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Led Zeppelin (album)
Encyclopedia
Led Zeppelin is the debut album of the English rock
band Led Zeppelin
. It was recorded in October 1968 at Olympic Studios
in London and released on Atlantic Records
on 12 January 1969 in the United States and 31 March 1969 in the United Kingdom. The album featured integral contributions from each of the group's four musicians and established Led Zeppelin's fusion of blues
and rock. Led Zeppelin also created a large and devoted following for the band, with their take on the emerging heavy metal
sound endearing them to a section of the counterculture
on both sides of the Atlantic
.
Although the album initially received negative reviews, it was commercially very successful and has now come to be regarded in a much more positive light by critics. In 2003, the album was ranked number 29 on Rolling Stone
magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
.
had completely disbanded. Guitarist Jimmy Page
, The Yardbirds' sole remaining member, was left with rights to the group’s name and contractual obligations for a series of concerts in Scandinavia. For his new band, Page recruited bassist John Paul Jones
, vocalist Robert Plant
and drummer John Bonham
. During September 1968, the group toured Scandinavia
as The New Yardbirds, performing some old Yardbirds material as well as new songs such as "Communication Breakdown
", "I Can't Quit You Baby
", "You Shook Me
", "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
", and "How Many More Times
". The month after they returned to England, October 1968, Page changed the band's name to Led Zeppelin, and the group entered Olympic Studios
in London to record their debut album.
in September 1968. As Page explained, "[the band] had begun developing the arrangements on the Scandinavian tour and I knew what sound I was looking for. It just came together incredibly quickly."
In addition, since the band had not yet signed their deal with Atlantic Records, Page and Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant paid for the sessions entirely themselves, meaning there was no record company money to waste on excessive studio time. In another interview, Page revealed that the self-funding was to ensure artistic freedom, "I wanted artistic control in a vice grip, because I knew exactly what I wanted to do with these fellows. In fact, I financed and completely recorded the first album before going to Atlantic... It wasn't your typical story where you get an advance to make an album—we arrived at Atlantic with tapes in hand... Atlantic's reaction was very positive — I mean they signed us, didn't they?"
The group recorded their songs reportedly for £1,782. Led Zeppelin expert Dave Lewis noted that "[w]ith the possible exception of the 12 hours that the Beatles took to record their first album at Abbey Road, rarely has studio time been used so economically. Led Zeppelin's debut album went on to gross more than £3.5 million, just short of 2,000 times more than they invested!"
For the recordings, Page played a psychedelic
ally painted Fender Telecaster
guitar, a gift from Jeff Beck
after Page recommended his boyhood friend to the Yardbirds in 1965 as potential replacement for Eric Clapton
on lead guitar. This was a different guitar from those he favoured for later albums (most notably a Gibson Les Paul
). Page played the Telecaster through a Supro amplifier
. He also used a Gibson J-200
, borrowed from Big Jim Sullivan
, for the album's acoustic tracks. For "Your Time Is Gonna Come
" he used an out-of-tune Fender 10-string steel guitar.
, who had previously worked with The Beatles
, The Rolling Stones
and The Who
. According to Page, "The first album is a live album, it really is, and it's done intentionally in that way. It's got overdubs on it, but the original tracks are live."
Page reportedly used natural room ambience to enhance the reverb and recording texture on the record, demonstrating the innovations in sound recording he had learned during his session days. Up until the late 1960s, most music producers placed microphone
s directly in front of the amplifiers and drums. For Led Zeppelin Page developed the idea of placing an additional microphone some distance from the amplifier (as far as twenty feet) and then recording the balance between the two. By adopting this "distance equals depth" technique, Page became one of the first producers to record a band's "ambient sound": the distance of a note's time-lag from one end of the room to the other.
Another notable feature of the album was the "leakage" on the recordings of Plant's vocals. In a 1998 Guitar World interview, Page stated that "Robert's voice was extremely powerful and, as a result, would get on some of the other tracks. But oddly, the leakage sounds intentional." On the track "You Shook Me
", Page used the "backward echo" technique. It involves hearing the echo before the main sound (instead of after it), and is achieved by turning the tape over and recording the echo on a spare track, then turning the tape back over again to get the echo preceding the signal.
The album was one of the first albums to be released in stereo-only form; at the time the practice of releasing both mono and stereo versions was the norm.
Led Zeppelins front cover, which was chosen by Page, features a black-and-white image of the burning Hindenburg
airship. The image refers to the origin of the band's name itself: when Page, Jeff Beck and The Who
's Keith Moon
and John Entwistle
were discussing the idea of forming a group, Moon joked, "It would probably go over like a lead balloon", and Entwistle allegedly replied, "...a lead zeppelin!"
The album's back cover features a photograph of the band taken by former-Yardbird Chris Dreja
. The entire design of the album's sleeve was coordinated by George Hardie
, with whom the band would continue to collaborate for future sleeves.
Hardie recalled that he originally offered the band a design based on an old club sign in San Francisco—a multi-sequential image of a phallic zeppelin airship up in the clouds. Page declined but it was retained as the logo for the back cover of Led Zeppelin's first two albums and a number of early press advertisements. During the first few weeks of release in the UK, the sleeve featured the band's name and the Atlantic logo in turquoise
. When this was switched to the now-common orange print later in the year, the turquoise-printed sleeve became a collector's item.
The album cover received widespread attention when, at a February 1970 gig in Copenhagen, the band were billed as "The Nobs" as the result of a legal threat from aristocrat Eva von Zeppelin (a relative of the creator of the Zeppelin
aircraft). von Zeppelin, upon seeing the logo of the Hindenburg crashing in flames, threatened to have the show pulled off the air. In 2001, Greg Kot
wrote in Rolling Stone
that "The cover of Led Zeppelin... shows the Hindenburg airship, in all its phallic glory, going down in flames. The image did a pretty good job of encapsulating the music inside: sex, catastrophe and things blowing up."
", "Dazed and Confused" and "Communication Breakdown
" displayed a distinctively heavy sound that was uncommon in the late-1960s. Led Zeppelin also featured steel-string acoustic guitar
by Page on "Black Mountain Side
", and a combination of acoustic and electric approaches on their adaptation of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
".
"Dazed and Confused", based on the 1967 Jake Holmes song of the same name, is often considered to be the album's centerpiece; its arrangement features a descending bass line from Jones, heavy drumming from Bonham and distorted guitar riffs and soloing from Page. It also showcased Page playing guitar with a violin bow (an idea suggested by David McCallum Sr., whom Page had met while doing studio session work). This technique was also employed on "How Many More Times
", a song which features a "Bolero" riff and an improvised shift in cadence
. "Dazed and Confused" would become Zeppelin's signature performance piece for years to come.
Many of Led Zeppelin's earliest songs were based on blues standards, and the album also included three songs composed by others: "You Shook Me
" and "I Can't Quit You Baby
", both by blues
artist Willie Dixon
, and "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You". Regarding the last of these, at the time Page mistakenly believed he was adapting a traditional folk song he had heard on a Joan Baez
record, but this was corrected on subsequent rereleases after it was revealed that the song was composed by Anne Bredon
in the 1950s. Dixon, on the other hand, received proper credit as the composer of his two songs on this album (although "You Shook Me" would later be additionally credited to J. B. Lenoir
) but would go on to settle out of court with Led Zeppelin over partial use of other material of his on Plant's lyrics to "Whole Lotta Love
". On "You Shook Me", Plant vocally mimics Page's guitar effects, a metallicised version of the "call and response
" blues technique.
Beck had previously recorded "You Shook Me" for his album, Truth, and accused Page of stealing his idea. With John Paul Jones and Keith Moon, Page had played on (and says he arranged) "Beck's Bolero
", an instrumental on Truth that would be grooved into the mix of the Led Zeppelin jam "How Many More Times". These cross-pollinations led to a rift between Beck and Page, who had played in the Yardbirds together and been friends since childhood. In fact, it was Page who first suggested Beck for the Yardbirds' guitarist position when he was contacted by the band after Eric Clapton's departure.
In an interview he gave in 1975, Page offered his own perspective on the album's music:
Plant is credited on the album with "occasional bass". In an interview he gave to Rolling Stone
magazine in 2005, Plant made reference to this:
magazine asserted that the band offered "little that its twin, the Jeff Beck Group, didn't say as well or better three months ago... It would seem that if they are to fill the void created by the demise of Cream
, they will have to find a producer, editor and some material worthy of their collective talents." It also called Plant "as fop
pish as Rod Stewart
, but nowhere near so exciting". John Paul Jones later recalled:
As was noted by rock journalist Cameron Crowe
years later: "It was a time of 'super-groups', of furiously hyped bands who could barely cut it, and Led Zeppelin initially found themselves fighting upstream to prove their authenticity."
However, press reaction to the album was not entirely negative. In Britain the album received a glowing review in the Melody Maker
. Chris Welch
wrote, in a review titled "Jimmy Page triumphs — Led Zeppelin is a gas!": "their material does not rely on obvious blues riffs, although when they do play them, they avoid the emaciated feebleness of most so-called British blues bands".
The album was very commercially successful. It was initially released in America on 17 January 1969 to capitalise on the band's first US concert tour
. Before that, Atlantic Records had distributed a few hundred advance white label copies to key radio stations and reviewers. A positive reaction to its contents, coupled with a good reaction to the band's opening concerts, resulted in the album generating 50,000 advance orders. Within two months of its release the album had reached Billboard's Top 10. It stayed on the Billboard chart for 73 weeks and held a 79-week run on the British charts. By 1975 it had grossed $7,000,000.
According to Lewis:
In 2003, VH1
named Led Zeppelin the 44th greatest album of all time, while Rolling Stone
ranked it 29th on the magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
. It is widely regarded as marking a significant turning point in the evolution of hard rock
and heavy metal
.
* denotes an unordered list
. This claim is disputed by Mick Wall, author of the Led Zeppelin biography When Giants Walked the Earth.
Some cassette versions of the album reversed the order of the sides. For these versions, side one began with "Your Time Is Gonna Come" and ended with "How Many More Times", while side two began with "Good Times Bad Times" and ended with "Dazed and Confused".
Singles
Note: (*) Remastered sales only
Additional personnel
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
. It was recorded in October 1968 at Olympic Studios
Olympic Studios
Olympic Studios was a renowned independent commercial recording studio located at 117 Church Road, Barnes, South West London, England. The studio is best known for the huge number of famous rock and pop recordings made there from the late 1960s onward....
in London and released on Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
on 12 January 1969 in the United States and 31 March 1969 in the United Kingdom. The album featured integral contributions from each of the group's four musicians and established Led Zeppelin's fusion of blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and rock. Led Zeppelin also created a large and devoted following for the band, with their take on the emerging heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
sound endearing them to a section of the counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
on both sides of the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
.
Although the album initially received negative reviews, it was commercially very successful and has now come to be regarded in a much more positive light by critics. In 2003, the album was ranked number 29 on Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
.
Background
In August 1968, the English rock band The YardbirdsThe Yardbirds
- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
had completely disbanded. Guitarist Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page
James Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
, The Yardbirds' sole remaining member, was left with rights to the group’s name and contractual obligations for a series of concerts in Scandinavia. For his new band, Page recruited bassist John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (musician)
John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
, vocalist Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
and drummer John Bonham
John Bonham
John Henry Bonham was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove...
. During September 1968, the group toured Scandinavia
Led Zeppelin Scandinavian Tour 1968
Led Zeppelin's 1968 tour of Scandinavia was a concert tour of Denmark and Sweden by the English rock band. The tour commenced on September 7 and concluded on September 17, 1968. It was Led Zeppelin's first concert tour...
as The New Yardbirds, performing some old Yardbirds material as well as new songs such as "Communication Breakdown
Communication Breakdown
"Communication Breakdown" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, from their 1969 debut album Led Zeppelin.- Structure :The pounding guitar riff was played by Page through a small, miked Supro amplifier throughout; and ran his Fender Telecaster through a fully closed Vox wah pedal to...
", "I Can't Quit You Baby
I Can't Quit You Baby
"I Can't Quit You Baby" is a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Chicago blues artist Otis Rush in 1956. The song, a slow twelve-bar blues, has been recorded by various artists, including Led Zeppelin, who included it on their debut album.- Otis Rush version :"I Can't Quit...
", "You Shook Me
You Shook Me
"You Shook Me" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and J. B. Lenoir. Earl Hooker first recorded it as an instrumental which was then overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters in 1962....
", "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" is a folk song written by Anne Bredon in the late 1950s. It was recorded by Joan Baez and released on her 1962 album Joan Baez in Concert, Part 1, and also by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, who included it on their 1969 debut album Led Zeppelin...
", and "How Many More Times
How Many More Times
"How Many More Times" is the ninth and final track on English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1969 debut album Led Zeppelin. The song is credited in the album liner to Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, but is listed by ASCAP as written by all four members of the band.-Album version:At eight...
". The month after they returned to England, October 1968, Page changed the band's name to Led Zeppelin, and the group entered Olympic Studios
Olympic Studios
Olympic Studios was a renowned independent commercial recording studio located at 117 Church Road, Barnes, South West London, England. The studio is best known for the huge number of famous rock and pop recordings made there from the late 1960s onward....
in London to record their debut album.
Recording sessions
In a 1990 interview, Page said that the album took only about 36 hours of studio time (over a span of a few weeks) to create (including mixing), adding that he knew this because of the amount charged on the studio bill. One of the primary reasons for the short recording time was that the material selected for the album had been well-rehearsed and pre-arranged by the band on Led Zeppelin's tour of ScandinaviaLed Zeppelin Scandinavian Tour 1968
Led Zeppelin's 1968 tour of Scandinavia was a concert tour of Denmark and Sweden by the English rock band. The tour commenced on September 7 and concluded on September 17, 1968. It was Led Zeppelin's first concert tour...
in September 1968. As Page explained, "[the band] had begun developing the arrangements on the Scandinavian tour and I knew what sound I was looking for. It just came together incredibly quickly."
In addition, since the band had not yet signed their deal with Atlantic Records, Page and Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant paid for the sessions entirely themselves, meaning there was no record company money to waste on excessive studio time. In another interview, Page revealed that the self-funding was to ensure artistic freedom, "I wanted artistic control in a vice grip, because I knew exactly what I wanted to do with these fellows. In fact, I financed and completely recorded the first album before going to Atlantic... It wasn't your typical story where you get an advance to make an album—we arrived at Atlantic with tapes in hand... Atlantic's reaction was very positive — I mean they signed us, didn't they?"
The group recorded their songs reportedly for £1,782. Led Zeppelin expert Dave Lewis noted that "[w]ith the possible exception of the 12 hours that the Beatles took to record their first album at Abbey Road, rarely has studio time been used so economically. Led Zeppelin's debut album went on to gross more than £3.5 million, just short of 2,000 times more than they invested!"
For the recordings, Page played a psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
ally painted Fender Telecaster
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender.Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music...
guitar, a gift from Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
after Page recommended his boyhood friend to the Yardbirds in 1965 as potential replacement for Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
on lead guitar. This was a different guitar from those he favoured for later albums (most notably a Gibson Les Paul
Gibson Les Paul
The Gibson Les Paul was the result of a design collaboration between Gibson Guitar Corporation and the late jazz guitarist and electronics inventor Les Paul. In 1950, with the introduction of the Fender Telecaster to the musical market, electric guitars became a public craze. In reaction, Gibson...
). Page played the Telecaster through a Supro amplifier
Amplifier
Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...
. He also used a Gibson J-200
Gibson J-200
Gibson J-200 is an acoustic guitar model produced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation.Gibson entered into production of this model in 1938 as its top-of-the-line flat top guitar, initially called the Super Jumbo, changing the name in 1939 to the Super Jumbo 200. It was made at the Gibson Factory in...
, borrowed from Big Jim Sullivan
Big Jim Sullivan
Big Jim Sullivan is an English musician, whose career started in 1959. He is best known as a session guitarist. In the 1960s and 1970s, Sullivan was one of the most "in-demand" studio musicians in the UK, and performed in more than one thousand charting singles over his career...
, for the album's acoustic tracks. For "Your Time Is Gonna Come
Your Time Is Gonna Come
"Your Time Is Gonna Come" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on their 1969 début album Led Zeppelin.Guitarist Jimmy Page played an out-of-tune Fender 10-string steel guitar on this track. In an interview he gave in 1977, Page stated that he only learned how to play the steel...
" he used an out-of-tune Fender 10-string steel guitar.
Production
Led Zeppelin was produced by Jimmy Page and engineered by Glyn JohnsGlyn Johns
Glyn Johns is a musician, recording engineer and record producer.-Career:He has worked with such artists as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Easybeats, The Band, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Clash, The Steve Miller Band, Small Faces, Spooky Tooth, The Ozark...
, who had previously worked with The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
and The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
. According to Page, "The first album is a live album, it really is, and it's done intentionally in that way. It's got overdubs on it, but the original tracks are live."
Page reportedly used natural room ambience to enhance the reverb and recording texture on the record, demonstrating the innovations in sound recording he had learned during his session days. Up until the late 1960s, most music producers placed microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
s directly in front of the amplifiers and drums. For Led Zeppelin Page developed the idea of placing an additional microphone some distance from the amplifier (as far as twenty feet) and then recording the balance between the two. By adopting this "distance equals depth" technique, Page became one of the first producers to record a band's "ambient sound": the distance of a note's time-lag from one end of the room to the other.
Another notable feature of the album was the "leakage" on the recordings of Plant's vocals. In a 1998 Guitar World interview, Page stated that "Robert's voice was extremely powerful and, as a result, would get on some of the other tracks. But oddly, the leakage sounds intentional." On the track "You Shook Me
You Shook Me
"You Shook Me" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and J. B. Lenoir. Earl Hooker first recorded it as an instrumental which was then overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters in 1962....
", Page used the "backward echo" technique. It involves hearing the echo before the main sound (instead of after it), and is achieved by turning the tape over and recording the echo on a spare track, then turning the tape back over again to get the echo preceding the signal.
The album was one of the first albums to be released in stereo-only form; at the time the practice of releasing both mono and stereo versions was the norm.
Artwork
LZ 129 Hindenburg
LZ 129 Hindenburg was a large German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume...
airship. The image refers to the origin of the band's name itself: when Page, Jeff Beck and The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
's Keith Moon
Keith Moon
Keith John Moon was an English musician, best known for being the drummer of the English rock group The Who. He gained acclaim for his exuberant and innovative drumming style, and notoriety for his eccentric and often self-destructive behaviour, earning him the nickname "Moon the Loon". Moon...
and John Entwistle
John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...
were discussing the idea of forming a group, Moon joked, "It would probably go over like a lead balloon", and Entwistle allegedly replied, "...a lead zeppelin!"
The album's back cover features a photograph of the band taken by former-Yardbird Chris Dreja
Chris Dreja
Chris Dreja was the rhythm guitarist, and later bassist, in the 1960s British band, The Yardbirds.-Early life:...
. The entire design of the album's sleeve was coordinated by George Hardie
George Hardie (artist)
George Hardie is a graphic designer, illustrator and educator, best known for his work producing cover art for the albums of rock musicians and bands with the British art design group Hipgnosis....
, with whom the band would continue to collaborate for future sleeves.
Hardie recalled that he originally offered the band a design based on an old club sign in San Francisco—a multi-sequential image of a phallic zeppelin airship up in the clouds. Page declined but it was retained as the logo for the back cover of Led Zeppelin's first two albums and a number of early press advertisements. During the first few weeks of release in the UK, the sleeve featured the band's name and the Atlantic logo in turquoise
Turquoise (color)
Turquoise or is a slightly blueish tone of light green. The color is based on the gem turquoise. The term comes from the French for Turkish.At right is displayed the X11 color named turquoise....
. When this was switched to the now-common orange print later in the year, the turquoise-printed sleeve became a collector's item.
The album cover received widespread attention when, at a February 1970 gig in Copenhagen, the band were billed as "The Nobs" as the result of a legal threat from aristocrat Eva von Zeppelin (a relative of the creator of the Zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
aircraft). von Zeppelin, upon seeing the logo of the Hindenburg crashing in flames, threatened to have the show pulled off the air. In 2001, Greg Kot
Greg Kot
Greg Kot is an American writer and journalist. Since 1990, Kot has been the music critic at the Chicago Tribune, where he has covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and business issues...
wrote in Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
that "The cover of Led Zeppelin... shows the Hindenburg airship, in all its phallic glory, going down in flames. The image did a pretty good job of encapsulating the music inside: sex, catastrophe and things blowing up."
Composition
Tracks such as "Good Times Bad TimesGood Times Bad Times
"Good Times Bad Times" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, featured as the opening track on their 1969 debut album Led Zeppelin....
", "Dazed and Confused" and "Communication Breakdown
Communication Breakdown
"Communication Breakdown" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, from their 1969 debut album Led Zeppelin.- Structure :The pounding guitar riff was played by Page through a small, miked Supro amplifier throughout; and ran his Fender Telecaster through a fully closed Vox wah pedal to...
" displayed a distinctively heavy sound that was uncommon in the late-1960s. Led Zeppelin also featured steel-string acoustic guitar
Steel-string acoustic guitar
A steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar descended from the classical guitar, but strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound...
by Page on "Black Mountain Side
Black Mountain Side
"Black Mountain Side" is an instrumental by English rock band Led Zeppelin, featured on the band's 1969 début album Led Zeppelin. It was recorded at Olympic Studios, London during October 1968.-Song structure:...
", and a combination of acoustic and electric approaches on their adaptation of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" is a folk song written by Anne Bredon in the late 1950s. It was recorded by Joan Baez and released on her 1962 album Joan Baez in Concert, Part 1, and also by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, who included it on their 1969 debut album Led Zeppelin...
".
"Dazed and Confused", based on the 1967 Jake Holmes song of the same name, is often considered to be the album's centerpiece; its arrangement features a descending bass line from Jones, heavy drumming from Bonham and distorted guitar riffs and soloing from Page. It also showcased Page playing guitar with a violin bow (an idea suggested by David McCallum Sr., whom Page had met while doing studio session work). This technique was also employed on "How Many More Times
How Many More Times
"How Many More Times" is the ninth and final track on English rock band Led Zeppelin's 1969 debut album Led Zeppelin. The song is credited in the album liner to Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham, but is listed by ASCAP as written by all four members of the band.-Album version:At eight...
", a song which features a "Bolero" riff and an improvised shift in cadence
Cadence (music)
In Western musical theory, a cadence is, "a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution [finality or pause]." A harmonic cadence is a progression of two chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music...
. "Dazed and Confused" would become Zeppelin's signature performance piece for years to come.
Many of Led Zeppelin's earliest songs were based on blues standards, and the album also included three songs composed by others: "You Shook Me
You Shook Me
"You Shook Me" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and J. B. Lenoir. Earl Hooker first recorded it as an instrumental which was then overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters in 1962....
" and "I Can't Quit You Baby
I Can't Quit You Baby
"I Can't Quit You Baby" is a blues standard written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Chicago blues artist Otis Rush in 1956. The song, a slow twelve-bar blues, has been recorded by various artists, including Led Zeppelin, who included it on their debut album.- Otis Rush version :"I Can't Quit...
", both by blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
artist Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon
William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
, and "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You". Regarding the last of these, at the time Page mistakenly believed he was adapting a traditional folk song he had heard on a Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
record, but this was corrected on subsequent rereleases after it was revealed that the song was composed by Anne Bredon
Anne Bredon
Anne Bredon is an American folk singer, best known for composing the song Babe I'm Gonna Leave You while she was a student at University of California, Berkeley in the late 1950s...
in the 1950s. Dixon, on the other hand, received proper credit as the composer of his two songs on this album (although "You Shook Me" would later be additionally credited to J. B. Lenoir
J. B. Lenoir
J. B. Lenoir /ləˈnɔːr/ was an African American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter, active in the 1950s and 1960s Chicago blues scene....
) but would go on to settle out of court with Led Zeppelin over partial use of other material of his on Plant's lyrics to "Whole Lotta Love
Whole Lotta Love
"Whole Lotta Love" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is featured as the opening track on the band's second album, Led Zeppelin II, and was released in the United States and Japan as a single. The US release became their first hit single, it was certified Gold on 13 April 1970, when it...
". On "You Shook Me", Plant vocally mimics Page's guitar effects, a metallicised version of the "call and response
Call and response (music)
In music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary on or response to the first...
" blues technique.
Beck had previously recorded "You Shook Me" for his album, Truth, and accused Page of stealing his idea. With John Paul Jones and Keith Moon, Page had played on (and says he arranged) "Beck's Bolero
Beck's Bolero
"Beck's Bolero" is a short, rock-based instrumental piece heavily influenced by Maurice Ravel's Boléro, recorded in May 1966 by Jeff Beck with Jimmy Page on guitar, John Paul Jones on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and Keith Moon on drums...
", an instrumental on Truth that would be grooved into the mix of the Led Zeppelin jam "How Many More Times". These cross-pollinations led to a rift between Beck and Page, who had played in the Yardbirds together and been friends since childhood. In fact, it was Page who first suggested Beck for the Yardbirds' guitarist position when he was contacted by the band after Eric Clapton's departure.
In an interview he gave in 1975, Page offered his own perspective on the album's music:
For material, we obviously went right down to our blues roots. I still had plenty of Yardbirds riffs left over. By the time Jeff [Beck] did go, it was up to me to come up with a lot of new stuff. It was this thing where [Eric] Clapton set a heavy precedent in the Yardbirds which Beck had to follow and then it was even harder for me, in a way, because the second lead guitarist had suddenly become the first. And I was under pressure to come up with my own riffs. On the first LP I was still heavily influenced by the earlier days. I think it tells a bit, too... It was obvious that somebody had to take the lead, otherwise we'd have all sat around jamming for six months. But after that, on the second LPLed Zeppelin IIThe finished tracks reflect the raw, evolving sound of the band and their ability as live performers. The album has been noted for featuring a further development of the lyrical themes established by Robert Plant on Led Zeppelin's debut album, creating a work which would become more widely...
, you can really hear the group identity coming together.
Plant is credited on the album with "occasional bass". In an interview he gave to Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine in 2005, Plant made reference to this:
In truth, I was an occasional bass player. It says so on Zeppelin I, next to my name: vocals, harmonica and occasional bass. Very occasionally -- once, I think, since 1968. How in God's name that ended up on the cover is so funny. I'm sure Jonesy [John Paul Jones] didn't like it [laughs]. But I suppose every time he fucked up he could say it was me.
Reception
The album was advertised in selected music papers under the slogan "Led Zeppelin — the only way to fly". It initially received poor reviews. In a stinging assessment, Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine asserted that the band offered "little that its twin, the Jeff Beck Group, didn't say as well or better three months ago... It would seem that if they are to fill the void created by the demise of Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
, they will have to find a producer, editor and some material worthy of their collective talents." It also called Plant "as fop
Fop
Fop became a pejorative term for a foolish man over-concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th century England. Some of the very many similar alternative terms are: "coxcomb", fribble, "popinjay" , fashion-monger, and "ninny"...
pish as Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
, but nowhere near so exciting". John Paul Jones later recalled:
As was noted by rock journalist Cameron Crowe
Cameron Crowe
Cameron Bruce Crowe is an American screenwriter and film director. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, for which he still frequently writes....
years later: "It was a time of 'super-groups', of furiously hyped bands who could barely cut it, and Led Zeppelin initially found themselves fighting upstream to prove their authenticity."
However, press reaction to the album was not entirely negative. In Britain the album received a glowing review in the Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
. Chris Welch
Chris Welch
Chris Welch is a music journalist, reviewer and critic with Melody Maker, famous during the 1960s and 1970s for reporting on the rise of such bands as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, If, Cream and Jeff Beck. During that time he also reported on the UK jazz scene.- Career...
wrote, in a review titled "Jimmy Page triumphs — Led Zeppelin is a gas!": "their material does not rely on obvious blues riffs, although when they do play them, they avoid the emaciated feebleness of most so-called British blues bands".
The album was very commercially successful. It was initially released in America on 17 January 1969 to capitalise on the band's first US concert tour
Led Zeppelin North American Tour 1968/1969
Led Zeppelin's 1968/1969 tour of North America was the first concert tour of North America by the English rock band. The tour commenced on December 26, 1968 and concluded on February 15, 1969.-Overview:...
. Before that, Atlantic Records had distributed a few hundred advance white label copies to key radio stations and reviewers. A positive reaction to its contents, coupled with a good reaction to the band's opening concerts, resulted in the album generating 50,000 advance orders. Within two months of its release the album had reached Billboard's Top 10. It stayed on the Billboard chart for 73 weeks and held a 79-week run on the British charts. By 1975 it had grossed $7,000,000.
Legacy
The success and influence of the album is today widely acknowledged, even amongst those critics who were initially sceptical. In 2006, for example, Rolling Stone stated that:[The album] was pretty much unlike anything else. The arrangements were more sculpted than those of CreamCream (band)Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
or Jimi HendrixJimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, and the musicianship wasn't cumbersome like Iron ButterflyIron ButterflyIron Butterfly is a US psychedelic rock band best known for the 1968 hit "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".Their heyday was the late 1960s, but the band has been reincarnated with various members. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is the 31st best-selling album in the world, selling more than 25 million copies.-History:The...
's or bombastic like Vanilla FudgeVanilla FudgeVanilla Fudge is an American rock band. The band's original lineup – vocalist/organist Mark Stein, bassist/vocalist Tim Bogert, lead guitarist/vocalist Vince Martell, and drummer/vocalist Carmine Appice – recorded five albums during the years 1966–69, before disbanding in 1970...
's. The closest comparisons might be to MC5MC5The MC5 is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan and originally active from 1964 to 1972. The original band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson...
or the StoogesThe StoogesThe Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
—both from MichiganMichiganMichigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
—yet neither had the polish or prowess of Led Zeppelin, nor did Led Zeppelin have the political, social or die-hard sensibility of those landmark bands. What they did have, though, was the potential for a mass audience.
According to Lewis:
Time has done nothing to diminish the quality of one of the finest debut albums ever recorded. There's an urgency and enthusiasm about their performance that retains timeless charm. The nine cuts offer a tour de force of powerful yet often subtle dynamics... And let's not forget the fact that with this album, Page virtually invents the guitar riff as a key songwriting component.
In 2003, VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
named Led Zeppelin the 44th greatest album of all time, while Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
ranked it 29th on the magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is the title of a 2003 special issue of American magazine Rolling Stone, and a related book published in 2005.Related news articles:...
. It is widely regarded as marking a significant turning point in the evolution of hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
and heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
.
Accolades
| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Times The Times The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International... |
United Kingdom | "The 100 Best Albums of All Time" | 1993 | 41 |
| Rolling Stone Rolling Stone Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J... |
United States | The Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time | 2003 | 29 |
| Grammy Awards | United States | Grammy Hall of Fame Award Grammy Hall of Fame Award The Grammy Hall of Fame Award is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance"... |
2004 | * |
| Q | United Kingdom | "The Music That Changed the World" | 2004 | 7 |
| Robert Dimery | United States | 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a musical reference book edited by Robert Dimery, first published in 2005. The most recent edition consists of a list of albums released between 1955 and 2010, part of a series from Quintessence Editions Ltd... |
2006 | * |
| Classic Rock Classic Rock (magazine) Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to the radio format of classic rock, published by Future Publishing, who are also responsible for its "sister" publication Metal Hammer. Although firmly focusing on key bands from the 1960s through early 1990s, it also includes articles and reviews of... |
United Kingdom | "100 Greatest British Rock Album Ever" | 2006 | 81 |
| Uncut | United Kingdom | 100 Greatest Debut Albums | 2006 | 7 |
| Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,... |
United States | The Definitive 200 | 2007 | 165 |
| Q | United Kingdom | 21 Albums That Changed Music | 2007 | 6 |
Track listing
It has been said that Plant participated in songwriting but wasn't given credit because of unexpired contractual obligations resulting from his association with CBS RecordsCBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
. This claim is disputed by Mick Wall, author of the Led Zeppelin biography When Giants Walked the Earth.
Some cassette versions of the album reversed the order of the sides. For these versions, side one began with "Your Time Is Gonna Come" and ended with "How Many More Times", while side two began with "Good Times Bad Times" and ended with "Dazed and Confused".
Sales chart positions
Album| Chart (1969) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Canadian RPM Top 100 Chart | 11 |
| UK Albums Chart | 6 |
| US Billboard The 200 Albums Chart | 10 |
| French Albums Chart | 115 |
| Japanese Albums Chart | 36 |
| Chart (1970) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Norwegian Albums Chart | 16 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 1 |
| German Albums Chart | 32 |
| Australian Go-Set Top 20 Albums Chart | 9 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | "Good Times Bad Times" | US Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart (Pop Singles) | 80 |
Sales certifications
| Country | Sales | Certification |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (CRIA Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada... ) |
1,000,000+ | Diamond |
| France (SNEP Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... ) |
100,000+ | Platinum |
| Switzerland (IFPI) | 15,000+ | Gold |
| Argentina (CAPIF Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers The Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers is an Argentine organization member of the IFPI, which represents the music industry in the country. It is a nonprofit organization integrated by multinational and independent record labels.... ) |
20,000+ | Gold |
| Australia (ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... ) |
140,000+ | 2× Platinum |
| United States (RIAA) | 8,000,000+ | 8× Platinum |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE PROMUSICAE Spanish Music Producers is a trade group representing the Spanish recording industry... ) |
60,000+ | Platinum |
| United Kingdom (BPI British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... ) |
600,000+ | 2× Platinum* |
| Netherlands (NVPI NVPI The NVPI is the Dutch tradeassociation of the entertainment industry... ) |
25,000+ | Gold* |
Note: (*) Remastered sales only
Personnel
Led Zeppelin- Jimmy PageJimmy PageJames Patrick "Jimmy" Page, OBE is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a studio session guitarist in London and was subsequently a member of The Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, after which he founded the English rock band Led Zeppelin.Jimmy Page...
– acousticAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, electricElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and pedal steel guitarPedal steel guitarThe pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
, backing vocals, production - Robert PlantRobert PlantRobert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
– lead vocals, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes... - John BonhamJohn BonhamJohn Henry Bonham was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, timpaniTimpaniTimpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, backing vocals - John Paul JonesJohn Paul Jones (musician)John Paul Jones is an English multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger and record producer. Best known as the bassist, mandolinist, and keyboardist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, Jones has since developed a solo career and has gained even more respect as both a musician and a...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, keyboards, backing vocals
Additional personnel
- Barry Diament – original CD masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Chris DrejaChris DrejaChris Dreja was the rhythm guitarist, and later bassist, in the 1960s British band, The Yardbirds.-Early life:...
– back liner photo - Peter Grant – executive producer
- George HardieGeorge Hardie (artist)George Hardie is a graphic designer, illustrator and educator, best known for his work producing cover art for the albums of rock musicians and bands with the British art design group Hipgnosis....
– cover design - Viram JasaniViram JasaniViram Jasani is a Kenyan-born Indian sitar and tabla composer and musician. He is known notably as having played tabla drums on the song "Black Mountain Side" from Led Zeppelin's 1969 début album...
– tablaTablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
on "Black Mountain Side" - Glyn JohnsGlyn JohnsGlyn Johns is a musician, recording engineer and record producer.-Career:He has worked with such artists as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Easybeats, The Band, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Clash, The Steve Miller Band, Small Faces, Spooky Tooth, The Ozark...
– engineeringAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - George Marino – remasteredAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
CD