Led Zeppelin II

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Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin II cover
Studio album by Led Zeppelin
Released October 22, 1969
Recorded January-August 1969
Olympic Studios, London;
Mirror Sound, Los Angeles;
Mystic Studios, Los Angeles;
Morgan Studios, London;
A&R Studios, New York City;
Juggy Sound Studio, New York City;
Atlantic Studios, New York City;
Mayfair Studios, New York City;
Hut, Vancouver.
Mixed at A&R Studios.
Genre Hard rock
Heavy metal
Length 41:29
Label Atlantic Records
Producer(s) Jimmy Page
Professional reviews
Led Zeppelin chronology
Led Zeppelin
(1969)		 Led Zeppelin II
(1969)		 Led Zeppelin III
(1970)


Led Zeppelin II, also known by the unofficial nickname The Brown Bomber, is a rock and roll album, the second released by English band Led Zeppelin in 1969. Here they further developed ideas established on their debut album, creating a work which became even more widely acclaimed and arguably more influential.

Contents

[edit] History

The album was recorded during a hectic and much-traveled period of the band's career from January through August 1969, when they completed four European and three American concert tours. Each song was separately recorded, mixed and produced at various studios in the UK and the US. The finished tracks reflect the raw, evolving sound of the band and their innovations as live performers.

Led Zeppelin II largely writes the blueprint for 1970s hard rock. Blues-derived songs like "Whole Lotta Love", "Heartbreaker", "The Lemon Song" and "Bring It on Home" are now standards of the genre, where the guitar-based riff (rather than vocal chorus or verses) defines the song and provides the key hook. Such arrangements and emphases were at the time atypical in popular music. As such, the album is generally considered to be very influential on the development of rock music, being an early forerunner of heavy metal, and inspiring a host of other rock bands such as Deep Purple, Van Halen and Guns N' Roses.

Led Zeppelin II also experimented with other musical styles and approaches, as on the alternately soft-and-loud "What Is And What Should Never Be" and "Ramble On" (which featured Page's acoustic guitar), or the pop-influenced ballad "Thank You". With its mysterious atmospherics, "Ramble On" helped develop hard rock's association with fantasy themes, which had partly derived from the psychedelic rock of two to three years before, but also from lyricist Robert Plant's personal interest in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien. This direction would later culminate on Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album (and countless subsequent groups would later carry the influence to further extremes). Conversely, the instrumental "Moby Dick" features an extended drum solo by John Bonham, which would later be extended to a half-hour or more in live Led Zeppelin concert performances.

Jimmy Page's contribution to this album was significant, as his electric guitar solo on the song "Heartbreaker" was emulated by many younger rock guitarists, and exemplifies the group's intense musical attack. Page's innovative recording and drum miking effects on tracks such as "Ramble On" and "Whole Lotta Love" also demonstrated his considerable skill, resourcefulness and originality as a producer.

This album was Led Zeppelin's first to utilise the skills of recording engineer Eddie Kramer, whose prior work with Jimi Hendrix had impressed the band's members, especially Page. Kramer and Page formed a strong partnership in the mixing room, as exhibited in the central section of "Whole Lotta Love". As Kramer said, "The famous Whole Lotta Love mix, where everything is going bananas, is a combination of Jimmy and myself just flying around on a small console twiddling every knob known to man."

The "Brown Bomber" album sleeve design was from a poster by David Juniper. It was based on an old photograph of the Jasta Division of the German air force during World War I, with the faces of the four members of the band airbrushed on from a 1969 publicity photograph. (The German air force used Zeppelins as airships for bombing military and civilian targets during the war). The faces of band manager Peter Grant and tour manager Richard Cole were also added. The woman in the picture is Glynis Johns, the mother from Mary Poppins. Her presence in the photo is an obvious play on the name of recording engineer Glyn Johns. The other face added was that of bluesman Blind Willie Johnson.

Commercially, Led Zeppelin II was the band's first album to hit #1 in the US knocking The Beatles' Abbey Road from the top spot. It also yielded Led Zeppelin's biggest hit, with the track "Whole Lotta Love". This song reached #4 on the Billboard Top 100 in January 1970, after Atlantic Records went against the group's wishes by releasing a shorter version on 45. The single's B-side, "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)", also hit the Billboard chart, peaking at #65 in April 1970. The commercial success of this album also brought with it — as with their debut album — accusations of plagiarism (e.g. Willie Dixon's claim to the lyrics for "Whole Lotta Love"[1]).

In 2000 Q magazine placed Led Zeppelin II at number 37 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. Also in 2003, Rolling Stone magazine declared the album the 75th greatest album of all time.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Whole Lotta Love" (Bonham/Dixon/Jones/Page/Plant) – 5:34 [1]
  2. "What Is and What Should Never Be" (Page/Plant) – 4:46
  3. "The Lemon Song" (Howlin' Wolf/Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) – 6:18 [2]
  4. "Thank You" (Page/Plant) – 4:47
  5. "Heartbreaker" (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) – 4:14
  6. "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)" (Page/Plant) – 2:38
  7. "Ramble On" (Page/Plant) – 4:24
  8. "Moby Dick" (Bonham/Jones/Page) – 4:21 [instrumental]
  9. "Bring It on Home" (Dixon/Page/Plant) – 4:21[1]

Note: Some cassette versions of the album altered the song order so that Side One ended with "Heartbreaker" and Side Two began with "Thank You," presumably to make the length of each side approximately the same. On vinyl versions, Side One ended with "Thank You" and Side Two began with "Heartbreaker." This order is reflected above and is preserved on all CD releases.

[edit] Credits

[edit] Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1969 Pop Albums (Billboard 200) 1

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year Single Chart Position
1969 "Whole Lotta Love" Pop Singles (Billboard Hot 100) 4
1969 "Heartbreaker" Pop Singles (Billboard Hot 100) 20
1969 "Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)" Pop Singles (Billboard Hot 100) 20

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c In 1985 Willie Dixon won damages, and the right to a credit, over allegations that the lyrics of "Whole Lotta Love" plagiarised his "You Need Love", first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1962. Dixon is credited on the album How the West Was Won. On Led Zeppelin II, the beginning and ending of "Bring It on Home" are lifted from a Willie Dixon song of the same name (recorded by Sonny Boy Williamson in 1963). Dixon is not listed on the original album, but is credited on How the West Was Won. Williamson sound clip (in Windows Media format)
  2. ^ "The Lemon Song" was based on the song "Killing Floor" written by Howlin' Wolf (Chester Arthur Burnett); the Zep camp settled with Burnett's publishers in the early 1970s. "Killing Floor" was also being performed live by Led Zeppelin around the time their first album was released.


[edit] External links

Led Zeppelin
Jimmy Page · Robert Plant · John Paul Jones · John Bonham
Discography - (Category)
Studio albums: Led Zeppelin · Led Zeppelin II · Led Zeppelin III · Led Zeppelin IV (Led Zeppelin IV) · Houses of the Holy · Physical Graffiti · Presence · In Through the Out Door

Live albums: The Song Remains the Same · BBC Sessions · How the West Was Won
Compilations: Box Set · Profiled · Remasters · Box Set 2 · Complete Studio Recordings · Early Days: Best of Led Zeppelin Volume One · Latter Days: Best of Led Zeppelin Volume Two · Coda
Films
The Song Remains the Same · Led Zeppelin DVD
Other
Peter Grant · Richard Cole · Swan Song Records · The Yardbirds · XYZ · The Firm · Page and Plant · Strange Sensation · Bootlegs ∙ Concerts ∙ Songs
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