Hard Rock

polystyle

Well-known member
Ok, if Led Zeppelin was left off the 'Rock' thread ,
i start a new thread and ask why so down on Zep ?

Ok, "Stairway" is / has been and will continue to be overplayed on all sides of the pond
and IS hard to listen to all the way through (again) ,
but Page and crew did an awful lot of great songs, tunes, solos , what have you ...

And was there a better writer of riffs / producer of hard rock then Jimmy Page ?

Can Led Zep really be left out of a 'Rock' Best Of ?

Not that I'm such a super fan of Zep,
but leaving them out left a big hole over there
 
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grimly fiendish

Well-known member
i'll hold my hands up here and admit: i haven't listened to much zep. but then that's because i've made a point of avoiding them.

what put me off? well, where to start? the self-indulgence, the hair, the cod-mysticism, the terrible tales about the abuse of groupies, especially the "red snapper" incident.

from what i've heard, a lot of led zep seems to be about showing off and noodling with double-neck guitars (for which there is no excuse). whereas the mighty sabbath were no-nonsense, heads-down, zero-gravity riffage (© baal).
 

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
I always found Sabbaff a bit two dimensional. DEep Purple were much groovier. Zepp were just the ultimate for me. Misty Mountain Hop and Custard Pie... you gotta love them!

Page was fairly accomplished actually, not really a cod mystic at all.
 

mms

sometimes
grimly fiendish said:
from what i've heard, a lot of led zep seems to be about showing off and noodling with double-neck guitars (for which there is no excuse). whereas the mighty sabbath were no-nonsense, heads-down, zero-gravity riffage (© baal).

alot of their riffs (hole in the sky for instance) sound like they are suspended mid air to me. defintley and it's pretty unique. The combo of just about in time stoned out their skulls drums and guitar.


page owned crowleys old place near lock ness dinnee?
it's got all these odd sculptures in the grounds.

the old sabbath/zep who were the greatest argument will never be solved, i remember having this argument with my lecturer at university. lost all respect for him that day. ;)
 

polystyle

Well-known member
Sure , Zep was guilty of all the above - and more
Reading the Stephen Davis book "Hammer Of The Gods" made it plain
the group had early inspired music moments but also that things were going wrong internally at some points
and it all caught up with them by the time Bonzo checked out .
But they also had a huge influence with their sound on early cuts like "Immigrant Song" and
the early singles and success live set a new level at the time .
I like the play between Page , John Paul Jones always so good on bass and
just right kyboards ("No Quarter") , Bonzo's drum and guitar riff poundage .
The recent live rerelease "How The West Was Won" with Led Zep live in early 1970's peak
starts with this "LA Drone" and BOOM into "Immigrant Song" that's pretty hot .
But then it also goes into overlong versions of "Dazed And Confused" with medleys stuffed inside them !

And I agree on Black Sabbath . i always thank my sister for playing me Black Sabbath the first time
under hard rock i we have to include Deep Purple , Dust , Blue Cheer
and a bunch of other groups , there are some classics right ?
 

sufi

lala
icon14.gif
Kashmir
 

johneffay

Well-known member
grimly fiendish said:
from what i've heard, a lot of led zep seems to be about showing off and noodling with double-neck guitars (for which there is no excuse). whereas the mighty sabbath were no-nonsense, heads-down, zero-gravity riffage (© baal).

Apart from all those twiddly acoustic pieces that they used to pad out their albums with; not to mention the fact that Iommi could do the long self-indulgent guitar noodling thing with the best of them. Of course he didn't have a double neck, just a custom SG with crosses down the neck instead of fret dots...
 

polystyle

Well-known member
sufi said:

Kashmir's one of their great ones ...
That Double Album had some other great things like The Rover, Custard Pie , Ten Years Gone ...
That was some peak , the songs were still coming and the group intact and sounding great
 

juliand

Well-known member
Amidst the spiralling synth-skid that is Joey Beltram's "The Omen", there's Robert Plant

"Eh, Uh, Unh, Uh, UNH! Leehhuhhh!"

And then another voice: "Keep this frequency Clear!"
I find the whole thing irresistibly carnal, and impervious to "better judgement".
As I do with LZ, in general, i suppose. Something so lovably androgynous about Plant's voice
 

jenks

thread death
why led zep still hold a place in my heart:
1. i made a life changing friendship at a party where i revealed my favourite zep tune was not stairway but since i've been lovin' you, off led zep 3
2. going to see the dire band that page formed with paul rogers from bad company - The Firm at Hammersmith Odeon - and pagey pulling off that violin bow dazed and confused moment complete with lazer pyramid - the most rockest moment of my life which still makes me smile some 20 years later
3. learning to drive in my 30s the first time i went out in the car by myself once i passed my driving test i chose physical graffiti, drove round southend for hours just enjoying the fun of it all.
the point about all this autobiography is that i don't play them much and we could all decry their excesses but when they work surely there was no-one better?
 

Grievous Angel

Beast of Burden
polystyle des said:
Kashmir's one of their great ones ...That Double Album had some other great things ... That was some peak , the songs were still coming and the group intact and sounding great
Absolutely fucking right. This was my favourite album (other than Sandinista) for YEARS.
 

carlos

manos de piedra
pointless zeppelin anecdote: i got my first zeppelin tape when i was around 12- i listened to it quite a bit and liked it well enough (though not as much as sabbath's "we sold our soul for rock and roll" comp)

then one day somebody gave me a copy of lord of the rings (published as one huge paperback for the cartoon that came out around 1980) and i was listening to the zep tape while reading and suddenly i heard the line "twas in the darkest depths of mordor i met a girl so fair / but gollum and the evil one slipped away with her..."

this really blew my pre-teen mind- having what i was reading converge with what i was listening to... i rewound that tape over and over to make sure i indeed heard what i thought i heard

anyway- yes. zeppelin...
 
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