Although there's really not a bad song on it,I have to give their debut album 3 and a half stars.It starts off nicely with "Good times,Bad times",which shows off the bands awesome rythym section as well as Pages lightning fast pentatonic riffs.This is interestingly juxtaposed to the mellow "Babe,I'm gonna leave you"."You Shook Me" firmly establishes their blues roots,and this brings to mind one of my pet peeves with Zep : They didn't give ANY credit to the many Delta Bluesmen they ripped off until they were sued by the inimitable Willie Dixon himself,and it became public knowledge.In my opinion,many other bands from the same late 60s era did a better job of melding rock and blues,more in homage and less plageristic in nature.Besides,Robert Plant just doesn't cut it as a blues singer.His voice is more suited to the more celtic material.Next up is "Dazed and Confused",one of the best songs on the album.There is a very original instrumental,"Black Mountain Side",complete with tabla drums,which was pretty exotic back then.They flex their Metal Muscles on "Communication Breakdown",which is followed by my favorite song on the disc,"I can't quit you baby".(which was one of many ideas lifted from Dixons material).I have to say that John Bonhams work on the album is easily a 5 star performance,and so is John Paul Jones' bass and keys.However,for all the notoriety they recieved,there's just something lackluster about Page and Plant.The album closes with another pastiche of old blues,"How many More Times",that sounds very poor next to Albert Kings version of "They call me the Hunter",part of which it borrows.I have to give them credit for inspiring countless kids to check out old blues artists and to pick up instruments,but I feel the band is,and has been,over-rated.
