Customer Rating:  
Summary: John Paul Jones fans unite!
Comment: For those of you out there who think that John Paul Jones was the most talented member of the Zeppelin - and yes, I am one of those people - you need to listen to this album as fast as possible. The bass playing here is his best ever, I think. I'd hesitate to call the album brilliant, but it's pretty close. I want to say this is my second favorite Zeppelin album after Houses of the Holy, but as I've said in previous reviews, Zeppelin's first four albums are all more or less equally good.
And hey, how about those bass lines? On the dirty blues jam "Lemon Song" and the half-ballad, half-rockers "What is and What Should Never Be" (which also is Plant at his best - his vocals are sensual, and his ad-libbing during the fadeout is incredibly charismatic) and "Ramble On" (which is my favorite song on the record - melodic bass part, cool restrained drumming, great use of dynamics) have him doing his best bass playing in Zeppelin history. "Ramble On" especially. And when he's just playing in unison with Page, that's okay too, because Page's riffs are great. I take it you've heard the three-chord crunch of "Whole Lotta Love?" Ooh, now there's a riff! Some people have said it's the first metal song ever. I don't know about that, but I will grant that it was one of the first songs ever to feature an explicit sex section. Generally, explicit sex sections annoy me, but this one is really, really inventive. I don't know how they made those noises, but they sound very cool and appropriately freaky. I especially love the dive-bomb sounds. Or "Heartbreaker!" You know "Heartbreaker," right? Again, the riff is stellar, head-banging goodness, and the guitar solo gives you some hammer-ons and pull-offs a good nine years before Eddie Van Halen made them popular! Cool points! Granted, I still don't think Page is as good of a guitarist as, say, Jimi Hendrix. But he could pull some sweet stuff out of his hat when he wanted to! I do find it annoying that he ripped off all the old blues musicians, though. Willie Dixon was a genius! Why he had to live out his life in relative obscurity compared to Zeppelin, who stole a lot of his material, is beyond me. Hell, they steal three Dixon tunes here: "Whole Lotta Love" is "You Need Love," "The Lemon Song" is "Killing Floor," and "Bring it on Home" is, well... "Bring it on Home."
Still, good album here. The last of the good rockers is the concise, funny "Living Loving Maid" ("When your conscience hits, you knock it back with pills!" is a great lyric, and I generally think Zeppelin's lyrics are ridiculous and stupid or else overly obvious). The trippy guitar effects during the choruses are nice, too.
So Jimmy Page can really play electric guitar. I think we all knew that. But I've always preferred him as an acoustic guitarist, since there are times when I think he uses his distortion, effects pedals, and guitar-army stuff as a crutch. That happens to a lot of guitarists, Hendrix remaining an exception. And Page is certainly guilty of it, especially on Physical Graffiti and Presence, though it doesn't really happen here. Anyway, he plays a quality acoustic guitar solo on "Thank You," and it really makes the song for me. Pretty decent mellow love song otherwise (although I think Robert "Squeeze my lemon" Plant's really struggling to keep a straight face as he sings), but the solo boosts the song up by itself. By the way, random fun fact about "Living Loving Maid." Both that and Hendrix's pothead anthem "If Six Was Nine" (MUCH better song, by the way) contain verses about suns refusing to shine and mountains falling (or crumbling) into the sea. I'm pretty sure this is a coincidence. But look at the contrast between the songs' lyrics otherwise. This amuses me. Getting back to acoustic guitars, though, they're really hard to play well, speaking as somebody who's played both acoustic and electric. So no matter what reservations I have about this group's mythical status, I have to give Page my props for being able to play a great acoustic.
So anyway, it's too bad that the last two songs totally suck. "Moby Dick" is a world famous drum solo, but I find it really, really boring. I love hearing drum solos in jazz, especially when the band plays the melody line and the drummer responds to it with a little soloette. But there's something about classic rock bands not being called the Beatles or the Jimi Hendrix Experience (there's one on "If Six Was Nine," and it rules) and really bad drum solos. Now, the riff they use to introduce "Moby Dick" is awesome. But all I hear in the drum solo is Bonzo going "thud whack pow splat thud whack pow splat." There's also a part where he goes "whappity whappity whappity whappity whappity whappity whappity whappity," just for a bit of variety. I'm sure this was quite something to see live (did you know he used to play those drums with his hands until he bled?), but that doesn't make the solo any less "thud whack pow splat thud whack pow splat." And the first part of "Bring it on Home," where Plant sings in that slurred "bluesman" voice, is offensive and borderline racist. Given the group's passion for the blues, I'm pretty sure Plant wasn't trying to be offensive with his vocals, and that the whole thing was just an honest mistake. But it was still a very bad idea. When the song actually begins in earnest, it doesn't get much better. I don't know what Page used to get his guitar to sound as bad as it sounds there. I probably don't want to, either. So stop the album before "Moby Dick," and it's a masterpiece. Similarly, stop III before "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp" (or burn yourself a copy with "Bron-Yr-Aur," the lovely instrumental from Physical Graffiti; "Poor Tom," and "Hey Hey What Can I Do" in the place of the last two songs), and it's a masterpiece. I hate it when that happens! Oh well. C'est la vie. Rock on!
Customer Rating:
Summary: 5 or nothing
Comment: How can anyone give this album less than 5 stars? This is Led Zeppelin at their best. Every song on the album is a hit.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Remains to this day my all-time favorite Zep album
Comment: Led Zeppelin's second record 'Led Zeppelin II' was released in 1969, just a few months after their debut 'Led Zeppelin I' came out. The record was apparently written and recorded in just three days. Most bands need up to six months to write a record full of decent material.
But not Zeppelin. Three days was all it took. Songs like 'Whole Lotta Love,' 'Heartbreaker,' and even 'What Is And Should Never Be' are classic rock radio staples.
And, in 1994, Atlantic digitally remastered this. The sound quality is superb!
If you are a fan of the blues, listen in for songs like 'The Lemon Song' and 'Bring It On Home.' Those songs were heavily influenced by Delta Blues. Plant's vocals are mighty fine.
Overall, this remains my all-time favorite Zeppelin record. They are all great, but this one really stands out, in my opinion.
Highly recommended for any Zep fan. A classic masterpiece. ENJOY!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of Zepps best...
Comment: One of my fave's of Zepp.
Best rock drummer of ALL time...
More original beats than anyone I can think of, after playing drums for 30+ years IM not even close...
Classic songs as well..
Customer Rating:
Summary: Led Zeppelin
Comment: Led Zeppelin. One of the best rock groups. I now have I II and III. I will keeep on getting more.
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