Excitement does not even come close to my feelings about October 22nd. It's a day that deserves celebration infinitely more than Halloween(totally forgot why Halloween is even celebrated), it will go down many for fans of rock 'n' roll's history as the 40th anniversary of one of the most revolutionary classic rock, hard rock, in fact popular music albums to be released, ever. There had been guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton before Led Zeppelin that brought guitar distortion and solos to a larger mainstream audience, but it was Jimmy Page that took those versions of blues to a much higher level. Zeppelin's first album set the standard for hard rock with riffs from the confident "Good Times Bad Times", the epic "Babe Im Gonna Leave You", the druggy "Dazed and Confused", and of course the impossibly hard rocking "Communication Breakdown", but that standard was only kept for a couple months when their sophomore debut was released only 40 years ago. The album was a huge influence on the development of hard rock and heavy metal for a reason, it had some of the best if not the best instrumentalists in rock's history. Robert Plant kept his fiery, yet passionate vocals, Jimmy Page is #9 on the Rolling Stone's top 100 guitarists of all time for a reason(though i would like to see him one above SRV, along with numerous other changes), bassist John Paul Jones can keep up with the pack, and as for John Bonham(rest his soul), well his legacy is known as the "Moby Dick" drum solo. Another reason is that the songs are placed perfectly with great post "Are You Experienced" psychedelia in between many of the more well known songs. It's as heavy about as heavy as 60s threw at the world, and doesn't tread too far in the drugginess.
"Jimmy Page, Robert Plant... ring any bells?" said Jack Black playing his lead roll in the movie "School of Rock", they(with the exception of Jack Black) must have been late 70's household names. Robert Plant can simply belt and is up their with the greatest voices of rock along with Paul McCartney, Bon Scott, Bono, and Chris Cornell. Plant may be bluesy, but it doens't make it any harder for any (decades too late) newcomers to find out what made Zeppelin pop culture icons. And as for Jimmy Page, he is absolutely impeccable. Making a list of the greatest guitarists of all time must include Page's style, for how he made the electric guitar an even bigger and more important role in a rock band, making Led Zeppelin a major part in the transition from the 60's to the 70's. His riffs from the singles "Whole Lotta Love" and "Heartbreaker" are great, but the guitar solos are what makes them staples in rock history. The Whole Lotta Love solo is of course great, but would be an average 70's rock solo if it weren't for the minute long quiet breakdown that comes before it, once the solo comes in, it comes up as a quintessential "holy crap" moment. Heartbreaker's solo practically defined the next two decades of guitarists with it's rapid fire succession of notes, it's kept my interest for months. The rest of the album doesn't fully show what made Page an influence, but the band surely keeps the interest flowing with a beautiful bluesy feel, more great single note riffs, the acoustic breaks flowing through "Ramble On", and the tight drum solo of Moby Dick.
The second studio album from one of the pioneers of heavy metal might not be their best album, while it's nowhere near as epic as their fourth, it sure as hell rocks harder, and my claim that this is better than the debut is heavily debatable. Either way, at the very least, Whole Lotta Love and Heartbreaker set the standard for the guitar solo, bringing a whole new generation of music with Page's influence ranging from Eddie Van Halen, Alex Lifeson, Slash and Izzy Stradlin, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Joe Perry, just to name a few. As for the rest of the album, it's beautiful, well paced, fun, and an absolutely necessary listen. Hendrix may be the godfather of the electric guitar, but that influence created a monster he might have a hard time keeping up with. Or not, haven't decided yet...
It's weird to put a hendrix vid at the end of this review, I gotta say. But--agreed. Zep 2 is one hell of an album. There is no denying that. I'm going to go see how much of it I have and listen to it right now...