I came to Led Zeppelin too late and wizened for the legendary band to have much personal significance, or even to remember that listening to them is an option most of the time, however much I enjoyed it. Their discography is even more concise than The Who's, but I was similarly indifferent about reaching the end or even wading out much beyond the ones I really liked.
This is no passionate affair, but should prove to be a long, neglectful relationship. It's The Top 8 Led Zeppelin Albums!
8. Presence (1976)Trimming back from the excess too severely, this is decent but disappointingly generic '70s proto-metal. Maybe I had listened to these later ones after all and just forgot.
Fave: Achilles Last Stand
7. In Through the Out Door (1979)The embellishments are back for the unintended finale. It's hardly Led Zeppelin, but it's pretty nice.
Fave: Carouselambra
6. Led Zeppelin II (1969)
With more original works and a clearer identity, this is more focused than the debut, but also less interesting, at least before it finally gets going in the second half. The only one of the albums I heard in the wild at the ideal, impressionable age, it hardly piqued my curiosity.
Fave: Heartbreaker
5. Led Zeppelin III (1970)
Cleaning up the sound and mellowing out might have been sins, but it works for me, though it's relegated to background music after the opener. Robert Plant finally feels at home, or maybe he's just worn me down.
Fave: Immigrant Song
4. Led Zeppelin (1969)
Messy and compelling hard blues that, like Black Sabbath's debut, isn't all that memorable, but occasionally entrancing. The solos were the best part.
Fave: Dazed and Confused
3. Physical Graffiti (1975)
Releasing several years' worth of implicitly inferior backlog makes for a good value entry, but one that's always proven a chore to get through, let alone trying to boil it down to a standard-length best.
Fave: Kashmir
2. [Led Zeppelin IV] (1971)
I still don't get what all the fuss is about, but the conceitedly mysterious fourth album is an improvement across the board and there are at least two borderline classic songs in there.
Fave: When the Levee Breaks
1. Houses of the Holy (1973)
The only one that ever stood out to me, listening in sequence I can see how it's nothing really special, and possibly even hindered by novelty experiments, but it's still the one I'd go to. Shame about the cover.
Fave: The Rain Song
