Led Zeppelin [box set]
Rating: 7
   One must approach to altar of the holy and mysterious Led Zeppelin with caution and dread, for the wrathful flames of their devout communicants are hazardous indeed. Nonetheless, I proceed because my esteemed colleague and fellow crank Cole Bozman asked me to weigh in on John Bonham’s drumming. As Cole puts it on his web page, “John Paul Jones was the only talented one,” which naturally provoked a fair amount of reaction from fans of the other group members. If you look at my Silly Lists page, you might think I’m in Cole’s camp, but I’ve taken this opportunity to re-listen to Led Zeppelin, and I enjoyed them quite a bit.
   I used to have all of their albums, but once I got the box set as a gift from my loving and tasteful wife, I figured I could live with just four-and-a-half hours of their music. Naturally, there are a few tunes I miss (“How Many More Times”, “The Rover”, “The Lemon Song" – dig that bass line!) and a few I could live without (“Thank You”, “Black Mountain Side”, “The Battle of Evermore”, “D’yer Mak’er”, “Kashmir”, “Trampled Underfoot”, “For Your Life” [there go the first twenty minutes of tape 3!], all the Coda stuff). Interesting how many more songs fall into the latter category.
   Anyway, John Bonham was a fine drummer. Not particularly original or innovative, but perfectly solid. Better than Helen Wiggin or Doug Clifford, not as good as Dino Danelli or Jim Fox. I’m still a little baffled why his defender on Cole’s page would cite “Tangerine” – it’s as unremarkable a drum line as I can think of.
   He certainly didn’t invent his trademark style (best characterized as pushing the kick drum a little early and laying off the snare until a hair late, it creates a lot of sonic “space” in the beat which makes it feel heavier than the standard “four-on-the-floor” beat. Bonham hardly created it, though – I can trace it as far back as Hal Blaine’s work with Phil Spector’s acts, and I’m not much of a rock historian.
   Bonham’s real breakthrough was the application of this beat to heavy music. Most previous loud acts had drummers who tried to be as busy and crazy as the lead guitarists, with predictably unfocused results. The Led Zeppelin sound, though, has a super-steady bottom that makes the riffs stand out even more; it’s the blueprint for all heavy music to this day.
   And there are times when our hero really shines. A few cuts have really cool, interesting drum fills that are practically hooks themselves (“Achilles Last Stand”, “Rock and Roll”). And somehow on Presence, an album where the rest of the band kind of checked out creatively, he’s all over the place with polyrhythmic funky lines that are still very heavy (“Candy Store Rock”, “Nobody’s Fault but Mine”). He also handles odd meters with aplomb (when the Beastie Boys sampled “The Ocean” they probably created the only rap song ever written in 15/8 time.)
   His real advantage over other drummers, though, was that he was excellently recorded. I don’t know just what Jimmy Page did in the studio, but everything on Led Zeppelin’s records sounds fantastic. The drums have a huge presence, the bass is full and smooth, and oh, those guitar tones!
   Led Zeppelin’s music lives and dies on the guitar sound, and usually Page pulls out a winner. From the creamy “Over the Hills and Far Away” to the recorded-inside-a-Sherman-tank “Whole Lotta Love”, he really finds neat guitar sounds. Half the time, the sounds accompany pretty interesting lines, too. Because the riffs are where it’s at. Looking over the lengthy track listing, I see dozens of songs that instantly bring up two bars of pure guitar catchiness (my favorites: “The Ocean”, “Immigrant Song”, “Houses of the Holy”, “Ten Years Gone”). On the other hand, I can remember about four solos, and that’s mostly because they come at climactic moments in the arrangement (“Whole Lotta Love”, “Communication Breakdown”, “Celebration Day”). The rest just sort of slide by as unremarkable guitar noodling. His acoustic work is questionable (check out the erratic finger-picking all over the catalog), and makes whole stretches of this set eminently skippable.
   So the real question remains: was John Paul Jones the only talented one? No, not really. Bonham and Page both did a few things really well (played a heavy beat, created riffs) and vastly overestimated their own talents in other spheres (solos, mostly). All in all, not a bad way to spend half a day, but I wouldn’t want to do it regularly.

READER COMMENTS