15 posts
the greatest ballad EVER! (or slow song, or whatever you rockers want to call it).
Silent Lucidity is a close second. For a while I thought it was even better, but Houses of the Holy starts off with "The Song Remains The Same" (one of my two all time fav Zep songs, along with "Out On The Tiles") then into The Rain Song. There may not be a better consecutive fast/slow song tandem on any other album. Rock you to the BONE, then go into this beautiful and beautifully orchestrated slow song. Back to back PHENOMENAL songs buy one of the greatest bands ever. And to me, in two songs they show the scope of their greatness.
And, this is another one of the previously mentioned LZ songs that I'd get too when learning the album and go "why can't I figure out how to play that?" only to discover years later the weird tuning used.
Anybody have anything they think tops it?
I wouldn't call it a topper but I'm Gonna Crawl has always had more emotional impact on me than The Rain Song... and The Rain Song is one of my all time favorite songs!
off the top of my head, that's all I have... will think about it and see if anything comes to mind.
The Rain Song is great, no doubt (although I completely tune out during the two minutes of mellotron strings after the first verse section). It starts slow and pretty and acoustic, and then gets all punchy and huge and rocking... kind of like, wait, what's that song called? Umm, Stairway to Heaven? Which also has the most perfect solo I've ever heard in a song... And one of the greatest riff/drum/vocal combos ever in the bridge... and is only twenty seconds longer...
Silent Lucidity? Really? I think that song is so tedious and overwrought. There are probably twenty Zeppelin "ballads" better than that.
I'm not sure if you call it a ballad, but U2's "Red Hill Mining Town" has always had my favorite ballad chorus of all time--the idea of "i'm hanging on/to all that's left to hold on to" just strikes a chord with me. And I always thought of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" as a ridiculous emotional one-two punch... if you're talking about feeling and not just tempo...
Not sure exactly what the criteria is, but I've always loved Holiday from the Scorpions. I find myself playing the intro lead and backing guitars a lot just because I love that sound. :)
Heck, I like Jack-A-Lynn from Jethro Tull and All In My Mind (Acoustic version) from Love and Rockets better than the Rain Song. Oh well.
I'm guessing that if I gave this more than 15 seconds of thought others would come to mind, but - hey, look at the time! Gotta run. ;)
[Edit - Just saw Charger's reply. +1 to Babe I'm Gonna Leave You]
not sure if ballad... but SRV's Life Without You is super powerful.
Oh man, the whole Earth Sun Moon album by love and rockets is like one long beautiful ballad. "waiting for the flood" is one I love. Aimee Mann has this really short ballad, "just like anyone" she wrote about Jeff Buckley, it's 1:20, short, sweet and painful. There are a million great ballads. I think that you can narrow the genre down to "Led Zeppelin ballads" and even without that limitation, there are ten that are great. And then there are a whole bunch of slow, deep grooves that I'm not sure are ballads... Dazed and Confused?
Song Remains the Same and the Rain Song are even better live I think (from the Song Remains the Same soundtrack).
charger I agree, that Hangin On' part of Red Hill Mining Town is special.
For Zep for me it's:
Then as it was, then again it will be
And though the course may change sometimes
Rivers always reach the sea
Ten Years Gone.
I loooove Ten Years Gone. That's one of my favorite guitar parts to play from zeppelin, too, because it's just challenging enough and weird sounding enough to be really fun, but not so hard to play that you end up thinking about it all the time. That makes my list of great zep ballads too. They really kind of mastered that formula.
oooh, zep, you're talking my language.
Yep, love the rain song, just a really satisfying thing the play in alternate tuning.
My favourite zep slowy is Tea for One from the album presence. The whole vibe of that song sends shivers up and down my spine. No idea what he's singing about but just the overall sound and feeling of the whole piece is just brilliant.
Ten years gone is another favorite, but then again that's not really a fair thing to say as I can quite honestly say that there is not one track of zep that I dislike. Just varying degrees of awesomeness :)
Charger, I'm kind of the opposite. I find the first string sounds in The Rain Song very emotional and one of the things that REALLY hits me when I listen to it. And, am the complete opposite on Ten Years Gone. I really like the way it starts and then it loses me... Never really loved that one at all. It's good, but never close to one of my favorite Zep songs.
And, I do love Silent Lucidity. Love the acoustic guitar, love the vocals, the orchestration, etc. (Funny side note: The last time we got together in Bowling Green, I had been playing that song recently. The night out in Matt's back yard, I was going to take a turn and not only play that, but sing it too, for you guys. But, I couldn't wrestle a guitar out of you and Matt's hands long enough to do so! ;D)
DreamTheaterRules — Sep 19, 2013Charger, I'm kind of the opposite. I find the first string sounds in The Rain Song very emotional and one of the things that REALLY hits me when I listen to it. And, am the complete opposite on Ten Years Gone. I really like the way it starts and then it loses me... Never really loved that one at all. It's good, but never close to one of my favorite Zep songs.
And, I do love Silent Lucidity. Love the acoustic guitar, love the vocals, the orchestration, etc. (Funny side note: The last time we got together in Bowling Green, I had been playing that song recently. The night out in Matt's back yard, I was going to take a turn and not only play that, but sing it too, for you guys. But, I couldn't wrestle a guitar out of you and Matt's hands long enough to do so! ;D)
Yeah, I can't stand that song... but I really don't believe you would have sung it...
Everyone's got different feelings but I think we can all agree that Zeppelin just kills it.
I really was going to do it. Even talked to Rik about it.
Yeah, that's the interesting part about. A part that grabs my gut turns you off. A part that I get disinterested in the some of you guys love. (I will get more specific on this later as this topic really interests me. I'll break down what I do and don't like about Ten Years..) Always been interested in the impact music has on different people.
Example: Jimi- The 8-9 second sustained note at the beginning of the Machine Gun solo (Band Of Gypsys) just CUTS MY FREAKING HEAD OFF especially the second time. Jamie however LOVES the opening note on "Born Under A Bad Sign" off the Blues album. He has the fuzz on, volume on guitar off and fades in to start the little solo at the beginning of the song. I think it's cool. Jamie went on and on about that one note. But for me, the Machine Gun note is insane!
Another example: Many times I listen back to older music and think how cheesy some of the synth sounds were, or the Rhodes sounds or whatever. Some of Steely Dan's songs for example, have very dated sounding keys on them, YET, I LOVE the stuff and those tones are part of the vibe of something I really love so it's cool.
DreamTheaterRules — Sep 19, 2013Example: Jimi- The 8-9 second sustained note at the beginning of the Machine Gun solo (Band Of Gypsys) just CUTS MY FREAKING HEAD OFF especially the second time. ... But for me, the Machine Gun note is insane!
yes!! same here!
I think you guys have really hit on what's wrong with lots of so-called "modern" music. They think the more notes you play, the better when it's often less done right that's sooooo much greater. :)
Gilmour certainly comes to mind there as well!
...my favorite slow Zeppelin song. :)
Tripper