Barely two months after the first rehearsal, the band was ready to record their debut. That record hit like a bomb or, if you prefer, an exploding hot air balloon. The sound was heavy, loud and impressive, but at the same time the versatility of Led Zeppelin (later wrongly often portrayed as a blunt rock giant) still stands out.

Blues classics (You Shook Me, I Can't Quit You Baby), pounding rock (Good Times Bad Times, Communication Breakdown), but also an oriental instrumental (Black Mountain Side), a fierce adaptation of a folk traditional (Babe I ' m Gonna Leave You) and a melodic, almost poppy song with a church organ (Your Time Is Gonna Come). The two remaining, drawn-out songs most clearly show what was to come.

The dynamics, the swinging bluesy riffs, the tension: Dazed And Confused and How Many More Times have it all. On the debut it is already there: the driving, often screeching guitar sound of Page, the high, voluptuous vocals of Plant, the thumping drums of Bonham and Jones that glue it all together. Maybe their best record. But you can also say that about the following albums ...

Review

A1 Good Times Bad Times
A2 Babe I'M Gonna Leave You
A3 You Shook Me
A4 Dazed And Confused
B1 Your Time Is Gonna Come
B2 Black Mountain Side
B3 Communication Breakdown
B4 I Can'T Quit You Baby
B5 How Many More Times