LED ZEPPELIN II

Led Zeppelin II is a rollicking hard rock masterpiece. If this were Hard Rock Archives we'd all be sputtering about how every album should be this one. (An easy 6 out of 5 really.) Like many billions of humans before me, I fell in love with rock music because of Led Zepplin and II was one of the very first albums of any kind I ever bought.

Also like pretty much every other person who falls within that "several billion people" qualifier I played this album to death. Perhaps because of this I was less inclined to think of it as something more than one of the crown jewels pure of rock and roll. Having given it a full year or so to cool off, I find myself a little more impressed at their willingness to go off the reservation. As far as a "prog related" album is concerned I'd say we're probably talking about 1st cousins once removed.

There are certainly some straight forward blusey numbers here in the Lemon Song, Heartbreaker and Bring it on Home. The tracks that make II valuable as a prog-ish album are Thank You (surprisingly), Whole Lotta Love, Moby Dick, What is and Should Never Be and my personal favourite Ramble On. While certainly more simplistic and harder rocking than say Yes, these tracks show Zepplin branching out creatively. Ultimately they lay the ground work for the band to build the sprawling epics which can be found on all their albums from IV onward.

II is way too much fun to rate anything below a five, but from the progressive lens I will concede that not all albums are deserving of being called essential. And so, as a compromise between my undying love of Led Zeppelin and II and my desire to be a credible critic; I will settle for an excellent addition to any prog-rock music collection when considered as a "prog related" album.