764. Led Zeppelin / Led Zeppelin. 1969. 3/5

Rising from the ashes of The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin's first album shows glimpses of their initial influences as well as what their music was going to develop into. The story about how the band came into being is like so many bands of that era. Guitarist Jimmy Page was left with the name rights and obligations of The Yardbirds when all of the other members quit, and he had to perform a tour of Scandinavia that had been booked ahead of this. Through a combination of acquaintances and their own friends, Page was able to recruit vocalist Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham and bass guitarist John Paul Jones to join the band to fulfil those tour requirements. They toured under the name of The New Yardbirds, and in the process played some old Yardbirds songs as well as some newer material that the foursome had been working on in rehearsals for the tour. With the feeling within the group being positive, the band returned to London, with Page changing the name of the band to Led Zeppelin, and they entered the studio to record their first album.
The album took only 36 hours to record, a figure that Jimmy Page was able to ascertain because he paid for it, and had the bill from the studio that listed 36 hours as the billable fee. Reportedly the band was able to have the album done in this short period of time because the material for the album had been selected beforehand, and had been rehearsed and in most instances played on that tour of Scandinavia. Thus everything was in place for the band’s first foray onto vinyl.

Many songs on the album are cover versions of other artists tracks, especially the very noticeable blues tracks. "You Shook Me" is complete, unadulterated, blues, written by Willie Dixon. No need to try and work out what the basis of this track is in the scheme of things. Apart from the higher pitched vocals on offer here, and the keyboards that make their appearance, it could have come from any blues record from the previous twenty years or so. You've got the slow beat of the drums, the blues riffling guitar, along with those keys and the harmonica as well. And it sometimes feels like it drags out a lot longer than those six minutes too. Still, it fits in well in the scheme of the album as a whole, and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb at least. You can read the same for "I Can't Quit You Baby", also written by Dixon, and showing all the same symptoms of blues. "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" is a reworking of the original Anne Bredon folk song, which is improved by being more up-tempo and with Plant's vocals crying over the top, but also the change from the acoustic guitar to begin into the harder push past the bridge of the song. For those that enjoy the band W.A.S.P. you will also hear where some of the music was ‘inspired’ by for their album “The Crimson Idol” on this song.
Some of it such as "Black Mountain Side" sounds like hippy music with guitars and bongos, the kind of stuff I was forced to go and listen to during my university days when I was courting a girl who loved this stuff (nope, I do not), and while of course that was still very much in vogue at the time of this album it has never appealed to me. This is saved by the immediate interruption of the next song, which then comes crashing into "Communication Breakdown", a much better tempoed song. The same for me occurs in regards to "I Can't Quit You Baby" into "So Many More Times". The slower blues number can sometimes lose my interest, but once the album moves into the last song on the album it jumps back into action.
The opening track “Good Times Bad Times” is a good one, with the initial showcasing of all four in their best environment. Plant on lead vocals has that honeyed main vocal line but the ability to hit the heights when he wants. The backing of all three of the other members is also important. Jones and his beautiful bass line throughout is terrific, while Page’s great lead breaks are that integral part to the best Led Zeppelin songs. “Dazed and Confused” is still one of the band’s best known tracks, but to be honest has never been one of my favourites. I like bits of the song (Jimmy’s guitar in general) but I’ve obviously never been dazed enough or confused enough to appreciate it more fully. And the opening track of side two, “Your Time is Gonna Come”, with opening organ into acoustic guitar with Robert’s vocals is nice and pretty, but for me never seems to get out of first gear. It is another example of a song that is fine for what it is, and no doubt was tremendously popular with the fans of this era, but for me just doesn’t wet my whistle.
This could have been a disastrous album if not for Robert Plant's vocals, and that is not having a go at the other three members and their contributions. It’s just that there are so many quiet places throughout, where only the slow and almost unnoticeable drum beat and a turned down or acoustic guitar leave the vocals open to any slight wavering or cock up. But that just never happens. Plant's voice is just magnificent, and makes those slow silent times become alive. The album shows glimpses of Bonham's hard hitting drum work, but focuses mainly on the lesser extravagant slow tom beating, which is nicely settled in rhythm by John Paul Jones bass guitar. The same with Jimmy Page's guitaring, which shows great technique in the blues and slower songs without really showcasing his greater talent.

I have never been the greatest Led Zeppelin fan, though I appreciate their faster heavier work more than the majority of what it on show here. Like many other albums of its type, I can still put this album on and listen to it without prejudice, and enjoy the skills being shown. Plant's vocals can draw anyone in such as the display on Led Zeppelin. But apart from the second half of "Dazed and Confused" and "Communication Breakdown", I can't say that I love anything else that is on this album. It's more of an appreciation of the talent of the band and what they do with these songs than a great love of the songs themselves for me here.
Over the years I would hear bits and pieces of the band’s work, but it really wasn’t until they released the excellent double CD “Remasters” with all of their greatest hits on it that I began to appreciate the band. And eventually I went back and began to gather their albums, one by one, and listen to them in order to catalogue each album as its own entity rather than listen to a selection of songs.
This debut album is one that I have had for a while now, and one that I am still getting more from each time I take it out and give it a spin. Over the past couple of weeks I have found I have heard more of each member in each song as I have listened. Perhaps that is simply because on this occasion I was listening to it in a critical way in order to present it for this podcast episode. But I think that more than that, being older and less attuned to have to say ‘that’s brilliant’ or ‘that’s crap’ to every album I listen to, I understand the album and its time better than I have in the past. As I said before, that doesn’t mean I actually love all these songs, or even love this album, but I appreciate it and have listened to it with enjoyment rather than out of necessity. The playing on this album is the real winner, the way the four members combine in the first instance of what became their music immortality. As a starting point, you can’t help but be drawn in just a little.