The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands
Introduction
What is there left to say about the band that invented the 70's and ruined the 80's, 90's and 00's, that still is to be said? Well, apart from the fact that they were and still is a main pillar in my own perception of music in general and heavy metal in particular. Now, the term 'heavy metal' is as ambivalent as it's ridiculous, what with all the debate of wether or not metal was invented by The Kinks or Cream or Metallica or Cannibal Corpse, so let's just state the objective fact: Led Zeppelin pioneered heavy rock from the very beginning, but let's not forget that they were always above this their most infamous objective, never afraid of plunging into folk, prog and even synth-pop on occasion. They were also something of a 'supergroup', with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones already being seasoned musicians in their own right at the time of the commence of the starship. This, along with the extraordinary capabilities of Robert Plant and John Bonham, also meant that they were highly professional, not at all afraid of showing off on stage in lengthy improvisations, even if the ultimate yield may have been quite hit-and-miss in terms of listenability. And they did indeed embody the 70's as well as the image of the quintessential rock band (alongside The Who and Rolling Stones), which has since gone into legend, not least through films like "This is Spinal Tap" and "Almost famous".
Nothing of this matters of course, at least not when it comes to the actual music which is an issue all by itself. Metal or not, their output is mainly suspended in the guitarworks of Pagey, inventing one classy riff after another, albeit not all of them heavy; there are a lot of equally classy acoustic works to be found in their catalogue which tip their hats to the folk tradition he was deeply into throughout their career. But let's not forget the immortal vocal gymnastics of Percy, crowning the songs with his almost superhuman wailings, and the mighty poundings of Bonzo, relentlessly driving the behemoth forward with an untiring force unsurpassed in modern drumming history. Now, not to go overboard with the praisings (that all the same where firmly embedded in my conciousness from the very beginning of my fandom), they all had their limitations in all of their show-off...ness (is that a word?).
Pagey, good as he is, was a very limited songwriter, often rehashing old blues standards with less-than-satisfactory results that just don't work out that well on the albums. And sometimes he is just goddamn sloppy, cranking out the riffs at lightning-speed seemingly without a care in the world for the ensuing results, something his heroin-addiction may or may not have been a part in during the latter half of the 70's. Percy, good as he is, sometimes just goes overboard in his yearning for pussy, on occasion sounding like he's having a wank right in front of the mike and in the process totally loses trace of the main melody. On stage it works better though, because there you're supposed to throw a fit of an orgasm. And Bonzo, good as he was, just isn't that inventive on his drums, often resorting to his renowned hyperspeed triplets during his showcase "Moby Dick" (and I do think that the outtake "Bonzo's Montreaux" is a whole lot more entertaining as a percussion piece), and even when he restricts himself to straightforward beats, he often end up quite single-minded in his brontosauric approach, yielding some rather unfitting results on softer tracks which could have called for more subtelty. He had the drive for sure, but not the subtle swing, as opposed to fellow drummers Ian Paice or Mitch Mitchell for instance.
And Jonesy then, good as he is. There's a reason why I didn't mention his capabilities earlier, and that's simply because over time he has turned out to be my favourite of the four, not least since he didn't display that desperate need to show off all the time. He's just the most sensible and talented member, not only due to his bass guitar works which may not be that outstanding but on the other hand always appropriate. He's also responsible for all the keyboard works on their albums, in the studio as well as on stage, often pulling a Ray Manzarek and abandons the bass in favour of a Hammond organ, a Rhodes or a Mellotron, and thus ends up bringing quite a prog-ish flavour to some of their grandest songs like "No quarter", "The rain song" and "Kashmir". In addition to all that, he is no slouch on mandolin when needed and to top it all off he is responsible for many an arrangement on the albums, something for which he was often revered even before Zeppelin.
So, there you have it. One of the greatest and most overrated bands known to man, with all their flaws and benefits on full display from the word go. I do find it hard to pinpoint their peak, in contrast to most people who seem to go for their untitled fourth album at gunpoint, but I can't help but feel that they never really nailed a complete masterpiece like, say, "Deep Purple in rock"; there are just too many throwaway tracks on each and everyone of them. On the other hand, I do believe that they maintained a relatively high level of quality all the way through the out door, so to speak, and I may be alone to think that their last studio album contains just as much good music as their second album, for instance. And, apart from Beatles, I seriously cannot think of any other major band that never released a truly bad album throughout their career.
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