Introduction

The 1970 album, Led Zeppelin III, was released as the third studio album from rock band Led Zeppelin. Following the great success of Led Zeppelin II, the band decided to take a different practice on this project. As one of their more experimental projects they have released, Led Zeppelin swung for the fences taking influence from many different genres and older singers. A handful of the songs, upon release, were frowned upon, but many of which grew as some of the fan favorites from their discography. Led Zeppelin III reached number one in both the United States and the United Kingdom and has since been dubbed as six times platinum. All in all, this album grew to be a home run in the history of the band, and their success was merely just beginning.

Background

The project was pitched by Robert Plant in early 1970 whilst at the 18th century cottage, Bron-Y-Aur, in Wales. Beginning recording immediately, the band recorded the album in May and June of 1970, with mixing being completed in August. Recording mainly took place at Headley Garage, but also took place heavily in London in both Island Studios and Olympic Studios. While each song has a specific value to the track list, the project was initially conceived as a full concept in 1970s, and the collection of tracks were eventually compiled into Led Zeppelin III and released on October 5th of 1970. Prior to the release, the album was so highly anticipated that it sold close to one million advance orders, and the rest is history.

Experimentation/Influence

While Led Zeppelin has stuck to relatively the same model for their songs on their prior projects, they decided to reach out of the box for Led Zeppelin III. This album is not just a simple rock album but takes elements from both the country and folk genre. Much of the guitar playing, brought by Jimmy Page, is clearly influenced by country, especially in songs like “Gallows Pole” and “Tangerine.” Furthermore, there does appear to be a slight jazz influence in the song, “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” which is a very different feel on this project. On the same song, there features a lot of instrumentation switches that really provides the track with a lot of diversity.

Meaning

While Led Zeppelin III doesn’t follow a clear storyline, there is a handful of meaning packed into this ten-song project. The opening track, “Immigrant Song,” certainly sounds much different to the rest of the album, but also features the band comparing their trip to Iceland to Norse warriors colonizing America. While this is the only real mention of this kind of comparison, the song still does add to the whole meaning of the project for the band. The songs, “Celebration Day” and “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” both deal with a similar concept of dark times. “Celebration Day” talks about the attempt to escape from a corrupt society, whereas “Since I’ve Been Loving You” compares a strenuous relationship to a traditional job. Apart from these three main meanings, this project doesn’t have much more impactful meaning packed in the lines throughout the songs.

Conclusion

While this certainly isn’t the best project in Led Zeppelin’s discography, it does provide some great tracks from Led Zeppelin. All in all, this project is a very average project that tries to be different. This different does work on some occasions, however, some of the tracks fall flat.

Song Rankings:

1. “Since I’ve Been Loving You”
2. “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp”
3. “Immigrant Song”
4. “Celebration Day”
5. “Gallows Pole”
6. “Out on the Tiles”
7. “Tangerine”
8. “That’s the Way”
9. “Friends”
10. “Hats off To (Roy) Harper”

Final Notes

Song rankings are always subject to change over time, so don’t take these too to heart. They also are just our opinion. We would love to hear your opinions, so leave them in the comment section below. We also suggest subscribing to our blog. To do so, go under the tab “Contact” and fill out the form. That will allow you to receive emails of new blogs and maybe get them ahead of time. Finally, go give Led Zeppelin III a listen for yourself.