I gave my ranking above (in short, minus the live albums, Physical Graffiti, III, Presence, IV, In Through the Out Door, I, Houses of the Holy, II, Coda), and noted that I rate everything a 10 (which puts Zeppelin close to the top of my favorites). III also took awhile to grow on me so that I'd rank it as high as I do. Re your question, I also started listening to them with the first album, but it might be important in my case to keep in mind that I was only six years old when the first album came out (I was born in October 1962). I heard the album from both an uncle and my older sister. My #1 is Physical Graffiti, and I was 12 when that came out. I don't at all doubt that my age/the years when I was a particular age range has a lot to do with my tastes. It's just that in my case I started listening to music when I was really young. A lot of my earliest memories are of music, which I loved so much that I started taking drum lessons right after I turned 6 (I started just a couple months before Led Zeppelin I came out) after I'd been bugging my folks to let me play drums for a couple years already (apparently seeing a wedding band drummer was what initially gave me the bug to play).
Out of 5 stars: LZ: **** LZ II: ***** LZ III: **** LZ IV: ***** HOTH: **** PG: ***** Pr: *** ITTOD: *** Coda: ** 1/2
Led Zeppelin I - 3/10 Led Zeppelin II - 2/10 Led Zeppelin III - 0/10 Led Zeppelin IV - 3/10 Houses of the Holy - 2/10 Physical Graffiti - 2/10 Presence - 0/10 In Through the Out Door - 2/10 Coda - 1/10
The Crunge and Dyer Maker really knock that record down a couple pegs for me--two missteps on one album with a discography as perfect as theirs matters imho
I like this idea of entry point and would also be curious to know how others were introduced to the band. If I remember correctly, they were touring the US in 1976 (I was 15) but I had no real interest in them. My older sister went to see them about that time but she thought it was just a lot of noise. Wasn't until a year later when I could drive and my friends could drive that I was properly introduced. My family went to church three times a week, in fact my whole social life revolved around this church, not school. Well one of my long time friends at church was kind of turning into a rebel. One night after church, and before the youth devotional we were all going to he asked me to take a ride with him and his friend. He had an old Dodge Dart with un under dash 8-track player. We drove towards the river bottoms to this out of the way cemetery where he parked the car. He was smiling. I think the smile was for the fact the was about corrupt me, an elder's son, with marijuana. Yes, he pulled out a big joint, popped Led Zeppelin 4 into the 8-track player, and the three of us got high in his car, in the back of a dark cemetery, listening to LZ4. We showed up later at the devotional in good spirits. The music, the pot, the eerie dark cemetery, sneaking around, sinning... well it was kind of exhilarating. Kind of perfect intro to the whole culture of the band. Anyway, within a short period of time I had every Zeppelin album. I can't rate each album, I think they are all great. but I can order them like some others have. PG HotH 1 4 2 3 Presence IttOD Coda
A non-fanboy take on Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin I - 6/10 - Bought it on vinyl back in the day, but was never inclined to re-purchase it on CD Led Zeppelin II - 8/10 - Probably my favorite, despite the Lemon Song, which I can't stand Led Zeppelin III - don't have it Led Zeppelin IV - 7/10 - Bought it on vinyl, but never repurchased on CD, likely due to overexposure Houses of the Holy - 8/10 - Yeah, the Crunge is pretty awful and D'Yer Mak'er pretty meh, but it has some of my favorite sings of theirs Physical Graffiti - 3/10 - I bought this on vinyl back in the day and downloaded it once when Amazon had it for $5. I find little of interest here. The Song Remains The Same 5/10 - Dragged down by the overindulgent solos in Dazed, Moby, and Whole Lotta Love Presence - don't have it In Through the Out Door - 5/10 - Has a few songs I like, not love, and loses at least a point for Hot Dog alone. Coda - don't have it
Led Zeppelin I - 8/10 Led Zeppelin II - 8/10 Led Zeppelin III - 7/10 Led Zeppelin IV - 9/10 Houses of the Holy - 10/10 Physical Graffiti - 8/10 Presence - 7/10 In Through the Out Door - 8/10 Coda - 9/10
2 3 Presence Physical Graffiti How the west was won 1 4 HotH Song Remains the Same Coda In thru the out door
Not a fan? That is a lot of low ratings for one of rock's most revered catalogues. Perhaps the most interesting thing is that you do not find one redeeming track on Led Zeppelin III to even give it one star.
I'm not really a fan. It's true. I could hang out with Jimmy Page and Robert Plant and talk music all day long. We love all the same stuff. I just can't really listen to their own work. I tried for years. Believe me.
The title of thread says rank led Zeppelin albums but 99% of thread are people rating each album. Dazed and confused as to the intent of the thread.
1. Physical Graffiti 10 2. Led Zeppelin IV 10 3. Houses Of The Holy 10 4. In Through The Out Door 10 5. Led Zeppelin III 8 6. Presence 8 7. Led Zeppelin II 7 8. Led Zeppelin I 7 9. Coda 6
You can't really expect us to believe you've really listened closely to these albums do you? Get past the hate.
I'm just surprised there wasn't a snark about plagiarism. Anyone who rates Led Zep 3 as "zero" well words fail me
(That's harsh and unfair) This is more like it: (out of 5) Led Zeppelin - 5 II - 5 III - 5 IV - 5 Houses Of The Holy - 4 Physical Graffiti - 5 Presence - 4 In Through The Out Door - 3 Coda - 3.5
Nice thread idea! Difficult. Very very difficult. From the debut album up to "Physical Graffiti" all of Led Zeppelins albums are so very close together and nearly all equally good. I think I have to give them another listen for making a strict song by song evaluation. Maybe tomorrow...
Led zep 1 and 2: not a fan of the "baby,baby,baby" stuff 5/10 Led zep 3: diverse and some great pastoral songs:8/10 Led zep 4:not a bad song on it:9/10 HOTH: a couple of weak tracks but also contains my 2 favourite songs in Over the hills and No Quarter 9/10 Physical Graffiti:epic and interesting:8/10 Presence:miss the acoustic side of the band on this-uniform sound:7/10 Ittod: songwriting not as good:5/10