I bought the first Led Zeppelin I think very close to the day of its original release. My educated guess, because I have no memory of the details, I must have heard "Good Times Bad Times"
on the FM radio, and that's a type of record I have always liked. Over time I learned to hate Led Zeppelin. The funny thing is I 'm a huge fan of Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones' studio work of the 1960s. I love what Jones did with Immediate recordings, as well as Herman's Hermits. And Page's work on Dave Berry's "The Crying Game" (if that is him?) is superb. He also played guitar on John Barry's "Goldfinger." How great is that? And to this day, I think his best work is when he was an overly busy studio musician. Still, there is something about Led Zeppelin that I can't fully dismiss.
There are a lot of practical reasons for disliking Led Zeppelin. Their horrible behavior toward groupies and people who work in the theaters, as well as them ripping off songwriters left and right - including the great song "Dazed and Confused," which is an amazing record. Jake Holmes wrote it, and when you hear the original compared to the Zep's version, it's outrageous that Page took songwriting credit on that song. The truth is, Led Zeppelin is more in the lines of The Cramps, with respect how they re-arrange other material to suit their aesthetic. And Jimmy Page is a brilliant arranger. I also suspect Jones did a lot of the arranging as well, but it seems he's pushed aside with respect to crediting his arrangement work. Nevertheless, that's Led Zeppelin in a nutshell, and one shouldn't dwell on the negativity of the situation.
What I do like about this album is that Page and company arranged these songs in a very textural and sonically powerful presence, especially when one puts up the volume. Led Zeppelin is not about originality, but the way they present their (or whoever wrote the damn) songs in a manner that is magical. The band is basically a trio, plus singer, but the big sound is the drumming of John Bonham who is a great drummer, and the layers of Page's guitars. It's a joy to closely listen to his multiple layering of guitar sounds. Page is technically a fantastic guitar player, but his genius is that he can think and play his instrument as if it was the lead player in a Wagner or operatic piece. There are the riffs, but his playing is very subtle as well as being over-the-top. He knows how to balance the two and make it spectacular for that song, or album.
Robert Plant has a voice. A really good voice, but I don't think he's a great singer. He knows how to bend the notes, and play his voice as a fellow instrument with Page's guitar, but his delivery is always flat to me. I think now, he is a much better singer as he got older, but as a teenager, a powerful voice but with no taste. Led Zeppelin is very much a teenager's aesthetic. Re-listening to this album after 39 years doesn't take me back to my youth, but now, I can appreciate the way the puzzle was put together, and Jimmy Page and band were very good in making this album as a statement at the time. I like it when "You Shook Me"goes right into "Dazed and Confused" and the same goes of the blending of "You're Time is Gonna Come" into the instrumental "Black Mountain Side, " which he originally recorded for The Yardbirds. To me, Led Zeppelin is not a great album, but a work that is very much suited to its original era. Skillful music that is tasteful, yet never went far enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment