Dynamic: Pertaining to or characterized by energy or effective action; vigorously active or forceful; energetic.

It spins around! The images……..they MOOOOOVE!
Where are my Matchbox Cars and jazzy left-handed cigarettes?
The first two Led Zeppelin albums are classic staples that can be heard in their entirety on any butt Rock radio station in North America. I’m not sure if it is the hype over those songs or the constant overexposure but I find them absolutely abhorrent. It is largely why I skipped their inaugural debut and opted to start by looking at their second. If you missed it, I’d suggest taking a look at it here.
One of my biggest complaints regarding songs like Whole Lotta Love and How Many More Times where that they were blatantly borrowed from older blues artists without as much as an admittance in the credits. Sure, bands did covers and shared riffs all of the time in those eras of music but the lack of transparency has always seemed wrong to me. Especially considering how popular Led Zeppelin became and how highly they are still regarded. Led Zeppelin III is a departure from those first two records in that they seemed to had found a voice this time around. Even if a lot of it sounds like they were throwing ideas at a wall to see what stuck.

Uh oh. Call the Queen. London barfed again.
Immigrant Song ignites the album like a grenade being thrown in a kerosene soaked trash bin. It is filthy and raw in a way that Zeppelin hadn’t shown on their previous outings. Plant’s voice still rings through the speakers like an animalistic banshee and the rest of the band play the short opener much tighter than anything before. What comes next is a cavalcade of experimental songs that are only slightly tethered by clever uses of fade-outs and a fantastic sense of sequencing. The next two songs shouldn’t work in the order they are presented, for instance. Friends is an experimental acoustic piece sandwiched between two tightly-knit jams. It offers variety and shows that the band is willing to work outside the boundaries of classical blues. For the first time, they are the trendsetters.
The latter half of the LP is definitely the highlight for me as the band strips away the distortion to focus on three fantastic acoustic tunes. I’d call them “ballads” but that term doesn’t really do them justice. Tangerine, That’s The Way and Bron-Yr-Aur-Stomp aren’t typical grade school dance fare with the latter being an exciting little ditty strong enough to blow the dusty doors off of any hoedown hosting farmhouse. There are tons of stories that go into more detail regarding the stripped-back nature of this album. I mean, hell, at this point I’m sure there are documented published accounts of every washroom break each member took during the ’70s.
Sir.Led Zeppelin the Third (Esquire) is a great album through and through. There is really no excuse not to have it in your collection. When it comes to the Led Zeppelin musical catalogue I’d recommend picking up the actual albums as opposed to any of the greatest hits compilations. Jimmy Page is almost as bad as George Lucas when it comes to tinkering with the past. Maybe Disney will purchase the rights to Zeppelin’s repertoire so it can be laid to rest for a while. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that crap. Oh, Disney doesn’t “vault” things anymore? Franchise that Zeppelin!

Track List:
Immigrant Song
Friends
Celebration Day
Since I’ve Been Loving You
Out On The Tiles
Gallows Pole
Tangerine
That’s The Way
Bron-Yr-Aur-Stomp
Hats Off To (Roy) Harper