{"product_id":"led-zeppelin_iii_2014_war_1","title":"Iii","description":"In addition to their talent as composers and instrumentalists, one of Led Zeppelin's strengths is their ability to always take a direction that no one expects. Thus, this third album, with a predominantly acoustic tone, was very misunderstood at the time, but has since earned its status as a classic. At the very beginning of 1970, just before embarking on a mini-tour of England that was to pass through the Royal Albert Hall in London, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, along with their respective partners (Maureen Plant and Charlotte Martin), went to Wales, to a small village where the singer had spent holidays in his childhood: Bron-Yr-Aur. They occupied a small farmhouse with no running water or electricity, having simply chosen to retreat. They were then almost obsessed with the album \"Liege and Lief\" by Fairport Convention, a bold mix of English folk and rock, which they discovered with delight. During a walk, they settled by the edge of a ravine and, armed with an acoustic guitar and a tape recorder, they wrote a sweet ballad with introspective lyrics, \"The Boy Next Door,\" which would become \"That's The Way,\" as well as the foundations of several other songs that would be among their most inspired. A few weeks later, after a remarkable series of concerts in the United States and on the European continent, they invested in Headley Grange, in Hampshire, an old completely disused night asylum. They rented the Rolling Stones' mobile studio, which they parked outside the property, after setting up microphones all over a large room. They worked on their new compositions there. One of them, \"Immigrant Song,\" inspired to Plant and Page by a recent trip to Iceland and which they tested for the first time on stage at the Bath festival, is a frontal assault, a killer, the rhythm giving no quarter, just like on \"Celebration Day,\" with a unleashed Bonham - a few months later, the intro of the song is accidentally erased during mixing, much to Jimmy Page's anger. On \"Friends,\" they make a nod to Crosby, Stills, Nash \u0026 Young with a few chords while venturing into very Indian-sounding scales - a version of this song would even be recorded two years later in Bombay by Jimmy and Robert with a local orchestra. A heartbreaking ballad written by Jimmy Page during the Yardbirds era then resurfaces, \"Knowing That I'm Losing You,\" which the guitarist renames \"Tangerine,\" where he lays down a beautiful solo and even leaves a false start on the tape. To not be outdone, John Paul Jones pulls out a mandolin and an old folk piece previously recorded by Leadbelly thus receives an extraordinary reinterpretation, \"Gallows Pole,\" the story of a condemned man trying to bribe his executioner - their musical culture allows them this kind of borrowing, especially since they always masterfully develop the potential of the repertoire they approach. Then, they recycle an electric instrumental of theirs, previously unused, \"Jennings Farm Blues\" (inspired by an English traditional) and turn it into \"Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp,\" which Plant dedicates... to his dog Strider. With his talents being less solicited, John Bonham then plays on every percussive instrument that is not a drum, such as the tambourine, or even castanets! To complete the album, two other English studios are used, those of Olympic and Island: at Olympic, they record the relentless \"Out on the Tiles,\" vaguely derived from a drinking song that John Bonham has constantly in his mouth and whose pachydermic rhythm is of absolute efficiency. Spontaneously, a tribute is paid to singer Roy Harper (whom they met at the Bath festival and for whom Jimmy Page does overtime) with \"Hats off to (Roy) Harper,\" in fact a medley of several blues titles (including Bukka White's \"Shake'em on Down\") that for once, they do not sign themselves. It should be noted that there is another version of this title, with a completely different medley. Finally, at Island, where Page does the final mix, they lay down \"That's the Way\" and especially the absolute masterpiece \"Since I've Been Lovin' You,\" which they have honed every night in concert since January and which they record in a direct take, John Paul Jones playing the melodic line and the bass on his organ at the same time. Everything here is divine, from Plant's voice, frantic with passion and sensuality, to Jimmy Page's guitar solo, one of the most breathtaking there is, passing through Bonham's drumming (whose bass drum squeaks from one end to the other), which forms a rhythmic carpet of unparalleled comfort for over seven minutes. If \"Led Zeppelin III\" received a negative reception from critics upon its release and slightly lowered the group's sales curve, it first has the merit of proving that these men can write more thoughtful and sensitive songs than those they had accustomed their audience to until then. A few decades later, no one escapes this record and that is the main thing. Remastered, \"Led Zeppelin III\" was reissued in June 2014 in a double volume including alternative takes and studio outtakes. Frédéric Régent - Copyright 2017 Music Story","brand":"Led Zeppelin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57793607106904,"sku":null,"price":23435887.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/vinyles.com\/en-us\/products\/led-zeppelin_iii_2014_war_1","provider":"Vinyles.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}