158 - Led Zeppelin I

If Quicksilver‘s Happy Trails wasn’t my bag, then Led Zeppelin I definitely is, thankfully. The excitement of revisiting an album like this is just too much to take. I’ve downloaded it on my phone for a trip to London, it is for long dog walks in the rain and in the car. By far, my best experience has been with these Martin Logan Electrostatic ESL Xs, which are basically mind-blowing, with an expansive soundstage, and with the Moor Amps amplifier, just spectacular.  I recall Jimmy Page, I think, talking about recording Led Zep I or II, receiving a pressing and putting it on a pair of Electrostatic QUADs in the 60s.  That’s what I’m doing here.

Like Hendrix’s Cross Town Traffic, You Shook Me Baby surely stands as one of the most explosive blues records of its time, and early gigs with these guys must have been fabulous. This track and I Can’t Quit You, Baby, with Page’s dancing guitar, are the standout moments for me; however, Dazed and Confused ” offers progression and a signpost to their future direction.

This album signals the end of the psychedelic era and projects the band towards American domination and the birth of stadium rock.  Many will suggest Led Zep I and II, in particular, are the original Heavy Metal albums that influenced many, including Deep Purple and Black Sabbath.

I have a connection to the formation of Led Zeppelin: the story is that ex-Yardbird Jimmy Page and Robert Plant met in Pangbourne, where I grew up in my later teenage years and worked in the working men’s bar there.  Thank goodness the Yardbirds split up in 1968, leading to this supergroup merging together in Berkshire.

Finally, I can’t get out of my mind how many “Baby, baby, babys” there are on this album. Led Zep II will have something to say about this, baby…

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