Led Zeppelin

By the time Led Zeppelin's last studio LP was recorded in ABBA's Polar Studio in 1978, the tastes they once shaped with bombastic guitars and sonic extremes had changed rapidly and dramatically. Blame it on two dissimilar innovations -- punk rock and synthesizers -- but the band's embrace of newfangled gadgets and New Wave shuffling was a mixed success. Even so, a modicum of late-career redemption came though Bonham's typically brilliant performance (his final studio recording) and classic rock staples like "All My Love" and "Fool in the Rain."

Hearing John Bonham play the drums is the aural equivalent of watching Clint Eastwood
club eight bad guys over the head with a two-by-four while driving a derailed locomotive
through their hideout. Either you are horrified by all that blood on the floor, or you wish
you could do it yourself. No one's ever going to accuse Bonham of subtlety, but everyone
should give him credit for consistency. Even on Led Zeppelin's worst effort (Hou... More >

The tuneful synthesizer pomp on side two confirms my long-held belief that this is a real good art-rock band, and their title for the first ten minutes or so, "Carouselambra," suggests that they find this as humorous as I do. The lollapalooza hooks on the first side confirms the world's long-held belief that this is a real good hard rock band. Lax in the lyrics department, as usual, but their best since Houses of the Holy. (Grade: B+)