Review:

on 2013-04-28 CharlesMartel Said:

Led Zeppelin's second album of 1969 was a move away from the pure blues of their first album. It was always going to be thus. Rather than continue with the blues, they chose to develop the line of music first hinted at with "Communication Breakdown" on their debut. As the decade drew to a close, blues was morphing into what we would now call rock or hard rock, and Led Zeppelin were positioning themselves to lead that charge from the British side of things.

They still, however, included some heavy blues influenced numbers, such as the "Bring It on Home" and "Lemon Song" which contained lines from Robert Johnson's "Travelling Riverside Blues" as well as Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor". Much criticism has been levied at the way they credited this to their own songwriting, but the use of Trad. Arr. was a credit in reality to the originals - just that without copyright by them, this was the only way they could assign credit to songs which had never been copyrighted. It was a tradition which had continued right the way through the development of gospel into blues as what may be called common melodies and lyrics were adapted by different performers and played by them as original versions.

It was this album which broke Led Zeppelin through the barrier into a wider audience and set them on the path to the megastardom they achieved during the seventies. It provided the band with a platform which helped them take the USA by storm. Of course it helped that Jimmy Page was an excellent guitarist, John Bonham a powerful drummer and Robert Plant had the looks and the pose which could get the girls swooning, and had a voice to go with it.

"Heartbreaker" and "Whole Lotta Love" are the most remembered tracks, and the driving riff of the latter is still instantly recognisable today by millions who have never heard of Led Zeppelin - it is the theme tune to the UK pop programme "Top Of The Pops". Ironically, for years, the BBC never credited Led Zeppelin with it, what goes around comes around, eh? However, it is not all positive. I always found "Livin' Lovin' Maid (She's Just a Woman)" to be one of the band's weaker efforts, and while I can understand Bonham wanting to showcase his talents, "Moby Dick" is just another drum solo and drum solos are inherently dull.

Of course, the band also continued with a variety of styles. There were slower, more acoustic numbers, such as "What Is and What Should Never Be" and "Ramble On", the latter incorporating references to Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings", which later led to absurd accusations in some quarters that Led Zeppelin had gone all prog on everyone. However, perhaps the most interesting track though is "Thank You". A pure love song, this again shows Plant's incredible ability and maturity as a songwriter, despite his youth - he was barely 20. Some of the sentiments expressed in this track are timeless, and the restrain with which the rest of the band executed the song presaged the third album in many ways.

In short, this was an album Led Zeppelin had to make. It was a logical choice after their first and set the tone for the third. It may have been put together in a hurry before a US tour, but it allowed the band to display their talents in a range of styles, something which would enable them to move on to even greater heights within two years of completing this.
Rating: 8/10