EVERY LED ZEPPELIN SONG RANKED
I assume that anyone reading this does not necessarily need a history lesson as to why Led Zeppelin were great. They have very often been described as being as musically important to the decade of the 70s as The Beatles were to the 60s and there is certainly some truth to this. Jimmy Page deliberately put this band together to get away from the "pandering to the singles" market that his former Yardbirds, (as well as countless other acts), were stuck in. Armed with the walking bear of a man Peter Grant as their ruthless manager, Led Zeppelin were able to champion album oriented rock and accomplish more for musician's earnings and creative freedom that arguably any band in history. As musicians, each and every one of them were extraordinary and consistently played at peak level throughout their tenure, not a one of them remotely replaceable. As far as their actual body of work, goes, well, that is what we are here to rank.
I have had the idea to do this list for at least a year now. Previously, I had ranked my 100 favorite Beatles and Kiss tunes in two separate lists and I naturally had it unofficially penciled-in that I would get around to a proper ordering of Led Zeppelin's recording output as well. Now as any rudimentary knowledge of math will entail, Led Zeppelin in fact have not a hundred songs in their studio repertoire. My counting, (which after the latest batch of deluxe reissues of their entire catalog I certainly hope at long last has cleared out the vaults once and for all), is ninety songs deep. So for this reason AND the reason that I in fact like every song they ever did anyway, I figured the logical conclusion would be to simply rank every last one of them.
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| The trifecta is now complete |
This includes covers yet does not include alternate versions and also does not include anything performed only in a live setting that has been given its own title. All ninety of these compositions have studio recordings that are now available to us without that little annoyance of searching the cosmos for bootlegs to get our hands on them. Jimmy Page has seemingly done the work for us and now everything is all remastered and shinny.
As far as my Zeppelin love goes, it goes deep and hard. This is the first band that I became fanatical about when I was twelve years old and the entire reason I am a musician at all is because of John Bonham. My cousin, (who got me into a handful of other bands and horror movies I also now admire for granted), played me "Whole Lotta Love" and "Kashmir" one day and told me to listen specifically to how awesome the drumming was. That was it. I probably got drum lessons within a few weeks after that. I also share a birthday with John Bonham and he died eight months before I was born which is just the creepiest/most amazing coincidence personally for me.
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| The other would be also sharing a birthday with this gentleman right here. |
My tastes in Zeppelin are similar to that of other bands which I am very into. Meaning it is not all obvious classic rock radio stapled songs dominating the upper spots. Led Zeppelin does enjoy a unique advantage for me that for the most part, I find it incredibly difficult to get burnt out on much of their stuff. Same as The Beatles or Queen in that respect, I honestly do not feel that these bands have any truly "bad" songs. Not really even close.
This allows me to appreciate "Whole Lotta Love" for the nine-thousandth time just as much as "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair" for the mere six-thousandth. Yet after more than half of my life so consistently inspired and in awe of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham's collective powers combined, my admiration for their music seemingly will never dilute. In fact it will probably increase ever further as I always feel like listening to their catalog at every given opportunity. The best rock band of all time? Probably. The one that got the ball rolling personally for me? Most definitely. Three of the best musicians and one of the best vocalists who have ever breathed air? Also most definitely. So here is everything they got, presented in the impeccably accurate order that I naturally see fit:
A Led Zeppelin II era instrumental that is musically interesting, yet ultimately sounds like exactly what it is; a bunch of random ideas thrown together to possibly make proper use of later. It is not much of a "song", but it still of course has good playing and the intro and some of the other sections are satisfying on their own.
This Eddie Cochran cover was laid down during the third BBC session that Zeppelin partook of on June 16h, 1969, (the same day the very superior "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair" was cut). It is surprisingly weak sonically, but it is still fun and romping enough to hear the band tear through an ole rock n roll tune, plus it is wrapped-up in just over two minutes anyway.
One of the reasons that I am not as hard for Led Zeppelin's first album is because a number of its tracks, (like this here one), rank near the bottom for me. I love everything John Paul Jones does, (including the church organ intro to "Your Time Is Gonna Come"), and I generally dig gospel-inspired rock, but this song still never really did much for me, for whatever reason. Maybe it is because Jimmy Page's steel guitar was supposedly out of tune on it, who knows?
This is one of the, (thankfully), rare examples of a well-respected Zeppelin jam that has gotten played out way too much for my liking. I get rather bored with the repetitive, quiet-loud-quiet-loud-repeat arrangement though as well. I do admit to digging the lazy structure to much of Presence later on, but with the overplayed element to "Babe" on top of it, I generally skip past this one nowadays, even though it was one of the very first song ideas Jimmy Page put together and showed Robert Plant upon their initial meeting.
Logically, it might seem that a song made up of nothing but drums performed by John Bonham would be utterly amazing. As it stands though, I have always been just mildly disappointment with "Bonzo's Montreux", which was put together and finalized by Jimmy Page for the Coda compilation. It is certainly thunderous and the steel drums add some melody, but there is ultimately so much better full-band Zeppelin than this.
This recently unearthed track from the Zeppelin III sessions that was added to the deluxe editions basically acts as a "Hats Off To (Roy) Harper Part II". "Key to the Highway/Trouble in Mind" is a Big Bill Broonzy cover in a very similar style to the swamped out blues of III's closing track, just more stripped-down and without the crazy effects all over it. The vocals still sound wacky though.
This one is a good yet not superb "filler" track on Coda, itself having been left off of In Through the Outdoor for being a bit too "fillery" I imagine. Robert Plant's harmonized vocals are rare for the singer and are interesting enough. As for the music, it is straight-ahead, later-era Zeppelin rock, which even at its most borderline like here, still whoops other bands to shame.
The 50s rock flavored "Candy Store Rock" is almost unanimously considered to be Presence's least successful cut, which I technically agree on. Still, I like that album more than a lot of Zeppelin fans do and still enjoy its fifth track. I cannot necessarily say that I understand or agree with it being released as a single though, (especially since Zeppelin rarely bothered releasing singles in the first place).
Recorded around Led Zeppelin III, this instrumental was put out on the Coda deluxe edition recently and fares better than "La La" for comparison. Considering the era that it was put down, it is probably the funkiest song they had at the time and sounds like it came about over jam sessions, most likely live and during their standard "Dazed and Confused" ventures. It is a shame that they never got to streamline "St. Tristan's Sword" with Plant's involvement and turn it into a "full" song, but it is a solid listen into three fourths of the band's grooving abilities.
One of the first songs that Zeppelin ever recorded, this Sony Boy Williamson cover was left floating around on bootlegs for awhile. Yet while it is easy to see why it was left off of their first album, it is still pretty slamming. Bonham gets an excellent drum break in it and bashes away as exceptionally as he did on any early Zeppelin track, though the repeated "sugar mama" refrain might not be the catchiest thing in the band's catalog.
A bit played-out on the radio this one and because of that, I have been the least anxious to hear it out of all the songs on Houses of the Holy when I bump said album. That said, I still never pass on "Dancing Days" and presumably never will. This is Led Zeppelin's version of a pop song and the riff and chorus are as solid as any of their other "hits" inspired originally by an Indian song while traveling through Bombay.
More radio saturation here with the song that a hundred times out of a hundred immediately follows "Heartbreaker" when we all here it. I am certainly not complaining, even if I technically fancy "Living Loving Maid" the least out of all the Led Zeppelin II moments. "With a purple operator and a fifty cent hair" is after all one of rock music's funnest misheard lyrics though and songs about stalking groupies are always appreciated.
Though a Zeppelin live staple in their later years, (and clearly fancied by Page and Plant as they brought it backed for their Unledded period and on the last reunion in 2007), "Nobody's Fault but Mine" is another one that I am not as ga-ga for as the band themselves appear to be. Long Zeppelin songs are not only a dime a dozen and most always great, but this one is a bit to repetitious to hold my interest. This is all hair-splitting though folks since I of course still like it just fine.
You may have noticed a pattern no doubt already that several of Led Zeppelin's more popular songs do not wow me as much as others. "What Is and What Should Never Be", (one of the most successful early stereo recordings to make use of left and right panning capabilities), is another very famous piece from the band that I find both repetitive and overplayed to a small point. Those are the only two reasons that it is this low. The ending is easily the best part though.
Led Zeppelin III ended on a rather high, (as in the smoke-induced high), note with the bizarre sounding, titled, and phrased "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper". The song sounds less like anything from the English folk singer that it is named after and more like a swampy blues song with Bukka White lyrics oddly sung through a vibrato amplifier. It is jarring, weird, awesome, and Page's slide-guitar performance certainly does not hurt.
I am lumping these two barely-different songs together for obvious reasons. Live they were inseparable; Jimmy Page regularly performing them at different times throughout the band's career as a solo piece on his Danelectro cutaway. They are also both inspired by Irish folk songs yet intentionally are played in a very Eastern style. The only difference between the two tracks really was that "Black Mountain Side" was a proper Zeppelin studio recording and "White Summer" was original put to tape in the Yardbirds. An excellent showcase for Page overall and probably the most diverse song out of the band's early years.
Led Zeppelin's first exceptionally heavy live staple and one of their most iconic songs yes, but I am a bit burnt out on it now. The studio version I recall, (like most Zeppelin fans do), playing as loud as possible when I first got into this band. Now though, I am far more fond of the never-the-same live interpretations they did, almost at every show they ever performed. Using the mere six and a half minute version on the first album as the loosest of blueprints, the band would morph it into consistently interesting territory for sometimes a half-hour on end, with the obligatory Page bow solo of course always in tow.
After the galloping "Immigrant Song", "Friends" was the first track on Led Zeppelin III that introduced the band's acoustic side and gave a warning as to what most of that album would venture into. Written by Page and Plant on their Bron-Yr-Aur retreat, (where several other Zeppelin gems where likewise penned), "Friends" has some rare, straight-forward lyrics from Plant, a score written by John Paul Jones, and an Indian folk feel. All of which are most good things.
The prize for the most "WTF" song title in Led Zeppelin's catalog goes to the Presence outtake "10 Ribs and All/Carrot Pod Pod". An inside joke I would assume? As goofy as it may be called, it is a damn good one to have oddly been left unreleased for so long. The first half contains some of the most beautiful piano playing John Paul Jones ever did, possibly THEE most beautiful. The rest of "Carrot" remains instrumental yet just as strong and already a fan of Presence I certainly am, if this one was properly finished with vocals it assuredly would have been a highlight.
My favorite of all Led Zeppelin albums is Physical Graffiti and it ends with by process of elimination my "least" favorite track on it "Sick Again". It is a solid enough closer surely, but it is also just that the rest of Graffiti hits me a lot harder. One of Plant's bittersweet, (and creepy), odes to teenage groupies, the song is probably one of the band's heaviest, primarily because of Bonham's very meaty performance and Jimmy Page's impeccable production of said performance and drum sound.
This is a rare soul song for Led Zeppelin, recorded during the first album's sessions yet curiously left off of that album. At least curious for me as I dig it a lot more than plenty that made the final track listing. "Baby Come On Home's" master tapes were lost for a number of years and it resurfaced on the band's second box set which I never purchased because this was pretty much the only track on it that I did not already have and that is a hefty price tag for one song. After finally hearing it though, it is quite remarkable with, (of course), fantastic vocals from Plant and wonderful, smooth ballad drumming from Bonham.
Out of Jimmy Page's few acoustic interludes, the brief "Bron-Yr-Aur" has long been my favorite. It was composed and recorded around the Led Zeppelin III sessions and was named after the cottage where several of that album's songs were put together by he and Robert Plant. This one uses another open tuning and is the shortest studio track in the band's catalog, but a wonderful addition to Physical Graffiti, showing up close to the halfway point as a breather.
I reckon most Zep fans got confused when they picked up the band's follow-up to Houses of the Holy and found that the title track from that album was instead on the one they currently had in their hands, Physical Graffiti. One of several Graffiti cuts to stem from an earlier recording session, (since this band was so amazing that they simply had legendary rock songs bidding their time in the vaults), "Houses" is probably about sex and/or concert venues and the riff is one of Jimmy Page's funkiest.
A lot of people rank "Over the Hills and Far Away" near the top of the Zeppelin heap and that is fine and all, but what can I say besides all of the stuff that I have already said earlier? Meaning that I generally like songs more that the radio has not told me to like. That is not entirely fair though as "Over the Hills" is a damn fine song. The arrangement is exceptional and Robert Plant's lyrics are lovely, containing probably another J.R.R. Tolkien reference for the title.
The second longest Zeppelin song is the one appropriately dubbed "The Epic" in its early construction during the In Through the Outdoor sessions, eventually making the album as "Carouselambra". Outdoor is one of my very favorites and one of the first CDs that I ever owned. This song, (one of their very most keyboard-heavy), in particular still brings up memories of playing Sonic the Hedgehog for hours upon hours on end, where this album was frequently my makeshift soundtrack. Not that Sonic's music is none too shabby itself mind you.
Some of the most aggressive vocals that Plant ever did are in the In Through the Outdoor sessions recorded/Coda released closer "Wearing and Tearing". In fact this jam is rather ferocious overall, showcasing that they were just as heavy in their final days when they would have been entering into the new wave era of pop music. Page and Plant brought this one out live during the 90s as it never got a chance really for Led Zeppelin proper to perform it on stage, something which most certainly would have found it into the set list had they been able to continue.
Next to "Achilles Last Stand", "Hots On for Nowhere" has the best John Bonham performance on Presence, with some of his best drum fills and a goddamn tasty shuffle during the "la la la..." part. For the music, the song begat life during "Dazed and Confused" jamming and Physical Graffiti rehearsals. I have never payed much attention to what the lyrics mean, (I guess it has something to do with Plant bitching about Jimmy Page and Peter Grant?), but such a thing has never hindered me from digging a Zep tune in the first place.
On Led Zeppelin II in general, John Paul Jones' bass playing was through the roof and along with "The Lemon Song", "Ramble On" contains one of his finest four string performances. Elsewhere, "Ramble" has more Tolkien references in the lyrics and sounds like a heavy version of a folk song. It is also another one that is incredibly overplayed on the radio, really the only thing keeping it from being considered a highlight to me now.
Two folk-ish inspired songs in a row that allude to packing one's bags and moving on to something new, "Hey, Hey, What Can I Do" was the b-side to "Immigrant Song" in 1970 and it remains the band's most famous non-LP released track as well as the only one available for quite some time. John Bonham's right foot is going crazy once more here, (as it is wont to do), and this is one of the few Zeppelin cuts to feature background vocals, both from Bonham and Page.
Robert Plant has had a habit over the decades of ripping on, well, most people as he seems to have kind of an asshole's sense of humor. All in good fun with "Royal Orleans" when he turns an alleged embarrassing encounter John Paul Jones had in New Orleans with a transsexual on tour into some pretty funny lyrics, ("kiss the whiskers left to right"). Musically, this is some prime Zeppelin funk and as the shortest song on Presence, it is in and out with a nod and a wink.
It is impossible to talk about the untitled fourth Zeppelin album closer "When the Levee Breaks" without mentioning John Bonham. This is really the drummer's most famous of all grooves and much has been documented on its recording. It was performed on a brand new, factory delivered Ludwig kit at the bottom of a stairwell, astonishingly with only two microphones far away from it. Then the whole track was slowed down, giving it all an eerie and swamped-out vibe very fitting to the old Memphis Minnie penned lyrics.
Probably the most ballady-ballad that Led Zeppelin has, "All My Love" was one of the very few of the group's songs not to be written by Jimmy Page and the only of such to be put out as a single. The song is a farewell to Robert Plant's son who was killed in a 1977 car accident and Plant would continue in this more softer route musically at the beginning of his solo career several years later. Page's synthesized-into-classical guitar solo is an additional lovely touch as well.
One of the oldest songs Led Zeppelin ever tackled, "Gallows Pole's" origins are from the traditional folk song "The Maid Freed from the Gallows", except in this version as in others throughout the years, the protagonist is male instead of a maid. The band's interpretation of it spawned from a Fred Gerlach version around the time that Jimmy Page was fucking around with on John Paul Jones' mandolin for inspiration. A both thunderous and folky moment on Zep III, (pretty much hitting two things the band was exceptionally tackling at the time), all in one song.
Another of John Bonham's finer moments, "Poor Tom" was written and recorded in 1970 and was finally unearthed for the Coda compilation. The shuffling drum groove between the snare and kick drum hits you in the kisser immediately, somewhat "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover-esque", (though this song predates that one by five years). Page used another alternate tuning here and the best part comes at the end when Plant starts wailing away on the harmonica like a boss.
The only time on a Led Zeppelin studio recording where you can clearly hear John Bonham's voice unaccompanied, (that is him jollyingly counting the song in), "The Ocean" closes out Houses of the Holy with a ridiculously good riff and a swinging section for the finale. The song's title is in reference to the always present sea of fans that the band would play to throughout their careers and the line to Robert Plant's daughter, (which he would add a number to every year that they would perform it live), is a hoot.
The second LP opener to Physical Graffiti and one of the album's longest songs "In the Light" also exists as "Everybody Makes It Through" with an identical guitar and rhythm track, but a very different keyboard part and lyrics. Both are quite excellent, but the right choice was made to include the version that they did on the album as it is more lush and dark. The song's major-key chorus is particularly great as are all of the menacing riffs in it.
Given that "D'yer Mak'er's" title is actually pronounced "Jamaica", it makes sense since this is pretty much Zeppelin's reggae song. With a side of doo-wop of course. In the band's writing dynamic when a John Bonham's groove was so utterly crucial and defining to the song, he would usually get a writing credit on it and such was the case here. The whole group actually shares composing credit as "D'yer" started as a joke during rehearsals and ended up being one of their most consistently played radio songs. So even when they do not take themselves seriously, a classic is still born.
The first Willie Dixon cover on Led Zeppelin and one of the band's early live workouts was "You Shook Me". English rock bands in the late 60s were tearing up American blues songs left and right and a good lot of them where from Dixon's pen. "Shook Me" is one of the best from any of these bands and easily the heaviest any of them had released by early 1969. I have always loved the blues covers on the first Zeppelin album more than most all of the originals, as they all came out rather spectacular.
Led Zeppelin II's "Thank You" marks the early stages of Robert Plant coming to his own as a lyricist, (which he would do almost exclusively from this moment on out), and they are basically a romantic, borderline sappy love song. Musically, it is less gospel-fueled than the previous album's "Your Time Is Gonna Come", but still organ-centered and far superior to me. This is probably the only Zeppelin song that I would say got questionably an even better treatment when Page and Plant dusted it off for the Unledded album and tour, as it got more meaty there.
The honky-tonk inspired "South Bound Saurez" is the other song besides "All My Love" on In Through the Outdoor where Jimmy Page sat out during the writing sessions. Both he and Bonham were suffering some of the heaviest stages of their addiction problems, (the former to heroin, the latter to alcohol), and Robert Plant and John Paul Jones took it upon themselves to make the most out of their booked studio time. The band busted it out live a little bit, usually during "Whole Lotta Love", but it is really just another album cut that I fancy quite a bit.
Out of all of the songs in Led Zeppelin's catalog, supposedly "Four Sticks" was one of the biggest pains in the ass to record. John Bonham in particular was fed up so much with the numerous takes that they had to do that he spontaneously grabbed another pair of drum sticks, coupling two in each hand, and only then nailed the final performance that made the record. Hence the song title. This is one of the few Zeppelin songs to utilized odd-time signatures and it has a unique jungle/Indian music sound that somehow fits the overall mysticism vibe on the entire fourth record.
An admitted re-write of "Since I've Been Loving You", the Presence closer "Tea for One" may technically be a lazy bit of songwriting, but it wonderfully tops off the loose, kind of lazy feel that said album has. A song about homesickness, (from which the married members of the band suffered from regularly throughout their strenuous touring cycles), they knocked it out in two takes and the whole thing has beautiful, comparatively restraint performances from every member.
The last song to appear on a Led Zeppelin album where Jimmy Page penned the lyrics, "Tangerine" was originally written a few years before, still in his Yardbirds days. It found the best home on Led Zeppelin III though with some lyrical changes and ends up as a bit of California folk rock to showcase even more of the band's lighter side. The pedal-steel guitar from Page is another rarity and excellently done at that.
Whether intentional or not, the best way that Led Zeppelin could introduce to the world that they had in their ranks the best rock drummer who would ever live was to kick off their first album with "Good Times Bad Times". This is probably the finest example of John Bonham's ridiculously tight and fast right foot, which gets plenty of drum breaks to show itself off. John Paul Jones came up with the busy riff to this one and he supposedly said it was the hardest one to play that he would ever contribute to the band.
Along with "When the Levee Breaks", the drum beat to In Through the Outdoor's "Fool in the Rain" is probably John Bonham's most famous and often duplicated. A fat, massive shuffle groove probably inspired by Bernard Purdie's "Purdie shuffle", it is pretty high in the drummer hall of fame of performances. Elsewhere, it has a riff that is played a thousand times, a samba breakdown, and pretty simple lyrics about a guy getting stood up on a raining street corner. Along with "All My Love", it remains the band's final studio album's most played song still today and rightfully ranks as classic as any of their jams do.
Back to the debut Zeppelin album with the could-be-heavy-metal-birthing "Communication Breakdown". It is true that pretty much the entire band at one point or several have disowned the entire metal genre, but this song makes a pretty strong case that they at least unintentionally helped give it some life. One of the band's heaviest, fastest, and shortest songs, the guitar solo and vocal are both through the roof and the riff along with lots and lots of other Led Zeppelin riffs is one of their crowning achievements.
Back to In Through the Outdoor. Robert Plant knocked this one out the park, the closer to their last album released as a band and one of his finest vocals period. John Paul Jones, (as he did on most of Outdoor), wrote the bulk musically of "I'm Gonna Crawl", a heavy, very moody piece of R&B, with some pretty straight-forward "madly in love/lust" lyrics on top of it. "Crawl" is long a favorite of mine on this album and something about it seems utterly perfect for the band to send off their career on.
Joke song number two on Houses of the Holy, "The Crunge" is Zeppelin's very blatant, odd-timing ode to James Brown. Not only is the song by far the funkiest in their entire catalog, but you cannot miss the funny in Plant's ending refrains of searching for that "confounded bridge". I sound like a broken record at this point continuously pointing out how awesome John Bonham is, but seriously this here is yet another one of his stupendous grooves. John Paul Jones for his part lays down one hellova wicked bass line as well.
I would say that Presence starts off with its two best songs, the second of them being "For Your Life". Led Zeppelin never got around to performing this song live, (at least with John Bonham in tow), but his son had an excellent go at it during the 2007 reunion show. Written spontaneously in the studio, Robert Plant's lyrics are mostly and bitterly aimed at his own disgust with the cocaine scene in nearly all of popular music at the time. Meaning the entire decade of the seventies really.
This Physical Graffiti cut, (originally written mostly by John Paul Jones and recorded during the untitled fourth album's sessions), sometimes surprises me whenever I listen to the album. It is one of those "oh yeah, this song" moments that shows up and reminds you instantly that you kind of forgot how great it is. Lyrically "Night Flight" is one of Plant's more "your guess is as good as mine" moments, but as one of the few Led Zeppelin songs without a guitar solo and some funky two-hands-on-the-high-hat work yet again from Bonham, it is a damn, damn fine album track.
"Boogie with Stu" was a random jam that Zeppelin happened to track when hanging out in the studio with the Rolling Stones' unofficial keys man Ian Stewart. The piano he played on was apparently a piece of shit and Robert Plant may or may not have played guitar on the track. As an off-the-cuff bit of fun, Plant hardly had any lyrics planned and just started singing some Richie Valens lines that he knew by heart, prompting the band to give Valens' still living mother, (who infamously sued the band anyway), a writing credit. As it stands, this is their finest honky-tonk moment, not that they have many of them mind you.
Continuing with Physical Graffiti and the song right after "Boogie with Stu", (no I did not plan this numbering that way), is the folk blues gem "Black Country Woman". Recorded during the Houses of the Holy sessions outdoors at Stargroves manor house, the band left the studio banter between engineering legend Eddie Kramer, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant all in that was regarding an airplane audibly passing by. More kick-ass harmonica playing from Plant and I always dug how Bonham comes in later, nice and heavy with a simple four on the floor with his kick.
In Through the Outdoor kicks off with "In the Evening", the band's second longest studio track and one that immediately ushers in the album's keyboard-heavy vibe. John Paul Jones did most of the work on it, even using a drum machine to get some drum part ideas. One of the reasons I adore this album so much is because I very often feel like hearing this track and everything that follows it leaves me plenty satisfied. It is interesting to think how much of this sound the band would have continued to evolve with going into the 1980s, but of course we are only left to speculate.
This is one of those Zeppelin jams where the whole band is at the top of their craft. The riff is fantastic and musically it was collaborated between Page and Jones. Bonham's drum track is easily one of his heaviest and the ways he comes in during the breaks are all just slamming. Plus Plant's lyrics are pretty funny too, sprinkling some J. R. R. Tolkien references around the actual Legalise Pot Rally incident that took place in Hyde Park where a bunch of hippies got busting for smoking the ganja.
John-Paul-Jones-is-a-mother-fucker-of-a-bass-player example number infinity right here. The entire slow, funky, and sleazy section to the Robert Johnson/Howlin' Wolf/Albert King ode "The Lemon Song" is a shining example of Jonses' abilities. This is also a wonderful sampling of Robert Plant's horny sense of humor. Led Zeppelin had a few tracks where they threw a bunch of blues riffs and lyrics into a blender and played the ever loving shit out of them, and "The Lemon Song" is damn near the most solid example.
Once again some more John Paul Jones goodness in the form of the untitled forth album's iconic opening track "Black Dog". This riff, (one of the band's most complex), is all Jones' and I recall this being the only Zeppelin song that I could not wrap my head around when trying to fake it on the drums in my early years of playing. Bonham keeps it simple and grounded as the riff oddly danced around him and Jimmy Page for his part delivers one of his all time greatest guitar solos during the outro. The lyrics personify a horny, old black Labrador Retriever that was hanging around the studio at the time, in case anyone was wondering why in the hell it was titled what it was.
Jamming and rehearsals again gave life to another one here, one of the heaviest moments on Physical Graffiti "The Wanton Song". The striking riff is incredibly simple as it just bounces between two notes, but the sound, (utilizing Jimmy Page's ole Leslie speaker), and of course John Bonham doing what he does both make it monstrous. Robert Plant of course wrote about what he knew, which was wanting to have sex with a woman. Of the wanton variety in this here case.
One of Zeppelin's most frequently performed live pieces was the John Bonham drum soloed "Moby Dick". As early as the band's first US concerts until 1977, a Bonzo solo spot was in nearly every set and the song that ended up on Zep II had a few different other titles, ("Pat's Delight" named for Bonham's wife and "Over the Top" which would segue with "Dick" and "Out on the Tiles" live). The riff is a bit of 12-bar blues awesomeness, but of course the song is legendary as arguably the most famous rock drum solo piece of all time. A title belonging to the right drummer for sure.
If I was asked to pick Led Zeppelin's all time heaviest song, (which I guess is what I am asking myself to do right now), "Walter's Walk" is the one and only answer to be given. The riff is as "metal" as the band gets and John Bonham sounds like he is doing a John Bonham impression, meaning playing his drum kit as if it slept with his wife and owes him money. The details to the recording here is still unconfirmed as both the guitar sound and Plant's vocal in particular seem like they were done later than 1972 when "Walk" supposedly was written. Whatever the case, this song just kills.
For the first few years that I spent on this planet as a Led Zeppelin fan, I was thoroughly convinced that the intro to "Bring It On Home" was sung by Joe Cocker and not Robert Plant. Turns out the latter is just really good at disguising his voice when the mood arises. The closer to Zep II was a homage/cover of the Willie Dixon written/Sonny Boy Williamson recorded song of the same name, except the entire middle section was pretty much Page and Plant's creation. Credit wherever it lies, "Home" contains some of the best riffage the band ever laid down.
Robert Plant got cold feet about ever singing "In My Time of Dying" again after his near fatal car accident, (understandably so), but thankfully it still got performed after that as it is a gem of a recording. The longest studio track that the band has, "IMTD" is lyrically a traditional gospel song and I have personally heard Plant sing "Hotel Jesus" repeatedly during the final sections every time I hear it. I would have to ask him, but I am more than likely wrong on that. Musically this is as muscular and moody as Zeppelin gets, all eleven minutes of it just spellbinding. Also the "I guess we're done now" ending is rather funny.
The Houses of the Holy opener "The Song Remains the Same" was originally an instrumental, nearly called "The Campaign" before Robert Plant came in with the rather good idea to add vocals to it. Those resulting vocals were sped up a tad in the studio, (hence it sounding ever so slightly like an Alvin and the Chipmunks version of himself), and are about some hippy "music is universal" stuffs. Jones and Bonham's rhythm section is balls tight here and the layered guitar work is rather amazing.
Led Zeppelin performed this Willie Dixon cover so fucking incredibly that they released it twice, first on the debut and then on their outtakes album Coda. Both versions smoke and there probably is not a slow-fuck blues song recorded by any band anywhere that can top it. Not counting Zeppelin's own "Since I've Been Loving You" which you may have noticed has not come up yet on this list. Noisy shredding from Page, Plant wailing his balls off, Jones' holding down the fort, Bonham's right foot going ape-shit, "I Can't Quit You Baby" has it all.
Guitar solo excellence one more time from Jimmy Page on the jovial "Celebration Day", one of Led Zeppelin III's most tasty jams. Robert Plant would introduce this as "The New York Song" from time to time as he is I guess singing about the famous city here. A small part of John Bonham's drum part was accidentally erased by an engineer, (who no doubt got an ear-full from manager Peter Grant), hence the droning section carried over from the end of "Friends" that starts the song off.
The Led Zeppelin II, monster blues "Heartbreaker" at once contains one of Jimmy Page's most seminal riffs and if it were not for "Stairway to Heaven", probably his most impressive lead. The unaccompanied solo here was recorded later on at a different studio and improvised entirely by Page and it is the guitarist at his sloppy, shredding best. The song rarely left the band's set list throughout their entire career and why should it? This could be the finest testament to Led Zeppelins' dominance of late 60s blues rock that there is.
Throwing a Stevie Wonder inspired clavinet part on a bombastic Zeppelin track about giving in to one's horny temptations? Excellent move there on John Paul Jones part. "Trampled Under Foot" came about during jam sessions over a period of time and once existed as "Brandy & Coke" which is rather a funnier title that I wish they would have went with. Many of the lyrics reference Robert Johnson songs again, since if you are going to borrow, borrow from the best. This is pretty much as equally funky and heavy as any moment on any Zeppelin album.
Along with "Stairway", "Whole Lotta Love" tops the list of Led Zeppelin songs I by all logical reasons should be sick of. Instead, I simply appreciate it more than ever. This was one of the very first songs that I was ever told to pay attention to John Bonham's drumming in and his simple, excellent cave man fills near the end are textbook rock drumming. The guitar solo part is one that me and my brother have busted out on a dime's notice countless times and most people anywhere in the world could probably hear just that and recognize it. Then you have the entire orgasm part which just might be the coolest fucking section to any rock song in history.
It is rather a hoot that Jimmy Page took a silly little ditty that John Bonham used to sing when he was off to the bars to get pissed and turned it into probably the band's most all time technically impressive riff. Unfortunately, the lyrics ended up not exclusively revolving around drinking oneself to oblivion, though I guess if that were the case then the song would have a kind of somber tone to it post-Bonham's death. "Out on the Tiles" is also one of a couple Led Zeppelin songs to contain a "mistake", where somebody, (presumably Jimmy Page), is heard saying "stop" around the minute twenty-two mark.
Even this late in the game and on their final album together, Led Zeppelin were still toying with humorous nods to genres that they were not particularly known for. "Hot Dog" is their very deliberate Texas rockabilly song, (the only such one they ever did), and though technically as un-Zeppeliny as can be, it still assuredly sounds like them. Robert Plant never denied being an Elvis fan and he does a pretty funny impression here, but more than just a borderline novelty song, "Hot Dog" has always been my favorite In Through the Outdoor moment as it has my personal pick for Jimmy Page's greatest solo. It is a barely contained, twangy, sloppy Scotty Moore-esque lead that I find thoroughly perfect.
One of the very best album tracks never performed live by the band, "Down by the Seaside" is another select soft rock Zeppelin song and one that is likely to have been inspired by Neil Young. Page and Plant put it together acoustically in 1970 during their writing session/vacation in Bron-Yr-Aur and they recorded it full band for the forth album. When it finally surfaced on Physical Graffiti, it was yet another excellent moment that showed that they were not just concerned with playing as loud as possible and singing about mysticism and their dicks. Bonham's subdued playing is wonderful here as is Page's subtle leads over some of the verses.
There is a pattern amongst Led Zeppelin tracks that they quite often had incredible songs which they simply put away for a rainy day and a later album. "We're Gonna Groove" is a Ben E. King cover that they opened their 1970 tours with, recording it around the same time. Yet this studio version was not released for over another decade until it surfaced on Coda. It is certainly one of the band's strongest covers as well as one of their shortest songs, period. It is also a top-notch John Bonham showcase and the riff is all funky-ass rhythmic-ness.
Led Zeppelin scarcely gets more pretty than "That's the Way". Robert Plant and Jimmy Page wrote it whilst walking around the Bron-Yr-Aur cottage in Wales, Plant coming up with the first line on the fly where they had a tape recorder handy to catch such spontaneity. The song could be about anything really and some moments in it seem to recall Plant pondering with a sigh some of the band's negative response in the U.S. at times. Usually adding John Bonham to a song could only make it better, but this one was recorded sans a rhythm section entirely and became a regular part of the band's acoustic set when they would do such things live.
The second song on Physical Graffiti starts with one of those "name that drum beat" grooves from John Bonham and to begin a song with just him, you cannot jolly well lose. I would say that at least half of this one hinges on how fantastic Bonham's playing is, drum sound included. Amazingly, "The Rover" was another acoustic number written in Bron-Yr-Aur, except it was held onto even longer, not being properly recorded until the Houses of the Holy sessions. Perhaps it was the metamorphosis it took from its original form into the slow, fat, and heavy version that it finally emerged as which took so long to finalize.
Cut on June 24th, 1969 during the band's U.K. summer tour, "Travelling Riverside Blues" is the best Robert Johnson cover of all time next to Cream's "Crossroads". Actually as Zeppelin was more keen on doing, they did not so much as cover any particular Johnson track, but instead styled the music after the legendary blues singer and Plant took lines from Johnson's songbook, throwing them all together. The result is a full reworking of the legendary bluesman, with an open tuning from Page who plays both his electric twelve-string and an acoustic slide. Jones' bass playing is once again astounding and Bonham's right foot is once again really fast and yup, once again this is Led Zeppelin doing what they do really goddamn well.
Easily one of the greatest studio achievements from probably any rock band, "Achilles Last Stand" may seem less dynamic than "Stairway to Heaven" comparatively, but it is just as epic, sonically and literally. Page overdubbed oodles of guitars on it, (presumably in a single day), sped some up, and painstakingly orchestrated them, all with a determination to make the song extraordinary. It was one that he and Robert Plant wrote after the latter's car accident a year prior and was at one point called "The Wheelchair Song" since Plant was uncertain for a time if he would ever even walk again. "Achilles" alludes to various poetry and the Atlantis Mountains in Morocco and it is a defining piece of work for the band to be sure.
I am not sure if I am one of the few weirdos to think that this song is as ridiculously amazing as it is, but the band never played it live, kept it off In Through the Outdoor, and it could be one of the very few Zeppelin songs to have not been played on the radio a hundred thousand times. "Darlene" is another that I sometimes forget about, but whenever I listen to Coda, this more and more becomes a favorite of mine. To the point where it is nearly the best "in the vaults" song that they had at one point. Like "The Ocean", it ends with a great swing section and elsewhere the riff, drum groove, Jones' piano and Plant's repeated "Dar-uh-lene" phrase represents much hookiness.
Is there a better rock song about eating a girl out? Not in my book. You certainly do not have to stretch your imagination very far when listening to the Physical Graffiti opener "Custard Pie", where once again Robert Plant uses a few lines from old blues songs and embraces sexual innuendos. Yet besides containing one of the band's dirtier lyrics, it has plenty else going for it. This has probably the best harmonica playing Plant ever did and a rare, superb wah-wah solo from Jimmy Page. As he would on "Trampled Under Foot", Jones once again uses a clavinet which instantly makes the song funky, and Bonham, (you guessed it), sounds phenomenal.
Now let us add a good ole fashion hoedown to the Zeppelin catalog. Musically using the Bert Jansch folk song called "The Waggoner's Lad" and spelled incorrectly after the cottage in Wales, "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" is my pick for the best acoustic moment on the third album. John Bonham plays spoons on it and live would sing very rare harmony vocals with Plant. Performance wise, this is the most impressive playing Page ever did which is not on an electric and speaking of which, they did record at least an instrumental version of the song full band and distorted, instead called "Jennings Farm Blues". It is also very much worth hearing, in case you were curious.
If you are as otherworldly incredible of a band as Led Zeppelin was, sometimes one of the most famous and glorious of all rock songs can be written by accident in just a half an hour. Thus was the case with "Rock and Roll", which exists at all because John Bonham simply started playing a Little Richard inspired drum beat while they were tracking "Four Sticks" and the rest of the band just immediately joined in. Ian Stewart again helped out and added some keys to the recording and Bonham furthered the excellence by supplying the single greatest drum break of all time.
At least musically, "Since I've Been Loving You" is the greatest original bit of blues that Led Zeppelin ever recorded. The lines about life being a drag and working from "seven to eleven" were ripped right out of the Moby Grape jam "Never", but lyric borrowing/stealing was certainly nothing isolated to this song. John Bonham's kick drum pedal squeaks quite audibly in the mix, (which you are welcome if you never noticed before because now you will never NOT notice it), and Jimmy Page rips one of the most fantastic of all guitar solos, yet again. Slow fuck blues was never better from anybody than here.
Now the question is answered, "Where is Stairway gonna end up?". As good as "Since I've Been Loving You" or "Heartbreaker" are in the lead guitar department, none can deny the solo in "Stairway". Jimmy Page had a couple spontaneous goes at it and clearly picked the best one, which stands the test of time as one of the most perfectly constructed guitar leads in history. The rest of "Stairway" lives up to its legend as the benchmark of the linear arranged rock epic and in eight solid minutes, this encompasses everything Led Zeppelin was brilliant at.
Led Zeppelin's debut album may by default be the least wonderful of their studio LP's according to only me, but "How Many More Times" is a triumph. Jimmy Page had most of the riffs here from his Yardbirds days and it is one of their early tracks that was put together by the whole band with Page's single vision of what he wanted in mind. Sections of "Rosie", "The Hunter", and at least the title of "How Many More Years", from Howlin' Wolf and Albert King with Booker T & the MGs all make an appearance here. For my money, it is the "Rosie" and "The Hunter" section on out that ranks near the top of my favorite Zeppelin moments. In fact this song has one of the greatest endings I have still ever heard, the perfect noisy big bang to wrap a song up on.
Physical Graffiti towers above every Led Zeppelin album for me and that is not just because it has the most Led Zeppelin songs on it. "Ten Years Gone" is near the pinnacle of the album, one of Zeppelin's most densely layered songs. Allegedly comprised of some fourteen guitar tracks, Jimmy Page pieced the various sections together and originally had it as an instrumental. Robert Plant wisely seemed keen on not letting the band release too many of those and later put the lyrics together about an ole lady he was going steady with pre-Zeppelin, one who gave him the ultimatum of her or his music. Thus all the incredible that had happened to him was now "ten years gone" between them.
Yet another epic here with the divine Physical Graffiti masterpiece "Kashmir". One of the bands uttermost signature songs, rarely if ever in Zeppelins' catalog does something so majestic exist, both musically and lyrically. It was constructed over several years, Page using an alternate tuning after heavily being influenced by Eastern music and Plant patiently coming in with open-ended lyrics inspired by driving through the Sahara desert. Bonham's incredibly restrained drum part is glorious and the phaser effects on his snare drum I vividly recall having an epiphany upon hearing when I was about twelve years old, deciding that I have to learn how to play the drums.
If not the most defining Led Zeppelin epic, "The Rain Song" I would instead consider to be their most gorgeous. Constructed by Jimmy Page at his home before Robert Plant came in with the words, "The Rain Song" is lush and grandiose, building over layers and layers yet never kicking into "heavy" territory. John Paul Jones' mellotron orchestration is some of the best ever played on said instrument and John Bonham takes his sweet time coming in, letting everything else take center stage. I have never tried to decipher what Plant is singing about here, but it certainly sounds lovely.
The studio version of "Immigrant Song" that opens up Led Zeppelin III is fine and all, but the How the West Was Won live interpretation that opens THAT album is an entirely different beast. "Immigrant Song" to me always sounded like it should sound heavier than it did. Well in its live setting, it sure as hell does. The studio version is tighter of course since live and unhinged, Zeppelin always loosened up more and went wherever they wanted to go. This is easily the most "metal" Zeppelin song, with a riff and structure that countless other bands have taken to heart and lyrics about Vikings raping and pillaging. Damn near cannot beat it.
Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album is cherished by many for covering the board of what they could do as a band and the exquisite "Going to California" is pretty much the antithesis of the pile-driving "Immigrant Song". John Bonham sat this one out which features instead just Jimmy Page playing an alternate tuning once more, John Paul Jones on his trusty ole mandolin, and Robert Plant singing about both Joni Mitchell and vaguely the state that the song is named after. I think it says something that my two favorite songs on this album are the drumless ones, but such is the case. This is a pure folk song in virtually every detail and few ballads of any kind are as soothing and pretty.
Jimmy Page borrowed John Paul Jones' mandolin to experiment with for "The Battle of Evermore", (the other folk ballad on Zeppelin's fourth album), and this one truly has the most mystical vibe out of any of their songs. It is pure Tolkien references in the lyric department which certainly helps, but musically it sounds as old as time somehow. The only guest vocalist the band ever utilized was Fairport Convention's Sandy Denny here, who was invited over to duet with Plant. For my money, the results of this paring is the most jaw dropping vocal duet in rock music. Call it hyperbole all you want, but it really does blow minds just how goddamn good this song is sung. Try it yourself with a buddy and prove me otherwise.
One of the most "studio fucked with" songs that Zeppelin ever did, "No Quarter" is an amazing creation that the entire band once again pulled out all of the stops for. Bonham, (though he did not receive a writing credit this time), plays fantastically throughout, especially and with much funk-ness during the guitar solo section. The keyboards, guitars, and vocals were all heavily effect laden and the entire song was slowed down to eerie it out more. Live, this would feature a solo piece from John Paul Jones and lyrically it has even more mystical goodness, with ominous references to having no mercy for one's enemies. Houses of the Holy and every Led Zeppelin studio album combined utterly peaked with this one.
When I ranked my 100 favorite songs a few years ago, this was the highest Zeppelin entry so it should not be a surprise here. I still stand by a rather throw-away bit of blues riffage, (I mean good Satan, THAT RIFF!), rehearsed and laid down in a single day for the BBC in 1969 as the best thing ever captured from this band. At only just over three minutes, Led Zeppelin's entire musicianship prowess was on full display here. Jones hits not a single wrong note as he almost ballets over all of the noise, Page's solo sounds like it is involuntarily exploding from his fingers, Bonham pulls no punches throwing nearly all of his licks into every drum fill, and most of all, Robert Plant never sang his balls off better in his life. His vocals are utterly scorching here and never live or elsewhere did Led Zeppelin sound so vibrant and alive as they do on "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair". Which by the way, is clearly their best song title as well.
Thanks for the list. I love Led Zeppelin, but there are many excellent songs on this list I either didn't know or didn't appreciate. I've got some homework to do.
ReplyDeleteRight on! Much thanks for reading \m/
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