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It was 1969 and hard blues was born, known in history as HARD ROCK.
Its birth certificate is LED ZEPPELIN II (1969).
Its first cry is "Whole Lotta Love" (which takes its inspiration from "You Need Love" by Willie Dixon): a heart-pounding riff and vocal pathos.
In this album (which, along with Deep Purple's "In Rock," set the standard), the guitar, bass, and vocal surge in unison in "Heartbreaker," featuring a stunning solo by Page as the interlude; the marvelous lyrics in "Ramble On" and "Living, Loving Maid"; and Bonham’s legendary bare-handed drum solo in "Moby Dick" parallel the legendary bass lines stressed by Jones in "What Is And What Should Never Be" and the captivating "The Lemon Song," while "Thank You" is nothing but a splendid dedication from Plant to his wife, woven on twelve strings in the genius-infused fingers of Page.
The superb closer "Bring It On Home" announces what the next record offering will be.
Led Zeppelin III (although it contains the best blues piece these ears have ever heard: "Since I've Been Loving You") opens the door to alchemy and esotericism with Celtic folk atmospheres that dominate the latter part of the work (the old side "B" of the vinyl). These would be revisited ("Going to California" and "Battle of Evermore") and fused with hard rock ("Black Dog" and "Rock And Roll") in Led Zeppelin IV, which, thanks to the ballad "Stairway To Heaven", cements their status as rock legends.
But the masterpiece that contains the abc of hard rock remains Led Zeppelin II: the unique and true manifesto of the genre in the career of the legendary English group. The path is outlined by "Dazed And Confused" and "Communication Breakdown" in the debut album of the same year, where the shades of "psychedelic blues rock" ("Babe I’m Gonna Leave You", "I Can’t Quit You Baby", and "How Many More Times") of Anglo-Saxon origins, much loved by the likes of Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, Yardbirds (the New Yardbirds, later known as Led Zeppelin, were a contractual footnote imposed by the historical manager Peter Grant), are still very strong, along with bright reminiscences of traditional "folk" ("Black Mountain Side") and even "beat" ("Good Times Bad Times").
A review of their studio repertoire shows a musical development largely free from adherence to convenient musical labels and, in any case, to limit it to hard rock would be frankly reductive: but live, it was indeed, in every respect, the prototype of hard rock bands, complete with admirable escapes into endless improvisations (very often the concerts extended well beyond the setlist): the performances at Madison Square Garden, New York (1973) and Earl's Court, London (1975), remain legendary. Terms like "axe-man" and "front-man" would gain right of citizenship in the rock vocabulary after witnessing the guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant dueting on stage. Bonham’s power mixed with creativity would influence the next generation of heavy drummers. Let's not forget the extraordinary contribution to the bass as well as keyboards from Jones. In short: the entire band would represent an indelible icon of hard rock, exalted "on the road".
The death of John Bonham would precede what seemed inevitable: the dissolution that effectively happened in 1982 with a compilation titled (unequivocally) "Coda," which would gather unpublished remnants from previous works in which ("Houses Of The Holy," "Physical Graffiti," and "On Through The Out Door") the quartet would remain distant (except for some moments in "Physical Graffiti") from the masterpiece in question. Ten years later, "Remasters" was released, while Nirvana's "Nevermind," released the previous year (1991), was fully unfolding its effects.
It was 1992, and the ailing Hard Rock received the coup de grâce from the overwhelming and equally ephemeral zeal of the "grunge" by Kobain and his merry band from Seattle (by merry band I refer to the "bandaradàn" commercial hub centered in Seattle that, through a marketing operation already tried twenty years before with punk, spread the illusion that a simple attitude was a real musical style).
Rock Profile (by Filippo Guzzardi)
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
04 Thank You (04:24)
If the sun refused to shine
I would still be loving you
When mountains crumble to the sea
There will still be you and me
Kind woman, I give you my all
Kind woman, nothing more
Little drops of rain
Whisper of the pain
Tears of loves lost in the days gone by
My love is strong
With you there is no wrong
Together we shall go until we die, oh my my
An inspiration is what you are to me
Inspiration, look, see
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
Happiness, no more be sad
Happiness, I'm glad
If the sun refused to shine
I would still be loving you
Mountains crumble to the sea
There will still be you and me
07 Ramble On (04:15)
Leaves are fallin' all around
It's time I was on my way
Thanks to you, I'm much obliged
For such a pleasant stay
But now it's time for me to go
The autumn moon lights my way
For now I smell the rain
And with it pain
And it's headed my way
Ah, sometimes I grow so tired
But I know I've got one thing I got to do
Ramble on
And now's the time, the time is now
To sing my song
I'm goin' 'round the world
I got to find my girl
On my way
I've been this way ten years to the day
Ramble on
Gotta find the queen of all my dreams
Got no time for spreadin' roots
The time has come to be gone
And though our health we drank a thousand times
It's time to ramble on
Ramble on
And now's the time, the time is now
To sing my song
I'm goin' 'round the world
I got to find my girl
On my way
I've been this way ten years to the day
I gotta ramble on
I gotta find the queen of all my dreams
I ain't tellin' no lie
Mine's a tale that can't be told
My freedom I hold dear
How years ago in days of old
When magic filled the air
T'was 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, her, her, yeah
Ain't nothing I can do, no
I guess I'll keep on
Ramblin'
I'm gonna... sheyeah (Sing my song)
I gotta find my baby
I'm gonna ramble on, sing my song, gonna work my way, go around the world (Ramble on)
Baby, baby (Yeah)
Do do do (Baby) do do do, my baby (Ramble on, babe)
Do do do do do do do de do de do de do de do de, yeah, yeah (I can't stop that feeling anymore, everytime I think about my babe I think I got someone)
I gotta keep-a-searchin' for my baby
Baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby babe
Ooh, ma ma ma ma ma ma ma babe
Sheyeah, yeyeah, yeyeah, yeyeah, yeyeah, yeyeah, yeyeah, yeyeah
Ma ma ma ma ma ma baby
Ooh, I can't find my bluebird
I listen to my bluebird sing, but I can't find my bluebird
09 Bring It On Home (04:20)
Baby, baby
I'm gonna bring it on home to you
I've got my ticket, I've got that load
Got up, gone higher, all aboard
Take my seat, right way back, ooh yeah
Watch this train roll down the track
I'm gonna bring it on home
Bring it on home to you
Watch out, watch out, make room
Try to tell you baby
What you tryin' to do?
Tryin' to love me baby
Love some other man too
Bring it on home
Bring it on home
Went a little walk downtown
Messed and got back late
Found a note there waitin', it said
"Daddy, I just can't wait"
Bring it on home
Bring it on home
Bring it back home
Bring it back home to me baby
Tell you, pretty baby
You love to mess me 'round
I'm gonna give you lovin', baby
Gonna move you out o' town
Bring it on home
Bring it on home
Sweetest little baby
Daddy ever saw
I'm gonna give you lovin' baby
I'm gonna give you more
Bring it on home
Bring it on home
Bring it on home
Bring it on home
Bring it on home to you
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Other reviews
By Antonino91
This record marks the beginning of hard rock and will surely be the hardest rock record of Led Zeppelin’s career.
"Whole Lotta Love" features one of the best drumming performances ever and a psychedelic shift that mesmerizes the listener.
By Alchimista
The music world stood still: the 'Brown Zeppelin' was about to storm the record market.
'Whole Lotta Love' would drag into an orgasmic vortex, rich in adulterous passions and adolescent disturbances.
By Torre Ste
The definition of the genre called Hard-Rock is encapsulated in just 41 minutes engraved in an album that has become a legend.
From here on, music would never be the same again. You have to listen to understand what will happen next.
By Dexter
The album opens in a shocking way, with tracks never taken to such a granitic power.
Whole Lotta Love… has entered the list of the most beautiful riffs in rock history.
By paolofreddie
Whole lotta love, famous for its catchy and insistent guitar riff, will mark the history of rock.
Led Zeppelin II is an anthem for those who live for rock.
