Released: 1969
Tracks: Whole Lotta Love; What Is and What Should Never Be; The Lemon Song; Thank You; Heartbreaker; Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman); Ramble On; Moby Dick; Bring it on Home
Best track: I have absolutely no idea, they’re all great
Track to skip: none
This is huge. I have to say, that listening to Led Zeppelin on headphones is a wonderful and exciting experience. I’ve heard Whole Lotta Love 15 billion times, but it’s currently rocking my ass like it hasn’t been rocked in a long time. Damn. OK, breath.
Awright.
Here’s the easy review: Led Zeppelin II is a great album. I think you do have to compare it to the first album, just like we’ll compare III to this one, IV to III and so on. To me, Led Zep I flows better as an album, but I think the overall attitude is better on this one. I don’t know if the songs are better here, as really all 9 are wonderful things. Honestly you can interchange all the songs from the first two albums around and they’re all great any way you order them. I do think II’s are a bit more intense though. The rockers (Whole Lotta Love, Heartbreaker, the song part of Moby Dick, Bring it on Home) have more energy and drive on this album; and the slower material features better arrangements, orchestration and beauty. Where Led Zep I is more eclectic, II is more focused, more to the point. The only real psychedelic bit on the whole album is the small middle bit in Whole Lotta Love before the guitar solo, and that lasts maybe 60 seconds.
A lot of these songs, specifically Whole Lotta Love & Heartbreaker/Living Loving Maid, are played multiple times on the radio every single day. Honestly, I get sick to death of hearing them. In this environment, their proper one, the songs do really take on a whole new significance. Nothing on the first album rocks as hard as Whole Lotta Love, and Heartbreaker has such a fantastic groove. Regardless of radio play, they are both are great songs. One thing I really love about this album is how they do things that are different. Like on Heartbreaker, you get an unaccompanied guitar solo. These things happen on live albums and maybe full solo tracks, but to completely stop everyone else during the song and have the guitar player wail by himself for a minute or so is actually pretty ground-breaking (regardless of how sloppy Page’s solo is, it’s still really cool and something a lot of us can sing note for note). Then there’s Moby Dick, another great rock song with a drum solo in the middle (opposite thing here, it’s rare to hear a drum solo with accompaniment from the other guys) but the original thing here is that for the first half John Bonham plays with his hands. THAT is cool. OK, yes, drum solos mostly bore me and Bonham’s are no exception, but I like the hands bit. He plays too long, but that’s just nitpicking.
Naturally after the success of the first album, the band was a lot more confident, even cocky, on this one. Plant is singing with more authority and John Paul Jones’s bass lines on this album never cease from blowing my mind. Listen to what he does on The Lemon Song and Ramble On… wow. Jones is a phenomenal bassist (the other guys aren’t too shabby either). Like I said above, Led Zeppelin I is essential. So is Led Zeppelin II. Guess what, so are the next two! I’ll get to those soon enough though. I’m giving this one the same grade as the previous one, but I’m more inclined to like that one more than this one. I like albums to flow, so I is just a smidge better, but II is so full of confidence and enthusiasm that it’s impossible to deny how good it is. Like I said, essential.
Rating: 96
Write a comment