Jump to content

Led Zeppelin


Deej

Recommended Posts

It's really the only underrated Led Zeppelin album, I'll give you that.  I guess maybe you could say "Coda" but the buildup to that one was so fierce because it was the last Led Zeppelin we were ever gonna get (nobody knew for a decade+ there was a handful more original songs still in the vault).  

Achilles Last Stand and For Your Life are...on their own...just quintessential Zeppelin hardcore blues tracks.  to me, they kinda stand apart from the rest of the record.  Royal Orleans is okay, may as well have been on "In Through the Out Door" for many reasons.  Same with "Candy Store Rock" and "Hots on for Nowhere".   They three also kinda feel like where Plant was headed with Honeydrippers and his first two solo albums.  NTTAWWT.  You can just feel the musical tilt, that's all.  They were actually a few years ahead of their time if you really listen to those three songs in a bubble.  

Nobody's Fault But Mine starts the second side...it's its own heavyweight.  It crosses genres, it crosses eras, it crosses hearts and hopes to die in the Key of D.  Probably the most timeless Zeppelin track of their "second act" (PG, Presence, ITTOD, Coda).  Probably helps that Blind Willie Johnson invented the damn thing to begin with, but without apology---there's no denying Page's arrangement of it kicks every bit of ass there ever was in music.  

And as you say, for a bourbon-soaked, smoke-filled blues finish...perhaps their last true delta-inspired track in a layered C-Minor..."Tea for One" closes out the hard blues era of Led Zeppelin.  There's glimpses of some blues on "In Through the Out Door" and of course on "Coda" (but those songs are recorded mainly before 1976).  "Tea for One", IMHO, is the last true ode to the Delta Muses that we ever hear again from Zeppelin.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
I saw that Zoso LZ cover band about 7 or 8 years ago in Austin.  they played Achilles Last Stand full on.  It was pretty damn impressive.   not sure how good they are now being 8 years older but the concert was very good, would recommend.
They are still good.

I go see them and Led Zeppelin 2 pretty much every time they do the HOB circuit through town
  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
14 hours ago, Lobo said:

Shit.  I coulda sworn it was in D.  My bad.  My hearing is going to shit in middle age.  

Even if you can no longer do it, it’s impressive that you could once determine the key just by listening. I only know what key the song is in because I play it on guitar. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tinnitus thread and connections to Covid got me thinking about this thread so much and our brief post exchange.  I'm starting to get my tinnitus acting up more and more lately (dunno if it's Covid, hope not).  Since I was in my 20's, it would come and go briefly, just 1-2 times a day for 30 seconds, if that bad.  I chalked it up to loud concerts and playing guitar and drums in my teens.  But I fucking hate to admit it, I can't make out music as well anymore (nevermind the keys, just the fucking sonic push itself) and I'm having a real fucking hard time with multi-directional sound.  I can't hear my wife or kids for shit if they're facing away from me and I have to be just so in front of speakers to get a nice listen to music I love.  And of course, my solution for music and movies is headphones which is just punting the problem, if not even worsening it.   /rantpityparty

Growing up, I played piano, then saxophone, then guitar, then drums.  I hit a final growth spurt around 15-16 and lost what little coordination I had, about all I could do was bash the drums after that.  Melody and Rhythm stayed with me thankfully.  ON long driving trips to fish, or go to work, or whatever---dad would only play golden oldies (classical music now for you youngsters), blues, rnb, and motown.  He had the keys down cold although he couldn't play an instrument.  I listened to him and music teachers and could clock majors/minors and flats before I could do multiplication.  He would joke he was a 4/4 man living in a 2/4 world.  It's your internal sense of pace but also your ear has to process keys and that's not really a skill...it's either in your skull's infrastructure or its not based on architecture.  It's one of the few things that I inherited from him that has served me well.  But the ear is going both in terms of high-level processing and just ability to hear broken air at some angles.  

I find myself desperately trying to play varying music for my oldest and break it down with her.  She actually likes it.  I don't want to force my interests on her, but she loves to hear "daddy's music."  wife wants her to listen more of the pop crap her elementary school friends hear, but she likes dad's stuff more.  When you can deconstruct and hear the intentions of a musician, it's the same as breaking down a novel, or a poem, or a painting.  It allows you to know the human creative process.  Even if you don't make music yourself, it's a gift to know where the song came from, where it's going, and why it's there to begin with. 

It crosses all media...when you see what know what else sees...you will know what no one else knows.  But when you hear what no one else hears...you will feel what no one else feels.  /rant...more hearing, more music, more time with the kids, more of what we love

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tinnitus thread and connections to Covid got me thinking about this thread so much and our brief post exchange.  I'm starting to get my tinnitus acting up more and more lately (dunno if it's Covid, hope not).  Since I was in my 20's, it would come and go briefly, just 1-2 times a day for 30 seconds, if that bad.  I chalked it up to loud concerts and playing guitar and drums in my teens.  But I fucking hate to admit it, I can't make out music as well anymore (nevermind the keys, just the fucking sonic push itself) and I'm having a real fucking hard time with multi-directional sound.  I can't hear my wife or kids for shit if they're facing away from me and I have to be just so in front of speakers to get a nice listen to music I love.  And of course, my solution for music and movies is headphones which is just punting the problem, if not even worsening it.   /rantpityparty
Growing up, I played piano, then saxophone, then guitar, then drums.  I hit a final growth spurt around 15-16 and lost what little coordination I had, about all I could do was bash the drums after that.  Melody and Rhythm stayed with me thankfully.  ON long driving trips to fish, or go to work, or whatever---dad would only play golden oldies (classical music now for you youngsters), blues, rnb, and motown.  He had the keys down cold although he couldn't play an instrument.  I listened to him and music teachers and could clock majors/minors and flats before I could do multiplication.  He would joke he was a 4/4 man living in a 2/4 world.  It's your internal sense of pace but also your ear has to process keys and that's not really a skill...it's either in your skull's infrastructure or its not based on architecture.  It's one of the few things that I inherited from him that has served me well.  But the ear is going both in terms of high-level processing and just ability to hear broken air at some angles.  
I find myself desperately trying to play varying music for my oldest and break it down with her.  She actually likes it.  I don't want to force my interests on her, but she loves to hear "daddy's music."  wife wants her to listen more of the pop crap her elementary school friends hear, but she likes dad's stuff more.  When you can deconstruct and hear the intentions of a musician, it's the same as breaking down a novel, or a poem, or a painting.  It allows you to know the human creative process.  Even if you don't make music yourself, it's a gift to know where the song came from, where it's going, and why it's there to begin with. 
It crosses all media...when you see what know what else sees...you will know what no one else knows.  But when you hear what no one else hears...you will feel what no one else feels.  /rant...more hearing, more music, more time with the kids, more of what we love

Wat?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

But when they came for my key-telling ear...I said nothing.  So I said "SPEAK UP!"  And then some other shit happened, and I got old.  And I can no longer breakdown music like I used to.  I get it, small loss in the grand scheme of things.  But it's a music forum, and a thread about the greatest rock band of all time.  So let me sulk.  But I can still dissect Zeppelin with the best of 'em.  It's the soundtrack of our youth.  I am grateful they were in the background.  These kids today...who the fuck even figures into the score?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I remember keys from playing songs on guitar.  Only songs I've listened to/played lots and lots of times.  I can't just turn on the radio and tell the key of a song, that's a totally different thing.  But some Zeppelin, some delta blues, some classic rock, etc.  Some of those songs (maybe a few dozen in total), I can tell the key from having played it or just listened to it so damn much.  99% of songs' keys are a mystery to me, like with most people.  Tonic chords also help a lot.  But this is a thread about a band's music I know really, really well so I chimed in with that.  I won't be knowing keys on the Nirvana thread anytime soon because I've never given a shit about their music and I won't start anytime soon.

Edited by Lobo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fellas... fuck me, man. Listening to Coda tonight. This is the greatest band that ever lived and anyone that might argue otherwise should... like, hug your Beatles records I guess? Because you're wrong. Sorry.

This is all unused B sides. If not C sides. Random bullshit they had tracked that didn't make the cut. 

Just... holy fucking shit. I can't comprehend being this talented.  And I'm pretty talented. 

A lot of it centers around Bonham, to be fair. If not most of it. The geniuses die young. 

I mean... even some better bands would be lucky to ever record something as good as Hey, Hey.

God damn they were awesome. 

(Who wants to talk about Alice in Chains?)

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/20/2022 at 9:33 AM, Lobo said:

I remember keys from playing songs on guitar.  Only songs I've listened to/played lots and lots of times.  I can't just turn on the radio and tell the key of a song, that's a totally different thing.  But some Zeppelin, some delta blues, some classic rock, etc.  Some of those songs (maybe a few dozen in total), I can tell the key from having played it or just listened to it so damn much.  99% of songs' keys are a mystery to me, like with most people.  Tonic chords also help a lot.  But this is a thread about a band's music I know really, really well so I chimed in with that.  I won't be knowing keys on the Nirvana thread anytime soon because I've never given a shit about their music and I won't start anytime soon.

Totally defensible. There are plenty of folks that can discern a key from any song. Just didn't take you for that. Appreciate the honesty - it's still a nice talent to recall they key of shit you've learned.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/26/2022 at 1:46 AM, ztejas said:

Totally defensible. There are plenty of folks that can discern a key from any song. Just didn't take you for that. Appreciate the honesty - it's still a nice talent to recall they key of shit you've learned.

You can tell how well people can discern music keys by reading what they write on a website?  Holy shit...and I thought my gift was cool.  ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Deej said:

Page on the Outrider tour. Skip to the finale

Page playing Stairway with the crowd providing the lyrics. 

 

I saw this very show a couple days earlier in the Cap Centre in Landover, MD...thanks for the memories.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
23 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

I like Zep, but it's time that we all admit that about 30% of their stuff just fucking sucks.  Unlistenable, horrible shit.  Like flip the channel and hope "light my fire" from The Doors is on.  Just that terrible, horrible, bad. 

Arrested Development Eye Roll GIF

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like Zep, but it's time that we all admit that about 30% of their stuff just fucking sucks.  Unlistenable, horrible shit.  Like flip the channel and hope "light my fire" from The Doors is on.  Just that terrible, horrible, bad. 

Gil, read the room my man.


By the way, I like Hot Dog in that I find Brits tongue in cheek attempts at country amusing. Much like the Stones Dear Doctor. Plus the Hot Dog riff is fun to play.
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll have you know I got an A+ in History of Rock Music at The University of Texas.  
And also that I got the joke.
Really I just wanted to brag about my A+ in History of Rock, though.  
So thanks for that.

How did you get in? I registered for it every semester 85-89 and never got it. Seems like you had to suck someone off if not an RTF major.
Link to comment
Share on other sites


How did you get in? I registered for it every semester 85-89 and never got it. Seems like you had to suck someone off if not an RTF major.


Who knows with the vagaries of the phone registration system? I took it either in Fall 94 or Spring 95. It was still a very popular class then. It was in the auditorium at the UGL and completely full.

I also saw the profs band at the Saxon Pub. That was fun.
  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Chad Fuck said:


Gil, read the room my man.


By the way, I like Hot Dog in that I find Brits tongue in cheek attempts at country amusing. Much like the Stones Dear Doctor. Plus the Hot Dog riff is fun to play.

And "Far Away Eyes"

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...