Best LED ZEPPELIN studio album

What's the best Led Zeppelin studio album?

 

Gotta go with Houses. Playing it a _LOT_ right now in its target CD incarnation, which sounds wonderful!

 

We did this one back in June last year.

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16250&highlight=forum+favorite+led

Let's watch to see if we get far different results.

 

For me...The debut Saw them on their first US appearance! A memory I'll always cherish

 

I'm going with Graffiti, only because it's the only one that I would listen to right now, having memorised their entire studio output like the back of my hand.

 

My heart want's III, but I had to go with II. That's the album I grew up on, heard first and the most.

 

Wow! That must have been something!

II is my favorite. Heartbreaker was the first LZ song I ever heard and I was immediately hooked. I always play side 2 first, so LZ II for me starts with Heartbreaker and ends with Thank You.

 

The untitled 4th album, played to death on classic rock radio, but still my favorite.

 

Wow, that was ten years before I was even born!

 

II is one of the best rock records ever made.

 

Voted for HOUSES. Every other Zep album has at least one song I'm sick of, but I never seem to tire of Houses.

 

I voted for III... the acoustic tracks are the best!

 

Houses has that great live in the studio sound, lots of guitar and a certain energy. Plant's voice is starting to show the strains of touring, but this record seems a little less pretentious than other Zep, so it gets my vote.

 

HOTH also gets my vote. Houses has the best production, and great variety musically. Sure, I have favorites on all of Zeps albums, but as an album this work stands head and shoulders above the rest.

I also love that harpsicord at the end of "Over The Hills And Far Away".

 

Very tough choice! I voted for "IV". That album just rocks. However, I still love Houses for the Holy, II, and heck, all the others too.

 

The first one! Very closely followed by II....

 

The first one was so different than anything else out at that time - IMO it's still their best, I like the rawness of it, and one of my all time favorite LPs!

 

The first one gets my vote, always loved the raw sound of it. Frankly, I am surprised at the success here of 'Houses'. Not to take anything away from that album, it just never hit the nail squarely with me as most of the others.

 

I voted for Physical Graffiti although all of the outtakes on Disc 2 drag it down in places....

Chris

 

Whole Lotta Love, Living Loving Maid, Bring it on Home, Lemon Song.
Zep. II for me.

 

I voted for LZ II. Nothing gets skipped on this album. It also contains one of my favorite Zep tunes, "Ramble On".

 

My favorite is III. First of all my all time favorite Zep tune is Tangerine. Secondly I love the bluesy "Since I Been Lovin' You"." Immigrant Song" is a great opener and "Gallows Poll" just flies. Finally I think it's a really diverse record with a lot of different colors and it really shows the depth of the band for the first time. They rocked from day one but this one shows that they could really roll too.

Peace-
Norm

 

I voted for IV, but I also love them all. The one that never seems to get the appropriate praise it honestly deserves IMO is "In Through The Out Door".

 

It was GREAT! We were about 5 feet away! They weren't mega stars yetEspecially exciting for a young teenager!