Led Zeppelin Released January 12, 1969 The Blueprint. This is the LP that took the late-Sixties British-supergroup formula and trashed it. True to the day's form, Led Zeppelin was a band of white boys playing heavy blues, but nobody had ever played the blues this heavy. "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" and "How Many More Times" are prototypical Zep anthems, hiding their subtleties beneath a sledge-hammer attack. At the time, the album annoyed the hell out of a lot of people; it also changed rock & roll irrevocably.

Led Zeppelin II Released October 22, 1969 The Hit. Sure, the debut sold a ton of copies, but its follow-up has "Whole Lotta Love", a bona fide blow-out-the-speakers anthem. Less bluesy than its predecessor, less experimental in its mixture of electric and acoustic textures, Led Zeppelin II is in many ways a safer album. But it consolidates the band's strengths with real authority. This is the sound of a band that knows its strong points.

Led Zeppelin III Released October 5, 1970 The Change-Up. This, on the other hand, is the sound of a band looking for new strong points, and baffling some listeners in the process. Side two consists mostly of acoustic music - albeit hard-driving acoustic music. The album drew negative reviews, and it sold fewer copies than its predecessors. In retrospect, though, Led Zeppelin III is more than simply a turning point for the band; it's also a daring, solid work from a band that was becoming as comfortable with nuance as with force.

Led Zeppelin IV Released November 8, 1971 The Watershed. Officially untitled, this album made the world's biggest hard-rock band the world's biggest rock band and ensured that Zeppelin would be the once and future kings of heavy metal. And it's the album where the band put it all together into a seamless, distinctive whole; the rockers, the epics, the flowery sentiment and the bluesy grunge. And, of course, it's the album with "Stairway to Heaven." Some of the Middle Earth imagery seems silly nowadays, but all of the album still sounds convincing - that is, if you're not already sick of hearing it on the radio so damn much.

Houses Of The Holy Released March 28, 1973 The Follow-Up. What do you do after you've changed the face of rock music twice in four albums and in the process created the new rock anthem? If you're Led Zeppelin, you make a varied, tough record and then watch people attack it because it's not Led Zeppelin IV. With twenty-three years of hindsight, Houses of the Holy sounds like a solid and eminently respectable successor that takes the band on needed forays into a few new musical areas. Zeppelin steadfastly refused to follow a huge hit with its carbon copy. Although not the ultimate hard-rock record, Houses is a remarkably enjoyable collection of rock songs from a band that became a genre unto itself.

Physical Graffiti Released February 24, 1975 The Apotheosis. This quite simply is the ultimate hard-rock record. Led Zeppelin's first two-record set, and its most ambitious statement, Physical Graffiti is the album that caused doubters to consider, for a minute or two, that this band might actually be the world's best rock band, not just the biggest. When the album is good, which is most of the time, it is as good as Led Zeppelin gets. A tour de force from guys who know all about force.

Presence Released March 31, 1976 The Quickie. By now accustomed to taking two years between albums, the band recorded this one in a hurry. Naturally, it has a more offhand, less grandiose feel than Physical Graffiti, though in many ways it's a scaled-downed version of that album. It's the work of a group that can quickly dash off an authoritative rock album but apparently needs more time to make something special.

The Song Remains The Same Released September 28, 1976 The Overdose. The soundtrack from a concert movie shot in 1973, The Song Remains The Same is Led Zeppelin for people who simply can't get enough. Once you get past the four relatively short songs on side one, an eleven-minute version of "Stairway to Heaven" is the shortest song on the last three sides of the album. "Dazed and Confused" goes on for nearly twenty-seven minutes. This is a typical "you hadda be there" live album that showcases the band's force but misses the subtleties.

In Through The Out Door Released August 15, 1979 The Comeback. It had been three years since a Zeppelin studio album and two years since an American tour, years of breakup rumors and personal tragedies. The musical climate had changed significantly - disco and punk had arrived. Led Zeppelin was beginning to look obsolescent when the band members went back to work in the studio and made a cohesive, surprisingly powerful album that could hold its own with much of their finest material. When John Bonham died the year after this album was released, the impressive comeback became an appropriate finale.

Coda Released November 18, 1982 The Leftovers. Two years after Bonham's death, someone scoured the vaults for enough odds and ends to make up one more Zeppelin album and came up with six studio recordings from four different sessions, one rehearsal recording and a dressed-up drum solo. At less than thirty-two minutes total, this is the band's slightest album in more ways than one. Still, it's got some terrific music on it; it traces the band from 1969 to the In Through The Out Door sessions in 1978. There is nothing indispensable on Coda, but neither is there anything to sully the band's reputation.

Copyright © 1996 Shashi Narain