157. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II (1969)




















Track Listing

1. Whole Lotta Love
2. What Is And What Should Never Be
3. Lemon Song
4. Thank You
5. Heartbreaker
6. Livin' Lovin' Maid (She's Just a Woman)
7. Ramble On
8. Moby Dick
9. Bring It On Home

Review

More Led Zeppelin! And even though there aren't as many well known tracks in these one, it is in no way a worse album. In fact it is possibly more consistent in terms of quality than the previous one.

This is really a big tribute to Zeppelin's skills as this album was done in a very short time in between brakes in touring. Maybe the stress helped the band because it sure as hell doesn't feel rushed.

Unless by rushed you mean rockin'! Of course the lyrics are simplistic and the references to Tolkien in Ramble On make you grin, but that doesn't really matter, you don't listen to Led Zeppelin for the message, you do it for the perfect guitar riffs and the sheer energy of it. However there are quite as many perfect riffs as in the previous album, and they are definitely sticking with a winning formula and not deviating much from the first album.

Hey, even my girlfriend is becoming a Zephead... listen to it, all the cool kids do it! Buy it at Amazon UK or US.

Track Highlights

1. Whole Lotta Love
2. Ramble On
3. Moby Dick
4. Thank You


Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

Whole Lotta Love:



Wikipedia:

Led Zeppelin II largely writes the blueprint for 1970s hard rock. Blues-derived songs like "Whole Lotta Love", "Heartbreaker", "The Lemon Song" and "Bring It on Home" are now standards of the genre, where the guitar-based riff (rather than vocal chorus or verses) defines the song and provides the key hook. Such arrangements and emphases were at the time atypical in popular music. As such, the album is generally considered to be very influential on the development of rock music, being an early forerunner of heavy metal, and inspiring a host of other rock bands such as Deep Purple, Van Halen and Guns 'n' Roses.

Led Zeppelin II also experimented with other musical styles and approaches, as on the alternately soft-and-loud "What Is And What Should Never Be" and "Ramble On" (which featured Page's acoustic guitar), or the pop-influenced ballad "Thank You". With its mysterious atmospherics, "Ramble On" helped develop hard rock's association with fantasy themes, which had partly derived from the psychedelic rock of two to three years before, but also from lyricist Robert Plant's personal interest in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien. This direction would later culminate on Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album (and countless subsequent groups would later carry the influence to further extremes). Conversely, the instrumental "Moby Dick" features an extended drum solo by John Bonham, which would later be extended to a half-hour or more in live Led Zeppelin concert performances.