Recorded quickly during Led Zeppelin's first American tours, Led Zeppelin II provided the blueprint for all the heavy metal bands that followed it.
Since the group could only enter the studio for brief amounts of time, most of the songs that compose II are reworked blues and rock & roll standards that the band was performing on-stage at the time.
Not only did the short amount of time result in a lack of original material, it made the sound more direct.
Jimmy Page still provided layers of guitar overdubs, but the overall sound of the album is heavy and hard, brutal and direct.
"Whole Lotta Love," "The Lemon Song," and "Bring It on Home" are all based on classic blues songs -- only, the riffs are simpler and louder and each song has an extended section for instrumental solos.
Of the remaining six songs, two sport light acoustic touches ("Thank You," "Ramble On"), but the other four are straight-ahead heavy rock that follows the formula of the revamped blues songs.
While Led Zeppelin II doesn't have the eclecticism of the group's debut, it's arguably more influential.
After all, nearly every one of the hundreds of Zeppelin imitators used this record, with its lack of dynamics and its pummeling riffs, as a blueprint.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whole Lotta LoveJohn Bonham, Willie Dixon, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant | Led Zeppelin | Play | 05:34 | 12 MB | 35 MB |
| 2 | What Is and What Should Never BeJimmy Page, Robert Plant | Led Zeppelin | Play | 04:45 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 3 | The Lemon SongJohn Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant | Led Zeppelin | Play | 06:19 | 14 MB | 37 MB |
| 4 | Thank YouJimmy Page, Robert Plant | Led Zeppelin | Play | 04:49 | 11 MB | 25 MB |
| 5 | HeartbreakerJohn Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant | Led Zeppelin | Play | 04:14 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 6 | Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)Jimmy Page, Robert Plant | Led Zeppelin | Play | 02:39 | 6 MB | 19 MB |
| 7 | Ramble OnJimmy Page, Robert Plant | Led Zeppelin | Play | 04:24 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 8 | Moby DickJohn Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page | Led Zeppelin | Play | 04:21 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 9 | Bring It On HomeWillie Dixon, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant | Led Zeppelin | Play | 04:20 | 9 MB | 23 MB |
| 41 mins | 94 MB | |||||
| 41 mins | 248 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Bonham | Composer, Drums, Timpani, Vocals (Background) |
| 2 | George Chkiantz | Engineer |
| 3 | Willie Dixon | Composer |
| 4 | Peter Grant | Executive Producer |
| 5 | Chris Huston | Engineer |
| 6 | Andy Johns | Engineer |
| 7 | John Paul Jones | Bass, Composer, Organ, Vocals (Background) |
| 8 | David Juniper | Artwork |
| 9 | Eddie Kramer | Director of Engineering, Engineer, Mixing |
| 10 | Edwin H. Kramer | Director of Engineering, Engineer |
| 11 | Led Zeppelin | Primary Artist |
| 12 | George Marino | Digital Remastering |
| 13 | Jimmy Page | Composer, Digital Remastering, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Steel), Producer, Vocals (Background) |
| 14 | Robert Plant | Composer, Harmonica, Vocals |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |