Led Zeppelin II or III?

Andrea Cortese wrote: My fav is Led III, with that beautiful  "Friends"!!! and all that folker tracks on the second half of the album!

Ciao Andrea,

my fav is Led Zeppelin III, I find it so inspired in its semplicity, that can beat even monumetal albums like LZ II or IV...When it came out Robert Plant interview said that by writing and playing that album he felt like a whole world civilian...beautiful! That's what music shoud be able to do

III is my favorite, because it shows the more sensitive side of the band. "Tangerine" is one of my favorite songs ever.

 

I prefer led zeppelin III.

My Order from best to worse:

LEd Zeppelin I : All the songs are masterpieces here, and both Dazed and Confused and How Many More Times are very proggy tunes. Babe I'm gonna leave you has probably the best acoustic arrangements and vocals in the history of rock. How Many More times has my favourite guitar solo of Jimmy Page and that beautiful eerie middle section. A+

Led Zeppelin IV : Great Rock And Roll + mild prog (stairway to heaven/battle of evermoor) A

Physical Graffitti : Lots of variety ; LEd Zeppelin's answer to the Beatles' 'White Album'. The first 3 sides are great but the last one is mediocre. A-

Led Zeppelin III : Acoustic beauty, majestic  blues song, and good rockers. Horrible closer though. A/B

House of the Holy: An album with lots of vaiety and some songs that seem influenced by Yes (the easiest to recognize is 'The song remains the Same). Rain Song and No Quarter are masterpieces. I don't like D'yer Maker. A/B

Led Zeppelin II : It has some Very good tracks (like Ramble On) , ok tracks (Thank You), and a bad one (Moby Dick ... that drum solo is extremely boring and pretentious!!) B

Presence : Achilles Last Stand is a masterpiece of hard rock and has some of the best guitar playing of Page and the last track is a long, but beautiful blues song as strong as Since I've Been Loving You with great guitar playing. The tracks on the middle are not very strong though. B-

In Throughout the Outdoor : The first half of the album is mediocre, but the second half has 3 Led Zeppelin's best songs : the keyboard driven epic Caruselambra, the melancholic yet innocent sounding 'All of My Love', and the mellotron backed blues song. B-

Coda : Throwaways with only 2 decent tracks. D 

II ... I can't make up mind on many things Zeppelin ... but this much is clear ... my top 3 albums are

IV, then II, then I

... but even III is largely brilliant ...

 

LZ II

It's the whole loose, wild rock'n'roll thing it's got going on, epitomised by "Whole Lotta Love".

Anyone who thinks the production is sub-par clearly doesn't own a 1st UK vinyl pressing of this piece of magic. It's a legendary test of the worthiness of your stereo system - when it gets intense, your speakers, amp and turntable really know about it. So do your neighbours...

Well My favorite Zepplin song is the Immigrant song but i like 2 better overall

Nice to see so many of us share the same most excellent rock roots.  Between the two, I prefer LZ II.  I enjoy every single track from start to finish.  I bought exactly one copy of LZ III when it was first released, but I skipped around the tracks and did not fully appreciate it.  I no longer have the LZ III vinyl, but I still have my second vinyl copy plus one CD of LZ II.  Yes, LZ III has some stellar moments, and I do appreciate it more today; but my heart belongs to LZ II.  Best overall effort by the mighty Led Zeppelin in my book is LZ I.  

3, definitely 3, although it's very close, because 2 has Heartbreaker.

II
It's got my favorite song of theirs, Ramble on.  III is a close second,  I just can't really stand "Hats off to (Roy) Harper".


Edited by Ultaigh

RANK TIME!!! 

• Physical Graffiti
• Presence
• In Through the Out Door
• Led Zeppelin I
• Houses of the Holy
• Led Zeppelin II
• Led Zeppelin IV
• Led Zeppelin III

It is my opinion that this band got better as they went along.  The first two sides of PG are just absolutely brilliant.  The second has some extra filler towards the end, but as a grand statement, it just towers over the rest of the band's output.  Presence makes the number two slot because "Achilles Last Stand" is the greatest thing they ever wrote.  In through the Out Door is underrated as hell, "Carouselambra" being an attractive experimental romp, and the entire album given the sparkling treatment (it's the best sounding of all of their albums).

As per the rest...  Zep I has some astounding songs, as does Houses of the Holy.  II is certainly rocking, but nothing really stands out as particularly extraordinary.  IV is ranked so low because of overexposure, although "Black Dog" has a MONSTER of a riff that, despite radio's best efforts, has held up extraordinarily well over the years.  III is ranked at the bottom, and although it has a sort of a mystic wonder, and "Immigrant Song" is a highlight, but I think it's the least memorable of their output.

Great band all in all... in order, the first three albums I've ranked get 5 stars, the next two get 4, and the bottom three get 3.