LED ZEPPELIN II

Between the release of the band's eponymous debut album and this one, their second studio album, Led Zeppelin had completed four US and UK tours. So, "Led Zeppelin II", by necessity, was recorded on the road in the States and while it received many tweaks before it reached the shops it still has a live feel that few rock albums have ever come close to.

So, "Led Zeppelin II" is the second studio album of Led Zeppelin that was released in 1969. On it, the group developed the ideas presented on their debut studio album, creating a work which became most acclaimed and influential than its predecessor. With elements of blues and folk music, it also exhibits the band's evolving musical style of blues derived musical material and their guitar riff based sound. Generally, "Led Zeppelin II" is considered the band's heaviest album.

The album's cover shows a sleeve design with a poster based on a photograph of the Jadstaffel 11 Division of the German Air Force during WWI, the famed Flying Circus led by Manfred von Richthofen, the famous Red Baron. The picture was tinted and the faces on the sleeve were airbrushed, including the faces of the four members of the band.

"Led Zeppelin II" has nine tracks. The first track "Whole Lotta Love" written by Willie Dixon, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham is a song that was released in the United States and Japan as a single. It's a song basically driven by a simple, typical but very effective guitar riff performed by Page. It has in the middle of the song some parts of "Dazed And Confused" taken from their debut album. This is an excellent song that represents for me the highlight of the album. The second track "What Is And What Should Never Be" written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page is basically a ballad with nice guitar work and great vocal performance. It's a very interesting song, clearly influenced by the blues and with some funny moments in its lyrics. The third track "The Lemon Song" written by Howlin' Wolf, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham is a typical blues song with a fantastic performance by all band's members. As I wrote before, I never was a great fan of blues but, in this case, I must confess that the musical performance of this song is absolutely brilliant. The fourth track "Thank You" written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page is a ballad where seems to have been the first Led Zeppelin's song that Plant wrote all the lyrics and is a tribute to his then-wife Maureen. It's a very beautiful song with an excellent guitar performance by Page, a delicate organ played by Jones and where Plant has a nice vocal performance, he sings with all his heart. The fifth track "Heartbreaker" written by Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham is a classic Led Zeppelin's track with a heavy rock tune, great guitar riffs and where Page shows his incredible technique of playing guitar. This track became famous for its memorable guitar riff along with its unaccompanied guitar solo, the best on the album. The sixth track "Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)" written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page was the song released as the B side of their single "Whole Lotta Love" and, in reality, both songs become part of a whole and are often heard together. It's a short song, very catchy, with a nice guitar riff and good vocal work. The seventh track "Ramble On" written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page is a song whose lyrics were influenced by "The Lord Of The Rings" by Tolkien. It's a very good based folk song with a fantastic magic acoustic guitar work, a beautiful bass line and an amazing vocal performance. This is one of my favourite songs on the album. The eighth track "Moby Dick" written by Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham is the only instrumental track on the album. It's a typical rock song of the band with a great drum solo in the middle, so typical on the albums from the 70's, on which Bonham also plays the drums with his hands as he did very often in the live versions of the song. The ninth and last track "Bring It On Home" written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page is a tribute from the band to Sonny Boy Williamson, the first artist to record this song, in 1963. It's another typical blues song that starts calm and nice with Plant singing and playing harmonica, which suddenly changes to a great rock song. This is a song with an amazing second part. This is a great way to close this excellent musical work.

Conclusion: As I wrote before when I reviewed "Houses Of The Holy", I said that "Led Zeppelin II" and "Houses Of The Holy" were my musical introduction to Led Zeppelin, in the middle of the 70's. In those times, I bought a vinyl copy of each album, but unfortunately I ended up selling my copy of "Led Zeppelin II" to a very close friend, who plays bass and was a great fan of the band. So, I only bought another copy some years ago, this time a CD copy. Despite I like very much of "Led Zeppelin II", I must confess that I always liked much more of "Houses Of The Holy" and "Led Zeppelin IV", which are probably my two favourite studio albums from them. However, I consider "Led Zeppelin II" an excellent album, very well balanced and without weak points. It has, in my humble opinion, many great songs, especially "Whole Lotta Love", which is the big highlight of the album. So, "Led Zeppelin II" deserves to be rated with 4 solid stars, really.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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