1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 169. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II (1969)

 

The album kicks off with one the most instantly recognisable riffs in rock – the opening bars to Whole Lotta Love (somewhat marred in its rock cachet for being used as the theme for Top Of The Pops for years). Heartbreaker has a distinctive riff as well, but not as universally known as Whole Lotta Love. 

Despite covering a few bluesmen, this is a less overtly bluesy and more rocky album, with only a couple of slower and more melodic tracks (Thank You and Ramble On). The sexual innuendo in the lyrics, which is barely innuendo at all (e.g. The Lemon Song asking to “squeeze my lemon ‘til the juice runs down my leg”) has to be another Spinal Tap inspiration (for e.g. Sex Farm), while Page’s nods to Tolkien in Ramble On surely inspired Tap’s Stonehenge. But seriously, if Gollum steals your girl, something is badly wrong with that relationship.

The final musical note I had was that Moby Dick features a lengthy John Bonham drum solo which although fine, crosses that line where drum solos go from being a fun break to indulgence.

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