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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. 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.
It has been suggested that 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 including 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 Led Zeppelin 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 album also marked the emergence of Robert Plant as a serious songwriter. His name had been absent from the first album because of previous contractural commitments that resulted from his association with CBS Records. His influence on tracks such as "What Is And What Should Never Be" and "Ramble On" were pointers to the musical future of Led Zeppelin.[1]
Led Zeppelin II was Led Zeppelin's first to utilise the skills of recording engineer Eddie Kramer, whose prior work with Jimi Hendrix had impressed the band's members, especially Page. Kramer and Page formed a strong partnership in the mixing room, as exhibited in the central section of "Whole Lotta Love". As Kramer said, "The famous Whole Lotta Love mix, where everything is going bananas, is a combination of Jimmy and myself just flying around on a small console twiddling every knob known to man."
The album sleeve design was from a poster by David Juniper, who was simply told by the band to come up with an idea that was "interesting". His design was based on an old photograph of the Jasta Division of the German air force during World War I, the original of which can be seen here [1]. (The German air force used Zeppelins as airships for bombing military and civilian targets during the war). After the picture was tinted, the faces of the four members of the band were airbrushed on from a 1969 publicity photograph, as well as the faces of band manager Peter Grant and tour manager Richard Cole. The woman in the picture is Glynis Johns, the mother from Mary Poppins. Her presence in the photo is an obvious play on the name of recording engineer Glyn Johns. The other face added was that of bluesman Blind Willie Johnson. The cover also pictured the outline of a Zeppelin on a brown background, which gave the album its nickname "Brown Bomber".
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"[2]).
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.
This was the first Led Zeppelin album to feature Jimmy Page playing a 1959 Gibson Les Paul, the guitar he helped make famous.
Note: Some cassette versions of the album altered the song order so that side one ended with "Heartbreaker" and side two began with "Thank You". Other cassette versions also present "Heartbreaker" as the second track on side one and "What Is And What Should Never Be" as track one on side two. All this presumably to make the length of each side approximately the same. On vinyl versions, side one ended with "Thank You" and side two began with "Heartbreaker." This order is reflected above and is preserved on all CD releases.
Album - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Pop Albums (Billboard 200) | 1 |
Singles - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | "Whole Lotta Love" | Pop Singles (Billboard Hot 100) | 4 |
| 1969 | "Heartbreaker" | Pop Singles (Billboard Hot 100) | 20 |
| 1969 | "Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)" | Pop Singles (Billboard Hot 100) | 20 |
