Led Zeppelin III [Remaster] - Led Zeppelin (CD 1994)

In 1970, Led Zeppelin was on top of the world. With the demise of The Beatles that same year, they found themselves as the number one rock band in the world. On their previous two albums, the band had displayed their talent at playing a heavy, bombastic style of blues based rock that would later become known as Heavy Metal. They had had enormous success both artistically and commercially with those albums, yet they were now at a crossroads. They could either try and repeat themselves and become AC/DC or they could follow in the lead of the aforementioned Beatles and try and branch out....

Led Zeppelin III, released in 1970, is an important album in the Led Zeppelin catalogue, because (1) with one exception, it was the first step in the band's departure from the blues style that influenced them so much, and (2) Jimmy Page's acoustic guitar became more prominent in their work. This album has a special significance for me, because it was released while the band was on tour in America. I saw them in Nashville, Tennessee, and heard several of the cuts on this album for the first time in concert. They opened with The Immigrant Song, and it sounded otherworldly, not having heard it...

Disclaimer: I am completely aware that this is probably the most ridiculous review that I've ever written. You know how Pink Floyd supposedly timed Dark Side of the Moon to The Wizard of Oz? Well guess what -- the same thing happened with Led Zeppelin and the original Star Wars trilogy. Only it was the other way around. And in a completely different sense. Because Led Zeppelin I was the break-out stunner (like Star Wars), Led Zeppelin II was the slightly superior sequel (just like The Empire Strikes Back), and Led Zeppelin III is the slightly inferior cap that many people don't dig... whoa,...

I guess it s only natural that Zeppelin, after having bashed our heads in with blues and hard rock on their first two releases, would want to show off their prowess as a folk act on album number three. It seems as if just about every rock band on the planet (with the possible exception of Deicide) secretly (or not so secretly) harbors a desire to parade around as troubadours, and it s not like Jimmy, Robert, John, John, and Rodney (the fifth member that I sometimes imagine that they had, and one whose only purpose was to dance around the stage in spandex, chains, and Crocs) hadn t already...