There are few bands that made as huge of an impact on rock as Led Zeppelin. They were, in my opinion, the biggest thing since electricity to hit the genre. Earlier musicians like Little Richard, Elvis, The Beatles, The Stones and The Who certainly helped shape rock, but Zeppelin really took it to a whole new level of mind-blowingly heavy music that could barely even be contained by arenas or stadiums. Most people my age probably got their first real taste of them from random radio encounters or the occasional VH1 Classic special. Others grew up hearing their parents play Zeppelin albums in the car or around the house. My experience had no such nostalgia linked to it since my childhood did not include cable television and my father was absolutely not a Led Zeppelin fan. Around 2003 I had the pleasure of living under two of my best friends in an apartment in downtown Shreveport. Luckily for me, one of them was obsessed with Zeppelin and owned all of their albums on CD. He nearly vomited when I told him that I had never really listened to them. He immediately took me down to his car, thumbed through his bulky CD binder, picked out all nine of their albums (including Coda), and shoved them all into my open arms. "Euphoric sensory overload" might be the term that could best describe the overwhelming joy that the next few months held. From that moment on, I've been jumping from album to album finding new favorites that rotate in and out of my "top" lists continuously. I really had no idea how hard it would be to create a list of favorite Zeppelin albums in order when I started writing this, but I think I've finally narrowed it down (at least for the moment). It goes a little something like this:
9. Let's start with my least favorite of the Led Zeppelin albums - Presence. Up until very recently I wouldn't even look at this one, much less ever listen to it. It had always sounded strained, thrown together and had, honestly, just bored the hell out of me during each listen. To defend them, though, Plant was confined to a wheelchair during the whole recording process following a serious car accident. Finally, after having been shelved for a couple of years, I decided to pull Presence back out since I had thoroughly exhausted all of their other albums including the live ones. I still utterly hated "Achilles Last Stand," but was surprised by how much I enjoyed a few of the other songs on the album. "For Your Life," "Candy Store Rock," and especially "Hots On For Nowhere" actually grabbed and held my attention; the result was a huge sense of completeness as far as my Zeppelin love and knowledge.Listen to "Hots On For Nowhere" here:
8. Led Zeppelin III is one that, I'm sure, is close to the bottom of everyone's list. It's a beautiful album, but when I hear "Zeppelin" my first thought is definitely not "yeah, acoustic folk songs!!!" It's an extremely mature album and has the blinding evidence of the six months hard work that was pumped into it - it's just not what I want in a Led Zeppelin album. I do, however, love it for the sheer fact that it probably kept them from completely self-destructing and burning out. These months of rest and seclusion at the 18th century Bron-Yr-Aur cottage in Wales was a perfect place for the band to cool down from two intense albums and a dauntingly long and rigorous touring schedule.Listen to "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" here:
7. No offense Houses of the Holy, but you're way back here on this list. I'm sure that most people will disagree, but Houses is just one of my least favorite of their albums. I mean, it's a great piece of work and I do love a couple of songs off of it, but it just doesn't get the job done for me like the rest of them. "The Rain Song" is an absolute masterpiece and the hits "Over the Hills and Far Away" and "D'yer Mak'er" are incredible - just not my favorites. "Dancing Days" and "The Ocean" are two songs that really earned my love after hearing them on the triple live album How The West Was Won (un-be-lieve-a-ble!!!).Listen to "The Ocean" here:
6. It's not Coda's fault that it's not a real album and I love love love a few songs from it, but it's also kind of low on this list. "We're Gonna Groove" and "I Can't Quit You Baby" are so rockin' and I'm sure it floored all those people who never got to experience them live. Thank God all of that Led Zeppelin concert footage was salvaged and released to blow people's faces off via double DVD in 2003. "Poor Tom" and "Wearing and Tearing" are both foot-stomping gifts given to us by this release of epic B-sides, while "Bonzo's Montreux" reminds us that we are, in fact, dealing with the greatest drummer ever. The bonus tracks included on the CD release are all treats including the soulful "Baby Come On Home," the super catchy "Traveling Riverside Blues," and the classic "Hey Hey What Can I Do."Listen to "Wearing and Tearing" here:
5. Next up is In Through The Out Door. This and the other four albums that have yet to be mentioned are all extremely close to one another as far as my love is concerned. This final album has been described by Jimmy Page as a transition album towards an evolution of the band's sound. It gives me goosebumps thinking about what the next album might have sounded like. Robert Plant and John Paul Jones contributed much more heavily to this album than Page and Bonham due to their "extra curricular activities." Despite their absence, the album is pretty straight forward Zeppelin-style rock music. "Wearing and Tearing," the raw and driving song I mentioned from Coda, was actually recorded during these sessions. This album really flew under my radar for a long time. Songs like "Hot Dog" and "South Bound Saurez" rocked my freakin' socks right off of my feet when I finally heard them, and who on earth can resist that juicy island-percussion romp on "Fool In The Rain!?" The fact that this album originally came in a brown paper bag to conceal the identity of which of the six sleeve covers you were buying is enough to make it this high on my list!!Listen to "South Bound Saurez" here:
4. I honestly feel incredibly guilty
putting Led Zeppelin I this far away from the top, but #4 is where it has to live on my list for now. I am so in love with this album; I mean, it's where it all started! Can you even imagine what those kids in 1969 must've thought when they had their faces melted for the first time?? I'm such a freak for blues rock and this just could not be a juicier morsel of that flavor. You know that overwhelming feeling you get when a song is so good it's almost too much to handle? "How Many More Times" is the one that made my knees buckle, eyes water, and jaw drop for the first time - and every time I've listened to it since. "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You Baby" are also two songs that just, somehow, get even better each time I listen to them. Plus "Communication Breakdown" and "Dazed and Confused" were born from this album, too!Listen to "How Many More Times" here:
3. Ok, so here's where things get messy - Led Zeppelin IV is neither my first nor second favorite of their albums. It's a monster of an album and the songs that I do love from it could not be more huge, but it's still only #3 for me. "Rock and Roll" is the biggest song ever made in my opinion - I mean, holy crap. When I hear those symbols being abused like that in the opening seconds my blood starts blasting through my veins and I just find it impossible to not get 5-year-old-in-a-toy-store-with-a-hundred-dollars excited. There's also no other song in their whole catalogue that that man's voice sounds more golden - I dare you to even suggest such a thing. A very close second to that feeling is conjured up by the ridiculously awesome "Misty Mountain Hop." The opener "Black Dog" is so funky and so fun to blast and the closer "When the Levee Breaks" just could not be heavier - oh my God, those drums!!! This being a mostly positive review, I'm not going to say much else about the other songs on this glorious album. Although, I will say that "Going To California" is probably my favorite of their acoustic songs.Listen to "Rock and Roll" here:
2. I have absolutely no shame in saying that I love Physical Graffiti more than IV. Physical Graffiti is just a mammoth of a double album that's all over the place, it's their White Album. Such a huge selection of my favorite Zeppelin songs come from this album including "In My Time Of Dying," "Houses Of The Holy," "Down By The Seaside," "The Wanton Song," "Boogie With Stu," and "Black Country Woman." "Custard Pie," "The Rover," and "Trampled Under Foot" are among my favorites of the lesser gems sprinkled throughout this album's four sides. "Kashmir" is an epic song that has, through no fault of its own, suffered from over exposure and something I like to call "P-Diddying." I just can't say enough good things about this album; if you've never given it a chance, you need to get right and get it.Listen to "Boogie With Stu" here:
1. Well, here it is at the top of my list. Led Zeppelin II is, and always has been, my absolute no-questions-asked favorite of all their albums. There just could not, in my opinion, be a greater Zeppelin album; it's the absolute definition of Led Zeppelin. The first album was an incredible experiment in blues rock, but the Led Zeppelin that we now know was truly given birth through Led Zeppelin II. There's really little else to say about it - just look at the track listing!! "The Lemon Song" was the first song of theirs to make me feel warm and funny inside and it still gets my teeth'a grindin' every time I punish my speakers with it. Oh my God, and what about all the other tracks!?!? "Whole Lotta Love," "What Is And What Should Never Be," "Heartbreaker," "Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)," "Moby Dick," and my all-time favorite Zeppelin song "Bring It On Home." Get outta my face with Led Zeppelin IV!!!!!! Uggggghhhhh!!!!! *Phew, I'm sorry - I just get so carried away.Listen to "The Lemon Song" here:
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