LED ZEPPELIN III

In addition to being one great album, Led Zeppelin lll was, in many ways, their most progressive offering. The LP was a respite of sorts influenced by the pastoral sounds of CS&N and the wave of acoustic folk that had steeped into the contemporary scene. The band, recuperating from two years of non-stop work and touring, found the British countryside ideal for musical inspiration and allowed a deeper, more internal and markedly acid-dosed element into the music. Page, Plant, Bonham and Jones wrote some of their best material during this period, songs that would continue appearing on future albums years later and when the shouting was over, Led Zeppelin's third studio session stood as a near- flawless event at the zenith of their power, inspiration and synergy.

Weighty and warlike, 'Immigrant Song' screams of the Nordic conquest of Europe. The strangeness of 'Friends' is a moving tribute as it transitions into the quirky and soulful 'Celebration Day'. The album's shining moment, 'Since I've Been Loving You', is warm and sympathetic with one of the most soaring vocal performances in music history, guitar spilling over with emotion, a heartfelt organ performance from Jones, and Bonham's unshakable clockworks. 'Out On the Tiles' concludes the first half and shows this outfit's clever and unmistakable rock stylings. Page's steel strings and Jones' upright bass take over for the rest of the show, giving us one gem after another; the maudlin and desperate folk tale 'Gallows Pole', the loss in 'Tangerine', forbidden love and Old World courtship of 'That's the Way', square dance thud of 'Bron-Y-Aur Stomp' and psychedelics of 'Hats Off to Roy Harper'. Detached finally from their metal chains and from the world, Zeppelin were able to make a music they never did again and though they went on to produce better sounding albums, nothing ever out did this one for integrity and depth, and makes their fourth sound adolescent and inelegant by comparison.