The first Led Zeppelin album was recorded in October of 1968 and released Jan 12, 1969; over 46 years ago. For those of us who were in high school during the first half of the 1970’s, it was impossible not to have heard this group. Their ballad Stairway to Heaven was the slow dance of choice at any given prom night or school dance where records were being played. Their influence in the hard rock/blues (heavy metal not yet having arrived) musical genre was profound, and spawned any number of imitators, as any cursory review of them on the internet will show. While they may not have actually been larger than life, their recordings, tours and reputation for rock star excess (which may not actually have been as outlandish as was reported) certainly made them the quintessential 70’s rock music icons.
While there were some releases after the bands’ demise (their last studio recording was released in 1982, and it comprised of a collection of various tracks gathered from the groups 12 year history), it has only been recently that their catalogue was seriously re-examined. In 2013, the guitarist, song writer, producer and band mainstay Jimmy Page indicated that he would be re-mastering all nine studio albums, in chronological order. This is a commentary on the re-issue of their iconic first release, simply titled “Led Zeppelin”.
I was heartened to see that the re-issue has the period correct album cover art work. It was a stroke of genius (whoever came up with the idea, according to Mr. Page it was him) of taking the famous Hindenburg airship explosion and having that as the cover. To my ears, the newly re-mastered version has an obvious sonic difference, sharper and clearer with more depth and presence the bottom end than previous compact disc releases. According to information from an online site (credited to author Dave Lewis and his book The Complete Guide to The Music of Led Zeppelin) the original album was recorded in about 36 hours (including mixing) over a period of several weeks, with Jimmy Page footing the bill. The material on the record came from the band’s live set at the time. Unlike many of their contemporaries, Led Zeppelin had not been together for several years developing their sound. Although all of the musicians hd a considerable amount of musical experience, Jimmy Page only put the band together around September of 1968, and commenced recording not long afterwards. The very short period of time taken to complete the recording gave it a live, unpolished feel, with some of the tracks having almost a “demo” quality. While the album certainly has the sonic imperfections one would expect, considering how quickly it was recorded, to me this is one of the reasons it has become such a tremendous success. The album has the live feel of musicians performing the songs together in the studio. The recording format allowed the superb musicianship of the players, particularly bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, to really shine. Excessive overdubbing and production can suck the life out a performance, and that certainly was not the case here. Many of the songs from this album have become classics, played and heard untold thousands of times over the years.
This is a worthy re-issue of a classic recording so many of us grew up listening to. The album “Led Zeppelin” launched the career of one of rock’s most popular groups. Very few bands have had their first album make such an impact, and have had such a lasting influence.
This first album is still my favourite Zeppelin album for its imaginative playing and strong choice of material. The term "supergroup" was just gaining popularity when this album and "Disraeli Gears" came out and unfortunately Led Zeppelin came to believe their own publicity machine and fancied themselves as musicians who could do no wrong... I feel that many of their later albums suffer from self-indulgence with the inclusion of some tracks that are not that interesting. I realize that taste and appreciation is always subjective however!
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter!
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