Led Zeppelin 1 -Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blues!

Way back in the early to mid 1980’s when I was a teenager and was just discovering music I stumbled across Led Zeppelin and they have remained my favourite group ever since. Not always the most played these days but a band I will always return too. My own musical journey after a few false starts really kicked off with the Beatles and as I worked through their back catalogue and read more about the 60’s as a whole I became aware of the other bands and indeed the other musical styles of the era. My friends at that time were getting into stuff like Iron Maiden – music which at the time and even now leaves me cold.

Led Zeppelin were another story however not just another bludgeoning heavy riffing wall of sound metal band without soul. Led Zeppelin right from the off seemed to hold a whole host of possibilities musically. And as history would show would result in some interesting but inevitably not always successful musical experimentation.
So for this 17 year old pair of ears way back in 1985 just making the jump from British beat music to heavy rock via psychedelia what better place to start then at the beginning.

Firstly let me say this whilst it can’t be denied that Led Zeppelin were innovators and prime movers in ushering and establishing a new musical genre however they can’t always be held up to originators. Other bands had been experimenting with high volume in the preceding years including Blue Cheer, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream and not forgetting The Yardbirds and the Jeff Beck Group. Even Jimmy Pages trademark violin bow driven sonic attack was ahem “borrowed” from Eddie Philips of The Creation.

So when Zeppelin emerged from the wreckage of the Yardbirds in 1968 The Jeff Beck Group had already been forging ahead with the heavy blues rock quartet format for some time. And with noted players such as Rod Stewart on vocals and Ron Wood on bass, man for man on paper the Jeff Beck Group looked the stronger line up compared with Pagey’s fledgling Zeppelin line up with the hitherto unknown Robert Plant and John Bonham. So what was it that set Zeppelin apart from Jimmy Pages old cohort?

Ultimately it boiled down to songwriting and especially choice of material to not only cover but to draw on as influences. In Pagey and John Paul Jones Zeppelin arguably boasted a stronger writing and arrangement team than the Jeff Beck Group but in Jimmy Page they had access to an encyclopaedic knowledge of the blues/folk and rock and roll scene way ahead of the majority of their audience and indeed many of their contemporaries.

So in terms of formula they had it spot on - one part a strong songwriting and arrangement team and one part Willie Dixon, Sonny Boy Williamson and a multitude of other influences (not always credited)

And so to the music itself. Led Zeppelin 1 is indeed a masterwork, the songs run together with frightening force it is indeed the best album of “songs about women that have done me wrong” and set the standard for a thousand imitators. (How David Coverdale must have longed to produce something this good!)
The Lp is 8 tracks long (and in these days of padding CD’s out with outtakes and alternate versions etc I am glad that Zeppelin have resisted the temptation as to add further material would upset the balance of the album and alter the ambience, the feel of the record. (although I am sure that it is just a matter of time after all they always said that they would never do a greatest hits remember).
And so the album kicks off with Good Times Bad Times based on a John Paul Jones riff that crunches like an “official knock at the door”. This track set out Zeppelin’s agenda in little under 3 minutes with Robert Plant’s white boy blues wail. JPJ’s bass line bubbles and boils beneath Pagey’s lead guitar work which arcs way like sparks from a grindstone.

Babe I’m Gonna Leave You sets course in a totally different direction which would be further developed over the next 3 years taking them through the folk rock CSNY/Fairport Convention influenced Led Zeppelin 3 and culminating in Stairway To Heaven. That’s another story but Babe I’m Gonna Leave You is a vocal and instrumental tour de force. This track to me represents Plant’s finest vocal performance and Pagey’s guitar work and Jones’ arrangements propel the group to another level way ahead of the big boy cock rock they would unleash with Whole Lotta Love (excellent though it was) within the next 12 months.

You Shook Me – by Willie Dixon a slow burning brooding, moody blues work out – this was the first track that drew me in to Zeppelin 1 and its John Paul Jones Hammond organ playing wailing, creaking, and screaming that did it.

Dazed and Confused – the darkest song in the Zeppelin canon borrowed/stolen uncredited from the folk scene (Jake Holmes - I’m So Confused - correct me if I’m wrong Seth Man) and having evolved during Pagey’s tenure with the Yardbirds. It is again an instrumental tour de force JPJ’s doomy plunging bass line and Pagey’s guitar solo showcasing that violin bow.

After the explosive conclusion to side 1 the second side kicks off in a mellow vein JPJ’s church organ intro to Your Time is Gonna Come an ambitious track which showcases Jones all around musical ability (in football terminology of the 1980’s he would be described as Utility Man John Paul Jones!) The track again points the way forward to Thank You on Zeppelin 2.

Black Mountain Side continues the mellow vibe evolving from Pages Yardbirds track White Summer it segues into Communication Breakdown cruelly luring the listener into a false sense of security before shattering the mood.
Communication Breakdown is insistent infectious riffing -live it would be sledgehammer heavy – in the studio its electrifying and crackles along at a frightening pace.

I Can’t Quit You Babe sees a return to another blues work out before the album moves back up a gear with How Many More Times. This is another uncredited blues lift but don’t that put you off with its rolling bass driven riff this is a superb track and Pagey’s violin driven guitar work shimmers through out.

And that’s it. If you don’t have it you would do well to check it out and the BBC Sessions album too

Enjoy

Joolio (er have I written too much?)

Reviews Index