Led Zeppelin had a fully formed, distinctive sound from the outset, as their eponymous debut illustrates. Taking the heavy, distorted electric blues of Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, and Cream to an extreme, Zeppelin created a majestic, powerful brand of guitar rock constructed around simple, memorable riffs and lumbering rhythms. But the key to the groups attack was subtlety: it wasnt just an onslaught of guitar noise, it was shaded and textured, filled with alternating dynamics and tempos. As Led Zeppelin proves, the group was capable of such multi-layered music from the start. Although the extended psychedelic blues of Dazed and Confused, You Shook Me, and I Cant Quit You Baby often gather the most attention, the remainder of the album is a better indication of what would come later. Babe Im Gonna Leave You shifts from folky verses to pummeling choruses; Good Times Bad Times and How Many More Times have groovy, bluesy shuffles; Your Time Is Gonna Come is an anthemic hard rocker; Black Mountain Side is pure English folk; and Communication Breakdown is a frenzied rocker with a nearly punkish attack. Although the album isnt as varied as some of their later efforts, it nevertheless marked a significant turning point in the evolution of hard rock and heavy metal.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 18:32:06 +0000
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