Through the course of rock history, few bands, if any, have made the sudden and immediate impact to compare with that of Led Zeppelin.
Unlike say The Beatles or The Who, whose emergence earlier in the ’60s brought end to a seemingly endless round of pub and dance hall dates played as star-aspiring youths, Jimmy Page (guitar), Robert Plant (vocals), John Paul Jones (bass/keyboards) and John Bonham (drums) six weeks after forming as Led Zeppelin, were entering a recording studio together.
Formed in London, although only Page was born in the city, the four had varying degrees of music scene experience, the tracks of their self-titled debut set (March 1969) were cut as the previous year came to an end.
In no small way the record revealed how much they had been influenced by the preceding blues-rock explorations of the Jeff Beck Group. Over the course of two recent albums, ‘Beck-Ola‘ (1967) and ‘Truth‘ (1968), guitar virtuoso Beck along with distinctive vocalist Rod Stewart had extended the possibilities of lead guitar/lead vocal interplay. As a consequence, ‘Led Zeppelin‘ was populated with a heady mix of originals credited to band members and interpretations of established blues standards.
But in truth, no pun intended, it was sometimes hard to define one source from another such was their plundering of decades-old material, a facet critics were quick to mention. The issue of plagiarism from songs long-since in circulation, yet attributed to a song-writing collective within the band was destined to recur, being frequently referenced in critiques of their output in the years ahead – Led Zeppelin, over time, having a number of lawsuits to address in regard to copyright infringement.
Irrespective, however, of what was deemed pilfered or penned themselves, the net result was an assertive collection that bore little trace of debut album hesitancy. With good reason Zeppelin were supremely confident in their capabilities from day one, which in this context was only a couple of months ago.
While a section of the music press gave the album a less than welcome reception (the group in the opening throes of career-long conflict with several leading rock journalists), it was seized upon by an audience waiting to have their socks blown off by a hard rock record of such sonic scintillation.
With Page already marking himself out as an intuitive producer, ‘Led Zeppelin‘ went way beyond the expectations of Atlantic Records – and those of the group – in racing to a top ten chart position (U.S. 10/U.K. 6) on both sides of the Atlantic.
With understandable urgency, Atlantic commissioned a follow-up to appear before the year was out despite the band being committed to an intense spell of touring. As a consequence the sequel was recorded in two London studios and four across the United States, depending on where they were performing at the time.
But while it emerged from six different locations and was worked on by four separate engineers, LED ZEPPELIN II (October 1969) would quickly acquire status as the defining heavy rock collection of the day, while at the same time shining light on what form the medium would take as the 1970s unfolded.
Given the sessions from which ‘Led Zeppelin II‘ arose, it is no surprise several tracks evolved from instrumental passages and progressions they had taken to playing in concert. The album while not exactly sounding made up on the hoof, still creating an impression of being done at a gallop.
Due to the time constraints imposed by Atlantic, the band were in a hurry to deliver the record and if this had implications for quality control, (one track dismissed by singer Plant as ‘filler‘), there is no lack of intensity attached the final nine-track entity – ‘LZ II‘ representative of their live shows, that were now established as exciting affairs.
Once again there are submissions ‘adapted’ from already-existing compositions – as their detractors would speedily point out – but for sheer bombast and bravado the band sound, even at this relatively early stage, unstoppable.
If the debut effort was them blasting out a more intensive blues-rock barrage than the Beck aggregation, then on ‘Led Zeppelin II‘ they first capture their own true essence. The lyrical content may be limited, but the remarkable ensemble playing coupled to the resounding vocals of Plant, cannot fail in scoring high marks in terms of accomplishment.
Opening cut and defining heavy metal anthem ‘Whole Lotta Love‘ encompasses all the congratulation and contradiction that went into the Led Zeppelin DNA.
In his persona as a riff-machine guitarist, Page fires out a salvo that is instantly attention grabbing. Yet the triumph is not merely his alone, the bass of Jones is rich and textured, Bonham astonishingly crisp and cacophonous at the drums.
Amidst the fretboard fireworks of Page and thunder flashes of the rhythm section is a middle stanza dipped in psychodelia, that at once seems a mid-60s throwback yet highly inventive at the same time.
But if the nuance and structure is work bordering on genius – an edited version of ‘Whole Lotta Love‘ gave Zeppelin their only top ten hit single (primarily as it was one of the few 45s they officially released) – then a songwriting credit for the entire group is somewhat disingenuous.
Reworked from a Willie Dixon song entitled ‘You Need Love‘ made popular by Muddy Waters seven years before and with more than a passing resemblance to a 1966 rendition by the Small Faces (who do credit Dixon as the writer), the lyrics undergo little alteration. In fairness, neither does the vocal delivery between Small Face Steve Marriott and that of Plant.
Which is not to say Plant does not deliver the Zeppelin offering, replete with its overtly sexual allusions, (‘Way, way down inside/I’m gonna give you my love/I’m gonna give you every inch of my love‘), with great gusto. It is, however, worth making comparison to what their compatriots The Who and The Kinks had recently released, the songsmiths of each group writing either rock opera (Pete Townshend/’Tommy‘) or rock oratory (Ray Davies/’Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire‘), Zeppelin in contrast coming up with a form of rock-raunch.
Following legal action brought by the writer of ‘You Need Love‘ in the mid-80s (which Zeppelin settled out of court), Dixon has been given a songwriting credit on information appertaining to the album, in other words ‘Whole Lotta Love‘ is now assigned to Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham & Dixon.
But there is no doubt the next track ‘What Is and What Should Never Be‘ stands as an original work in every sense.
The first Zeppelin song to come purely from the writing axis of Page and Plant, over a striking performance is told a story of illicit romance, the change of pace between one verse and another an effective way of shaping the narrative while also sustaining interest.
The initial inklings of the hippie mysticism that would go on to inform the lyric writing of Plant are evident as the song switches between between finesse and fury. The musicians display admirable restraint while the opening lines (‘And if I say to you tomorrow/Take my hand, child, come with me/It’s to a castle I will take you/Where what’s to be, they say will be‘) are sung with enticing subtilty.
Through the frenetic sections that constitute the chorus, Plant sustains the mystical vibe (‘Catch the wind/ See us spin, sail away/Leave today/Way up high in the sky’ ), as Zeppelin enhance their reputation as a formidable one voice/three instrument proposition.
On ‘The Lemon Song‘, however, (at just over six minutes the longest track on the record), the band create more sour aftertaste in regard to songwriting appropriation. This was caused due to clear similarity with ‘Killing Floor‘, a song cut by bluesman Chester Burnett (aka Howlin’ Wolf) in 1964.
While few would contest the epic majesty of the instrumental breaks, some of the lyrics (‘Squeeze me baby, till the juice runs down my leg‘) are lifted virtually verbatim from Robert Johnson’s 1937 ‘Travelling Riverside Blues‘. Plant can be taken at his word when he said the intention was to make people aware of great blues music, although leaving the name of the formative writer off the credits does seem a convoluted way of doing so.
Hence it would have made unnecessary December 1972 litigation, when the group made an out of court settlement relating to infringement of copyright. They also agreed to Burnett having his name listed on the label along with those with of Page, Plant, Jones & Bonham as creators of the track on future releases.
In contrast side one closer ‘Thank You‘ is authentic Zeppelin, Page and Plant conjuring an affecting folk-prog ballad whose lyrics are an emotive ode to Maureen Plant, wife of the vocalist.
Set to the shimmering mix of 12-string acoustic and electric guitars, the rich melodic structure has Byrds/Buffalo Springfield overtones, Page creating a tasteful framework upon which Plant offers lines of heartfelt simplicity:
‘If the sun refused to shine/I would still be loving you/When mountains crumble to the sea/There will still be you and me.’
As this commendable track unfolds, the organ playing of Jones adds to to the rich melodicism. While Zeppelin, among other accusations levelled at them, had been said to borrow plenty from Beck and Stewart in their ‘Truth‘ and ‘Beck-Ola‘ days, here Rod takes a few bits and bobs back, later incorporating them into ‘Maggie May.’
Side two opener ‘Heartbreaker‘ is straightforward return to aggressive hard-rocking territory. The blustering lyric adds little to the scheming femme-fetale depiction existing in countless rock songs, even at this point. Zeppelin cook up a storm in executing the piece, the unaccompanied solo of Page more expressive than any of the couplets.
Denigrated by the band, to the extent it was never played live through their entire career, ‘Living Loving Maid‘ (She’s Just a Woman’), has little beyond the smart production work of Page to recommend it. Built on the same heavy rock foundations and with a similar lyrical theme to the proceeding track, in being labelled ‘filler‘, more than any other song on the record it reflects the pressure they were under to soon have an album at the ready.
Another piece built on alternate segments of flowing folk and raucous rock, ‘Ramble On‘ finds Plant, through the mellow opening section, offering more mystical ruminations, ‘For now I smell the rain/And with it pain/And it’s headed my way‘.
These become more pronounced with a later verse summoning scenes from ‘The Lord of the Rings‘ series of novels by J.R.R Tolkien, the song raising the notion that life in all forms is a fantastical journey:
‘Mine’s a tale that can’t be told/My freedom I hold dear/How years ago in days of old/When magic filled the air/T’was in the darkest depths of Mordor/I met a girl so fair/But Gollum, and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her.’
Through ‘Ramble On‘ the virtuosity of the instrumentalists manifests in breathtaking cohesion and while it would often prove, as here, a good foil for the mythological preoccupations of Plant, at other times the fusion of Page, Jones and Bonham covered some thin lyrics. As future albums came and went, one thing Zeppelin would not be renowned for is lyricism reflecting the political turbulence or social upheaval of the 1970s.
There are no words of any form in the instrumental ‘Moby Dick‘ this being a showcase mainly for the percussive prowess of Bonham. Written by the trio of musicians in the outfit, Page and Jones offer sterling support in a track that began life under the working title ‘Over the Top‘, Zeppelin, in this case, perhaps revealing a previously undetected sense of irony.
During moments when the spotlight falls on a magnificent drummer, he makes the most of the opportunity and as interludes of this nature go there is little to dislike, although restricting it to four and a half minutes certainly helps. One can only imagine, however, the response from Jagger and Townshend in 1969 if Charlie or Moonie approached them in regard to a no-lyric album track based mainly on their drumming.
To a large degree the album could not close on a more fitting note, ‘Bring It On Home’ both wonderfully cohesive and highly contentious.
The band give a brilliant account of themselves through a track that develops from smoldering folk-blues, featuring exceptional bass and sinewy harmonica from Plant, to high octane dynamism where the lead vocal blazes a trail of rampant glory.
Such is the onslaught when time comes to cut loose, it is unmistakably Zeppelin. Yet despite what the credits say in being a composition of Page and Plant, some years down the line this was deemed, strictly speaking, not the case.
When Chess Records, who owned publishing rights to songs written by the aforementioned Willie Dixon, brought a claim against Led Zeppelin for using ‘Bring It On Home‘ without permission, the matter was resolved by virtue of a cash settlement – and when the track appeared on the 2003 Zeppelin triple live-set ‘How the West Was Won‘ it was credited solely to Dixon.
Back in October 1969 release of ‘Led Zeppelin II‘ set in motion the commercial success/critical disparagement dimensions that would surround the band thereafter. In becoming their first number one album, such was the Stateside popularity it knocked ‘Abbey Road‘ by The Beatles from top spot in remaining there for seven weeks. Across the pond, it went twice topped the pile during a 138-week residency on the U.K. charts.
While in Britain the New Musical Express queried why Page and Plant were reluctant to acknowledge their songwriting influences (‘Hardly a lack of cash‘ – N.M.E words, not mine), it still declared ‘LZ II‘ a ‘seminal album.’ But U.S. commentators were far less accommodating, Rolling Stone declaring it, ‘Spaced out heavy rock that seems as if its one especially heavy song extended over two sides.’
Noted New York rock scribe Robert Christgau was also skeptical, a ‘B’ rating on his renowned A-D rating system a fair enough appraisal, even if the complaint of, ‘All the songs sound the same‘ was not.
Judging by gargantuan global sales of ‘Led Zeppelin II‘ most clearly believed they had conquered the world just 12 months after their inception by fair means – and while a few dissenting voices called ‘foul‘, as 1969 drew to a close the momentum behind them was colossal.
True, without the blues to draw upon Led Zeppelin may have been a different, less successful entity, but with their list of imitators growing longer by the year, ’70s rock would have been vastly different without Led Zeppelin.
LED ZEPPELIN – LED ZEPPELIN II (Released October 22 1969):
Whole Lotta Love/What Is and What Should Never Be/The Lemon Song/Thank You/Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)/Ramble On/Moby Dick/Bring It On Home;
Hello – hope you enjoyed another exclusive production from SAMTIMONIOUS.com
In order to create the best experience for when you drop by to read a page or two, those with the power to ordain such things (me, actually), have decided to remove all external advertising from the site – in other words articles will no longer be subject to intrusive pop-up ads. BUT – and ain’t there always one – should you wish to make a donation toward the on-costs of the most entertaining and original blog-site around, please press on the – ‘DONATE’ – button below. It will be greatly appreciated.
Stay safe everyone and thanks for dropping by – best wishes Neil
SAMTIMONIOUS.com – films, football and fabulous music at The Dominion of Opinion
NEIL SAMBROOK is also the author of MONTY’S DOUBLE – an acclaimed thriller available in paperback and as an Amazon Kindle book: