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Post by ck100 on Oct 23, 2024 0:11:51 GMT
The classic follow-up album to the popular debut from Led Zeppelin. Known for songs like "Whole Lotta Love", "Ramble On", "Thank You", "Heartbreaker", "Moby Dick" and "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)". |
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Post by petrolino on Oct 25, 2024 22:50:09 GMT
This is one rock 'n' roll album that's not left my all-time top 10 U K albums list since I first heard it, so I suspect, nor will it ever. Within the space of a single psychedelic year, Led Zeppelin stepped away from the deep blues - hard rock fusion of their debut to craft a set of songs that take the listener on a journey. Blues is still the bedrock but this second album's going places. The opener 'Whole Lotta Love' has survived various studio tinkerings and messy stage jams over the years. I feel it brings the headiness of 'Dazed And Confused' back to the party. Their live performances from 1969 that I've seen captured on video feel raw, messy and organic, sloppy at times, so they feel different to their studio work. By 1972 - 1973, headlining venues like Madison Square Garden, they'd become a more polished stage outfit. They drift in to the rural slumber dream that is 'What Is And What Should Never Be', which is an exercise in jazz tone and dynamics, featuring plenty of shifts. There's so much emotion being played out here, my guess is that the band might have gone either way, either by launching in to an all-out rocker (yet to come), or by further amplifying their emotions. 'The Lemon Song' is a slithering companion piece to 'What Is And What Should Never Be' that allows bassist John Paul Jones to take the reigns; this entire album is a bass masterclass, yet even that sells Jones' work short ... his bass is (relatively) lithe, serpentine, elaborate, ornamental, curious, powerful and complex, and all of this pulses through 'The Lemon Song' - it's here that the juice runs down Robert Plant's leg, but he'd do clean-up for their next album via the majestic folk ballad 'Tangerine'.
Led Zeppelin performing 'The Lemon Song' in 1969 ...
Then they bring it on down with the folk fantasy 'Thank You', which along with 'Ramble On', seems to point towards the direction the band will be taking for the folk-infused trip that is 'Led Zeppelin III' (1970). This is one of their most harmonious compositions, with Plant reaching all the right notes. ... first time hearing 'What Is And What Should Never Be' ... | ... first time hearing 'Thank You' ...
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Perhaps the trick to matching the 4 tracks on side 1 is striking balance, and it's balance they strike again with side 2. 'Heartbreaker' and 'Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)' go hand in hand for me, with that infinitesimal break. These are two peas in a pod, where two becomes one, with Jimmy Page's scorching guitar set on fire.
'Heartbreaker' and 'Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)' - Ann Marie Nacchio & The Band Geeks
Is there a more beautiful song within the British rock pantheon than 'Ramble On'? I became obsessed with the final stages of the song when I used to carry the cassette around in my walkman. My mind was blown by the way the bass was thrown from side to side in my earphones - essence of psychedelia. 'Ramble On' - Elle & Toni with Shane Akers
What with the bass workout on 'The Lemon Song', it was surely a case of "let the drummer ave some", so rhythm partner John Bonham obliged with the gargantuan percussion piece 'Moby Dick'. It becomes the perfect set-up for the electric blues jam that ends the album ... 'Bring It On Home' ...
... Led Zeppelin perform 'Bring It On Home' in 1970 ...
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