Rating Led Zeppelin albums

by Dan Gephart in Song Reviews, Uncategorized

Ever since my kids got Guitar Hero last year, my classic rock expertise has become hip again. They find it amazing that I can name any song on our South Florida rock station 98.7 The Gater, and usually within 10 seconds. OK, that may not impress you. But it floors my kids. And since they think everything else I do is either stupid or old (they are teen-agers), I have to enjoy whatever compliments I can get.

It’s strange hearing one son blast Kansas and Boston. (Boy, could he have picked two more faceless bands?) Meanwhile, my other son digs Billy Joel. They’ve been playing U2 nonstop the last few days. And now when they find out about a band, they ask me which album is the best.

Son: “Dad, what Aerosmith album should I get?”
Me: “Son, stick to the ones before 1978 and don’t ever let me hear you play Dude Looks Like a Lady.”

Then I go off on a tangent about how I feel responsible for all the horrible music Aeorosmith has made over the last 20-plus years because I attended their Back in the Saddle reunion tour. By then, they’ve stopped listening to me and they’re back focusing on their MySpace pages.

But I digress. The headline says something about Led Zeppelin. So where does that come in? Well, the latest request from my kids was to help them determine which Zep albums were best. And I thought I’d share my rankings for you. And I’m sure you’ll share my son’s dismay that Zoso didn’t make the cut. It’s also known as Led Zep IV, Four Symbols and Runes, but he knows it as the album with Stairway to Heaven.  (Note: I never count greatest hits or live albums in these lists.)

5. In Through the Outdoor. All right, go ahead and laugh. But this album showed Zeppelin could flex its muscles beyond the standard heavy blues-rock.  This was John Paul Jones’ record and he clearly shined, with the exception of the dreadful All of My Love.

4. Presence. This is the group’s most underrated album – by far. This one is all about the electric guitar and it’s all over the place. A complex, yet engaging album.

3. Led Zeppelin II. It’s a tough call picking between their first two albums, but II  was when the band first fully melded its blues roots with that heavy rock sound. Some music critics call it the first heavy metal record. It’s not that, but it became the blue print for numerous hard rock bands that followed.

2. Houses of the Holy. This is the group’s most accessible album. It’s got the reggae-influenced D’Yer Mak’er and the funky Crunge. It was a clear break from the complacency that had settled in with their previous album. Sure IV is considered one of the greatest of all-time, but try to listen to it now. Then put on Houses of the Holy and you’ll quickly see which has aged better.

1. Physical Graffiti. I can survive if I never hear Kashmir again, but this album is just loaded with classic after classic. Not only is it Zep’s heaviest album, but it’s also its most diverse from the hard riffs of Custard Pie to the lilts of Down by the Seaside and the boogie of, well Boogie With Stu.