CDOTD 7/14/2024

 Led Zeppelin: How the West Was Won (Atlantic) 3CD

Purchased used at The Exchange

How do you consolidate your taste as an adult with that of your youth? Led Zeppelin was never a favorite of mine, but I liked them generally. Okay, I thought "Whole Lotta Love" sounded like a huge joke. I still don't care for it. 

The Zeppelin album I had on vinyl was Houses of the Holy, and it probably remains my favorite. That's not to say I love all of it ("D'yer Mak'er"), but being the prog rock kid at 15, that album came closer to my ideal than the others. I bought new at the Laneco in Coopersburg a cassette copy of In Through the Out Door, of course an album package to encourage you to buy the vinyl. Liked it, didn't love it. Reviewed it for my high school newspaper, and I caught heat for so much as criticizing any Zeppelin product. "Putting down Zeppelin, Ben, for shame." Me: "I said I liked it!"

That album now sounds like a very mixed bag. Moments of greatness, but also throwaways. 

Why this album, why now? It seems to me that Led Zeppelin in concert is a related but different beast than LZ live. I have friends in a Zeppelin tribute band. There could be a Zeppelin project in my future, but I can say no more. I thought studying a good live recording was worth the time. 

And indeed, the 25+ minute version of "Dazed and Confused" incorporates "Walter's Walk" (eventually on Coda) and "The Crunge" (contemporary to that tour) and even a small bit of Black Sabbath, as I listen to it. I like that they don't treat their songs gently. I'd never refer to LZ as "jazz" but they sometimes treat the songs as jazz musicians do. Launch from the material, stretch and take your time, don't be afraid to make mistakes. 

And there are "mistakes" aplenty here. Good!

I was having an imaginary conversation in my head with John Paul Jones. Why him and not Plant or Page? Probably because a good friend told me he had dinner with Jones. I don't have reason not to believe him. 

One of the questions I had was, Led Zeppelin's massive popularity gave you the resources to do what you wanted to do. But did you find it limiting? Did it prevent you following "the muse" in ways that weren't commercial? 

I wonder what they would have been like in a small club show? Probably amazing. But we'll never know. 

"Dancing Days" reminds me of hacking out that song on a jazz gig with John Purse, Mike Marcinko of ATS, and Jay Matula at a bookstore on East Carson St. on the Southside of Pittsburgh in the late 90s. The guitar melody sounded good on tenor saxophone. Good times. 

The first LP I bought for myself was Kansas' Leftoverture. For all its highs and lows, this is better.