Early press releases for Led Zeppelin's debut album referred to the band as "the only way to fly." I wholeheartedly agree. Jimmy Page has been quoted as saying that for everything that followed musically from the band, "the roots are all there in the first album." And he's absolutely right. Past the pro forma blues that comprises the bulk of the album, there are strong hints of what was to come. "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" predicts the acoustic workout of Led Zeppelin III. The solo Page acoustic guitar piece "Black Mountain Side" contains hints of the Eastern flavor that would show up on later songs like "In The Light" and "Four Sticks." And of course, "Dazed And Confused" launched a thousand riffs, most notably "Whole Lotta Love," which all the members venture to guess came from live performances of "Dazed."

Listening to Led Zeppelin nearly forty years after its release, it's somewhat amusing how much the critics of its day savaged it, and how to a large degree revisionist reviews of the record were offered up with mouths full of crow. I can't imagine being a fan of rock music in 1969 and not loving Led Zeppelin, or this record. Then again, my father was seventeen at the time this record came out, and he was never a fan. So maybe it's a matter of taste.

Honestly, as much as I love the first album, I'd rate it fifth out of their studio albums, behind the second, third, and fourth albums, and Houses Of The Holy. However, having said that, most bands go their entire careers without ever coming close to sounding as good as Zeppelin did on their debut.

"Good Times, Bad Times" starts off the record. I'd say this probably the band's token concession to Atlantic for something poppy that would make a decent single. It didn't, and it's funny that the infinitely heavier "Whole Lotta Love" from the next album would in fact be the band's first (and biggest) chart hit, reaching number four on the pop charts. I'm guessing the band didn't care much for "Good Times, Bad Times." Page didn't see fit to include it on the initial Zep box set, opting to leave it with the leftovers on the second box set.

"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" follows. The story goes that when Page and Robert Plant first met, Page played Plant Joan Baez's version of the song and said he wanted to do it and Plant just looked at him strange. Critics often lionize this song and the band's supporters often trot it out in defense of the position that Zeppelin wasn't just a loud dumb hard rock band. I don't think they ever needed defending in that regard.

So much of what got Zeppelin a lot of flak was their vast reimagining and reconstituting of old blues material. Two such examples exist on the first record, and both are remakes of old Willie Dixon tunes: "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You Baby." I've never heard Dixon's versions and am not particularly worried about visiting the source material. I didn't get into Zeppelin because of their affinity for the blues. I got into Zeppelin because they rock and they sound good. I'm not a purist when it comes to blues. Truthfully, Dixon's songs are the least interesting parts of the album. A second version of "I Can't Quit You Baby" can be found on Coda, Zeppelin's last studio album, which was a hodgepodge of previously unreleased songs. That version was a live version recorded for the BBC. The one on this album sounds warmer to me, and better. Truthfully though, I would have been more interested in hearing more original material from the boys.

In fact, if Led Zeppelin has one major weakness, it's that after we strip away the covers, and the two-minute Page solo piece "Black Mountain Side," we're left with five originals of any length. And even then, "How Many More Times" borrows considerably from multiple sources.

"Dazed And Confused" closes the first side of the album. I can't even address Zeppelin in CD terminology. Their albums will always have a "Side One" and a "Side Two." "Dazed" is an absolutely gorgeously brutal slab of rock. Page's furious licks and Plant's banshee wail do battle, and the listener is the winner. The highlight for me is the middle instrumental section where Page breaks out the violin bow for some otherworldly sounds before Jones and Bonham come in on bass and drums, rumbling wildly as the whole section builds to a frenzied, gloriously violent conclusion. Listening to the intensity the band packed into the six-and-a-half minute studio version, it's amazing to think the band could stretch the piece to a half-hour or more in concert, which they did regularly.

"Communication Breakdown" fared no better than "Good Times, Bad Times" when issued as a single. I figure that along with "Black Dog" and "Whole Lotta Love," this song has Zep's most cannibalized guitar riff. Kix, for example, used it to good effect on a song of theirs called "Red Lite Green Lite TNT."

The album closes with "How Many More Times." For the longest time, I jokingly referred to this song as "Dazed Jr." until I realized two things. It's actually quite longer than "Dazed," and I like it better than I do "Dazed." Page's riffing on "How Many More Times" is intense, and Plant gives a stellar vocal. The middle part of the song echoes "Dazed" in terms of Page's use of the violin bow. It also neatly weaves in "Beck's Bolero" by Jeff Beck. I thought this was particularly brave of Page given that he and Beck had been in the Yardbirds together, and both were releasing albums right around the same time (Page with Zeppelin, Beck with The Jeff Beck Group). Both albums even had a common song (the cover of Willie Dixon's "You Shook Me).

Some cassette copies inverted the sides, meaning that "Dazed" closed the album instead of "How Many More Times." Honestly, either one works as an album closer, thoughI think that "How Many More Times" works better, knowing now that it would lead to "Whole Lotta Love," which opened the second album. That album was released a mere nine months later. But that's another review for another time.