If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you probably know enough about music to not need me to tell you that Led Zeppelin’s first album is one of the finest debut albums in rock history. Arguably the best debut out of all the rock greats of its era, but that simple fact is quite surprising given the circumstances the album was recorded under. As a band, Led Zeppelin had been playing together for about a month when the first recording session for their self-titled debut album took place. With that in mind, it is a miracle how confident and powerful the album sounds.

What sets this album apart from Led Zeppelin’s later work is the stronger focus on performances rather than songwriting. The songwriter partnership between singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page had not developed yet, which makes sense, given the fact that did not even meet until shortly before the album was recorded. Combined with the fact that the album had to be put together quite quickly – bassist John Paul Jones claims it was recorded in about fifteen hours – it is understandable that the bulk of the tracklisting consists of reworkings of old blues and folk songs.

Starting with those, the arrangements do tend to be quite different interpretations of the originals. The monstrously heavy – especially for the late sixties – ‘Dazed and Confused’ was something Page had worked on during his Yardbirds days already, but is transformed into proto-doom metal here. ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’ likewise is turned from a folk song into a dynamic power ballad with surprisingly heavy hardrock sections, all sung incredibly by Plant. Closing track ‘How Many More Times’ technically is an original, but pays clear homage to Howlin’ Wolf, though its main riff is far too heavy to even be considered blues anymore.

That does not mean there isn’t any great original songwriting on the album. ‘Communication Breakdown’ is a short, uptempo track with an amount of aggression rarely heard outside of the Detroit garage rock scene at the time. Opening track ‘Good Times Bad Times’ almost sounds like a blatant attempt at a radio hit, except the band never wanted to release any singles and the song is actually features a really cool arrangement, especially in its vocal harmonies. ‘Your Time Is Gonna Gome’ would not have sounded out of place on a more folk-oriented southern rock album a couple of years later.

The amount of polish on ‘Led Zeppelin’ is unbelievable given how quickly the album was recorded. Page clearly had a vision of how he wanted the band to sound, because the arrangements and the production are incredible. Of course, Led Zeppelin would become an even better band later on as their own songwriting matured into something that defies categorization beyond just “rock”. However, it is interesting to see how the beginnings of a band that would become larger than life weren’t even that humble. A little cocky at times, perhaps, but if your skills are as good as displayed here, that is more than justified.

Recommended tracks: ‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’, ‘Communication Breakdown’, ‘Dazed and Confused’, ‘How Many More Times’