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After the exhausting tour supporting their second chapter/masterpiece, Led Zeppelin took a well-deserved break that ended with a return to Bron-Y-Aur in the remote lands of Snowdonia in northern Wales, and the sketching of what would become the band's third official recording. The band's live activity never took a backseat, used both to keep their muscles warm and to solidify their reputation as a superband that was steadily building itself. At "The Festival Of Blues And Progressive Music" held in Bath on June 28th, 1970, an oceanic crowd of 150,000 people gathered eagerly to listen, after performances by Byrds, Moody Blues, Country Joe, Santana, Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention, Moody Blues, Flock, Santana, and Jefferson Airplane, to the top act of the illustrious lineup represented by Led Zeppelin.
In the old country house of Headley Grange, the work is recorded where the band, more than in the previous albums, feels the need to lean towards strongly intimate atmospheres, favoring folk/acoustic compositions. The pressures from the record company, wanting a new album quickly, weighed down on the four musicians, almost convinced that to draw proper inspiration, they should migrate to California, an idea soon abandoned and replaced by the choice of the idyllic stretches of Wales. Despite an equitable distribution on the two sides of the album between inspired exuberant pieces and soothing slow songs not devoid of that strongly restless musical soul at the base of the Zeppelin sound, the opening is left to "Immigrant Song", a musical monolith in which Plant's cries of invasion propel an invincible shock wave ready to suppress everything it encounters, making the track ideal for opening concerts, at least for the immediate tours. The following "Friends" represents that musical alter ego with which Zeppelin have expressed their passion for acoustic sounds and more laid-back settings; a track, in short, where - thanks to Page's unique guitar tuning that indulges in scales reminiscent of Indian culture - one can relish the natural flow of enticing strings, appreciable throughout the entire track.
The straightforward rock of "Celebration Day", precedes the exasperating execution of "Since I've Been Loving You", where a strong emphasis is placed on the dramatic yet delicate vocal interpretation, as well as on the instrumental performance highlighted by the continuous "call and response" between Page and Plant, culminating in one of the most beautiful solos of their entire production. The album continues at high levels with "Out On The Tiles" an enticing blend of class and energy, where Bonham's exquisite skill is revealed without limits, proudly making the track one of the most pleasant to hum. The awaited new features compared to the previous two studio works are represented by the traditional folk cadence of "Gallows Pole", where one can listen to the ingenious combination of electric/acoustic guitar/banjo that, together with the metronomic rhythm section, intensifies the narrative of the condemned prisoner escaping his unhappy fate:
Hangman, hangman hold it a little while, I think I see my friends coming, Ridin' many a mile. Friends, you got some silver?Did you get a little gold? A-what did you bring me my dear friends Keep me from the gallows pole? What did you bring me Keep me from the gallows pole? I couldn't get no silver, I couldn't get no gold. You know that we're too damn poor To keep you
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