LED ZEPPELIN

"Led Zeppelin" is the eponymously titled debut full-length studio album by UK rock act Led Zeppelin. The album was released through Atlantic Records in January 1969. Led Zeppelin were formed in London in 1968 and were originally called the New Yardbirds. After the Yardbirds disbanded in July 1968 guitarist Jimmy Page was left with ownership of the name and contractual obligations for a 1968 Scandinavian summer tour and he quickly recruited bassist John Paul Jones, lead vocalist Robert Plant, and drummer John Bonham, and the new lineup completed the Scandinavian tour playing both Yardbirds songs and material which would subsequently be Led Zeppelin songs. After returning from the tour the band changed their name to Led Zeppelin and within a few months entered Studio Olympic in London to start recording their debut album. Recording took place from September to October 1968.

The material on the nine tracks, 44:45 minutes long album are a combination of blues rock tracks which are covers of Willie Dixon ("You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You Baby") and original rock and hard rock songs. It´s a fairly varied album showing a band with an eclectic taste in music and expression. Only the percussion on "Black Mountain Side" provide a touch of laid back 60s psychedelic rock. Other than that this is a much more powerful, pretty hard edged (for the time), and skillfully executed rock album, than many of the psychedelic tinged hard rock albums from the previous couple of years (albums from artists like Iron Butterfly and Cream come to mind). Plant´s raw voice and screaming powerful delivery is a great asset to Led Zeppelin´s sound, but all four members of the band bring something special to the table. Page is a powerful but also versatile guitarist, and Jones is a hard rocking and clever bass player. Bonham is a hard pounding driving force and although his playing is pretty much at volume 11 at all times, he is still s skilled drummer with some interesting rhythm ideas.

Highlights include the heavy "Dazed and Confused" and "How Many More Times", the energetic proto-heavy metal oriented "Communication Breakdown", and the beautiful acoustic tinged "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", but this album is through and through an exceptionally strong debut showing a band who have many interesting, eclectic, and clever songwriting ideas, and who perform their music with great power and conviction. I´m not sure that I think a song like "Your Time Is Gonna Come" would normally fit on an album like this, but again it goes to show that Led Zeppelin already this early on refused to be labelled and did exactly what they wanted to and succeeded in doing it.

The album features a powerful, organic, and detailed sound production. Although some tracks feature quite a few overdubs (mostly harmony guitars) it´s an album which feels like most of it was recorded live in the studio, and that´s what music like this deserves. Upon conclusion Led Zeppelin´s debut album was not only a groundbreaking rock album from the late 60s, but it´s also a good quality release showing an incredible amount of maturity and understanding of each other musical qualities considering that the band had only been together for a couple of months when they started recording the material. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).