What Is and What Will Always Be

Album: Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II, 1969

Best Track: "Living Loving Maid ... She's Just a Woman"

Lasting Memory: Every Led Zeppelin song I hear, regardless of that song's year or album of issue, makes me flash back to driving to high school. I blame and thank WNOR, FM-99, which is probably playing a Zeppelin song right now.


I'm a little surprised to rediscover that I own four Led Zeppelin albums. As I've noted, I've made it a point not to purchase albums whose songs I hear on the radio all the time. I obviously built my Zep cassette stockpile before I self-imposed that rule in a hard and fast manner.



And speaking of "hard and fast" ... how 'bout those Led Zeppelin boys, ladies and gentleman?


I can't tell you anything in general about the lads that you don't already know, so I won't try. I will, however, state my general preference for Led Zeppelin songs that stretch beyond the boundaries of electrified blues. Compare "Heartbreaker," which is just a loud rehash of any of a number of Buddy Guy riff-based songs, to "Ramble On," which is a loud rehash of chamber music.

My preference is for the latter, but reasonable people may differ and I'd be lying if I wrote that I disliked any of the songs on Led Zeppelin II. Certainly, each of the songs appeals to a large number of listeners. How else could the music have remained in heavy, heavy rotation for going on 40 years. It's like Led Zeppelin lways has been and always will be the quintessence of hard rock.

I tagged "Living Loving Maid" as my favorite cut from the second album solely because I find it to be the most consistently rockin' and rollin' selection. It's definitely a good song to listen to on one's way to 11th grade.

I'll have more cogent and insightful things to relate in my forthcoming Zep posts, but here are three things to get clear before we go any further:

1. The band, like a lot of bands in the 1960s and 1970s, was incredibly prolific. Led Zeppelin released four full-length albums between the beginning of 1969 and the end of 1971.
2. The band first and third (except for "Immigrant Song") albums are nowhere near as iconic as their second and fourth albums.
3. Jimmy Page was and remains one weird dude, who still gets a pass in my book for acknowledging his debt to African American bluesmen without getting all softheaded about it like Eric Clapton has.

Up Next: Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV (Zoso), 1971