LED ZEPPELIN - II (1969)

Músicos: Robert Plant (voz e gaita), Jimmy Page (guitarras, steel guitar, violão e voz), John Paul Jones (baixo, órgão e voz) e John Bonham (bateria e voz).

Faixas:
Whole lotta love
What is and what should never be
The lemon song
Thank you
Heartbreaker
Living loving maid (she's just a woman)
Ramble on
Moby Dick
Bring it on home

Led Zeppelin II, also known by the unofficial nickname The Brown Bomber, is a rock and roll album, the second released by English band Led Zeppelin in 1969(see 1969 in music). Here they further developed ideas established on their debut album, creating a work which became even more widely acclaimed and arguably more influential.

The album was recorded during a hectic and much-traveled period of the band's career from January through August 1969, when they completed four European and three American concert tours. Each song was separately recorded, mixed and produced at various studios in the UK and the US. The finished tracks reflect the raw, evolving sound of the band and their innovations as live performers.
Led Zeppelin II largely writes the blueprint for 1970s hard rock. Blues-derived songs like "Whole Lotta Love", "Heartbreaker", "The Lemon Song" and "Bring It on Home" are now standards of the genre, where the guitar-based riff (rather than vocal chorus or verses) defines the song and provides the key hook. Such arrangements and emphases were at the time atypical in popular music. As such, the album is generally considered to be very influential on the development of rock music, being an early forerunner of heavy metal, and inspiring a host of other rock bands such as Deep Purple, Van Halen and Guns 'n' Roses.
Led Zeppelin II also experimented with other musical styles and approaches, as on the alternately soft-and-loud "What Is And What Should Never Be" and "Ramble On" (which featured Page's acoustic guitar), or the pop-influenced ballad "Thank You". With its mysterious atmospherics, "Ramble On" helped develop hard rock's association with fantasy themes, which had partly derived from the psychedelic rock of two to three years before, but also from lyricist Robert Plant's personal interest in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien. This direction would later culminate on Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album (and countless subsequent groups would later carry the influence to further extremes). Conversely, the instrumental "Moby Dick" features an extended drum solo by John Bonham, which would later be extended to a half-hour or more in live concert performances.
Jimmy Page's contribution to this album was significant, as his electric guitar solo on the song "Heartbreaker" was emulated by many younger rock guitarists, and exemplifies the group's intense musical attack. Page's innovative recording and drum miking effects on tracks such as "Ramble On" and "Whole Lotta Love" also demonstrated his considerable skill, resourcefulness and originality as a producer.
The "Brown Bomber" album sleeve design was from a poster by David Juniper. It was based on an old photograph of the Jasta Division of the German air force during World War I, with the faces of the four members of the band airbrushed on from a 1969 publicity photograph. (The German air force used Zeppelins as airships for bombing military and civilian targets during the war).
Commercially, Led Zeppelin II was the band's first album to hit #1 in the US knocking The Beatles' Abbey Road from the top spot. It also yielded Led Zeppelin's biggest hit, with the track "Whole Lotta Love". This song reached #4 on the Billboard Top 100 in January 1970, after Atlantic Records went against the group's wishes by releasing a shorter version on 45. The single's B-side, "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)", also hit the Billboard chart, peaking at #65 in April 1970. The commercial success of this album also brought with it — as with their debut album — accusations of plagiarism (e.g. Willie Dixon's claim to the lyrics for "Whole Lotta Love"1).
In 2000 Q magazine placed Led Zeppelin II at number 37 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. Also in 2003, Rolling Stone magazine declared the album the 75th greatest album of all time.
(Wikipedia)