Led Zeppelin song by song thread

The Rover-I used to really love this song. Not quite sure why but I don't hold it in quite as high esteem today. To me it's really about the phased sounding riff. I love how the groove starts however after about the first "chorus" I start to get a little bored. I like the little bit "You got me rockin' when I ought to be rollin" (especially the simple but effective Page melodic guitar power chording underneath).
A fine song but again just not really close to top tier for me by Zeppelin's standards IMHO.

 

Funny, I’ve always thought of this as Zeppelin’s Sabbath inspired tune. Huge riff and a great bit of funk to it. One Zeppelin’s better heavy rockers in my estimation.

 

Custard Pie/Rover - what a spectacular one two punch album opener. Probably only beaten by Black Dog/Rock & Roll for sheer rock power and awesomeness.

 

Isn't The Rover the definition of swagger? My, what a song, brilliant. Bonham and Jones are almost behind the beat and on top of that you have that meandering Page riff followed by Plant doing that hippie thing. The world is yours to own when you listen to this. It's got that "we've seen things you wouldn't believe " feeling that only Zep could conjure up.

 

I too always thought the chorus was Sabbathy, due to Page's heavy chords. He didn't very often have a very heavy rhythm sound like that and it is quite Iommi-esque.

 

The chorus, exactly.

I said bridge thinking of the intro, but it does become the chorus.

 

I know. The "character" Robert is singing in "The Rover" has this attitude like he's the biggest badass who's been all over the place. It's almost like a precursor to all the macho, self-aggrandizing "No one is more awesome than me" posturing that came years later with rap and hip hop. So, kind of autobiographical for him. Although I used to think he was singing "I know two-trippin's just too far" rather than "I know to trip is just to fall."

I'm starting to really wish they'd done this one live in its entirety.

 

The Rover

More distinctive than Custard Pie, and that’s a very nasty sound Page is getting from his guitar on this track. I agree with those who compare this to a Sabbath-like assemblage. I personally pull this track off of PG and play it with the HOTH tracks from whence it came, as it matches up well with No Quarter’s dark tone. But as a PG track it’s top notch and deserves its place on side 1 of the LP.

 

The term is Iommian

 

I'm firmly in the pro-Rover camp, but sonically it's the worst song on Physical Graffiti, and apparently that's because of some screw-up with one of the lead guitar tracks, which had to be "rescued" from another tape. I don't know the exact details, but I gather it required an extra tape bounce or some such, degrading the sound. I won't claim the phasey quality of the riff was not by design, but I do wonder if it sounds weaker or more phasey than originally intended because of the technical issue. Especially because so many of the other tracks recorded at the time (this was the Houses of the Holy sessions) sound so clean and open by comparison.

At any rate, a wonderfully filthy groove - not to mention, IMHO Page's outro soloing is among the best he ever put on tape.

 

I guess I’d prefer Wanton Song/Rover as a 1-2 opener, but I agree that Zep was making an opening statement here that they were interested in some HARD rockin’ on this LP.

I could’ve gone for a whole album’s worth of the more esoteric pieces on PG, and to an extent that side of PG is a very logical extension of the atmospheric pieces that ended up on HOTH. But I think the band was also interested in reminding people that they could ROCK in a way that they hadn’t on HOTH. PG has a cluster of very muscular rock tracks, while HOTH omitted them almost entirely, and even The Ocean does’t rock the same way that Custard Pie, Wanton Song, or Sick Again do.

 

Iommianatic.

 

PG was never my favorite Zep lp.I just preferred the more melodic and power riffs of the previous lps to the dirty,grungy sound of PG.I know were are not there yet but Kashmir has to be the most overrated Zep song.Not saying I don't like it it is just not my fav Zep Lp.

 

Yeah in listening to the track with headphones last night there is something about the phasing. My initial reaction to the song has always been it's just Page using a phaser pedal on this riff and that's it. However through headphones it's almost like they applied phasing afterwards to the whole track because there are times throughout the song where different parts of the phase shift appears to affect all the instruments depending on the rate it is set. When I focus on just the guitar it sounds pretty and unaffected-meaning it's a pretty dry signal(similar to the Custard Pie sound) until the overall phasing of maybe the track occurs? I might be hearing things too though and overthinking this.

 

Great one two punch with Custard Pie and The Rover. I love both songs. Actually, there is only one or two songs on the whole of PG that are not top tier Zep to me, and even those two are still eminently listenable.

Pretty hard to top the original versions, of course, but The Jimmy Page / Black Crowes cover version of Custard Pie is a great one. Blackberry Smoke does a surprisingly spot on and quite excellant version of The Rover.

 

n My Time Of Dying



One of those epic length tracks that doesn't seem as long as its running time would indicate. The band is in top form here. Even the band members are listed in the writing credits, this is a update of a old gospel blues numbers dating back to the 1920s.

 

One more for The Rover... probably my favorite Zep song to crank up...off my favorite album. Absolutely love this song. Never thought of it as Sabbath-like though. One of my favorite solos also...wish it was a bit longer.

If I had to pick a single "desert island" song, this could be it. Monstrous riff and guitar tone but melodic and fun...a true gem.

 

In My Time of Dying is a big let down after the sensational Rover for me.

How they felt this could be dragged out to 11 minutes I have no idea. On and on with the same stuff being bled to death. Drums are great but a bit too loud for me. When playing this on CD I almost always skip this one. Could have been a great 4-5 minute track but this song overstays its welcome, IMO.

 

I lived in that building for 4 years, almost everyday there were Led Zep fans standing outside taking pictures

 

This song is great. It goes and goes, and it just keeps getting better as it goes. My first reaction is to be bored with the slow beginning, but it just keeps growing. It has that live-in-the-studio feeling of some of the beefier “rock” tracks on PG, but I really enjoy that style of recording on this quieter track. The tempo and volume changes are superb.

 

When I bought PG, "In My Time of Dying" was hands down my favorite track. And I could not stand "Kashmir". What can I say, I was 15. Now I love them both.

 

"In My Time of Dying"

A master class on slide guitar playing and terraced dynamics. It's the first thing we've heard that resembles a I IV V blues from them in a while (there are no blues numbers on Houses). The longest track on an album with a reputation for being full of long tracks. The lyrics about “wings failing below” always makes me think of the Swan Song logo. Love the military call-and-response drums in the middle section, but the best part comes after Robert says “Oh my Jesus” several times a capella and the band comes back in...we get my favorite Bonham fill of all time, where goes crazy on every cymbal at once. But yeah, the last minute or so has me getting impatient. Coverdale/Page played a pretty good rendition on their '93 Japanese tour.

 

from the youtube comments..

 

I've never gotten pregnant from listening to the drums in this song (I'm male), but it did allow me to glimpse God

 

This may be my favourite track on the album (@Rose River Bear - Is that a danelectro guitar or something? It sounds very single coil before the distortion kicks in, like some old lipstick pick-ups)
This song has such great dynamics and when the change comes in it is pure 24 karat stuff. Tight enough to be taken seriously, loose enough to let it all hang out. Of course Bonham is just mesmerising ....
This song is fantastic and comes close to knocking Levee off as my favourite zep track
The first cd pressing missed the "dying cough" bit off the end, which was disappointing ... it's a great dilligaf moment