Led Zeppelin III

Chronologically speaking we are going backward today and the final strains of Led Zeppelin III ended as a woman in a fucking Corsa cut me up a short distance before Coleshill. Its usually a Volvo, or an Audi, or a BMW. I thought there was some form of fraternal aspect amongst small car drivers. Clearly not.
This has nothing to do with my commute CD though, consider it a scene setter. If you really want a scene setter, it was just by The Bellfry golf course, at that roundabout where people either come off the M6 Toll. That’s more than enough scene set.
Led Zeppelin III was released on the day that I was born, October the 5th 1970, this is a fact that I have always been aware of and one of the few things I knew about the band. I also know that Robert Plant holds an executive position at Wolves (along with Rachel Heigh Ho Flint, apologies if that isn’t how you spell her name) and he also can be seen occasionally in Bridgnorth in Shropshire. My Led Zeppelin knowledge was to say the least, lacking.
What Led Zeppelin’s third album taught me though was that there was more to this album than Immigrant Songs’ “aaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” that Immigrant Songs’ “aaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” was more the exception than the rule. It moves away from the ballsy rock that most associate with the band and pitches up at the Delta. None more so than on Hats off to (Roy) Harper, from the Page’s steel guitar to Plants vocals, made to sound, to my ears like one of those old Son House recordings, its an effect that works quite well.
Kev mentioned Gallis Pole in his last entry and it is on this album as Gallows Pole that they tackle that tune, rather marvellously I thought. That’s the thing with Zeppelin, even though they were fast and loose with writing credits, they do genuinely love the songs and this is reflected in the overall tone of pretty much all the tracks on this album.
The stand out track for me is “That’s The Way”. I think if anything comes close to the music Plant is making now, this is it. Reflective, restrained, and rather beautiful. Not totally at odds with anything on this album, but not similar either. That’s really the entire album summed up. It’s a diverse an album as any, changing in tone and character throughout and it is all the better for it. 8 out of 10.



That’s The Way by Led Zeppelin