FAVORITE Led Zeppelin album

[Haiku Jimi]

Oh to sail away, to sandy lands and other days
Oh to touch the dream, hides inside and never seen.

Into the sun, the south the north, at last the birds have flown
The shackles of commitment fell, in pieces on the ground

Oh to ride the wind, to tread the air above the din
Oh to laugh aloud, dancing as we fought the crowd

[maxpower00044]

Originally Posted by whygohome?

this guy is definitely not speaking without facts to back up his generalizations

we all know zep has been accused of plagiarism, and i dont feel like getting into this again, but even if all the allegations are true, it amounts to about 10-12 of their songs. HARDLY "all their music".

If zep 'stole' all the blues songs they are accused of i'd be willing to bet the artists credited for writing them 'stole' them as well. there's a definite system of legacy involved in blues riffs/lyrics...careless crediting is one thing but accusing them of flat out plagiarism is just untrue.

Well said.

[Penguins71]

Normally I would choose III, but IV has When The Levee Breaks on it, sooooooo

[Haiku Jimi]

Originally Posted by whygohome?

this guy is definitely not speaking without facts to back up his generalizations

we all know zep has been accused of plagiarism, and i dont feel like getting into this again, but even if all the allegations are true, it amounts to about 10-12 of their songs. HARDLY "all their music".

If zep 'stole' all the blues songs they are accused of i'd be willing to bet the artists credited for writing them 'stole' them as well. there's a definite system of legacy involved in blues riffs/lyrics...careless crediting is one thing but accusing them of flat out plagiarism is just untrue.

There's really no question to whether or not they're true. Listen to Howlin' Wolfs "Killing Floor" and then listen to The Lemon Song. Lyrics are pulled from there 100% and so is Jimmy's riff/solo that starts at 5:35. And it went uncredited, like several other songs.

But I agree with what you said in that it amounts to a small handful of songs; hardly anything compared to their own output. And the old blues guys were probably taking music from others as well - it was just a matter of who recorded it first back then. So yeah, I don't really care about what Zep did. Writing them off for being "plagiarists" is plain stupid. Especially if you look at Zep III and all of the albums after it.

[dobyblue]

Houses of the Holy.
The Rain Song is magnificent.

I will say that I just picked up the 200g Classic Records pressing of Led Zeppelin III and I have NEVER heard it sound so good, incredible. Now I need a copy of the original Bob Ludwig mastered II.

[cwsrule88]

Even though Dazed and Confused is probably my favorite led zeppelin song and III is my favorite

[grace2]

I'll probably go with II, but their first six albums aren't very separable for me.

[v4micajr]

II... the solos in Whole lotta love and Heatbreaker are unreal... that album made me a LZ fan. II is prolly top 5 fav albums

[AJF_41]

houses of the holy for me.

get over this "they stole music" crap. nobody gives a shit -- they are still one of the best bands ever.

they are in a 3 way tie for first with me.

[whygohome?]

Originally Posted by Haiku Jimi

There's really no question to whether or not they're true. Listen to Howlin' Wolfs "Killing Floor" and then listen to The Lemon Song. Lyrics are pulled from there 100% and so is Jimmy's riff/solo that starts at 5:35. And it went uncredited, like several other songs.

But I agree with what you said in that it amounts to a small handful of songs; hardly anything compared to their own output. And the old blues guys were probably taking music from others as well - it was just a matter of who recorded it first back then. So yeah, I don't really care about what Zep did. Writing them off for being "plagiarists" is plain stupid. Especially if you look at Zep III and all of the albums after it.

yeah, but as page and plant have both said, they put in stuff like 'killing floor' as a sort of tribute to the artists they grew up loving. its easy to write that off as an excuse but i believe they were just guilty of being careless with crediting the original artists, not maliciously ripping off other peoples material and calling it their own. like the beginning of 'bring it on home' is almost word for word a cover of a blind willie dixon song. he even sings it EXACTLY like it was on the record. would he do that trying to pass it off as his own or as a nod to the blues legends that came before him? and this isnt directed at you, im just throwing that out there.

the people that write zep off as plagiarists are the people that cant stand to be into stuff that is popular so a band like zep is undoubtedly 'overrated' (suprised kittens hasnt dropped that in here yet) because they are considered the best band of all time by many.

i think zep is rated just fine.

[kittensXLI]

1.) Physical Graffiti
2.) Houses of the Holy

[ExistenceNow]

Houses of the Holy

[kittensXLI]

On a huge Houses of the Holy kick right now.

[grace2]

Houses of the Holy is basically flawless. My second favorite I think besides II. But I also really like I. This band has just made so many great/nearly flawless albums it's hard to compare them all.

[DMBcubs3641]

Houses of the Holy has probably become one of my favorite Zep albums over the past year or two but IV remains my favorite I think.

[whygohome?]

Houses. Rain song is the best song they ever recorded.

[AlexK79]

Houses of the Holy with Physical Graffiti close behind. As many have said, The Rain Song pushes Houses just to the top for me.

Great story about that track - when Zep was going to be inducted into the RnR Hall of Fame, Jimmy Page called Joe Perry of Aerosmith to ask him if he would do the induction speech. Perry's response?

"I told him I'd do it if he taught me how to play 'The Rain Song.'"

The plagiarism stuff I've always found ridiculous. The band never hid those influnces or tried to pass the songs off as their own. It was done in homage to their blues heroes who inspired them. It's the fucking blues - that stuff is passed down and re-interpreted from generation to generation. If Led Zep were 'plagiarists' then a whole shit ton of other bands were too.

[whygohome?]

Zep for the most part were not out and out plagiarists, but what about the intro to stairway? Hard to deny that what taken from the taurus song.

[pathetic]

my fav album is constantly changing. 1-4 are so money

[Roose13]

IV
II
Houses
Phys
I
III

I don't listen to the others in full.

[AlexK79]

Presence is extremely underrated. I love every track on that album.

Edit: In fact, I can't believe that In Through the Out Door actually has 3 votes while Presence has 0.

[SqueeBaBooSquee]

Michael: "Mmm... I don't-- I don't know. I mean, I guess I sort of like them all."

Bob Slydell: "That's a riot. I'm the exact same way. But it must be twice as hard for you, being having the same name as him. I celebrate the guy's entire catalog. Anyway, let's get down to business, Michael."

Michael: "you know you can just call me Mike."

Bob Slydell: ............

[AJF_41]

^^^ joe perry doesn't know how to read tabs?

there's a perfect rain song one out there. it's actually not that difficult to play.

[rickyh24]

Honestly can't even pick. No way.

[CrashTheStone41]

IV

Mainly because "Going To California" is in my top 5 favorite songs of all time

[Haiku Jimi]

Originally Posted by AlexK79

The plagiarism stuff I've always found ridiculous. The band never hid those influnces or tried to pass the songs off as their own. It was done in homage to their blues heroes who inspired them. It's the fucking blues - that stuff is passed down and re-interpreted from generation to generation. If Led Zep were 'plagiarists' then a whole shit ton of other bands were too.

The problem is they didn't credit Howlin Wolf for "The Lemon Song" (aka Killing Floor) at all. They credited Plant/Page. They did kind of try to pass it off as their own.

Then again all of the old bluesmen borrowed heavily from each other, etc. The fact that Zep (or their management) botched the credits to a handful of songs doesn't nearly outweigh all of the amazing material that Zep wrote.

edit> just realized I said the same thing earlier in this thread O.o

[kittensXLI]

Figured with dmbcubs bumping the official LZ thread last night to bring this one back too.

[DMBcubs3641]

Nice. On a huge Zeppelin kick this past month.

Houses of the Holy is my favorite.

[AJF_41]

Originally Posted by kittensXLI

Figured with dmbcubs bumping the official LZ thread last night to bring this one back too.

why?

houses of the holy still wins.

[dreamingtree66]

Presence by a long shot is my favorite. Can listen to it anytime. Tea For One is pure brilliance and I'm a huge fan of For Your Life. III would be my number 2 choice, I think they did a great job of changing it with that album.

On a somewhat related note, I saw Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience last month. Really worth checking out if you get the chance, incredibly entertaining show, and Jason is fantastic behind the kit.