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As if the title needed explaining, but I'm here to tell you to do it. Why should you trust me? ... I don't know because something something songs...
But I'm going to talk about all the albums without any exaggeration at all in my first post and second posts, then I'm going to post interpretations in my third. So I'll probably ruin this thread in my third. But if you're the tiniest bit curious, bi curious or full on told your parents about all the curious happenings you've followed up on, this thread is for you. Also if you want to learn about Zeppelin, read for that too.


Led Zeppelin

The first thing you're going to notice is that Good Times Bad Times attacks you full force like a pissed off zebra. The bass interludes in the silence, the drumming, the solo, and the lyrics are phenomenal. And you know what, I also have had good times and maybe a couple bad times, so this hits home hard.
Babe I'm Going to Leave you isn't my cup of milk, but it has great instrumentals and yelling. A slower more acoustic sound for sure. You Shook Me is along the same vein. Dazed and Confused has slow downs and terrific riffs. The main one is a booming doom sound, and then the second one got ripped off by Black Sabbath for Paranoid. A very psychedelic blues sound.
Your Time is Gonna Come is a nice gentle **** you. It's the equivalent of kicking someone in the face while telling them softly how you wish you could style your hair the way they have theirs.
Black Mountain Side is a nice acoustic sounding song with some great playing by Page with no singing. It's basically to ease you into the assault you're about to endure.
Communication Breakdown is one of the heaviest songs Zeppelin has in their arsehole. It's just full on the entire song of everything. The screaming especially.
I Can't Quit You Baby is a soothing little dizzy. Has some really nice guitar playing that is basically just a solo the entire song with breaks in between.
How Many More Times is an 8 and a half minute song and is a pretty good way to end an album. Everything musically is on point and it's almost a bouncy feeling for the verses. It's a good way to lose track of time and has a great stop for Bonzo and Plant before it explodes again in the bounciness.

All in all this album has a lot of blues in it.


Led Zeppelin II

The album again starts out huge with a little known song in Whole Lotta Love. Not a lot needs to be said about this, but the theremin solo is a neat touch, also the orgasms from Plant.
What Is and What Should Never Be is a good song, but it explodes at the chorus, and gets hilarious towards the end when it sounds like Plant just starts making up lyrics in the recording sessions.
The Lemon Song has a great riff, but the bass from John Paul Johns is on another level here. Also screaming.
Thank You is a very sappy song, and it sounds like how you'd expect a song with a title like that to sound.
Heartbreaker probably has my favorite riff from Zeppelin in it, and it actually has a true solo in it where the rest of the band stops. It is also the entire reason Eddie Van Halen was blasted out of a vagina and married Valerie Bert...anelli?
Living Loving Maid is a fun song and is funnily offensive. It's the type of offensive that people put their hands on their hips and go "Oh that Plant!"
Ramble On is a great song. It sounds very acoustic and has many layers to it. I highly recommend listening to this with surround sound and a good copy of the song just for the end "Doo Dee Doo Dee..." alone.
Moby Dick is probably the most well known "drum song" known to mankind. Bonzo kills it on this one.
Bring It On Home opens up like a classic blues song with Plant singing slowly and the bass being a beast in the background along with a harmonica. Then almost 2 minutes in it just bursts and opens up with a massive riff. Then goes down to the slow blues again to end the song.

This Album has some of the best riffs on any Zeppelin album. The only song I don't really find memorable is Thank You, though others might.


Led Zeppelin III

Again another large opening to an album with the Immigrant Song, which is highlighted by the galloping riff, and the 2 screams in the opening and 2 in the middle.
Friends sounds very dooming for the title of the song. Especially when the lyrics are about helping friends and the music sounds like the end of the world. Weird song, but it works.
Celebration Day sounds exactly like the title however. A great bassline as well.
Since I've Been Loving You is very bluesy. Also Plant blows up a couple times. Good solo as well.
Out on The Tiles is a musically great song. Page, Bonham, and Jones are all connected perfectly and then Plant throws in some working vocals. Really neat song to hear. If you haven't heard this, I don't know why you still haven't after hearing my recommendation. Grow up.
Gallows Pole is Plant singing about exactly that and bribing the hangman not to do his thingamajig. A very acoustic song and seems simple but it's pretty good. Plant can't help himself with the screaming here too. Hanging has never been so fun before.
Tangerine is another acoustic song with a 12 string and is a very folk rock sounding song. Also very sad.
That's The Way is a beautiful song again with a 12 string. Very gentle song and Plant even manages to resist the urge to start screaming.
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp sounds like 10 acoustic guitars dropkicking you in the front of the knee. Sounds like a real hoedown. A ****ing hootenanny if you will. Also Plant decides to start screaming a bit which is pretty funny considering the instruments.
Hats Off To (Roy) Harper sounds like a combo of Bron-Y-Stomp and Celebration Day with a lot more blues. It's not that bad, but it's a pretty weak way to end the album considering the last two albums. Should have switched the order of the last two songs.

A very Folk Rock sounding album.


Led Zeppelin IV

I won't be going into this one too much since it's the most popular album, or at least the first half is.

Black Dog has great breaks of silence and great playing. A great way to open an album again. Also hugely perverted.
Rock and Roll is a fun song as well.
The Battle of Evermore sounds like a town crier warning the town of a dragon about to spew dragon stuff all over its dragon victims. Very Folk rock sounding, and the only time Zeppelin has had a guest vocalist. Cool how well it works with Plant being the narrator and the Town Crier doing Town Crier things.
Stairway to Heaven. I have a hard time watching the New York live performance of this because it's basically Plant's penis hidden behind thin denim and it keeps popping into frame, not to mention thrusted by his hips into view. If you basically want to see his penis, watch the live performance.
Misty Mountain Hop sounds like its namesake. Whatever the hell that means, this song sounds like it. Also Plant throws in some great screaming lyrics. Great drums as well.
Four Sticks is a great song to show how well Bonzo can lead the band with his drums. He was also literally playing with four sticks. Plant throws in some lyrics as well that don't take away from the instruments.
Going to California is another soft song, yet beautiful as well. A very soothing song. There's something special about Plant screaming about the Gods getting punched in the nose too.
When The Levee Breaks is imo the best album closer ever. It's just huge drums and Page switches it up every verse and adds something new. It's a really dooming song but it's just top stuff.

The second half of this album is pretty much drums, and there's a reason it's so popular, though not my personal favorite.

Houses of The Holy

The Song Remains the Same is a fast opener, though probably the weakest opener so far. Still a great song though.
The Rain Song is just a great song. And it sounds like the type of song that the rain itself should play while it ruins the ground for the entire day. Just a comfy ass song.
Over the Hills and Far Away is pretty much the perfect song. It is a masterpiece, just amazing stuff. My only complaint is that it isn't filled with more verses. What can you say about this song that hasn't been said about Jesus, and like Jesus, it ended too soon.
The Crunge sounds like James Brown. Also Plant is really curious about where that pesky bridge went. It's gone.
Dancing Days has some interesting playing, and is in general a valid way to spend a couple minutes.
D'yer Mak'er is pronounced like Jamaica and the playing is reminiscent of it as well. Very reggae sounding with none of the downsides.
No Quarter is a very interesting song. I imagine if I were heavy into lsd, I'd be nigh overdosing on it. This is the type of song you want to have a bad acid trip on and then everytime you have acid flashbacks this song starts playing in your head. If you plan to listen to this song, I strongly recommend a questionable dosage of LSD. You will not be disappointed.

The Ocean is just a beast of hard rock. Again, my only complaint is that it's too short. The only solution is to put this on repeat at least 10 times. Also like I said with the last song, but this time become addicted to heroin. I imagine this would be a fun time on this. Someone shoot up to this song on repeat and tell me about it please.


Probably the most versatile album IMO. It's also my favorite. Might not be everyone's cup of Twisted Teas, but it's mine.



Physical Graffiti

Custard Pie opens up with a sick riff and sicker bass. Another great opener. Also I really want custard now.
The Rover opens up with pure hard rock, has a sweet chorus, and then rocks out again.
In My Time of Dying is drums. Also has a cool effect with the guitar where it almost sounds like the song skips.
Houses of the Holy is a cool little diddy. Not standoutish, but a good tune nonetheless. Be a lot better if it didn't come right after In My Time of Dying though.
Trampled Under Foot has a great riff. Catchy as all shit.
Kashmir is... I don't know how to explain it but it's just good stuff. It's grown on me a lot over the years, and it's fun as hell to just start screaming along with it, though that's most of LD's songs.
In The Light opens up to psychedelic playing, and then bursts open like a snake that ate a full cow. It's heavy as hell without needing huge speed and sound to be so heavy. And then it changes again. And then again... really just an experience to listen to.
Bron-Yr-Aur is a nice acoustic number by Page. Some beautiful playing that makes you say "That's some beautiful playing"
Down by the Seaside is a nice little song that sounds like its namesake. If I didn't hate walking, I'd like to go on a walk by the seaside listening to this song. Then it turns almost funky a little bit too, and I believe that's when you're supposed to do a full sprint by the seaside while listening.
Ten Years Gone is something that should appeal to me but just doesn't. The instruments are great. The vocals are great. It's catchy in parts. I don't know, maybe you (yes you) like this more than me.
Night Flight is just a plain good song with tons of goods fills from the entire band. Plant breaking down into "A picture of a lady who's a baby" is also pretty special.
The Wanton Song is probably the heaviest song Led Zeppelin has done. It makes Mjolnir look like a wrist weight. And such a heavy topic as **** slaying deserves such a heavy song. Makes me want to plow some whores writing about a song about plowing whores.
Boogie with Stu is basically fun personified in sound. If you don't like this song, then you are a bad person who deserves bad things to happen to them.
Black Country Woman is funny to me because it says "Hey hey Mama" a bunch which is the opening to Black Dog... but it's nowhere near as dirty, and sounds nothing like the sound besides that. Acoustic sounding song as well.
Sick Again is another hard rock song with some really interesting guitar overlapping. Personally I think Kashmir would have been a better way to end the album, but Kashmir lacks the solo I guess of Sick Again. Mild complaint I guess.

A really versatile album, with a lot of heavy songs. A great album.



Presence

The album plays a ballsy move by opening with Achilles Last Stand, which is much better suited to ending the album imo. Especially considering it's 10 minutes. Still though, that doesn't take away from the actual song, since it's pretty great. Especially the galloping bass all through the song.
For Your Life has a pretty sweet riff and a great if hard to hear bass throughout. Pretty cool solo as well.
Royal Orleans is another fun song. Neat riff that works really well with the way Plant sings this song.
Nobody's Fault But Mine. **** yeah this song. The only way to adequately explain this song on this site is to bypass the censors.
Candy Store Rock is an apt description. Though it's pretty hard like candy too. The solo doesn't stand out, but it fits in pretty well with the song. Which isn't a bad thing, but it's interesting to hear it from Page who loves to stand out when he starts soloing.
Hots on For Nowhere has some pretty audible bass going on and it's just fantastic. Also a pretty cool ending.
Tea For One is very similar to Since I've Been Loving You in structure, and even an ever reaching guitar solo throughout the song, though not quite as connected.



This album gets a lot of flak, but all of the songs are good. Maybe not great, and maybe a little similar in some aspects and not as good as could be with a little more effort, but they're all good. The change I would make would be to put Nobody's Fault But Mine as the opener, and Achilles Last Stand as the closer.



In Through The Outdoor

In The Evening is the opener, and it's hard as heck, all heck even. But it sends a false message as to what this album was about, which was heavy heroin abuse for Page, and alcoholism for Bonham. Which changed the tone of the rest of the songs.
South Bound Saurez is a fun number. Not memorable by any means, but it's a decent tune.
Fool In the Rain is a good tune. Pretty soft, but it's also got some great lyrics and great playing. It's also got a nice little breakdown section that reminds me of a soccer field for whatever reason. Cool solo too.
Hot Dog... I used to loathe this song, but recently I just started really loving it. That bass thumping sound Page does is the highlight of the song for me, and the screaming of the chorus are just the bees armpits. Like Plant mentions, it does remind me of Texas. That opener and the solo are great as well.
Carouselambra goes through a couple changes throughout the ten and a half minutes but it's got interesting playing in every section. The first section is a synth by John Paul Jones which completely overshadows Page. Then a slower section, then a cool as hell sounding last section where they all play together.
All My Love is a pretty great song in every respect. A slower song with some nice fill ins by Page after every pause by Plant. It was written about Plant's dead son which explains the lyrics, and features a good synth solo by Jones.
I'm Gonna Crawl is an interesting song to be basically the last song in all of Zeppelin's released albums. It's a very slow song, and kind of depressing to listen to. You gotta be on some hard shit I think to connect to this song. Like your arm got cut off and replaced with a foot. Cool solo though.


A lot of synthesizer in this album. It's a lot different, but I don't mind it. In my opinion I would have changed Hot Dog to the opener and put In The Evening as the closer. Though I'm Gonna Crawl is a good song, so I can see why it's last, but holy shit is it depressing.


Coda

This album is a compilation of the songs that didn't make it onto other cds. So yeah.

We're Gonna Groove is the opener and is a pretty enjoyable song to listen to. Good solo, everything else. Makes you want to you know, groove.
Poor Tom starts off with just drums and Plant, and I think Bonham is singing backing with Plant. Neat little song.
There's an alt version of I Can't Quit You Baby with more soloing.
Walter's Walk has Plant making it sound like he's singing in a huge tunnel. Quiet additions by Page, and huge drums. Then a big solo.
Ozone Baby has the best part being Page and Jones playing in sync. Other than that it's kind of forgettable. Though it's not a bad song by any means. Good solo though
Darlene has Plant singing kind of heavy while the tone of the song is light hearted. Also a lot of repetition of the title in the early parts. Good instrumentals though. Piano ****ing solo by Jones too. Lots of good piano work actually, and as usual, a good solo by Page.
Bonzo's Montreux is Bonzo hammering on the drums with the hammer of the Gods.
Wearing and Tearing opens with a somewhat similar riff to The Wanton Song minus the effect. Not nearly as heavy, but still at least a couple hundred pounds. If this song shopped at Wal Mart, it'd probably still need a scooter.


And I'll add these two that were in the deluxe edition. Most of the deluxe edition was just rough cuts of other songs, so no need there.

Sugar Mama is a cool little song, though you can see why it didn't get on an album due to repetitiveness.
Hey Hey What Can I Do however is an amazing song, and makes no sense why it never made it to a normal album. The lyrics are great, the acoustic sound of it is amazing, and all in all it's the highlight of Coda, even if it's not included in the main album.

Nice comprehensive look at one of the greatest bands of all time, even if the song descriptions are hella weird (April Fool's?). I & III are my personal favourites, Led Zep I has that amazing, raw sound of Page with a Telecaster that I can come back to any time, and III is their best and most interesting mix of styles, imo. Houses of the Holy is probably my third choice, followed by the first half of Physical Graffiti.

Great thread.

In regards to the misspelling of wonton, the word wanton means without proper regard or restraint or something to that effect, I always imagined that's what they were getting at with that.

Originally posted by samhain
In regards to the misspelling of wonton, the word wanton means without proper regard or restraint or something to that effect, I always imagined that's what they were getting at with that.

Silent woman in the night, you came_
Took my seed from my shaking frame_
Same old fire, another flame_
And the wheel rolls on

Definitely not talking about the soup.


Also In The Light, Misty Mountain Hop, Tangerine, Bron-Yr-Aur-Stomp have made it into my favorites since then. Especially the live versions of MMH, and BYAS. If you have a dog, you'll likely quite enjoy Bron-Yr-Aur-Stomp.

Also I realized Hats Off To (Roy) Harper is a tribute, so much of a tribute that it's pretty much a cover. Shake 'Em On Down by Bukka White. Still am not a fan of the song, but it's a neat showcase for the power of Pant's voice and Page's slide ability.
There is another song I heard similar to it a couple years ago but I forget it completely. Maybe I'll remember one day.

I'm a huge Led Zeppelin fan ever since the late '80's. As a teen at the time, I got into the group & had all of their albums on cassette.

My cassette player & cassettes have been long gone for years, and a couple of years ago I decided to get all of their albums on CD on the most recent remasters.

And, the sound quality is amazing re: all of these CD's! This is the first time I've heard them on CD. Incredible. Also, I'm not sure about this - but it seems the 1 CD in the single CD remaster set is identical to the 1st CD in the 2-CD remaster set(s).

- I like how the CD's packaging/artwork tries to replicate the original vinyl albums as much as possible - i.e., having the original artwork, etc. Especially cool are:

- The fold-out showing the "Stairway to Heaven" poster in IV w/the old man holding the lantern.
- The psychedelic kaleidoscope effect on the cover of III re: the little wheel you can turn on the side.
- The several insert(s) that you can take out of the Physical Graffiti album sleeve.
- The fold-out artwork in the Houses of the Holy album.
- The brown paper bag "sleeve" w/In Through the Out Door.

Note that the 1 CD remasters seem to have less extras than the 2-CD sets, but even the 1 CD sets are much more elaborate than the original cassettes - the packaging on those was extremely minimal, due to the small container.

I definitely feel that Presence is probably their most underrated album. Extremely solid rock songs like Achilles Last Stand, For Your Life, Nobody's Fault but mine, Candy Store Rock, Hots on for Nowhere, etc. are all amazing, with some fantastic drum work. Unfortunately, this album has never really gotten a lot (if any) radio play.

Though IV is my favorite album, Physical Graffiti is a close second. Great double album with amazing tracks, including of course Custard Pie, Trampled under foot, Night Flight, Down by the Seaside, Houses of the Holy, In the Light, and the truly sublime Kashmir. It's worth noting that the actual Houses of the Holy song wasn't on the album of the same name, but instead was on PG. IIRC, Led Zep wanted to put the song on the HOTH album, but there were time/space limitations.

Houses of the Holy is an album that has a very memorable & bizarre cover, some fantastic songs, and at least one weak song (The Crunge).

I'm not a huge fan of their last studio album, In through the Out Door. I'm not going to say the album is terrible, just that it didn't sound much like the Led Zep we had been hearing up to that point; it's definitely not a hard rock/blues-oriented album like their previous ones. In fact, it seemed to intentionally sound lot like a lot of other softer rock that was getting more popular by the late '70's.

The most recent 3-CD deluxe version of Led Zeppelin: Coda (2015 remastered) is a decent set. I wasn't too impressed when I first heard this "album" on cassette years ago since it's basically a collection of B-sides, but the additional 2 CD's in this newer set sold it for me - especially the inclusion of Travelling Riverside Blues (which previously was only available one the LZ boxed set from around 1990 (now long OOP) ). I've always wanted to have a physical copy of this song, and never got the now expensive 1990 boxed set.

It's also interesting that, obviously, Led Zep were big fans of the JRR Tolkien Lord of the Rings novel trilogy. There are some obvious & not so obvious references to the novels in their songs.

The LOTR novels experienced a resurgence of popularity during the hippie era of the late '60's - '70's. This was unusual, since the original The Hobbit novel was published in 1937 - and, the LOTR novels came out between 1954-1955. And, the author JRR Tolkien had no connection to the hippies or the '60's/'70's counter-culture; he was a WW I veteran & later author/college professor, and died aged 81 in 1973.

However, for various reasons hippies latched onto these novels.

Great post.

I'm trying to collect all the vinyl right now, both original and one remaster. I bought a remaster In Through the Outdoor for example and they included the brown sleeve. As well as I have that last concert Celebration Day on vinyl. I just need I, III, and Physical Graffiti. Sound quality is great though. I'd like the BBC collection too as it's filled with great songs, that even vary between sets, but they really jacked up the price. You should definitely get it on CD though.


Also speaking of Travelling Riverside Blues (which is a great song, and one that shouldn't have been hidden), it was inspired by Crossroads by Robert Johnson, which is the other song I felt Hats Off to (Roy) Harper borrowed from. Now I'm not so sure but I can see similarities.


Also I forgot Out On The Tiles as another one that became one of my favorites. Just everything in that song is a good time.

I have 3 of thier albums

RECORD: The first album (I also have it on cassette)
RECORD: The second album (I also have the cassette)
RECORD: Zoho (I also have this on 8 track)

Down in a Hole is all about you Bran, because of your little dick, which is by Alice in Chains as you know, and Zeppelin is and was an awesome band. Great thread.

Hey Bran, have you ever listened to Mazzy Star? You should give it a go if not.

I have some LZ stuff

1) Led zeppelin first album - I have the record and 8 track
2) Led zeppelin 2nd albim - I have the record
3) Led zeppelin 4th album - I have the record and 8 track

Some of my favourite songs are

Communication Breakdown
Good Times Bad Times
Stairway to heaven
Whole Lotta Love

I did listen to them in the 70s and Plant in the eighties; I even saw them when they got back together. But they are not a band speaking for now, and I played them to death for me decades ago. So no, Bran old pal, I don't want to listen to them now.

But they are better than the crapola played now would ya not agree??

No Quarter remastered is my favorite Zeppelin song.

I would love hearing NO QUARTER on its original record...

I had it on a concert they did in 1973 (The song remains the same) but the records I had werent released until 1976 and the whole concert sounded like crap!! (Thin and not pleasant)

Originally posted by Dude111
But they are better than the crapola played now would ya not agree?? I don't listen to Crapola. But that's my choice.

I can not imagine being younger than like forty and rating Led Zeppelin as one of your favorite bands tbh.

Originally posted by NemeBro
I can not imagine being younger than like forty and rating Led Zeppelin as one of your favorite bands tbh.

Very true.

Originally posted by Dude111
I would love hearing NO QUARTER on its original record...

I had it on a concert they did in 1973 (The song remains the same) but the records I had werent released until 1976 and the whole concert sounded like crap!! (Thin and not pleasant)

Such a good song. I was far too young to do anything other than fill a diaper at that time in history, but I'd imagine that the concert was awesome.

Lot of words just to say they're one of the greatest bands of all time..