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Led Zeppelin II

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{{Album infobox | | Name = Led Zeppelin II | Type = Album (music) Album | Artist = Led Zeppelin | Cover = LedZeppelinLedZeppelinIIalbumcover.jpg | Background = Orange | Released = October 22, 1969 | Recorded = January-August 1969
Olympic Studios, London;
Mirror Sound, Los Angeles, California Los Angeles;
Mystic Studios, Los Angeles;
Morgan Studios, London;
A&R Studios, New York City;
Juggy Sound Studio, New York City;
Atlantic Studios, New York City;
Mayfair Studios, New York City;
Hut, Vancouver.
Mixed at A&R Studios. | Genre = Hard rock | Length = 41:29 | Label = Atlantic Records | Producer = Jimmy Page | Reviews = *All Music Guide (5/5) [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:he61mpc39f8o link] * Q magazine Q Image:4 out of 5.png [http://www.q4music.com/nav?page=q4music.review.redirect&fixture_review=124582&resource=124582&fixture_artist=144739 October 2000] | | Last album = ''Led Zeppelin (album) Led Zeppelin''
(1969) | This album = '''''Led Zeppelin II'''''
(1969) | Next album = ''Led Zeppelin III''
(1970) }} '''''Led Zeppelin II''''', also known as '''''The Brown Bomber''''', is a rock and roll album, the second released by British band Led Zeppelin. 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 created and assembled during a hectic and much-traveled period of the band's career—each song was separately recorded, mixed and produced at various studios in the UK and the US. The finished tracks also reflect the raw, evolving sound of the band and their innovations as live performers from January through August 1969: during this time the group completed four European and three American concert tours. ''Led Zeppelin II'' largely writes the blueprint for 1970s hard rock: blues-derived songs like "Whole Lotta Love", "Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin song) Heartbreaker", "Moby Dick", "The Lemon Song" and "Bring It on Home" are now standards of the genre, where the guitar-based riff (rather than vocal Refrain chorus or verses) defines the song and provides the key hook. Such arrangements and emphasis were atypical in popular music of 1969. Jimmy Page's electric guitar solo on the song "Heartbreaker" was emulated by many younger rock guitarists, and exemplifies the group's intense musical attack. Innovative recording and drum microphone#microphone techniques miking effects on tracks such as "Ramble On" and "Whole Lotta Love" also demonstrate Page's considerable skill, resourcefulness and originality as a Record producer producer. The instrumental "Moby_Dick_(song) Moby Dick" features John Bonham's drum solo, which would later be extended to a half-hour or more in concert performances. ''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" pioneers hard rock's association with fantasy themes, which had partly derived from the psychedelic music of two to three years before, but also from Zeppelin lyricist Robert Plant's Middle Earth/J. R. R. Tolkien Tolkien reading proclivities around this time. This direction would culminate for the band on their Led Zeppelin IV untitled fourth album (and countless subsequent groups would later carry the influence to further extremes). Commercially, "Whole Lotta Love" yielded Led Zeppelin's biggest hit; it reached #4 on the Billboard Top 100 in January 1970, after Atlantic went against the group's wishes by releasing a shorter version on 45. Another single from the album, "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)", peaked at #65. The commercial success of this album also brought with it—as with their Led Zeppelin (album) debut album—accusations of plagiarism (e.g. Willie Dixon's claim to the lyrics for "Whole Lotta Love"{{fn|1}}). The music on ''Led Zeppelin II'' is considered an early forerunner of heavy metal music heavy metal, and helped inspire heavy metal performers such as Blue Öyster Cult, Deep Purple and Van Halen.

Track listing
#"Whole Lotta Love" (John Bonham Bonham/Willie Dixon Dixon/John Paul Jones (musician) Jones/Jimmy Page Page/Robert Plant Plant) 5:34 {{fn|1}} #"What Is and What Should Never Be" (Page/Plant) 4:46 #"The Lemon Song" (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 6:18 {{fn|2}} #"Thank You (Led Zeppelin song) Thank You" (Page/Plant) 4:47 #"Heartbreaker (Led Zeppelin song) Heartbreaker" (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) 4:14 #"Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)" (Page/Plant) 2:38 #"Ramble On" (Page/Plant) 4:24 #"Moby Dick (song) Moby Dick" (Bonham/Jones/Page) 4:21 [instrumental] #"Bring It on Home" (Dixon/Page/Plant) 4:21{{fn|1}}

Personnel
*Jimmy Page - Acoustic, electric, and pedal steel guitar, backing vocals *Robert Plant - Vocals, harmonica *John Paul Jones (musician) John Paul Jones - Bass guitar, organ, backing vocals *John Bonham - Drums, backing vocals *Peter Grant - Executive producer *Eddie Kramer - Engineer, mixing *George Chkiantz - Engineer (Tracks 1, 2) *Chris Huston - Engineer (Tracks 3, 8) *Andy Johns - Engineer (Track 4)

Notes
: {{fnb|1}}In 1985 Willie Dixon won damages, and the right to a credit, over allegations that the lyrics of "Whole Lotta Love" plagiarised his "You Need Love", first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1962 in music 1962. Dixon is credited on the album ''How the West Was Won (album) How the West Was Won''. On ''Led Zeppelin II'', "Bring It on Home" is lifted from a Willie Dixon song named "Bring It On Back", and recorded by Sonny Boy Williamson in 1963 in music 1963. Dixon is not listed on the original album, but is credited on ''How the West Was Won''. [http://www.content.loudeye.com/scripts/hurl.exe?clipid=002742001180006900&cid=600111 Williamson sound clip] (in Windows Media format) : {{fnb|2}}"The Lemon Song" was based on the song "Killing Floor" written by Howlin' Wolf (Chester Arthur Burnett), but he receives no credit on the album. "Killing Floor" was also being performed live by Led Zeppelin around the time their Led Zeppelin (album) first album was released.

External links
* {{musicbrainz album|id=87e8eaa5-2285-4fd5-b392-f0e8bad5b2f9|name=Led Zeppelin II}} {{LedZeppelin}} Category:Led Zeppelin albums Category:1969 albums Category:Second albums cs:Led Zeppelin II de:Led Zeppelin II es:Led Zeppelin II fr:Led Zeppelin II it:Led Zeppelin II nl:Led Zeppelin II no:Led Zeppelin II pl:Led Zeppelin II pt:Led Zeppelin II ru:Led Zeppelin II fi:Led Zeppelin II sv:Led Zeppelin II

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