portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Saturday, January 12, 2019

Got to be worth revisiting!

Ground breaking extraordinary album and we hadn't heard anything like it . . . . . . a new kind of music!

On this day in music history: January 12, 1969 - “Led Zeppelin”, the debut album by Led Zeppelin is released. Produced by Jimmy Page, it is recorded at Olympic Studios in London from September - October 1968. The bands’ album is recorded prior to their signing to Atlantic Records in only thirty six hours of studio time (spread out over a couple of weeks), with the recording being self financed at a cost of only £1,782 ($2,874.81 in US currency). The album combines covers of blues standards and original material including the classics “Communication Breakdown”, “I Can’t Quit You Baby” and “Dazed And Confused”. The albums’ iconic cover features a photo of the German airship “The Hindenburg” as it bursts into flames, making reference to the origins of the bands’ name (coming from a quote from Who drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle, stating that forming a band featuring themselves with Page and guitarist Jeff Beck would go over like a “lead zeppelin!!”). Though it receives poor reviews from critics (upon its release), it earns the band a large, loyal  and enthusiastic fan base, and goes on to be one of the most influential hard rock albums of all time. In June of 2014, the album is reissued on LP, CD and hi-rez digital download, including a Super Deluxe boxed edition with all three configurations, a hardbound book, a numbered lithograph of the album cover artwork and an additional CD and LP featuring a live performance recorded in Paris in October of 1969. The remasters are supervised by Jimmy Page. “Led Zeppelin” peaks at number ten on the Billboard Top 200, and is certified 8x Platinum in the US by the RIAA.


No comments: