Album of the Day — October 14
Album of the Day — October 14
Led Zeppelin — III
Led Zeppelin — III
Album of the Day
Led Zeppelin
III
1970
I realize “Immigrant Song” is one of Led Zeppelin’s most popular songs. For me, it’s 2:25 of shrieking. I’d almost rather listen to a three-month-old with colic.
Heresy, I know, but once you get past Robert Plants wailing call to the Norsemen, Led Zeppelin III is one of Led Zeppelin’s strongest and most consistent albums.
And that’s saying something.
Perhaps one of the things that make Led Zeppelin albums so good is that the group was very much a brother in arms and ran a tight ship.
Before the era of bloated bands, session musicians, groupies, and a myriad of hangers-on, it was the four band members:
Jimmy Page — guitars
Robert Plant — vocals
John Paul Jones — bass
John Bonham — drums
and the manager, Peter Grant. It was, for all intents and purposes, the five of them against the world. And throughout the band's career, this was the case in both creative and business endeavors.
For Led Zeppelin III, in addition to co-writing the songs, playing guitars, Jimmy Page was producing (as he had on the two previous albums) with Grant executive producing, and the incomparable Andy Johns (The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton) engineering.
[Fun Fact: Andy Johns (d.2013) was the brother of producer Glyn Johns (The Who, Kings of Leon) and uncle to producer Ethan Johns (Emmylou Harris, Paul McCartney).]
By 1970, after two very successful albums, a load of wildly successful touring, Led Zeppelin had become the biggest band in the world. Considering they had formed in 1968, that’s quite an accomplishment.
After a quick stop at a proper studio in London, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page decided to retreat to Snowdonia, Wales, to write for their third album.
It was at the 18th-century cottage Bron-Yr-Aur that the two wrote the majority of Led Zeppelin III. The cottage had no electricity or running water, which helped fuel the acoustic sound of the record. It didn’t hurt that this was also the dawn of the “California sound.”
More importantly, the band had become determined to prove they were more than just a “rock band” …and had discovered American guitar player John Fahey:
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John Fahey — Old Girlfriends and Other Horrible Memoriesmedium.com
In addition to a more acoustic sound, Led Zeppelin’s autocrat Jimmy Page had relinquished some of his power.
Aside from “Tangerine,” Robert Plant was still the lyricist, but musically the band had evolved into a more democratic unit.
Plant and Page may have conceived the foundations of the songs at Bron-Yr-Aur, and when Jones and Bonham were summoned to begin rehearsing, they were able to contribute and offer up their own ideas.
Just as they had on the previous albums, Led Zeppelin tapped into the past.
“Gallows Pole” is a re-arrangement of the traditional folk song, “The Maid Freed from the Gallows.” In particular, the version recorded by American folk musician Fred Gerlach.
“Tangerine” is a Jimmy Page original that dates back to his days with The Yardbirds.
“Hats Off to (Roy) Harper” is a tribute to their friend folk singer-songwriter Roy Harper and based on “Shake ’Em On Down” by Delta blues artist Bukka White.
Aside from the blues-based dirge “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” many of these songs ratchet up the Zeppelin repertoire in both songwriting and musically.
“That’s the Way” is a sweet ode to friendship (or any relationship) that can’t last. The song was originally titled “The Boy Next Door,” and according to writer Dave Lewis the song: “Was written in Bron-Yr-Aur about the problems two people face in a relationship and the clashes with their families”:
That’s the Way
I don’t know how I’m gonna tell you
I can’t play with you no more
I don’t know how I’m gonna do what mama told me
My friend, the boy next door
I can’t believe what people saying
You’re gonna let your hair hang down
I’m satisfied to sit here working all day long
You’re in the darker side of town
And when I’m out I see you walking
Why don’t your eyes see me
Could it be you’ve found another game to play,
What did mama say to me
That’s the way,
Oh, that’s the way it ought to be,
Mama says that’s the way it ought to stay, yeah, yeah oh oh
And yesterday I saw you standing by the river,
And weren’t those tears that filled your eyes,
And all the fish that lay in dirty water dying,
Had they got you hypnotized?
And yesterday I saw you kissing tiny flowers,
But all that lives is born to die
And so I say to you that nothing really matters,
And all you do is stand and cry
I don’t know what to say about it,
When all your ears have turned away,
But now’s the time to look and look again at what you see,
Is that the way it ought to stay?
That’s the way
That’s the way it oughtta be
Oh don’t you know now
Mama said mama said, that’s the way it’s gonna stay, yeah, oh oh
Like most of Led Zeppelin’s work, Led Zeppelin III was largely poo-pooed by critics but lapped up by their fans. Jimmy Page was so fed up with the critics that he wouldn’t give an interview for 18 months. Shockingly, two of the rock critic monoliths, Lester Bangs and Robert Christgau, liked the album.
CRITICS:
Lester Bangs in Rolling Stone: “What’s great about it, though, the Zep’s special genius, is that the whole effect is so utterly two-dimensional and unreal. You could play it, as I did while watching a pagan priestess performing the ritual dance of Ka before the flaming sacrificial altar in Fire Maidens of Outer Space with the TV sound turned off. And believe me, the Zep made my blood throb to those jungle rhythms even more frenziedly…Finally, I must mention a song called “That’s the Way,” because it’s the first song they’ve ever done that has truly moved me. Son of a gun, it’s beautiful.”
Robert Christgau actually liked Led Zeppelin III: “I have always approved theoretically of Led Zep’s concept, and now the group has finally whipped it into shape. It’s amazing to realize that Robert Plant’s vocals can convey that same overbearing power when Page plays acoustic, as he does to great effect on several cuts here. No drum solos, either. Heavy.” (initially, an A- album but somehow later changed to a B+).
Led Zeppelin III had pre-orders that came close to one million (at the time, that was monumental) and would go on to sell six million albums in the United States and would continue the band’s trend of going gold and platinum around the world.
While the band had yet to reach their creative peak — Led Zeppelin III continues the band’s march towards that peak and world domination.
Both would come in short order.