Sounds Caress My Ears

Recently, I've been replacing a few of my old Led Zeppelin LPs with CDs. In fact, I did this to a point years ago. In the early 90s they released the "Remasters" double CD which, for a few years, acted as a sort of Best Of compilation and it did help replace quite a few tracks - particularly from their early albums where my vinyl had seen better days. This worked, to a point, but I found that there were a significant number of tracks that I really likes that were missed: How Many More Times from Led Zeppelin I, Bring it on Home from II, When the Levee Breaks from IV and The Ocean from Houses of the Holy. Then there were huge swaths such as the whole second side of III and nothing at all from sides one, three and four of Physical Graffiti. What was on Remasters, however, was a revelation. Remastering is often a cheap trick by established rock groups to make their fans buy their back catalogue... again. However the Led Zeppelin remasters fixed many of the original production errors - for example, listen to the original vinyl of No Quarter and there is a shocking error where a cymbal appears from nowhere: on Remasters this was resolved. Nevertheless, for a band that I liked in bucket loads, I felt that I would really appreciate the original albums in digital form - as CDs have come down in price this has become more affordable.

I originally became interested in Led Zeppelin when I was learning the guitar in my teens. With a combination of guitar tabs from magazines and closely listening to the original albums I manage to replicate the guitar parts quite well. Some of the songs have almost become a right of passage for budding guitarists and this is not without good reason. Stairway To Heaven may be stereotypical for the aspiring axe-man but it does teach lots of very useful techniques in terms of picking, strumming, fretwork and so on. In fact I get rather bored when I hear it now - which is probably my own fault. It is quite well known that the opening descending base line was inspired by the Spirit song Taurus but the chords are not exactly the same. Unfortunately, the guitar magazine I was using had published the chords from Taurus and it took me ages to work out the real thing (one of my friends showed them to me - well, it’s easy when you know how). Needless to say, I was very much a Jimmy Page fan and I enjoyed much of his solo work - including the much derided collaborations with Paul Rogers and David Coverdale. However, on listening to the original albums on CD it has really brought it home to me what an astonishing presence Robert Plant is - and it has also shown up quite a few holes in my own music collection.

Led Zeppelin were formed out of the ashes of The Yardbirds in 1968. Jimmy Page was left with tour commitments and needed to piece together a band to fulfil these. With former session keyboard man John Paul Jones on board for vocal duties he was recommended a young Robert Plant who had been playing with Midlands outfit Band Of Joy who also provided drummer John Bonham. Thus, The New Yardbirds were formed - after just a few months they had changed name to Led Zeppelin (after a Keith Moon joke) and recorded their first album. Led Zeppelin I was effectively a studio recording of the bands live show at the time and consists of a few cover versions, a couple of songs from The Yardbirds later shows (and a couple of tracks that could easily have been Yardbirds singles) and some tracks that marked the eclectic and yet exhilarating sound that would define Led Zeppelin. The music draws upon three big musical influences - British Heavy Rock, Blues and acoustic Folk-Rock. In fact it is this third influence that provides the first indications of Plants vocal abilities with Babe, I'm Going To Leave You. I learned the guitar part for this and still play it on a nylon strung guitar: the chords feel incredible comfortable and intuitive. However, it is Plant's vocals which really stand out here. I have a version of this by Joan Baez and she just sounds pained rather than impassioned. The blues covers also show how powerful his voice was - bleeding through the microphones and somehow managing to compete with Page and Bonham's thunderous backing. It's clearly a work in progress but a magnificent one none-the-less and very much haunted by the ghost of bluesmen past.

Led Zeppelin II was recorded whilst touring in 1969 and opens with one of the most familiar tunes in heavy rock in the form of Whole Lotta Love. In fact, given it's familiarity, it's worth considering what a peculiar tune it is. Kicking off with the familiar Heavy Metal riff (Top of the Pops theme to the uninitiated) Plant sings an old Muddy Waters lyrics over the top whilst Bonham batters away in the background - so far so good. It then breaks into a free Jazz style section where all Hell breaks lose and Page plays a Theremin solo; a quick guitar break and then the original riff returns until Plant goes all a capella - then repeat to fade. Somehow it works and the rest of the album follows this up just as well. There is quiet a bit of variety in this album with the bluesy Lemon Song (effectively a reworking of Howlin' Wolf's Killing Floor) and the gentle Thank You but the amps are definitely turned up high. Led Zeppelin are often cited as a major influence on Heavy Metal music and, of all their albums, this is the one that most closely approaches that.

 Led Zeppelin III has a reputation for being a bit of a curate's egg. I think that's rather unfair. In fact, side one is a typical Zeppelin mix with Immigrant Song being a rock standard (although no guitar solos) and containing Robert Plants famous battle cry. Since I've Been Loving You is a brilliant slow blues number and Friends has an interestingly Middle Eastern feel about it. The other two songs are standard Zep rockers but it is side two that gives the album the reputation as something else. The band wrote and rehearsed the album whilst staying at the semi-derelict Bron yr Aur cottage in Snowdonia (I looked this up and it isn’t where I thought - there is a similarly named place near Llanrwst which I have occasionally driven past). The lack of electricity and the general peaceful ambience of the place led to the second side of the record being dominated by the bands folk-rock side. They really come into their own here and show that you don't have to bludgeon your audience with Marshall stacks to make your point. There is real power here and they also sound like they are having a fun time of it - particularly on Bron yr Aur Stomp which is about Plant's walks through Snowdonia with his dog. His lyrics here had developed far beyond simple innuendo and I feel that the band had really gelled as a creative unit. It remains a personal favourite of mine.

Led Zeppelin IV is regarded as their masterpiece and was the first  album of theirs that I heard. I can recall that I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it at the time. It didn't feel like the heavy rock group I had imagined but rather some mystic riddlers creating a soundscape whilst cloaked in monks robes - or something like that anyway. In a way, some of the mysticism is down to the rather odd song titles: Black Dog was named because a black dog was present at recording (and not because the song was meant to be about depression as I had assumed) and Four Sticks was named because John Bonham used two sets of drum sticks simultaneously to produce the exotic oriental rhythms. The bulk of this album was included in the Remasters release but it actually missed off three of my favourite tracks: the aforementioned Four Sticks, the gentle acoustic Going To California and their take on Memphis Minnie's When The Levee Breaks. This latter track's drum intro has been sampled-to-death but familiarity doesn’t breed contempt: it's magnificent and the remastered CD just brings out the best from the original recording - Plant's harmonica playing has never sounded better. Oddly, the other track that really seems to improve is the Battle Of Evermore which was a duet with Sandy Denny from Fairport Convention. I've always loved how her voice becomes intertwined with Plant's and when digitally remastered it becomes crystal clear (yes, my old vinyl was a bit tatty).

If IV was all mysterious, then I think they were having a bit of a laugh on Houses Of The Holy. All the previous albums had drawn from an eclectic group of influences but on Houses I think they might have pushed things a little too far. It's not a bad album but a couple of the experiments proved to be dead ends: D'yer Mak'er is a reggae song (it's meant to be pronounced Jamaica - try it in a West Midlands accent) which would leave Bob Marley with little to worry about and The Crunge is a James Brown style funk  workout - it's impossible to tell whether it is a spoof or a tribute. Even the closing The Ocean, an out and out hard rocker, is somewhat offbeat. However, when this album works, it works well and contains John Paul Jones's finest moment in No Quarter - a heavily keyboard and electronic based song which allows Plant to demonstrate the gentler side of his vocal range. Overall, not a bad effort which laid the groundwork for their next album.

Physical Graffiti is a double album: although the songs for it had been recorded over a five year period. After they had produced too many tracks for a single album the decision was made to use out-takes from previous albums and make this a two disk set. This doesn't affect the quality and I find it questionable as to why some of the tracks were ever left off the earlier albums. Maybe they didn't fit the style of those releases? Of all of Led Zeppelin's output Physical Graffiti is the most diverse: heavy rock (e.g. The Rover), blues (In My Time Of Dying - originally killed on Dylan's first album) and folk (Bron-Yr-Aur) are all in place but alongside there is rock and roll (Boogie with Stu), funk (Trampled Under Foot), a love ballad (the beautiful Ten Years Gone) and, as a centrepiece of the album, two strongly North African flavoured epics in Kashmir and In the Light. Kashmir is the better known of these having been used as a theme for various sporting events (e.g. the BBC's World Cup coverage in 2002). It even reached the top of the charts when Puff Daddy adapted it for the Godzilla theme tune. The song was inspired by a road trip Plant made on a family holiday through Morocco - something that he would often return to. The only odd thing is why he called the song Kashmir (which is in Northern India / Pakistan) - I suppose it must have scanned more easily than Marrakech. This was a real high point for the band but possibly the last time they were really functioning as a creative unit: a series of tragedies would follow that would take their toll on the band - and Plant in particular.

On 5 August 1975 Plant and his family were involved in a road accident in Rhodes which left him seriously injured and, at that point, uncertain whether he would be able to walk again. With touring out of the question the band recorded Presence which was released the following year. When I first bought this on vinyl I found it a rather dense recording to listen to - not that I didn't enjoy it but I found it rather heavy going listening end-to-end. In fact it has three tracks that must rate amongst their best: Nobody's Fault but Mine, an electric reworking of a traditional blues song; Tea For One, a slow blues rock number which describes a moment slowed to last an eternity; and Achilles Last Stand - this is one of the most intense rock workouts the band performed and includes some astonishing machine-gun drum rolls from Bonham. I never quite understood the lyrics until recently: they describe Plant's trips through North Africa through to the Atlas mountains. The Ancient Greek references and the title refer to Plants predicament: trapped in a wheelchair with a smashed ankle. The other tracks on the album are pretty decent so it makes me wonder what the album is lacking. I think the answer is actually precisely what it is lacking: little musical variety, no keyboards, no acoustic guitars or folk influences, little song writing input from Jones or Bonham. Seen as a Page and Plant side-project it possibly makes more sense. Plant was to recover from his injuries but worse was to come for both him and the band.

Whilst on tour in the US in 1977 Plant's 5 year old son, Karac, died, suddenly, from a viral infection. The tour was cancelled and a devastated Plant returned home with the future of Led Zeppelin in the balance. This is one loss that I doubt Plant has ever fully recovered from and he has written lyrics about it and even featured a picture of him with Karac in the liner notes of his 2003 retrospective album. In truth it should have been the end of Led Zeppelin but his close friend, John Bonham, encouraged him to sing and record again. The resulting album was In Through The Out Door. By contrast to Presence this was very heavily keyboard based - in fact a couple of tracks featured no writing credit for Jimmy Page. The album starts with In The Evening which almost encompasses every influence which they have demonstrated over the previous 10 years. It starts with an electronic drone and hints of Marrakech at sunset until, like an Imam calling the faithful to prayer, Plant yells out "In the evening!" and a typically Zeppelinesque riff breaks out over crashing drums and wailing vocals, add to that a crunching guitar solo and John Paul Jones's intricate keyboard backing and this is about as good as Zeppelin ever got - unfortunately, it is about as good as this album ever got. Actually, that is not entirely fair and much of this is well worth a listen, but it is a more considered and mature selection of songs. I think on re-listening I can appreciate some of the gentler songs: All Of My Love, Plant's song of love for his wife, is actually quite touching and the synth solo, in place of the usual guitar, makes for a refreshing change. I also love the drunken blues of the last track I'm Gonna Crawl. Overall, this was the more mature output of men who were now in their 30s. Jimmy Page had said that they wanted their next album to be a much heavier affair but, as it turned out, we will never find out. On 25 September 1980 John Bonham was found dead in his bed after inhaling vomit following a post-rehearsal, heavy-drinking session. This was the final straw for the band and they announced that the group would split shortly afterwards.

This was not quite the last new material to emerge from Led Zeppelin. In 1982 an album of previously unreleased material was published on a short album called Coda. This comes across as a much unloved contractual obligation affair and may as well have been called "The Taxman Came A 'Calling". I think they could have put out a decent collection if they had put their minds to it but as Physical Graffiti had hoovered up most of their early outtakes this consisted of mostly unfinished later material and other oddities. Only the last track, Wearing and Tearing, is anywhere near their usual quality and it isn't an album I will be bothering to buy on CD (I may go for the odd track on MP3 if I can put up with the poor sound quality). In fact they released a double CD of their BBC Sessions (mainly special recordings for John Peel's show) in 1997 and it is much more fitting collection with several songs that had never been previously released on an official album.

So that's the mighty Zep. All three members of the band went on to release a plethora of solo projects and I have seen Page and Plant perform live: both on their own and together. In fact, it was scanning through their solo releases that I realised what huge gaps I have in my collection. I bought all of Plant's solo albums on vinyl through to Manic Nirvana - which I bought on cassette for some reason (I think my turntable was broken at the time) . However, there are a few big releases which I have never ended up buying such as Dreamland and Fate Of Nations. In fact I nearly bought the latter - I loved the single, "29 Palms" and I can recall heading for the sales desk only to decide than DM35 (about £14 at the time) was a tad steep when I had some seriously more important things to be spending money on at that time. Having looked through Amazon I can see that most of his back catalogue is available very reasonably, in fact there are used sellers who have some albums for pennies plus postage (which still works out at well under £2 per album). I actually have most of Jimmy Page's stuff although I never bought any of John Paul Jones's solo work - arguably the most idiosyncratic of the three. Anyway, I've received another Amazon voucher so I'll see what the postman brings...