Like with the recent Genesis review I wasn't around at the time of these releases so have come to these artists without the pleasure and slow exposure to their music, to which I am a bit jealous really. By the time I was listening to them, they were dinosaurs apparently, and that criticism when you're young seeps in a little and you don't fully investigate the bands as you should. Now we have Spotify it's easy and guilt-free, but I only heard the compilation albums back in pre-streaming times so going to their full albums is slightly new to me. "Since I've Been Loving You" is probably my favourite song of that genre and also maybe of Led Zep overall, and I played it so many times on my cassette deck trying to find out where that squeak was coming from. Was it the deck, or the cassette itself? Only later I found out it was Bonham's drum pedal.
Sadly, although the album was heading for a 9/10 those dodgy vocals on Tangerine (I've never understood why people rate this so highly) and the overlong That's the Way and the last 2 drag it down, it's a weak ending to the album, but I'll still score it at 8 / 10 because the first 6 songs are of such a high standard.
