Best Led Zep
December 2001
by Glenn Pfeifer

"Zep II is definitely the best Led Zeppelin album…no doubt!"

"How can you say any album is better than Zep IV!!?? It has Stairway, Black Dog, Rock n Roll…"

"Which is why everyone is sick of hearing it! Physical Graffiti is their most daring work – Jimmy Page’s most dynamic and varied guitar production!"

"You guys are all missing the point. It all started somewhere…with Zep I. Right from the first notes…Dah nant! Tick tick tick tick tick tick. Dah nant! Good Times Bad Times…right on through to Dazed & Confused. They never topped that excitement."

"Are you insane? They were just discovering their electric blues sound then…Plant barely even wrote lyrics then…he just ripped off bits of blues classics that no British or American white boy knew."

And so it began…a simple informal verbal poll taken around a poker table one late-night-turning-into-early-morning…a quest for the best Led Zeppelin album ever released. Or, at least, the best according to every red-blooded, Zoso-drawing, Whole-Lotta-Love screaming, "does anyone remember laughter"-reciting, Heartbreaker solo air-guitar imitating American male I could find. And boy did I find plenty of opinions!

"How can you even place In Through the Out Door on this list??!"

"It was a studio album, so it makes the list. The poll is to get the best Led Zep album, so it has to be included in order to vote on it."

"Forget it! I’m crossing it right off. Page was a mess, Bonzo was drunk through all the sessions…it’s practically a Plant solo disc!!"

"All right, all right. Let’s remove the albums we think don’t make the final cut."

"Coda is definitely out. That was just leftover tapes they threw together after Bonham’s death."

"But it got rave reviews in Rolling Stone."

"Exactly. Rolling Stone sucks. And so does Coda."

"All right, Coda and In Through the Out Door are out…what about Presence?"

"Presence has that fucking killer song….No no no no no noooooooooooobody’s fault but mine. Bern nern nern nern neh now nooooon."

"Yeah but that’s about it…I think it goes."

"Me too."

"All right, Song Remains the Same goes because of live status." For the first time, I got no argument.

"That leaves six discs: One, Two, Three, Four, Houses of the Holy and Physical Grafitti."

"Now that’s a desert island disc collection. You don’t even need a babe."

"Yeah, you can jerk off while listening to Plant moan!"

"I think One and Three should go."

"Yeah, I agree. They just don’t have the power of the other 4 albums."

So we arrived at a final four. Zep II, with it’s classic line-up of radio staples, intense solos, Ramble on and Moby Dick. Zep IV, which none of us really wanted on the list but all agreed it had to be there. It was the album you had to have if you had any notion of being a Zeppelin fan. The biggest song in the history of Rock n Roll first of all, Rock n Roll second of all…but Zep IV did more than that. It showcased the talents of all 4 members of this supergroup unlike the three previous discs had. Houses of the Holy may simply be the perfect album period, never mind just Led Zeppelin. Everyone had a Houses of the Holy story, whether it was smoking joints in the car cranking the cassette, or heavy petting in the basement with the album volume just low enough to hear her father coming down the stairs…Houses was in the fabric of our beings. Last but in no way least was Physical Graffiti. The largest Zep collection, not only in terms of size, but also content. They attempted almost everything they were capable of on that disc…and that’s what may have hurt it in the end…because the best songs on it are the ones that ring true with Zep power, or ring sweetly with Page virtuoso.

Basically, in the end, we agreed to disagree. Houses of the Holy won the actual vote count, but as I said, more because of good memories than the best music. But then again, isn’t the good memory the best part of the music.

To avoid this dilemma at your next poker party, or your next joint smoking/heavy petting session…get the entire Studio Recordings this holiday. Then conduct your own personal poll. 10 albums. Only one Led Zeppelin. That’s about as Merry as Christmas gets. --gp fife


(Glenn Pfeifer is a volunteer staff writer for 2 Walls Webzine)