There is an imminent danger when reviewing an album that not
\nonly came out a year before you were born, but also has been
\noverplayed by rock radio to the point that you almost don’t even
\nneed to pop the CD into the player to hear it.<\/p>\n
Yet there is no denying that, no matter how many times radio
\nstations play the duet of “Heartbreaker” and “Livin’ Lovin’ Maid
\n(She’s Just A Woman)” into the ground, there is still something
\nspecial about
\nLed Zeppelin II<\/i>, the follow-up release from the British
\nsupergroup. It’s something to note when a group puts out a
\nsophomore release which outperforms a strong debut effort. It’s
\nanother thing to realize that not only was this Zeppelin’s second
\nalbum released in 1969, it was recorded for the most part while the
\nband was on tour.<\/p>\n
The radio standards are undoubtedly well-known to all but the
\nyoungest readers. “Whole Lotta Love” is a five-minute explosion of
\nsound that dares to push the envelope in the middle with its sonic
\ncollage. Likewise, “Heartbreaker” slices together two distinct
\nperformances — listen to how Jimmy Page’s guitar break isn’t quite
\nin the same key – and makes it seem like this was the intention all
\nalong. Whatever the case, it works\u2026 even if I do wish people
\nwould stop pairing this together with “Livin’ Lovin’ Maid (She’s
\nJust A Woman).” It’s been 35 years now, people\u2026 these are
\ntwo unique tracks, and should finally be treated as such.<\/p>\n
The most powerful performances on
\nLed Zeppelin II<\/i>, however, are some which don’t get the most
\nairplay. “The Lemon Song” is a powerful blast of British blues
\n(even if some of the concepts were lifted from older, lesser-known
\nsongs — something that Led Zeppelin eventually was called on the
\ncarpet for) with just a hint of double entendre to keep things
\nfresh. The manic choruses played by Page, bassist John Paul Jones
\nand drummer John Bonham keep listeners on their toes. (This isn’t
\nmeant to ignore vocalist Robert Plant, who shows up throughout the
\ndisc in fine form.)<\/p>\n
Likewise, “What Is And What Should Never Be” and “Bring It On
\nHome” both showcase a group which was already nearing the peak of
\nits craft and could consistently deliver the goods. “What Is And
\nWhat Should Never Be” is a personal favorite of mine, possibly
\nbecause it was the only guitar solo of Page’s I could actually play
\n(even if that last series of chords right at the end still confuses
\nme). And one has to admire that Led Zeppelin were ahead of the Lord
\nOf The Rings craze as heard on “Ramble On,” a song that is now
\nreaching the point of oversaturation on the radio.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the best moment for me on this disc is the beautiful
\n“Thank You,” a song which shows both the gentler side of Led
\nZeppelin (without sacrificing the power) and reaffirms Page’s
\nability on the acoustic guitar (as used on his solo). It does kind
\nof surprise me that this song hasn’t become a standard at weddings
\n— the message of love in this one is quite powerful.<\/p>\n
\nLed Zeppelin II<\/i> may have had more radio success than its
\npredecessor, and for good reason. While their first disc remains a
\nclassic, it was this second release that fully cemented Led
\nZeppelin’s place in the eternal halls of rock music. And, as the
\nold saying goes, they were just getting warmed up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5700],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-38152","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-led-zeppelin","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38152"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}