What's the best Led Zeppelin album?

[greenman]

If you removed D'yer Maker and The Crunge from existence (and I wish we could) HOTH would be their career high point (No Quarter, Over the Hills and Far Away, The Rain Song, The Ocean, I mean FFS!!!) . III is def a contender though. After a good year of wearing my tape of II into the ground as a teen, III was revelatory. Some incredible songs on there.

Never understood why Physical Graffiti is held in such high regard. Yes, there's Kashmir and In My Time of Dying, but way too many loooong bar-room blues workouts. Really is an odds-and-sods album, despite how it was presented to the world.

The Rover, Black Country Woman and the track Houses of the Holy were recorded for those sessions so you could easily imagine an alternative album.

The Crunge live is I'd say quite enjoyable, it actually evolved from the band playing the theme from shaft during Dazed and Confused and I think did have a raw funkiness in that setting but the studio vetrsion really fucks up its potential, far too slick and lacking in power.

I'd probably go for Physical Graffiti personally, not entirely consistantly but nothing really bad on it and a lot of variety, I do like the sound of that album as well with Bonham mixed very high, Plant is quite raspy but I think it works well.

[Bobby Ralgex]

Take off Roy Harper at the end and replace it with Poor Tom, from the same sessions.