01	Whole Lotta Love						05:34
	02	What Is And What Should Never Be						04:45
	03	The Lemon Song						06:19
	04	Thank You						04:49
	05	Heartbreaker						04:14
	06	Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)						02:39
	07	Ramble On						04:24
	08	Moby Dick						04:21
	09	Bring It On Home						04:19

Led Zeppelin II
Date of Release Oct 22, 1969
Released on October 31, 1969
Recorded between January and August 1969 at various studios.

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 were performing onstage 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 follow 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. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine

1. Whole Lotta Love (Bonham/Dixon/Jones/Page/Plant) - 5:34
2. What Is and What Should Never Be (Page/Plant) - 4:44
3. The Lemon Song (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) - 6:19
4. Thank You (Page/Plant) - 4:47
5. Heartbreaker (Bonham/Jones/Page/Plant) - 4:14
6. Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman) (Page/Plant) - 2:39
7. Ramble On (Page/Plant) - 4:23
8. Moby Dick (Bonham/Jones/Page) - 4:21
9. Bring It on Home (Page/Plant) - 4:20

Jimmy Page - Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Steel), Vocals (bckgr), Producer
Robert Plant - Harmonica, Vocals
John Paul Jones - Organ, Bass, Vocals (bckgr)
John Bonham - Drums, Vocals (bckgr), Tympani [Timpani]

1994 CD Atlantic 82633
1994 CS Atlantic 82633
1969 LP Atlantic SD-8236
1980 LP Mobile Fidelity MFS-1-065
1995 CD Atlantic 7567-8268-2/4
LP Atlantic SD-19127
CD Atlantic 19127
1990 CD Atlantic 19127
CS Atlantic 19127-4
1999 LP Classic Compact Disc 8236


What Is and What Should Never Be
Composed By Jimmy Page/Robert Plant
Performed By Led Zeppelin

AMG REVIEW: Showing a bit more subtlety and a wider sense of dynamics than the rest of Led Zeppelin's second LP - the imaginatively titled Led Zeppelin II (1969) - "What Is and What Should Never Be" is a cosmic, jazzy blues excursion that explodes into hard rock riffing on the choruses before it fades out at just under five minutes. On the heels of the LP's opening song, the five-and-a-half-minute orgiastic opus "Whole Lotta Love," "What Is and What Should Never Be" settles in as a respite. Robert Plant's sexy whisper is fed through a slowly revolving Leslie organ speaker for a liquid, dreamy effect. He is backed by the musicians doing an impression of a loungy jazz combo, with John Paul Jones' softly fingered bass, Jimmy Page's gentle strums, and John Bonham's sizzling ride cymbal and brushed snare. "And if I say to you tomorrow," begins Plant, as if in mid-sentence, "Take my hand, child, come with me/It's to a castle I will take you/Where what's to be, they say will be." Plant aims for the psychedelic seduction of Jimi Hendrix. His chorus word combinations offer a funky turnaround rhythm, screaming over the pummeling chorus: "Catch the wind, see us spin/Sail away, leave today/Way up high in the sky/Oh oh/But the wind won't blow/You really shouldn't go/It only goes to show/That you will be mine/By taking our time." By the time he formed Led Zeppelin, Page was already well-versed in the workings of a recording studio as one of England's most in-demand session players. All that time brushed off on him, and the guitarist also produced much of the band's recordings. "What Is and What Should Never Be" is remarkably layered and rich for a 1969 recording. Rock record production and recording technology were entering their golden era and Plant makes full use of the tools at his disposal, never reaching the point of over-indulgence on "What Is and What Should Never Be." Some of the ear-candy highlights: the aforementioned vocal effect; the judicious use of atmospheric reverb effects; haunting, faraway-sounding, layered backing vocals that transition out of the choruses; a sultry slide guitar solo; and perhaps the only appropriate use of a gong in rock music, cashing in the band's "use gong once free" card. - Bill Janovitz




Альбом "Led Zeppelin II" записывался во время феноменального турне группы по Америке и вышел 22 октября 1969 года, получив благодаря обложке неофициальное название "Brown Bomber". Некоторые называют этот диск лучшей работой Led Zeppelin. Косвенным тому подтверждением служит тот факт, что в чартах США он вытеснил с 1-го места "битловскую" пластинку "Abbey Road", а песня "Whole Lotta Love", добравшаяся в хит-параде до 4-го места, стала в Америке "золотым" синглом - единственным у Led Zeppelin по причине, объясненной выше. Впрочем, на диске имеются еще и "Heartbreaker", "Bring It On Home" и "Thank You": По единодушному признанию публики и критиков, группа стала лучшей по итогам года в Великобритании, Роберт Плант - лучшим певцом, а "Led Zeppelin II" - лучшим альбомом.

Atlantic 588 198
Released on October 31, 1969
Recorded between January and August 1969 at various studios.
Produced by: Jimmy Page
Director of engineering: Edwin H. Kramer
Executive producer: Peter Grant
LP Recording engineers: Edwin H. Kramer, George Chkiantz,
Andrew Johns, Chris Huston
CD Mastering by: Barry Diament, Atlantic Studios
Cover Design: David Juniper
Jimmy Page Electric guitar, acoustic guitar,
pedal steel guitar, backing vocal
Robert Plant Lead vocal, harmonica
John Bonham Drums, tympani, backing vocal
John Paul Jones Bass, organ, backing vocal

1) Whole Lotta Love (5:34)
(Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham)
Recorded in 1969 at Olympic Studios, London.
Engineered by George Chkiantz.
Mixed at A&R Studios, New York, with Eddie Kramer.
Originally released on October 22, 1969 on "LED ZEPPELIN II."
Released as a single on 11/7/69. #4 U.S pop.
2) What Is And What Should Never Be (4:44)
(Page/Plant)
Recorded in 1969 at Olympic Studios, London.
Engineered by George Chkiantz.
Mixed at A&R Studios, New York, with Eddie Kramer.
Originally released on October 22, 1969 on "LED ZEPPELIN II."
3) The Lemon Song (6:20)
(Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham)
4) Thank You (3:50)
(Page/Plant)
Recorded in 1969 at Morgan Studios, London.
Engineered by Andy Johns.
Mixed at A&R Studios, New York, with Eddie Kramer.
Originally released on October 22, 1969 on "LED ZEPPELIN II."
5) Heartbreaker (4:15)
(Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham)
Recorded in 1969 at A&R Studios, New York.
Engineered by Eddie Kramer.
Mixed at A&R Studios, New York, with Eddie Kramer.
Originally released on October 22, 1969 on "LED ZEPPELIN II."
6) Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman) (2:40)
(Page/Plant)
7) Ramble On (4:35)
(Page/Plant)
Recorded in 1969 at Juggy Sound Studio, New York.
Engineered by Eddie Kramer.
Mixed at A&R Studios, New York, with Eddie Kramer.
Originally released on October 22, 1969 on "LED ZEPPELIN II."
8) Moby Dick (4:25)
(Bonham/Jones/Page)
9) Bring It On Home (4:19)
(Page/Plant/Dixon)