A monumental watershed album of incredible virtuosity

This debut album was a harbinger of an entirely new type of music that mixed blues, rock, folk, acid, and the incredible talent of four fabulously talented musicians into a new style that was often mislabled as "metal". Oh, they WERE "metal", but they were so much more as well. I viewed them as acid, rock, and blues, as well as metal. Everone talks about Page and Plant, and it is very true how talented they were. But LZ would not have made the mark they did without Bonham and Jones being able to produce top-flight music as well. My particular favorite is the traditional folk ballad "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You". I had a band (two, actually) that played this song, and even with very talented lead guitarists (I was rythym guitar, bass, and keyboard, as well as lead vocal), we couldn't even begin to do justice to it the way LZ did it. The fact that LZ could take such a wide variety of music and embed the stamp of their genius on such different styles is an indication of their greatness. And they matched the songs they played that were written by others with equally great stuff of their own. Just on this album, "Dazed and Confused" will leave you dazed and confused...



Although I don't know if I totally agree with the reviewer who called this the greatest debut of all time, I would find it hard to totally disagree, either. If you don't have this ablum, you MUST get it. You won't be disappointed.

Led Zeppelin Review

Led Zeppelin I is easily the band's most blues influenced albums and also my second favorite. Despite its greatness, it seems as though the band lacked control and therefore it is not as polished.



Led Zeppelin I starts off with a tune call Good Times Bad Times. I would have to compare to a Beatles song with the opening drum part of a Grand Funk Railroad Song. It's pretty good, but it's more pop influenced than most Led Zeppelin songs. Then track two come up as a very ballad-like song that's been slightly polished by the Blues to make one the best songs on the c.d. called Babe Im Gonna Leave You. The Riff is amazingly catchy and is similiar to 25 or 6 to 4 (Chicago), Brainstew (Greenday), and Killing Yourself to Live (Black Sabbath). Before you know it the song is over and a what could be considered the most bluesyiest (i know, this probably isnt a word) song on the c.d., starts playing. You Shook Me is deffianately for the Led Zeppelin fans that are all about Led Zeppelin's songs that are some of the more bluesyiest (again, i know... i know...).



Then comes the next song that is probably the most famous on the c.d. and again, is very blues influenced. Dazed and Confused has an extremely addictive bass guitar part and is famous for Jimmy Page's guitar solo with a violin bow. The next song is called Your Time is Gonna Come, which starts of with a long synthesizer part at the beginning and the switchs to a tune that is heavily influenced by the rock of the 60's. The end of the song fades into Black Mountain Side, a intrumental that features Jimmy Page and John Bonham. It ends quickly and then switches to their song on the album that got the most radio air time.



Communication Breakdown is one of the most rocking songs on the c.d. and is, like Your Time is Gonna Come and Good Times Bad Times, influenced by the popular rock music of the 60's. The next to last song is I Cant Quit You Baby which is similiar to You Shook Me, and has a amazing ending. The last song is How Many More Times, which is sometimes compared to Dazed and Confused. It also has an extremely addicting bass guitar part and is the epic daddy on the Album. Though it is quite long, it sometimes feels like is loses its greatness near the middle and therefore never received as much popularity as some of the others on this great debuet album... Buy it if you like Blues!

An Objective Analysis

Of the 9 songs on Led Zep 1 ... 2 are covers 4 are actually

OTHER PEOPLES MUSIC - songs that other people wrote that the Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones team took credit for

1 Good Times Bad Times - an original .. and a good one

2 Babe Im Gonna Leave You - an old Annie Briggs song , the Zep version is based on the Joan Baez vesion from 1960 - great song -it just isnt theirs

3 You Shook Me - written by Willie Dixon - a cover - based on the Jeff Beck version done 1/2 year earlier from the Truth lp

4 Dazed and Confused - a song written and performed by Jake Holmes , now available for your listening pleasure right here on amazon - its called plagiarism - period

5 Your Time Is Gonna Come - an origanal .. and a good one

6 Black Moutain Side - A song written by Bert Jansch which he called Black Waterside , of which Page convieniently changed the title - also available on amazon - this also is called plagurism .. period

7 Communication Breakdown - an original - contrary to some peoples assertion that this is a ripp of Eddie Cochranes Nervous Breakdown - the two songs have nothing in common

8 I Cant Quit You - Written by Willie Dixon - a cover - nothing wrong with that - its just not their song

9 How Many More Times - A song written by Howlin Wolf called How Many More Years . Incorperated in the song is a song called The Hunter performed by Albert King and written by Cropper / Dunn / Wells . The guitar riff , by the way is a ripp of Savoy Browns Stay With Me Baby from the Getting To The Point lp .

The best that can be said about Led Zeppelin is that they are the worlds greatest cover band .. the worst is that they are a band of plaguriarists . This is a very fair analysis of Zeps first album . If you're a music fan or a Zep fan check out the originals - You'll be amazed - I promise