Led Zeppelin
II

It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N Roll), would be sung just a few years after this release by the no longer rookie AC/DC! From my very modest historical-musical knowledge, I have observed that any band at the beginning has always had to toil to exhaustion to catch a glimpse of the distant possibility of reaping some well-deserved fruits in the near future. The commitment and effort naturally go exponentially higher for all those who, rightly remembered for leaving some important mark of their passage, managed to imprint an indelible incision in the history of rock, capable of surviving the inevitable passage of time.

What is said above can only find full application in the history of the Led Zeppelin, who after the first work published in March 1969 (in the USA it was anticipated to January), saw the four musicians spend most of the same year promoting the said record, reserving minimal time for the recording of the second chapter. Let us remember that the tours of the period saw them as protagonists between the United States, Europe, and Canada, still managing to find time for recordings of the new production wherever they were, from Olimpic Studios in London to Mirror Sound in Los Angeles, from A&R Studios in New York to the Hut in Vancouver.

Through these tracks, one can savor an exemplary reworking of the blues and rock styles that had characterized the genre up to that moment, along with an exclusive search for melodic solutions, completely seasoned with a raw and straightforward sound that will personalize the elite identity of the album. The overwhelming personality of Jimmy Page manifests in all his egocentrism, - from the protection of artistic autonomy to the irrepressible development of his innate musical instinct -, prioritizing conveying to the listener that the group plays in the musical direction he established.

A cough (?) initiates one of the historic riffs of rock, where an invading bass enters together with the virile voice of Plant, with a decisive and robust drumming to complete the picture. Its name is "Whole Lotta Love", where beyond the energetic backbone of the Led Zeppelin sound, we find a bit of everything: from the fake vocal orgasm, to the diverse sounds proliferated by Page (Napalm attack on the Mekong delta, women in spasmodic excitement, braking trains, etc...) to a presence of Bonham not always in the foreground, but incessantly necessary. In short, a track that will be the starting point for the band, for building that reputation as fathers of hard rock which they will carry throughout their career more than the lascivious lyrics do, helping the critics also to define the Zeppelin as uncontrollable rascals (I don't want ah- (?)You've been coolin' and baby I've been droolin'. All the good times, baby I've been misusin'. A-way, way down inside, I'm gonna give you my love, I'm gonna give ya every inch of my love, I'm gonna