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Saturday, 1 February 2014

Album #32 : Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III


Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin III (1970)

Led Zeppelin's first two albums had established them as brash, bold, heavy bluesmen, blatantly thieving old American blues standards and making them their own. Driving rhythms played by one of the greatest rhythm sections in rock history, a true virtuoso on guitar and a lead singer with one of the purest rock voices in the business...Zeppelin had it all, and their legions of fans wanted more.

Tired of hotel rooms and relentless touring, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant took off for Bron-Yr-Aur, a small cottage in Wales. Free of modern conveniences, the pair spent time with each other writing songs with only acoustic sounds to guide them. The result was Led Zeppelin III.

Upon its release, it was greeted with shocked indifference from some, outright hatred from others. What was this stripped back, folk rock sound? This wasn't the Zeppelin that sizzled from our speakers on Communication Breakdown or Whole Lotta Love. Where was the pounding hard rock, the screaming electric guitar solos and the wail of Robert Plant? 

It was to take many years before the reputation of Led Zeppelin III would be restored. This was a good thing, for much like The Beatles' Revolver, this is the album that set the standard for what was to follow, as Zeppelin moved away from being purely a blues-rock band and being something....more. While the album still contained some bruising rockers and pure blues tunes, it is the band's 'softest' release by far, and (the sprawling Physical Graffiti aside) arguably one of Zeppelin's most interesting albums.

The Album

The vinyl release was split into two halves - the 'heavy' side (tracks 1-5) and the 'lighter' side (tracks 6-10). Consequently, the first half of the album contains all the trademarks of the band's heavy blues-rock sound. Opening track Immigrant Song explodes out of your speakers like a bomb; or, perhaps, a marauding Viking horde. Plant wails about invading Vikings over a thumping riff and rhythm section. The choruses see John Paul Jones play the most insane sounding bassline on the record. The next track, Friends, is the first 'acoustic track'. Possessing a very Middle Eastern chord progression and sound (thanks in part to Jones's uncredited string arrangements), the song also showcases Plant's searing higher register to great effect. A bit of Moog synth at the end flows seamlessly into Celebration Day, one of the more underrated cuts in the Zeppelin catalogue. It features layers of guitar I'd never heard properly before without headphones (one channel riffs relentlessly while the other plays a more funky melody) and is another song that you'd play if you wanted to prove why John Paul Jones is one of rock's greatest bassists.

Then there's the standout track on the album, and easily one of Zeppelin's greatest songs, the slow blues jam Since I've Been Loving You. From a songwriting standpoint it is almost flawless; the intensity of the song builds steadily through each of the verse/chorus pairs, burning slowly in the first before picking up in the second. The song is then broken up by one of the greatest, most spine-tingling blues solos you'll ever hear from the peerless Page. Then....a mini-bridge allows a brief respite, before the final verse/chorus sees the track at maximum intensity and maximum passion. Every member of the group shines at some point, proving that they weren't just a great band, they were also stupidly talented individuals. The final 'heavy' track, Out on the Tiles, is a sprightly and pacy rocker, driven by the restless aggression of John Bonham's drumwork. The final minute even has time to rock our faces some more, as the riff changes and the rhythm section produce more magic.

Then, there's the 'lighter' side. Even that starts with the rollicking Gallows Pole, an arrangement of a traditional folk tune, and another criminally underrated song. From the guitar and vocal only beginning, the song eventually picks up speed as the drums and bass enter. There's more terrific work from Bonham, plus within the acoustic guitar-driven mix there's the sound of a banjo and a nice Page solo to close the tune. Tangerine is a sweet acoustic rocker with a country flavour. Written by Page during his time with The Yardbirds, it's got some nice pedal steel touches and is built around a lush, yet somewhat sad, twelve-string acoustic guitar riff. That's The Way is one of the group's most mellow tunes, driven by layers of acoustic guitar and one of Plant's sweetest vocal efforts. It shows perfectly that he was more than just a bluesy wailer. 

Penultimate song Bron-Y-Aur Stomp is one of my guilty pleasures. It's pure country music, with Bonham's kick drum providing the hoedown-style 'stomp'. The guitar riffs are catchy as hell (Page's work on this track is really quite good) and Plant's lyrics are clever, because until he says explicitly that the song's about a dog you don't actually know that. Finally, the track closes with the somewhat difficult Hats Off To (Roy) Harper. I say "difficult" because stylistically, it sounds almost exactly like 30s and 40s blues recordings; echoed, messy slide guitar lines almost drown out the tremolo-laden vocals. The band wrote the song as a tribute to legendary folkie Roy Harper, and it is based heavily on 40s and 50s bluesman Bukka White's tune Shake In On Down. Taken as it was intended - the band's own take on the acoustic blues sound that was their major influence - it's a very effective song, but not a great one to be fair.

The Verdict

It seems that when your regular music fan talks about Zeppelin albums, the ones that get all the attention are II and IV. That's probably fair enough (especially IV) since those albums provided the bulk of Zeppelin's 'mainstream' tracks.

This album, however, is light years ahead of II and, in my view, at least the equal of IV. It mightn't have the pure blues chops of II, and lack the star power of IV, but it has something that those albums don't have as much of.

Heart. Emotion. A fullblooded commitment to investigating and using new influences, sounds and techniques. As I stated in the intro, everything that followed this album owes a debt of gratitude to LZIII. The acoustic/electric fusion of Four Sticks, the experimentation with Bonham's drum sound on When the Levee Breaks, the sheer mixture of styles and influences on Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti....all would not have been possible without this album.

Which is probably why we needed to wait for some time before giving this album its proper due. It's not the betrayal some saw it as at the time of its release; it is, in fact, an evolution.

My rating: **** and a half

Standout Tracks

Gallows Pole
Since I've Been Loving You
Celebration Day

Tomorrow I'm going to review another album by request - it's by a band I had never heard of until told about them by the requestee. He, in fact, described it as "the best album he heard in 2013, even though it was released in 1994".

I'm really looking forward to it.

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