{"id":8297,"date":"2023-02-12T23:23:22","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T23:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=8297"},"modified":"2023-02-13T00:27:03","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T00:27:03","slug":"music-led-zeppelin-ii-1969","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=8297","title":{"rendered":"MUSiC: Led Zeppelin II, 1969"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"525\" height=\"296\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W2bxOJX-E3M?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"160\" height=\"26\" src=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/stars_11_six-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8296\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Wow! What a great album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the riff-mongous original and opener, Whole Lotta Love, to the closing blues cover Bring It On Home, it\u2019s a tour de force of dynamics, group interplay, and just damned fine music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The linked YouTube video, above, is the entire album, and allegedly a remaster (2014?), from the official Led Zeppelin YouTube channel. Listening to it on Bluetooth headphones on an iPhone, I\u2019m not sure I can hear much of a sonic improvement over past iterations. I\u2019d need to do an A\/B comparison, and haven\u2019t done so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it\u2019s always sounded great. Despite it\u2019s having been composed, performed, recorded and mixed in a very fragmentary way. Something engineer\/producer Eddie Kramer attributes to Jimmy Page\u2019s guiding hands (and ears!). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s not one bad track. The weakest is Livin\u2019, Lovin\u2019 Maid (She\u2019s Just A Woman), which the group never performed live, reflecting their opinion of it. It\u2019s the most dated sounding track, both musically and lyrically. But personally I still love it. I\u2019ve read that it was about a groupie!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What struck me the most on listening to this album today was manifold: they don\u2019t make \u2018em like they used to! Like much music of the era, this poops all over modern pop from Olympian heights, most decidedly <em>not<\/em> in terms of hi-fi gloss, but rather in terms of soulful art. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The chemistry or synergy of the group is just incredible. Also, the range, breadth and depth, of dynamics and intensity, is truly astonishing; ranging from the lightest of touches to a heaviness that constantly causes people to cite\/credit them as forbears of metal, often in the same song!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Often, as with Heartbreaker or Ramble On, this range is within the one track! It\u2019s even true if Whole Lotta Love, albeit that everything about that number is dialled up to eleven!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another thing that struck me is the virtuosity. It\u2019s a different kind or order of skill to later prog monsters like ELP, or the stick in trade fluency of many jazzbos, but it really <em>is<\/em> astonishing. Each and every individual in the group has that level of skill on their instrument, from Plant\u2019s incredibly distinctive vocals, via Jimmy\u2019s guitar, to Bonham\u2019s legendary drumming, and never <em>ever <\/em>forgetting the ridiculous multi-instrumentalist abilities of bassist extraordinaire, John Paul Jones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cream wore their much lauded &#8211; and self-trumpeted (mostly by drummer and founder Ginger Baker) &#8211; musical chops rather heavily and way too self-consciously. Led Zeppelin, on the other hand, just ooze class, pegs is in spite of the bombastic mythologising that has surrounded them. They loved to play, and they played brilliantly, making it sound easy and effortless, but they really were each of them absolute mothers! Never was the epithet super-group more apt, in the rock context. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Something else &#8211; something Van Halen were to pick up on later and make even more of a feature of &#8211; and that sometimes goes by unremarked, is that on the first few Zep records, and perhaps this one most of all, the whole group provide backing vocals. To great effect, in my opinion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ginger Baker is a foundational influence for me, but he was a bitter and snarky man, capable of being great artist and musician, and total and utter dick. His views on his own abilities versus Bonham, most especially his allegation that Bonham couldn\u2019t swing, are beyond laughable or even contemptible. They\u2019re so surreally far off the mark as to bring Baker\u2019s perception and\/or mental acuity\/health into question. But that\u2019s another topic. Dave Grohl was much closer to the mark when he said of Bonzo, \u2018he\u2026 coming out of his ass!\u2019 [find quote. Drummer mag!?]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Talking of Bonham, if I were being utterly merciless (not to mention very unhip!) I might say that Moby Dick was next, after Livin\u2019 Lovin\u2019, in terms of weaker cuts. But first off, I\u2019m a drummer myself, and secondly, I love &#8211; no, I <em>adore<\/em> &#8211; both the riff and the guitar breaks, as well as Bonzo\u2019s incredible solo. And, as a jazznik, instrumental skills and solos are not anathema to me, as I hear they are for some peculiar folk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Talking of jazz, I believe I\u2019ve read somewhere that it was seeing or hearing Joe Morello, Dave Brubeck\u2019s stellar drummer, drum with his bare hands, that inspired Bonham to do likewise. Morello is, like Bonham, one of the great drummers of all time. And soloing on drum kit with your bare hands? It\u2019s <em>not <\/em>for the faint-hearted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a rather bonkers footnote, here\u2019s the CCS (or TOTP Orchestra!?) version of Whole Lotta Love:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"525\" height=\"296\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/c9GS3SofhdU?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With flute instead of lead vocal, and lots of horns (inc. a bit mimicking the famous guitar break), this is a surreal take on Zep\u2019s most famous and indeed signature riff-based Leviathan. Mush all this oddity has some nostalgic vintage charm, as it was used as the TOTP them music for about a decade. But compared to the Zep original? It\u2019s like popcorn or tinsel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But one reason I include it in this post is because of the Alexis Korner connection. I\u2019ll leave it at that for now, however, as it\u2019s late, and sleep hygiene demands that I turn in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"525\" height=\"296\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Bohw7todNCI?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Footnote to the footnote: Korner and Plant were recording together, until Jimmy Page, himself a former Korner acolyte, pinched Plant for his \u2018New Yardbirds\u2019. This is one of two recordings from that unfinished project. Plant\u2019s voice is fab. The rest of the track less so! It helps emphasise how great musicians sound so much better with other great musicians. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wow! What a great album. From the riff-mongous original and opener, Whole Lotta Love, to the closing blues cover Bring It On Home, it\u2019s a tour de force of dynamics, group interplay, and just damned fine music. The linked YouTube video, above, is the entire album, and allegedly a remaster (2014?), from the official Led &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=8297\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;MUSiC: Led Zeppelin II, 1969&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-29P","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8297"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8297"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8300,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8297\/revisions\/8300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}