LED ZEPPELIN III

After extensive touring the previous year, Led Zeppelin retreated to a cottage near Bron- Yr-Aur and started working on their third album, which was received with a little sceptisism by the record buying public, for Led Zeppelin stepped down from the heavy track and began playing a more folkish accoustic style, which dominated the album.The A-side is still mostly electric guitar driven, but the B-side is almost exclusive accoustic guitar, a concept they will use again for their fourth album to great succes.

Immigrant Song starts the album in a heavy fashion, a Keltic/Gothic heavy metal piece, with fabulous drum and bass play, and great screams from Plant. Friends is the first of many accoustic pieces, brilliant acoustic guitars, soft delicate drumming, and a symphonic synth line (augmented with vocal chants), beautifully held together by Robert's voice. two great songs to start the album with. Next in line is the slightly dissapointing poppish rock of Celebration Day very well sung, and great guitars, but somewhere it fails to deliver for me. But that is soon forgotten when Since I've Been Loving You sets in. The ultimate heavy blues song, with utterly great electric guitar passages from Page, very good rhythm section as provided by Bonham and Jones, and Robert Plant in great form. really great, though admittedly it took me a couple of spins before it clicked with me. The first side ends with Out On The Tiles build around great drums and fabulous bass lines.

The second side of the album is dominated by acoustic guitar sounds, sparsely using the electric guitar, mostly for creation of a symphonic orchestrated sound. And boy, does Jimmy Page know how to play acoustic guitar (rethoric question, the answer is obviously yes). Starting wih a reworking of the traditional folk song Gallow's Pole a great piece, with a continuous fastening pace, exploding in a fabulous fast paced final, fabulous bass line from Jones. The next song is the beautifull Tangerine, a beauty that continuous with That's The Way. To pick up some speed with the electrifying Bron-Y-Aur Stomp brilliant. The album closes with Hat's Off to Roy Harper. Roy harper was a folk artist of those days, and admired by Jimmy Page (who played on Stormcock by Harper under pseudonym of "S. Flavius Mercurios" and some other contributions). A really estranging sound, with distorted acoustic guitars, and Plant's vocal far back in the mix, brilliant if you like such experimentations.

In conclusion, Led Zeppelin III is a great album, and it probably was needed for them to make this album, widening their scope and putting more emphasis on their acoustic folk side, to counterpoint the heavy stuff they did previous to this album. With the next album they will make the perfect blend, this falls slightly behind, hence the three stars. But don't let a low rating scare you, any Led Zeppelin album is a worthy adition to your record collection. Listen yourself, this will become a favourite if you like acoustic guitar music.

Like all Led Zeppelin albums, this is required listening.