Led Zeppelin III
(Atlantic 1970)

1. Immigrant Song
2. Friends
3. Celebration Day
4. Since I've Been Loving You
5. Out on the Tiles
6. Gallows Pole
7. Tangerine
8. That's the Way
9. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
10. Hats Off to (Roy) Harper

---

So, what do you want me to say about this album? That it's the first unplugged metal album, heralding the way for Nirvana some 20 years before the word 'unplugged' even was invented and that it let the beer-drinking crowd down in its lack of electric onslaught at the time of release? Blah blah blah, you know the drill; the Zepsters took off to the countryside and wrote an album's worth of acoustic folk ditties in order to express their artistic independence and came out with something that over time has been regarded as quite a controversial move. Well, as is the case with tenacious rock myths, that's only partly true; first of all, it wasn't very controversial at all, because they had always had that folk heritage in them, as present on songs like "Black mountain side", "Babe, I'm gonna leave you" and "Ramble on" so it was only natural to expand on that formula. Besides, this album has its share of crunching heavy rock as well, some of it among the heaviest they ever did, so screw the generalizations!

When I think of it, "III" actually contains what I consider to be their highest percentage of good songs yet, interspersed with only a handful of relative letdowns, and the acoustic approach manages to bring forth some of the prettiest melodies ever to have passed through any mixer table under Page's supervision. "That's the way" and "Tangerine", the two mellow ballads, are simply gorgeous and especially the former manages to conjure up images of laid back summer evenings in a setting of lush foilage. That resort to the Bron-Y-Aur cottage wasn't such a bad idea, after all. The song it gave name to, "Bron-Y-Aur stomp", is just a lot of fun, once again perfectly matching the cheerful lyrics about such earthbound subjects as countryside walks. The arrangement of "Gallows pole" is in the same vein, featuring celtic overtones and some rednecky banjos toward the end, and then there's the mantraic "Friends" with drones of violins drawing upon arabic influences, making it sound very plaintive. All of these tracks set a certain 'foresty' mood which I can't help but digging, especially on a summer's day when rain hangs in the air, and as far as acoustic folk shuffles go, they would never surpass this batch of songs ever again. Oh, and to get it over with, "Hats off to (Roy) Harper" is just a piece of tuneless, ear-piercing crap and I don't care if it's supposed to sound like 'authentic delta blues'; this ain't no Mississippi delta in the 1920's, it's countryside Britain 1970 damnit! But it's tacked right onto the end, so it doesn't really spoil the picture.

But even with all this, there's still the metallic side left, and it doesn't disappoint. "Immigrant song" slaps you right in the face with chasmic wailings from Plant over an instantly recognizable rythmic octave riff, fully compatible with the norse imagery it displays during its mere two minutes. The somewhat similar "Celebration day" and "Out on the tiles" work just fine as album tracks, both sporting surprisingly uplifting choruses, but the real treat comes with their finest take on the classic blues ever; "Since I've been loving you". That one is simply breathtaking on every count, and they obviously took good care of the chord structure as well as the stunning build-up of tension throughout. The guitar solos are top-notch, Plant is fully adequate in his roaring and the organ adds that final touch that makes it one of their absolute masterpieces. This is heavy blues-rock taken to its absolute height, I tell ya!

Now that I've seen it written before me, I can honestly say that apart from that Roy Harper disgrace, this album contains no low point at all even if the overall atmosphere is quite laid-back (despite outbursts like "Immigration song" and "Since I've been loving you") and most of the tracks ranging from mediocre to just good. But like I already mentioned, it's the overall mood that really captures me this time, and that reminds me what really attracted me about Led Zep once upon a time, and still attracts me for that matter: The songwriting may be so-so, but as mood setters they simply can't be beat.