October 5, 1970 - Led Zeppelin III

Just three days after my last release and about a year since their second album, Led Zeppelin released their third album "Led Zeppelin III" on October 5, 1970. It has a much more folk feel than their first two albums, with several acoustic tracks. It features another two "reworkings" of songs just like their other albums, both of which are traditional songs. They had a lot to live up to with the huge success of their first two albums, but Led Zeppelin were determined to show they could play other styles of music. Let's see how it goes!

Side 1 begins with "Immigrant Song" which opens with an awesome, very catchy riff. The bass and guitar play this riff for pretty much the whole two-and-a-half minute song, but it never seems to get old. We hear Robert Plant's one of a kind voice as he wails along with the music. The lyrics reference Norse mythology and talk of war, and Plant shows that he has a great singing voice, as well as his patented yells. The next song is called "Friends" and is carried by a really cool acoustic guitar riff by Jimmy Page. There's also a great strings arrangement written by John Paul Jones. Page plays some great guitar throughout the song and at the end there is a trippy note that leads right into the next track "Celebration Day". Page plays a a great fast guitar riff that leads the song and Jones backs him with some pretty good bass as well. We hear our first guitar solo of the album (a stark difference to their other works thus far) but it's not even a flashy one, I think I like the main riff better. We hear lots of Plant's antics and some guitar flourishes to close it out. Track 4 is the longest song on the album, a blues-based song more like their previous albums titled "Since I've Been Loving You". It has a slow bass and drum beat and over 7 minutes for Page to show off his stuff. Jones plays the Hammond organ on this track as well, and while Page's lead guitar is certainly attention-grabbing there is a lot of great organ in the background of this song. Plant sings how since he's been with a girl, he works all day and is about to lose his mind. Page goes off for a really amazing extended solo that words don't really do justice to. They go back to the main riff afterwards and we hear some cool drum fills from John Bonham, as well as some more great yelling from Plant. I love when he really gives it his all, as he does in this epic track. Side 1 ends with "Out On The Tiles", which sounds like a more typical rock song led by another great Page riff. The chorus is all about love and after a couple more verses they switch to a different riff to end out the song with some more nice fills by Bonham.

Side 2 starts with the first "reworking", called "Gallows Pole". It's based off an old folk song called "The Maid Freed From The Gallows", with the Zeppelin arrangement written by Page and Plant. Page plays banjo and Jones plays mandolin as Zeppelin continue to stay mostly unplugged. The first verse has acoustic guitar and guiet singing, while both of them pick it up in the second verse. I'm not a big fan of the banjo, but the mandolin sounds cool and Page is playing electric guitar by the end if the song. The next track "Tangerine" also starts with a cool acoustic guitar riff. I really like Plant's singing in this one and after a couple verses of just him and Page, Bonham and Jones join in and we hear a nice guitar solo. Track 8 is called "That's The Way", which features Page on twelve-string acoustic guitar. Jones plays mandolin again and with the 12-string Page is able to really show off. It sounds really great and he also plays a pedal steel guitar solo that sounds pretty good. Bass and percussion finally join the mix for the last minute or so. Page and Plant wrote the next song "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" after staying at Bron-Yr-Aur cottage. It has an awesome acoustic guitar intro as well as a stompin' drum beat and hand claps that give it a real dancing vibe. Page plays a really great guitar solo similar to the opening before they stomp out one last verse. The final song on the record is titled "Hats Off To (Roy) Harper", which is a reworking of the 1930s blues song "Shake 'Em On Down" by Bukka White. It starts with some weird distorted guitar and echo-y vocals. It's a strange sounding blues song, but it does have some more great acoustic playing by Page. 

That is the end of "Led Zeppelin III", and I think if Led Zeppelin set out to prove with this album that they could play music other than hard rock, then they definitely succeeded. This album is really well done, and has a lot of great acoustic parts. Compared to most other music at the time, this is a very fine album indeed, but compared to their previous two albums is a much different story. Obviously the band purposely didn't play hard rock songs with several electric guitar and organ solos, but it's those absolutely crazy bits that make Led Zeppelin so amazing, and their first two albums are just oozing it. Therefore, I believe this album to be their worst one so far, but that is no way a knock on this record, but a testament to their first two. See you in "a few weeks" for a new band to the library!