelin could either give up the ghost or die trying. Unfortunately for them, and John Bonham in particular, they chose the latter option. Not that this is a terribly bad album, that one's coming next, but it just sounds so strained, tired and jaded. Furthermore, they were obviously too old to belt out the likes of "Communication Breakdown" or "Rock and Roll" so instead of their joyous bursts of pure rock energy the whole album is elongated and slowly drawn out, in almost a direct anti-thesis of the purist rock'n'roll ideals of punk. Even the three stand-out tracks on the album go on for ten and a half, six and a half and nine and a half minutes respectively. Of course, the whole situation was not helped by the deteriorating personal situations of the band members (giving credence to the stories of them selling their soul to the devil and being cursed as a result) with Jimmy Page and John Bonham succumbing dangerously to their heroin and alcohol addictions respectively and Robert Plant seriously injuring himself in a car-crash (I believe his six year old son also died the following year from illness).

Like I said, this isn't a bad album as such and they do manage to write three proper songs (and making up half the album) but, unfortunately, the rest is filled with uninspired funk-rock efforts which vary in quality only from mediocre to truly terrible. Still, though, this album gave at least one song for the Zep-heads to cherish and faint justification that they still ruled the rock'n'roll roost in the form of ten minute album opener "Achilles Last Stand". I don't regard it as up there with Zeppelin's absolute finest tunes but there is no doubting it is a thoroughly impressive epic composition which is even fast-paced enough to temporarily suggest Zeppelin could hold their own amongst the sweaty punk oiks. Unfortunately, over the rest of the album such hopes are slowly and irrevocably dashed and, even though this album did actually out-sell most punk classics of the time (never forget the awesome selling power of the brand-name), comparing this to the transcendental brilliance of The Ramones is nothing short of a painful exercise for anyone with an allegiance to Led Zep. The other moderate successes on the album are the blues-appropriation "Nobody's Fault But Mine" which is decent enough and the slow blues of "Tea for One" that at least sees them growing old gracefully and, furthermore, contains perhaps their best ever set of lyrics with Plant wearily contemplating loneliness and depression. The arrangement on the latter might be a little close to "Since I've Been Loving You" but on an album as limited as this one it easily stands out as one of the best numbers.

Unfortunately for Zeppelin and their fans, it is the other half of the album that really drags it down into mediocrity. The jerky yet jaded funk-styled rock of "For Your Life", "Royal Orleans" and "Hots on for Nowhere" are almost impossible to differentiate from each other and, indeed, just come across as three reprises of the same song. And it gets worse. "Candy Store Rock" was released as a promotional single for the album which I find singularly incredible given it is one of the very worst songs I've ever heard recorded by a major artist (let alone a band as great as Led Zeppelin). Again, it is a ham-fisted rockabilly number that is simply beyond redemption and, listening to it, one marvels as to how any band could be short-sighted enough to write it, let alone include it on an official album, LET ALONE release it as a single. Can you imagine the embarrassment of hearing that in the chart countdown alongside the likes of "God Save the Queen", "I Fought the Law" or "New Rose"? With marketing decisions like that it is little wonder that Led Zeppelin built up their reputation without any dependence on 7" releases. Furthermore, it was album releases like this that threatened to taint such an awesome reputation. Far be it for me to demand bands stop making money simply because they lose their artistic relevancy but Zeppelin's prolonged period in the sun had come to an end and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it except bow out as gracefully as possible. And, unfortunately, therein lies a problem.

Artistically Led Zeppelin might have suffered from being ousted from their pedestal by the new generation of rock'n'roll stars but they remained, in terms of popularity at least, the biggest band on the planet. And what greater way to cement their legacy than throw together some concert footage interspersed with bizarre, drug-induced fantasy sequences and market it to the unsuspecting public as "the most expensive home movie ever made"? To be honest, I've never found the motivation within me to watch the film version of The Song Remains the Same (and I imagine the recent Led Zeppelin DVD has now superceded it) and I honestly don't know how well it did at the box office (hey, if I ain't getting paid for this stuff then I don't feel the need to do any research) but I do know that there is no good reason why this accompanying soundtrack should be so maligned. At best I can only imagine that it suffers greatly from the association with a bloated, self-indulgent film that came out at the worst possible time. Of course, the newly-released How the West Was Won does do the job slightly better and if you're only going to buy one then buy that one but, if you're a fan, I don't think you are shooting yourself in the foot by owning this as well and half the tracks included on here are not granted live renditions on any other official Zeppelin live release. Furthermore, I can't fault the performances on here as they are all as professional as you'd expect from a band as professional as the Zepsters.

The only fault, and why this is inferior to both How the West Was Won and BBC Sessions, is in the sound quality. It is hardly crystal clear (sadly it has not been digitally remastered) and the mixing can be a little muddy at times. It also seems fair to say that, although the performances are all professional, only "No Quarter" at best improves on the original, and it is really up to you whether you want to sit through twenty-seven minutes of "Dazed and Confused" (including the much-maligned ten-minute violin bow solo) and thirteen minutes of "Moby Dick" but, of course, that is exactly what going to a Led Zeppelin concert in the mid-seventies entailed. Hell, I wish drum solos were excluded from all live albums (Deep Purple's Made in Japan and Cream's Wheels of Fire also spring to mind) but live albums are supposed to recreate the experience of seeing a band live and double-figure minute drums solos are part and parcel of the experience. Of course, we can criticise them for doing them in the first place but they suffered their punishment in time when punk broke and drum solos were confined, along with prog rock, to the purgatory of bloated self-indulgence.

The original album was double vinyl, as is the CD edition, and there is an interesting split over the two discs. The first CD plays through surprisingly faithful versions of "Rock and Roll" (although with the vocals in a lower key), "Celebration Day", "The Song Remains the Same" and "The Rain Song" and the latter two sound so much like their studio counterparts that you might as well just listen to the start of Houses of the Holy and make your own applause. Disc One ends, however, with an impossibly gargantuan twenty-seven minute version of "Dazed and Confused" including the aforementioned ten minute violin bow solo. I can possibly see that, watching the film, you get some visual distraction but staring at your stereo for ten minutes hardly suffices. Other than Jimmy's self-indulgence, though, the version just about justifies its length. Certainly I love the insertion of the line from "If You're Going to San Francisco" although you do feel the audience's applause during the quiet bits is a plea as much as an error. The second disc contains only four tracks, each stretched out for over ten minutes, but only "Moby Dick" (obviously) suffers from it. As I've said, the extended piano interplay on "No Quarter" certainly makes for an interesting rendition and, in all likelihood, a superior one to the studio original. "Stairway" is played pretty straight, bar the brilliant extended guitar solo and the not-so-brilliant Plant adlibbing, and little of the power of the song is lost.

The set ends with their traditional medley version of "Whole Lotta Love" and, whilst I've never been a fan of that approach (why not just play the song normally for once?), it at least represents a typically energetic show-closer. In fact, that is what makes one wonder why this album should have picked up a non-complimentary reputation. It is simply an accurate portrayal of the Zeppelin live experience and, as such, has few faults. I think they could have picked better material overall and the sound quality isn't perfect (both of which were corrected for How the West Was Won) and it is disappointing that, even though it came out in '76, there is no Physical Graffiti material included. Indeed, the main problem with this album is the year of release. If this had come out a couple of years earlier it would no doubt have been praised to the hills and far away but I think most of all it simply suffers from being released in the wrong place at the wrong time. If the music critics were busy collectively kissing Johnny Rotten's arse they were hardly likely to praise an album with ten minute violin bow solos and thirteen minute drum solos that accompanied a ridiculously pompous, overblown and self-indulgent home movie by a bunch of washed-up drug addicts. More fool them, though.

Fittingly, as the seventies ended so did Led Zeppelin's career and their last official studio album proved to be a somewhat inevitable disappointment. Not disappointing in the sense that Presence promised so much (as it obviously didn't) but disappointing in the sense that such a great band were forced to bow out with such a mediocre swansong. The thing that really sets this album apart from the rest of their material isn't just the poor quality (as Presence was more than a little similar in that respect) but the sound of the album. For whatever reason Jimmy Page wasn't as involved on these sessions as he was on the rest of their albums so John Paul Jones took it upon himself to provide the musical focus of this album. And this is where the real fault of the album lies. The whole project is almost entirely keyboard driven. And not retro hammond organ keyboards either (which might have been alright) but in-your-face-shitty-seventies-synthesiser-style-keyboards and, oh my, doesn't it sound horribly dated. For the most part, the album doesn't even sound like Led Zeppelin. It sounds more like a tenth-rate Van Halen tribute band (from the keyboard era) with a rather tired Robert Plant soundalike on vocals. At least Presence sounded like Led Zeppelin (albeit a very tired Led Zeppelin) and had three good songs on it. On this album it really is hard to pick out inspired moments. Maybe the melody on "All My Love" or the lazy-sounding piano/guitar line on "Fool in the Rain" but really there is nothing that screams out "QUALITY!" on this album. In fact the cleverest thing about it is probably the album art work which features the same bar-room scene from the point of view of everyone in the bar (apart from the card-burning man). A fun game to play is to match up the view-points to each individual in the bar. It's more fucking fun than listening to this album anyway.

The album opens with a rare outing for the violin bow with a sort of eerie, mystical feel, attempting to echo the likes of "In the Light" and whilst the song itself, "In the Evening", isn't an awful opening it ain't very good either. It is probably the most guitar driven track on the album although that doesn't save it from dazzling mediocrity. "South Bound Suarez" I quite like, in a very limited way, in that it is a decent slice of piano-driven rock 'n' roll. Maybe the use of traditional piano instead of those horrible keyboards is responsible. It is also privy to a satisfyingly energetic guitar solo. Similarly, "Fool in the Rain" has a nice piano/guitar line giving it a very relaxed feel. Unfortunately, about half-way in it changes to a samba style frolic which sounds to these ears like the incidental music from Super Mario Kart and, sadly, for that reason I found it lost all credibility. Furthermore, "Hot Dog" is an offensively poor rockabilly cut that is simply terrible. F.I.L.L.E.R. The album's intended centrepiece is the ten minute epic "Carouselambra". Unfortunately (due to exceptionally shitty keyboards) the whole thing is the wrong side of rubbish. The slow bit in the middle is alright, I guess, but before you know it we're back in Super Mario Land. Sadly, it is just an awful waste of time. Thankfully, the album ends on its best bit, the decent double bill of "All My Love" and "I'm Gonna Crawl". "All My Love" is clearly the best song on here with surprisingly inoffensive keyboards and a nice performance from Plant, helped by a decent melody for once. It is actually a nice song if you ignore the God-awful keyboard solo. "I'm Gonna Crawl" was apparently written in the style of the old sixties soul men like the mighty Otis Redding and for once they semi-succeed. Obviously it is well below Otis' usual standard (being too long and all) but it is still a decent song and sounds absolutely fucking fantastic taken in the context of this album. It would be crazy to suggest that this album should be bought by anyone except completists and let's just thank the lucky stars that Zeppelin saw fit to pack it in after Bonzo's death. Any more albums like this and I don't think they would be quite so fondly remembered.

Led Zeppelin's final studio release was actually an assortment of rarities released a couple of years after Bonzo's death (and, with him, the death of Zeppelin) to honour contractual obligations. You might think that that offers a little bit of hope as it means material from their heyday is included. Just to put it in perspective, though, three of the eight tracks on here are rarities from the In Through the Out Door sessions. Oh great. Another is a truly terrible instrumental, "Bonzo's Montreux", from the Presence era and a further one is a standard live rendition from the early days. The extreme paucity of material on here I find almost unbelievable. Surely, they would have had a better selection of unreleased material than the songs on here? As if to prove the point the vocals for "Walter's Walk", although apparently recorded in 1972, sound seriously like late-era Zeppelin. It doesn't take Bergerac to figure out they probably overdubbed them onto an old backing track. I guess the fact that they didn't release singles meant they only needed to record material for albums. Still, you'd think over ten years a bit of unused material would be accumulated.

The first half represents the "early days" (hmm, that rings a bell) so that should be the good bit, right? Right?!? Er... sort of. Certainly the album opener "We're Gonna Groove" is the only track on here anywhere near approaching a vintage rarity. And even that's a cover (BB King). I believe it was slated to appear on Led Zeppelin II which, in itself, is an indication of its quality. That said, it would have been one of the poorer songs on what is, all told, a superb album. But on here it is certainly the best song. Well, actually it's not. The live rendition of "I Can't Quit You Baby", recorded during a sound-check, is clearly the best song on here but I'm knocking points off for cheating. It just shows the scarceness of material when they are forced to resort to a live performance to fill out the album (which is eight tracks and just over thirty minutes, for the record). That said, the sound quality is better than The Song Remains the Same and it is a surprisingly energetic performance for (what purports to be) a sound check. But then let's not get too cynical. "Poor Tom" is an obvious outtake from Led Zeppelin III and, again, although it is inferior to the vast material on the original it probably holds its own with the similar sounding "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp". "Walter's Walk" I've already mentioned and regardless of over-dubbed vocals it is a poor song.

In respect of the "latter days", the really surprising thing about the In Through the Out Door material is that it is mostly better than the actual album. Principally there isn't a shitty seventies keyboard in sight and the songs are actually performed with a bit of vigour. The silly but enjoyable "Ozone Baby" is probably the minor highlight with something resembling a memorable chorus. "Darlene" is stupid beyond belief with Plant stuttering old 50's rock'n'roll cliches and the band sounding similarly out-dated. Still, they sound like they're having fun, a bit like your middle-age relatives embarrassing themselves at weddings dancing to the likes of "Twist and Shout". Finally, "Wearing and Tearing" at least attempts a break-neck pace but due to its similarity to "Black Dog" it again sounds like old men trying to recapture their youth. Still, along with "Ozone Baby", its inclusion probably would have benefited In Through the Out Door. So, in sum, a compilation from a great band which is embarrassingly devoid of riches. That said, they just about manage to save their skins with material rarely falling below mediocrity. Again, though, completists only. Oh, and the less said about "Bonzo's Montreux" the better.

Like any big rock band in the late sixties/early seventies Led Zeppelin performed several times for the Beeb, almost exclusively on the radio, and therefore old Auntie decided to cash in with another excellent BBC Sessions compilation for another excellent band. There is essentially no banter or studio chat (unlike the Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie BBC Sessions) and the two CDs are expertly compiled, with their first action-packed year being documented on the first disc and the second consisting entirely of a one-off live performance when they were at their very peak in 1971, a few months before the release of their fourth album. Probably the most interesting aspect of the split is to compare the fresh-faced idealism of their early recordings with their confident and cocky swagger of a mere two years later, when they had already become rock legends.

Again, as with most BBC Sessions, complaints and criticisms are hard to come by as the sound quality is crystal clear and the performances are all exemplary. Obviously, for authenticity's sake, BBC Sessions suffer from the fact that a lot of the radio performances on here will have been moderately overdubbed and therefore not "live" in the strictest sense possible. Repetition is less of a problem as it is on some other similar compilations but three identical renditions of "Communication Breakdown" is pushing it. On the other hand, the second versions of "You Shook Me", "I Can't Quit You Baby", "Dazed and Confused" and "Whole Lotta Love" serve to highlight just how quickly and confidently Led Zeppelin progressed in such a short space of time. The latter two, in particular, are given almost entirely faithful renditions on the first disc but by the time of the '71 concert they are turned into their usual gargantuan reworkings; with a violin bow solo in the former and the mega-mix medley during the latter.

The sessions on the first disc all come from a concentrated period of time (early March to late June in 1969) which makes their progression from the start of the CD to the end even more impressive. The majority of the tracks are performed relatively faithfully to their studio counterparts with only limited improvisation from Page and Plant. The excellent sound quality means, though, that they often come across as grittier and more powerful even than their studio originals. The presumable highlight for Zeppelin nuts is the "exclusive" inclusion of three covers that were rarely if ever performed elsewhere on record, bootlegs or otherwise. The jaunty "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair" and the rock'n'roll bluster of "Somethin' Else" are both enjoyable numbers but the cover of Robert Johnson's "Travelling Riverside Blues" is not much of an eye-opener given it soon became the (uncredited) basis for "The Lemon Song". Given the unambitious nature of the performances it is only the last couple of songs on the first CD, from the last dated session, that exceed the ten minute mark with an elongated run-through of "You Shook Me" and a raucous set-closing twelve minute "How Many More Times".

The second CD offers up few surprises for those familiar with Led Zeppelin's live performances in the early seventies with most of their tricks given an outing. It is clear that they are still at the absolute top of their game, though, with the likes of "Immigrant Song", "Heartbreaker" and "Since I've Been Loving You" ripped through with awesome power. The fact that Led Zeppelin IV had not yet been released means it would have been the first time the audience would have heard "Stairway to Heaven" and it is noticeable that the introductory bars are not greeted with the usual roars of delight. Indeed, you can almost tell that the band were unaware of its impending legacy as it is given a more subtle reading (if that is possible) than their usual performances of it. The mini-acoustic set is pleasant enough and eighteen minutes of "Dazed and Confused" even seems like a reasonable length. In fact, the only real surprise on disc 2 is the closing "Thank You" as, somehow, they manage to transform it into an impressive power-ballad complete with a screaming guitar solo from Page. Indeed, over the entire double-disc set it is noticeable that there is nothing that comes close to being a mediocre number and it again reinforces the fact that for a few years Led Zeppelin really were the greatest rock band on the planet. Thankfully, this package hasn't even been succeeded by How the West Was Won as it acts as an intriguing historical document and shows Zeppelin at their least exposed - as a fresh-faced band of ex-session men playing the blues with no idea of what they were due to achieve.

As Jimmy Page thoughtfully explains in the sleeve-notes this triple CD live set was compiled from material he discovered whilst sorting through the archives for the Led Zeppelin DVD which was released contemporaneously with this album. I don't usually buy music DVDs but I'm seriously thinking about making an exception due to the mostly stupendous quality of this compilation. Taken from two dates in 1971 in Los Angeles when Led Zeppelin had conquered the world and were at the absolute peak of their artistry this package encapsulates everything that was great about Led Zep (as well as including a couple of things that were not-so-great, although still essential to the experience). As I said in the earlier review the astounding quality of these CDs, both in terms of sound quality and performance, almost cruelly crushes The Song Remains the Same's relevance and represents a long overdue overview of Led Zeppelin at their sizzling best. Just one note, though, enticing though a 3CD package is I feel duty bound to point out that they could have actually squeezed this material onto 2 CDs and it is, indeed, marginally shorter than the BBC Sessions (although obviously without any repetition).

The first CD (easily the best) rolls through ten numbers, including epic renditions of "Heartbreaker", "Since I've Been Loving You" and, of course, "Stairway to Heaven", but none of which exceed ten minutes. The further two CDs are made up of only four songs each, with two snappy numbers in the middle bookended by two epics. The second CD begins with a typically gargantuan twenty-five rendition of "Dazed and Confused", which is marginally superior to the TSRTS version mainly on account of a shorter violin-bow solo, and ends with over NINETEEN minutes of "Moby Dick". In a way, it is reassuring to think that even in this day and age Jimmy Page thinks we still want to hear a twenty-minute drum solo and that such excesses were not just confined to the seventies. I realise it is all part of recreating the experience and I honestly think Bonzo's drum solos ARE generally the best (insofar as that is possible) of the ones I've heard but, you know, couldn't he have kept it below ten? Just for little ol' me? The epics on the third CD are the usual "Whole Lotta Love" medley, which goes on for just over twenty-three minutes, and the set closing stretched-out version of "Bring it on Home" (one of the few surprising inclusions on the compilation). To be honest, the "Whole Lotta Love" medley is not a highlight for me as the choice of old rock'n'roll numbers means it veers dangerously close to Jive Bunny's mega-mixes, although finishing with a lengthy blues number rescues the track somewhat. I particularly like the moment when Plant purrs out "I did not say I was a millionaire... I said I coulda spent more MONEY than a millionaire". The four short and snappy numbers in the middle of the two CDs are made up of faithful renditions of "What Is and What Should Never Be", "Dancing Days", "Rock and Roll" and "The Ocean". It is interesting to note that Houses of the Holy was still two years off release and that all the live versions on here sound superior to their studio counterparts thanks to the lack of studio tinkering and over-production. The best HOTH rendition is easily the amazing run-through of "Over the Hills and Far Away" which is as powerful, jaunty and as straight-up rock'n'roll as you could possibly imagine.

Indeed, as has been said by a wise man such as myself, most of the best bits of the package cometh on the first CD. It is noticeable, though, that the set-list is almost identical to the one used on the second disc of the BBC Sessions - opening with a barn-storming "The Immigrant Song", continuing with a scorching "Heartbreaker", opening "Black Dog" with the "Out on the Tiles" riff, playing back-to-back epic renditions of "Since I've Been Loving You" and "Stairway to Heaven" (although this time with the hysterical reaction at the beginning) and closing with an acoustic mini-set featuring "Going to California" and "That's the Way". Indeed, "Over the Hills and Far Away" and the closing "Bron-Yr-Aur-Stomp" are the only addition inclusions. I have to say that, as ever, I am less than enamoured with the closing acoustic set as I really don't much rate Zeppelin as a folk band, especially not if they're not gonna play their best such numbers - "Gallows Pole" and "Battle of Evermore". No matter, though, because as with twenty minutes of "Moby Dick" it is all about recreating the live experience, rather than pleasing my good self (more the pity). To that end, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this package. Surely an essential addition for the Led Zep fan and THE definitive live album for THE definitive live band.

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Email me at: jackfeeny@yahoo.co.uk