LED ZEPPELIN II
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Less than a year after the release of the crushingly heavy & near flawless masterpiece known as their self-titled debut album, LED ZEPPELIN released their sophomore follow up, LED ZEPPELIN II, on the 22th and the 31th of October 1969 (in the US & UK, respectively).
While something of a departure from the blues-centric focus of their debut, LED ZEPPELIN II included a significant refinement and enhancement of their overall sound, including new instrumental arrangements, song structures, lyrical imagery, and most notably: a guitar solo AND a drum solo!
ZEPPELIN on the Interwebs: https://www.ledzeppelin.com/
other ZEPPELIN episodes:
Released 22 October 1969
Recorded April–August 1969
Label Atlantic
Producer Jimmy Page
Tracks
Side one
1 Whole Lotta Love
2 What Is and What Should Never Be
3 The Lemon Song
4 Thank You
Side two
1 Heartbreaker
2 Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)
3 Ramble On
4 Moby Dick
5 Bring It On Home
Prepare to learn the identity of “The John Bonham of Thrash”, discover why “Juicy Banana” would have been a more anatomically accurate song title (unless it was more about girth than length) and why “magma hoof” sounds incredibly hot, exotic, and dangerous. It’s time to turn that “hammer knockin’” stereo all the way to loud, crank up the black lights and lava lamps in the mancave, break out your bowl of relaxers, “bring back the ‘original’ original formula” and JOIN US as we dive into the sophomore slam that is LED ZEPPELIN II.
WHOLE LOTTA LOVE:
(Ahem)
This might have been the earliest form of hard rock/heavy metal that would have been deemed considerably darker than the norm in rock music at the time. The guitar starts off heavy, the bass comes in even heavier, and then the drums come in even heavier than THAT! There’s definitely a “whole lotta” weight behind that sound.
Between the sliding guitars during the chorus, the tribal pulse of the high hat, bongos, and theremin during the middle section, and the hyper frenetic, pulsating, vibrating momentum of the music being panned back and forth (and back again) you can literally FEEL the breathing and “movement” of sex and the audio depiction of making love and/or fucking the life out of each other.
Get ready to squirt…together…ladies & gentleman…
(Insert guitar solo here…)
“*djunt djunt…djunt djunt*”
(Just an observation, but those are, without question, the heaviest djunts ever recorded during a guitar solo!)
Upon reflection, it would seem that “Whole Lotta Love” perfectly represents (sonically, anyway…) the act of making love and achieving (hopefully mutual) climax. Pure sexual energy all the way; that’s all this song is. It’s dirty, it’s distorted, and it’s heavy…much like the act of making love.
“Shake for me girl…
I wanna be your backdoor man…”
WHAT IS AND WHAT SHOULD NEVER BE:
I’m not sure people truly grasp the level of production texture and atmosphere that each Led Zeppelin album (and song) possessed. Led Zeppelin might have been one of the first bands to really capture the energy of a “jam session” in each and every recording they ever produced.
The “headphone moment” is most excellent: listening to the back and forth of the panning and the reverb and the effects through the headphones as the band heads towards the outro and the final riff of the song. It definitely has a weirdly modern yet subtle retro vibe that somehow sounds ahead of its time yet also totally fits.
“And if you say to me tomorrow,
Oh, what fun it all would be,
Then what’s to stop us, pretty baby,
But what is and what should never be…”
THE LEMON SONG:
Okay, so first of all: a lemon!?
Bruh, why not “The PLANTAIN Song”!? It’s just so much more…y’know…substantial.
Seriously, go BIG or go home!
Honestly, lemons are kinda small, but hey, you go and get your lemon squeezed (or squoze) by whoever you need to.
I’m just sayin’… I think “The Banana Song” would have been a much better visual (but then, I’ve never seen anyone squeeze my banana until banana juice ran down my leg. And that’s primarily because bananas aren’t really known for being juicy).
This song just straight up reeks of “strip club / titty bar” music as it has that sleazy, 70’s swagger to it, which makes me wonder if they actually used to play Led Zeppelin albums at titty bars in the 70’s (I’m sure they did). Surely, this song HAD to have been played in every gentleman’s club throughout the late 60’s and all throughout the 70’s. That gong and that opening guitar riff would seem to indicate that “Heidi” is coming to rock the mainstage at the Tits & Teats Strip-O-Rama.
Ironically, it’s the perfect song for a lap-dance, which should be renamed “The Lemon Dance” because, just like with The Lemon Song, eventually, a squoze lemon during The Lemon Dance is gonna send some juice running down one’s leg…in the V.I.P. room, that is.
Still that same heavy bluesy-ness from the first album, but with a little more swagger and stank.
That fast, middle part almost has a weird Elvis sort of vibe to it, like how in the 60’s they’d break into a faster break and then slow everything back down again. Kinda like sex as you get older. You’ve got a solid minute of full barrel action before you slow back down to a crawl. Basically, the exact opposite of a “breakdown” you’d expect to hear in today’s modern metal.
I think that’s it: Led Zeppelin were one of the first bands to really capture their live jam energy and sensibilities in a studio environment, which is what made them such an incredible band to see live as you were never likely to ever see the same, exact show twice…EVER!
“Now take it down a bit…”
THANK YOU:
Truly a beautiful, genuinely tender love song.
The perfect accompaniment to a wedding ceremony taking place during a beautiful sunset, where you will be joined together with your beloved forever, in the presence of close friends, family, and The Almighty. You would not have a dry eye in the house if this was played at your wedding, guaranteed.
“And so today my world it smiles,
Your hand in mine, we walk the miles,
Thanks to you, it will be done,
For you, to me, are the only one…”
HEARTBREAKER: C’mon, that is a timeless and crushing riff. And EVERYTHING about the interplay between the guitar, bass, and drums makes this track exceptionally heavy. That’s a heavy guitar riff and beat, but that BASS is insane!!! It’s so far up in the mix and distorted that it almost gives off a stoner metal, weird Kyuss energy at one point…you can almost feel it.
(Guitar solo, take one)
Strangely, the guitar solo almost seems out of place, yet (as usual) it just works!
Yeah, maybe it’s got some dirt, some missed notes, and some stank, but it’s Jimmy Page and the transition back into the song is perfect, once again, giving the perfect insight of what it’s like to capture the creative genius of a jam band as legendary as Led Zeppelin, in a studio, in front of microphones, and replicate their greatness for all time on vinyl, 8-track, cassette, or whatever CD’s are made of, assuming they’re even made anymore.
It’s always been an oddity in rock and metal how this song by itself & Living Loving Maid (She’s Just A Woman) by itself just don’t sound right without each other, played together. They just go together somehow, it’s just beyond weird.
It’s Led Zeppelin weird.
“Well, it’s been ten years or maybe more since I first set eyes on you,
The best years of my life gone by, here I am alone and blue,
Some people cry and some people die by the wicked ways of love,
But I’ll just keep on rolling along with the grace of the Lord above…”
LIVING LOVING MAID (SHE’S JUST A WOMAN)
I’m sorry, but a purple WHAT, exactly!?
“With a purple umbrella and a 50-cent hat…”
You really just cannot NOT hear this song after hearing Heartbreaker. It’s just one of those facts of life that’s accepted because radio (before it sucked) helped make it that way.
There are certain songs in rock & metal that are like that. Just like with Postmortem & Raining Blood. It’s the exact same thing.
“When your conscience hits, you knock it back with pills…”
RAMBLE ON:
It certainly does have a very fall vibe to it. You can almost feel the temperatures drop with this song; the imagery of falling leaves, harvest time, and autumn. Zeppelin is simply perfect music for the fall. The imagery of the vocals, and the feel of jamming ‘round the fire and passing one ‘round in the circle.
NOTE: The first 5 Zeppelin records pair well with Fall (as do the first 6 Sabbath records).
The harmony guitar melody interlude was literally the perfect amount of lead guitar for the song.
“’Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor,
I met a girl so fair,
But Gollum and the Evil One,
Crept up and slipped away with her…”
MOBY DICK:
“John Bonham, Moby Dick!!!”
An instrumental focusing primarily on the gifted talents of Led Zeppelin’s wizard of timekeeping and percussion, Mr. John Henry Bonham. Plus, that riff is just solid: good, heavy, and grooving. The perfect segue into one of the most powerfully recorded studio drum solos in all of hard rock and heavy metal.
If you need to know just how hard John Bonham makes contact with his drums, just listen to this song. You can hear his impact from the distortion coming through the speakers! If you can’t tell by the microphone distortion alone how HARD John Bonham is hitting his drums, then you will never truly understand his sheer power.
In fact, there are elements of the drum solo on Moby Dick that can be heard all throughout Zeppelin’s career. Check out the soundtrack to The Song Remains The Same and the How the West Was Won live album to see why there is only one John Bonham.
BRING IT ON HOME:
One of the best killer closers ever with one of the best, bluesy buildups ever. The subdued 12-bar blues guitar line and that lonely harmonica really paints a dreary picture of being out on a lonely, deserted street after dark. Definitely a mood changer.
“Watch out, watch out…magma hoof…”
If you really listen, there are TONS of textures and layers to Led Zeppelin’s music, so much so that it hardly seems comprehensible that such a gargantuan sound was created with only 4 people.
There’s just a certain kind of magic about the 4 English gentlemen that we collectively refer to as Led Zeppelin.
If you take any one of those 4 ingredients out of the Led Zeppelin recipe, it doesn’t work.
It’s magic. It’s sonic sorcery. There’s just no other word for it.
God Bless Led Zeppelin.
Show Notes:
(00:01): “Fuck the foreplay, get to the penetration…” / #shownotes #thedocket / #OakRidgeBoysASMR #Elvira / “What? Really?” / #bewbs or #boobs / “You’ve got the second best boobs…” / ***WARNING: #listenerdiscretionisadvised *** / #thisepisodesclinkyoftheepisode #thekraken #blackroast / ***WELCOME BACK TO THE METAL NERDERY PODCAST!!!*** / #interdimensionalpodcast / #thisepisodesbeeroftheepisode (“Snotta beer…”) / #SunnyDVodkaSeltzer #hammerknockin #theverdict
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(“You could #daydrink that all day long…”) / “It’s not your #whiteclawweekend…” / #AmericanBeverageCorporation www.sunnydcocktails.com #fourpointfivepercentABV / #NO / BUT…If we DID…***YOU COULD LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL AT 980-666-8182!!!*** or you could email us at metalnerdery@gmail.com / ***IF YOU’D LIKE TO PURCHANDISE SOME MERCHANDISE YOU CAN GO TO metalnerdery.com/merch ***
(07:41): #RussellsReflectionsASMR #whitewaterrafting #teambuildingevents / “I didn’t want Mexican or barbecue until you said that…” / Remember school pizza? #pizzarectangles / “As we’re going down… “ #markthetime (“During the boring parts…”) / The home of #CocaCola #Pemberton / “Guide-Duh…” / #likeafuckinboss (“The morphine isn’t working…”) / “Dear Coca-Cola people…” #scarfacecoke #bringbacktherealthing / “Totally Coked out…in Columbus…” / #andnowyouknow / “You’ve gotta eat first…” / #RussellsWorkaroundsASMR / “Like John Bender’s abusive dad…” / “I gave him a pillow…” / “It’s the same argument…” / “We DID have some #shittah…” #NativeAmericanMetal #BlackBraid (Very cool artwork and cool sounding band name and description) / “Some of the best mixed #blackmetal…” THE SPIRIT RETURNS (“Thanks Bobby!”) #blastbeatASMR / #bandcamp / #jingle WE’LL PLAY YOUR SHIT-TAH!!!
(20:45): #TheDocket METAL NERDERY PODCAST PRESENTS: LED ZEPPELIN II / Early experiences with #LedZeppelinII / Someone should bring back #MidnightMovies with #TheSongRemainsTheSame / #FUS vs #FUK / Led Zeppelin II: The first Zeppelin album with the most radio hits? / #misheardlyrics (“Those English people have different words…”) / “If you hear one without the other…it’s weird.” / Never played live? / #coffeetablebook #LedZeppelinExpandedEdition #MartinPopoff
/ “Dave had this room…” / #posterized #blacklightposters (“The ultimate #mancave…”) / #spoileralert / “Every time…I find something new.” / #yeah / October 22th and October 31th, 1969 / “That’s my new favorite way…” #clarification #theywerenot / “I’m gonna go shower now…” / “I win…” / How about a… WHOLE LOTTA LOVE #thebreakdown (“Don’t come yet!”) / “The heaviest part during a guitar solo…” #djuntdjunt / #turnitoff / WHAT IS AND WHAT SHOULD NEVER BE #snaps (“You could not take out any of those four…”) / “Here we go…this part!” #usethoseheadphonesASMR / “Hey ho!” / “He was good about scattin’…” / #unpopularopinion / “If you remove one…it’s not the same.” / The magic of the combination of musical elements and the impact of Bonham’s drums and Jones’ bass & keyboards on Jimmy Page’s guitar sound / #challengeaccepted / “Who do you think the modern-day equivalent of #JohnBonham is? Or is there one?”
(44:04): “Maybe he’s like #TheJohnBonhamOfThrash?” / THE LEMON SONG (“I should have quit you…a long time ago…”) #leadbass (“He’s like Geezer…he’s all over the place!”) / “She likes a LOT of lemons…” / “That’s pee…” / “So lemons are kinda small, right?” / #thebananasong #juicybanana / “People get #educated in a number of ways…” / #weddingsong #firstdance THANK YOU (“That’s two or three guitars, layered…”) / “Isn’t that the worst thing you could say to a woman?” #nobananahandlintonite / HEARTBREAKER (“The bass is HUGE…it makes the sound on this album.”)
(55:50): Thoughts on the guitar solo… (on “Heartbreaker”) / Perspectives regarding Jimmy Pages’ solos vs his riffs / “Those missed notes add personality…” / #unintendedbrilliance #accidentalgenius (“It’s RILL.”) #guitarsolo / “With a purple operator and a 50-cent hand…” “I don’t think about #MaryPoppins…” /#bartstinkslikeamotherfucker / “She’s got a Cadillac?” / LIVING LOVING MAID (SHE’S JUST A WOMAN) #talltales #complexbasslines / “You’re not JPJ…” / “This one has apparently never been played live” #autumnvibes (“It reminds me of fall…”) RAMBLE ON / “A lot of moving parts…” / #JohnHenryBonham MOBY DICK #airdrumkaraoke (“You can hear how loud he plays…”) / “There’s an idea…” / #usethoseheadphonesASMR #drumsolo / BRING IT ON HOME #magmahoof (“Still gives BIGNESS to the sound…”) / “You just leave it alone…” / #NO / “If you’re looking at the #LedZeppelinCatalog , where does Zeppelin II fit for you?” / Further analysis required… #futureepisodeidea / A fitting (albeit horrific) analogy… / “Like Sabbath and Paranoid…” / “Especially NOW… “/ #snakeprincess #easyfella #LMAOASMR (“Desperately Seeking Slytherin…”) #snaketeats / a free plug to #JayWardComedy and #thursdaynightsatnine #DarkTimesComedy #SweetwaterBarAndGrill #nightpoops #misheardlyrics / “And a baked apple pie…yeah!” / ***THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!!! *** You can email us, voice mail us, and dot com us after you .com us.*** / #untilthenext #byeguys / ***GO CHECK OUT OUR MERCHANDISE at metalnerdery.com/merch AND MAKE A PURCHANDISE FROM THE BUNKERPOON GIFT SHOPPE!!!*** / #outroreel