My Findings on Led Zeppelin

Let me preface this by stating that in a prior post, I had decided to listen to Led Zeppelin fresh. I came in with a brand baby new perspective, and I wanted to see if my observations matched their "popular songs". Obviously some songs I had heard before, such as Stairway to Heaven, its hard to go through life without hearing it. Regardless... Here are my findings.

My favorite CD (out of the first IV), was Led Zeppelin III. I'm not exactly sure what on that album sold me, but they seemed to play very well together. I think an aspect that I did not like on some of their songs on II was to just sit on one chord, for like 20 seconds. OK, thats a very 70's thing to do, but still, I am not a big fan of that. 

So how orginial are they? Eh... I know for Rock they are, absolutly, but quite honestly, they were playing the blues, I mean, Blues musicians really had their heyday in the 50's. So while their sound is definetly awesome for part of it, I must admit, some of their songs are just BB King-esque. 

However, lemme put a HUGE disclaimer on that above statement. The first song on their first CD, Good Times Bad Times, has THE perfect guitar sound. The first 15 seconds are the most perfect sounding guitar in the history of rock and roll. Perhaps it is because rock and roll tries to sound like Led Zeppelin. Maybe it's the paper in oil capacitors that you can't find anymore in their guitars. The low 3rd Jimmy Page hits (the lowest note of his passage in the riff) with that touch of vibrato is perfect. I'd call it a "Yo-Yo Ma Note" (Yo-Yo Ma once said that on the Tonight show, he actually p

layed a piece perfectly, in his head, there was nothing he wanted to sound better).  That note will resinate in your soul, and I'll go so far as to say that is the most important note in rock and roll history. I think that note hooked the first listening to Led Zeppelin. If it wasn't for that note, I'm not sure music would be the same!

Other CD's that are great... The second half of Led Zeppelin IV. The first half is, eh... So so... Shwaaya shwaaya. But starting with the second half of Stairway To Heaven, the CD really starts to shine. Misty Mountain Hop is a personal favorite of mine, as well as When the Levee Breaks. Perhaps their "grooviest" song, its damn catchy. Other favorite songs of mine... Immigrant song, Friends, OUt on the Tiles (which is really just Good Times Bad Times), and Ramble On. I'm not sure if these are their greatest hits, so now, I'm going to find out the most famous Led Zeppelin songs. Drumroll please!

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Ok, so my song choices do not exactly line up with their most popular songs! Obviously some of them do, but as far as the singles they released, we don't quite line up.

My overall impression? They are a really tight band. Obviously they spun off an entire sound, to more or less sound like them. However, they did not move in crazy directions like the Beatles had, in fact its pretty clear that the Beatles had a much more diverse sound, many of their songs have different sounds. It is fairly difficult. Led Zeppelin did more to influence how bands are set up, via their instrumentation, and their vocals. The Beatles still utilized the more "barbershop quartet" sound, and personally, their arrangments via chord progressions are much more in depth, and I would say more beautiful. Thats why you see the beatles "covered" by Jazz Artists, there is more leeway for improvisation. 

This was a fun experiment. If you don't have the Beatles or Led Zeppelin, get them. Duh...

Thanks,

Guthrie