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WatcherOfTheSkies88 
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 Topic: Led Zeppelin Prog Rock Songs
Posted: May 27 2010 at 11:41 |
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Led Zeppelin isn't really a progressive rock band... most of their songs aren't that complex or prog sounding, although they did have a fair share of 6+ minute long songs. However, IMO, they've made a few excellent progressive rock songs in their history. "Stairway to Heaven" is probably the most obvious example, since it is multi-part and is longer than 8 minutes. "Whole Lotta Love" is another one, with the long middle section with lots of weird noises. Other ones: No Quarter, Kashmir, Dazed and Confused, Battle of Evermore, How Many More Times, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, In My Time of Dying, Caroselambra, When The Levee Breaks, In The Light and Friends. However, I think their prog masterpiece, and the best song they've ever done, is the 10 minute "Achilles Last Stand". It's probably the most complex song they've done, and it is just incredible. Page's guitar solo is one of the all time best. Anyway, what songs of Zeppelin do you consider progressive, and which is your favorite?
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harmonium.ro
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 11:46 |
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Some of their live versions of No Quarter were huge prog masterpieces, at the same level with Echoes and other epics. My favourite one is the 1975 Earls Court version, a stunning piece of prog.
From the studio albums, I would say that the most "prog" are Achilles Last Stand, No Quarter and Carouselambra. Also, I'd add Four Sticks and Rain Song to your list.
I think a compilation of their prog songs would beat many prog albums from PA's top 100.
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The Truth
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 11:59 |
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The first one that comes to my mind is Achilles Last Stand, but I'm sure there are more unmentioned... As for the Led, they're Prog-related without being progressive rock because they truly did take rock to new levels of complexity and that's a sure thing.
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Ronnie Pilgrim
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 12:27 |
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All good choices, and I would throw "The Rain Song" in for the mellotron and climax-style that the ever-proggie Pink Floyd gets so much acclaim for.
Edited by Ronnie Pilgrim - May 27 2010 at 12:30
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Blacksword
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 12:27 |
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Rain Song is favourite of mine, with that great mellotron section.
Also, No Quarter is superb, especially the version from 'The song remains the same'
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Ultimately bored by endless ecstasy!
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lazland
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 12:49 |
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I seem to be listening to quite a lot of folk at the moment, and I always regarded Zep as being better in their quieter moments, so I'll go for Battle of Evermore - the most incredible vocals by Denny & Plant, coupled with a great backing by Page. Gets me every time.
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Nightshine
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 12:53 |
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In My Time of Dying.
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Nightfly
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 13:18 |
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I think we're in danger of mistaking long songs as prog here. While I agree that the likes of Stairway, Achilles, The Rain Song etc have prog elements Dazed And Confused, When The Levee Breaks and In My Time Of Dying are all blues songs.
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WatcherOfTheSkies88
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 13:50 |
 Nightfly wrote:
I think we're in danger of mistaking long songs as prog here. While I agree that the likes of Stairway, Achilles, The Rain Song etc have prog elements Dazed And Confused, When The Levee Breaks and In My Time Of Dying are all blues songs. |
Disagree... "In My Time Of Dying" has multiple sections and has a pretty complex structure... it may be blues, but it is also progressive. "Dazed and Confused" also has a prog-ish structure to it with the long middle section composed of the part in which Page uses the bow (usage of a bow in any song is almost an automatic qualifier of a song being progressive by itself) and then the fast rock section.
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Nightfly
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 14:46 |
WatcherOfTheSkies88 wrote:
Nightfly wrote:
I think we're in danger of mistaking long songs as prog here. While I agree that the likes of Stairway, Achilles, The Rain Song etc have prog elements Dazed And Confused, When The Levee Breaks and In My Time Of Dying are all blues songs. |
Disagree... "In My Time Of Dying" has multiple sections and has a pretty complex structure... it may be blues, but it is also progressive. "Dazed and Confused" also has a prog-ish structure to it with the long middle section composed of the part in which Page uses the bow (usage of a bow in any song is almost an automatic qualifier of a song being progressive by itself) and then the fast rock section.
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Admittedly In My Time Of Dying does have a few different sections, though not particularly complex IMO, (great kick drum pattern from Bonham by the way) but that doesn't make it prog. It goes from the slow blues start into an up tempo extended guitar solo before the vocals return to close. That's not enough to make it prog. If we are to start calling songs prog just because it strays from a typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus-midd 8-solo-chorus structure then that opens the floodgates to call just about every sixties and seventies rock band prog. Don't know if you were around back then but it was the norm, particularly in the live arena for bands to go off on endless musical jams, no better example than the Grateful Dead. Dazed and Confused live also got very long but was just a jam. To address your violin bow on guitar justification as a qualifier as being prog. Well it may be a bit different but I don't see how that makes it prog. Incidently Page wasn't the first to do that. I beleieve he ripped the idea off Eddie Phillips, guitarist with The Creation who used it back in 1966.
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harmonium.ro
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 14:58 |
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I can definitely see Dazed and Confused as a case of "early progressive" but anyway I think their "prog" output came in the maturity phase, from Houses Of The Holy onwards. This is why I think they were influenced by prog, not vice versa.
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Alberto Muņoz
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 15:21 |
Prog songs of LD? Well Achille's Last Stand, stands on his own.
Also Hatts off to Roy Harper a very weird prog folk song.
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WatcherOfTheSkies88
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 15:25 |
Nightfly wrote:
WatcherOfTheSkies88 wrote:
Nightfly wrote:
I think we're in danger of mistaking long songs as prog here. While I agree that the likes of Stairway, Achilles, The Rain Song etc have prog elements Dazed And Confused, When The Levee Breaks and In My Time Of Dying are all blues songs. |
Disagree... "In My Time Of Dying" has multiple sections and has a pretty complex structure... it may be blues, but it is also progressive. "Dazed and Confused" also has a prog-ish structure to it with the long middle section composed of the part in which Page uses the bow (usage of a bow in any song is almost an automatic qualifier of a song being progressive by itself) and then the fast rock section.
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Admittedly In My Time Of Dying does have a few different sections, though not particularly complex IMO, (great kick drum pattern from Bonham by the way) but that doesn't make it prog. It goes from the slow blues start into an up tempo extended guitar solo before the vocals return to close. That's not enough to make it prog. If we are to start calling songs prog just because it strays from a typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus-midd 8-solo-chorus structure then that opens the floodgates to call just about every sixties and seventies rock band prog. Don't know if you were around back then but it was the norm, particularly in the live arena for bands to go off on endless musical jams, no better example than the Grateful Dead. Dazed and Confused live also got very long but was just a jam. To address your violin bow on guitar justification as a qualifier as being prog. Well it may be a bit different but I don't see how that makes it prog. Incidently Page wasn't the first to do that. I beleieve he ripped the idea off Eddie Phillips, guitarist with The Creation who used it back in 1966. |
I agree that a jam isn't progressive... if In My Time of Dying was just a jam, then it wouldn't be progressive, no matter how long it is. But I don't consider it a jam at all... it is very structured IMO. I think the multiple different sections and the length are enough to qualify it as progressive... but I think you have a more stringent policy on what is prog and what is not, so we'll have to agree to disagree. 
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Nightfly
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 17:51 |
WatcherOfTheSkies88 wrote:
Nightfly wrote:
WatcherOfTheSkies88 wrote:
Nightfly wrote:
I think we're in danger of mistaking long songs as prog here. While I agree that the likes of Stairway, Achilles, The Rain Song etc have prog elements Dazed And Confused, When The Levee Breaks and In My Time Of Dying are all blues songs. |
Disagree... "In My Time Of Dying" has multiple sections and has a pretty complex structure... it may be blues, but it is also progressive. "Dazed and Confused" also has a prog-ish structure to it with the long middle section composed of the part in which Page uses the bow (usage of a bow in any song is almost an automatic qualifier of a song being progressive by itself) and then the fast rock section.
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Admittedly In My Time Of Dying does have a few different sections, though not particularly complex IMO, (great kick drum pattern from Bonham by the way) but that doesn't make it prog. It goes from the slow blues start into an up tempo extended guitar solo before the vocals return to close. That's not enough to make it prog. If we are to start calling songs prog just because it strays from a typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus-midd 8-solo-chorus structure then that opens the floodgates to call just about every sixties and seventies rock band prog. Don't know if you were around back then but it was the norm, particularly in the live arena for bands to go off on endless musical jams, no better example than the Grateful Dead. Dazed and Confused live also got very long but was just a jam. To address your violin bow on guitar justification as a qualifier as being prog. Well it may be a bit different but I don't see how that makes it prog. Incidently Page wasn't the first to do that. I beleieve he ripped the idea off Eddie Phillips, guitarist with The Creation who used it back in 1966. |
I agree that a jam isn't progressive... if In My Time of Dying was just a jam, then it wouldn't be progressive, no matter how long it is. But I don't consider it a jam at all... it is very structured IMO. I think the multiple different sections and the length are enough to qualify it as progressive... but I think you have a more stringent policy on what is prog and what is not, so we'll have to agree to disagree.
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I didn't say In My Time Of Dying was a jam, they certainly had a plan and yes it is structured, it was Dazed and Confused when they played it live where the jamming came in that I was reffering to. You are right though, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. 
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boo boo
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 18:24 |
I really don't think Zeppelin can be pigeonholed into one category. A lot of their "blues" songs were not really blues songs, more like blues with a hard rock or psychedelic twist. They were not a prog band no but they had a lot of songs with progressive elements especially from IV and onwards. Houses of the Holy is the closest they have ever been to prog.
Of all the 70s hard rock bands I certainly consider Zeppelin the most diverse. I absolutely hate it when people write them off as just being "cock rock". They ventured further beyond hard rock than every other band that has been given that title, except maybe Queen.
Edited by boo boo - May 27 2010 at 18:28
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Atavachron
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 18:36 |
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'The Song Remains the Same'
'In the Light'
'Ten Years Gone'
'Nobody's Fault But Mine'
'All My Love'
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Triceratopsoil
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 18:52 |
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Boogie With Stu
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Atavachron
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 19:03 |
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Catcher10
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Posted: May 27 2010 at 23:36 |
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Led Zeppelin = Blues band with a serious attitude. Progressive in that they can take a '30s folk song like Gallows Pole and turn it into a hard rocking blues classic.
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richardh
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Posted: May 28 2010 at 01:21 |
Achilles Last Stand as already mentioned is a great prog track.Bonzo's drumming is what stands out for me. One of the most incredible performances from him or anyone for that matter. There's also a brilliant live version on the DVD.
A bit off topic,but Led Zep used to rehearse at Advision studios often with ELP using the top studio at the same time. Apparently Zep held some wild parties (no surprise there!) as mentioned in Keiths autobiography. Also Emmo mentions a time when both bands were recording in Switzerland and Bonzo came round to his house and knocked on the door carrying a bottle of Jack Daniels and several Led Zep albums tucked under his arm. They spent a boozy night listening to Zep!!
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Led Zeppelin Prog Rock Songs
