LED ZEPPELIN II

With their second album, appropriately titled II, Led Zeppelin took a major step away from blues rock, and toward the inventive hard rock they would be famous for. The only straight (and very good, by the way) blues number is The Lemon Song.

Every song on this one is a winner, albeit barely progressive. Whole Lotta Love is probably the most proglike on the album. With it's now familiar and classic headbanging heavy metal (in it's time) verses and chorus, and Pink Floyd-like psychedelic interlude, this song was a staple of FM radio for years, even after corporate trolls took over the industry.

What Is And What Should Never Be is another great song, A changing tempo between the mellow verses and heavy chorus makes this an exciting number. Another standout is the combination of Heartbreaker and Living Loving Maid. While the songs don't quite flow from one to the other, the extremely short gap between the tracks caused DJs to usually play them both together, forever linking them in most people's minds.

Let's just say I played the album to death back in the seventies. A great album, that only loses a star for it's lack of prog.