Goal: Become a legit Led Zeppelin Fan: Led Zeppelin II

In case you missed it, here's my take on Led Zeppelin I.

Today's album in review: Led Zeppelin II

1. "Whole Lotta Love"-- A pretty awesome, gritty rock song. Gets way trippy in the middle, but wins you back in the end by going back to sweet guitar riffs. Robert Plant's vocals are insane and so hard core. Just great.

2. "What Is and What Should Never Be"--This song exemplifies my favorite type of Zeppelin song: mellow verse, rockin' chorus. Some nice distorted guitar solos, but what really wins me over is the bass line in this song. It gives it an overwhelming sense of chill.

3. "The Lemon Song"--Kind of Jimi Hendrix meets Blues Brothers*. Not my favorite, but has enough ridiculous double entendres to keep my entertained.

4. "Thank You"--This is one of my favorite Zeppelin songs. I love the organ so much. Almost as much as I love heavy rock bands going for a ballad. This song has both, so it's a win-win situation. It's a mellow, driving around sort of song.

5. "Heartbreaker"--Emo kids, take note. This is how you get back at your ex-woman--rock her out of your life with heavily distorted guitar riffs.

6. "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)"--Probably the closest to a pop song as you're going to get this album. I mean that in the sense that the song is way fun to sing along to. Sample fun lyric: "Alimony, alimony payin' your bills/ livin', lovin', she's just a woman!"**

7. "Ramble On"--A perfect rock song, a perfect driving around song: acoustic verse, light electric guitar killer bass line bridge, rocking chorus. Other great features: harmonizing guitar solo and references to Lord of the Rings. I say any time is a good time to sing about Gollum and Mordor.

8. "Moby Dick"--One of the catchiest guitar riffs I've ever heard featuring some cowbell. The only down fall is that the bulk of the song is drum solo, which gets a little bit old, but then the guitar and bass come back in.

9. "Bring it On Home"--The song sounds like what the title is: harmonica, blues chord progression. Then it randomly rocks out in the middle--12 bonus points!***

Overall assessment: Probably the most listenable Led Zeppelin album, by which I mean I can just sit down and listen to the album without skipping any songs. With the exception of "The Lemon Song", the songs are fairly short and pretty accessible. Well done sophomore effort, Led Zeppelin. Well done.


*My knowledge of blues is limited to occasionally hearing my dad's collection of Keb Mo, BB King, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Forgive me.

**Exclamation point added. It's just so fun to sing.

***Note: I'm not actually scoring the albums. But this musical surprise is awesome.