Which Album Do You Think Was Most Progressive?

[Charles J. White]

Frankly all Led Zeppelin albums were constantly branching out, moving music boundaries to the next horizon. Each album is progressive and takes the listener on a musical journey. Each listen to any particular album or song allows you to discover the different shades and light when listening through a headset at one point or listening through a stereo speakers. In fact depending on the time of day when listening to the music, it allows you to feel different emotions. Led Zeppelin was never content, it is a changing landscape. The music lives and breathes, and I firmly believe that if left alone in a scenic setting in the mountains of Maine or the Highlands of Nova Scotia or some such place that John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and Jason Bonham would become the conduit of the earth’s energy which would translate into the music.

Led Zeppelin albums are to music what Picasso was to paint. Each listening at a moment of time would create a reason why it is the most progressive album.

[The Dark Lord]

Frankly all Led Zeppelin albums were constantly branching out, moving music boundaries to the next horizon. Each album is progressive and takes the listener on a musical journey. Each listen to any particular album or song allows you to discover the different shades and light when listening through a headset at one point or listening through a stereo speakers. In fact depending on the time of day when listening to the music, it allows you to feel different emotions. Led Zeppelin was never content, it is a changing landscape. The music lives and breathes, and I firmly believe that if left alone in a scenic setting in the mountains of Maine or the Highlands of Nova Scotia or some such place that John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and Jason Bonham would become the conduit of the earth’s energy which would translate into the music.

Led Zeppelin albums are to music what Picasso was to paint. Each listening at a moment of time would create a reason why it is the most progressive album.

Cool observation, which paints a picture of true completeness about their musical statements.

[DarkStar1969]

I listen to many kind of music: I staerted with psychedelic sound, moving to hard rok and then to west coast and progressive too. I'm 45 and listen to good music since I was 15 (while my frieds listend to Duran Duran in mid 80s').

In the end I find myself listen to LZ almost all the time with few expection (Dark Star by Grateful Dead, to someone this might be strange but this is what it is...).

Among many and many songs I listen most of the times the many versions of No Quarter (dozens and dozens versions on any media - USB key, smartphone, HiFi, etc.).

So, coming back to this subjet: most progressive LP: no doubt for me, this is Houses of the Holy even if some progressive drop is everywhere as some of you have noticed.

In that sense No Quarter is a kind of progressive (as there are many progressive declinations: e.g. Soul progressive as Traffic). But this is also a psychedelic jam as well (IMHO progressive is the most direct derivation of psychedelia).

For sure we are light years far from ELP and other classic progressive bands, but (IMHO) Houses of the Holy is the LP where I find more similarities with the typical structure of the progressive sound (especially No Quarter) but also - looking at LZ sound origins - a major step towards experimentation and search of new/different. Despite of that any LZ LP is a search towards the "new", just to be clear.

[babysquid]

Just to be clear are you referring to progressive as in "making progress" or "Prog rock"? If it's the first I think all the albums are progressive as they're all different and each has it's own sense of adventure. If you mean Prog then I never really saw them as a proggy band, of course there were elements of it, but I don't know if that's just because both they and a lot of the Prog groups came out the other end of the psychedelic era and just share similar antecedents.

On the other hand I met a guy who was into Prog and when I asked him what I thought of the later Prog groups like Marrilion etc he said they weren't Prog because they didn't have a mellotron :-) So taking that (with a large pinch of salt) to be true then it's got to be TSRTS as that has the most Mellotron on it! I actually think that's a bit daft, a bit like saying you can't play blues on a stratocaster or some other sweeping ignorant statement. I'm sure that if you know what you're doing you can play Prog rock with a wobble board and a rusty bin lid if you want to.

Funnily enough though Jimmy was keen to have a Mellotron player when he was first putting the line up together! I wonder what that would have sounded like, we might've been asking which is the least Prog then!

[ksgemini]

3 and hoth

[Little Robert Anthony II]

Definitely Houses of The Holy. They had some epic prog songs on there. They certainly weren't a "prog" band, but they dabbled in it and totally nailed it, just like they nailed all the other genres they incorporated into their sound. Overall, you can't really nail them down to any one genre. I'd say their strongest bases are blues rock, hard rock, folk rock and heavy metal. Prog would come after that. And then there are the more one off attempts, like putting reggae into D'yer Mak'er and funk into The Crunge as well as glam rock into Sick Again.

[Charles J. White]

Frankly all Led Zeppelin albums were constantly branching out, moving music boundaries to the next horizon. Each album is progressive and takes the listener on a musical journey. Each listen to any particular album or song allows you to discover the different shades and light when listening through a headset at one point or listening through a stereo speakers. In fact depending on the time of day when listening to the music, it allows you to feel different emotions. Led Zeppelin was never content, it is a changing landscape. The music lives and breathes, and I firmly believe that if left alone in a scenic setting in the mountains of Maine or the Highlands of Nova Scotia or some such place that John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and Jason Bonham would become the conduit of the earth’s energy which would translate into the music.

Led Zeppelin albums are to music what Picasso was to paint. Each listening at a moment of time would create a reason why it is the most progressive album.

Cool observation, which paints a picture of true completeness about their musical statements.

Thank you The Dark Lord, Led Zeppelin were an example of what great music is, not just any particular genre, or style. but what great music is, and what great music should be.

[Mithril46]

This is a great thread but understandably there seem to be 3 or 4 different definitions of progressive rock. I won't even try to define them.

As many have said, HOTH,overall, seems most progressive, but unlike at least most "prog", the mood is overly sunny and bright. But

Styx("prog"?? "Quasi-prog")is also mainly sunny and bright. ITTOD would probably be the best contender if comparing to Yes, ELP, Genesis

and other heavily keyboard driven "prog" bands. The mention of Zep 4 being most progressive is in a different sense, totally true as well.

[Brigante]

None of it sounds like prog to me.

I wouldn't tag Zeppelin as prog in a million years.

However, which aspects of the band can be said to be 'the most prog'?

I sort of see what people mean by a few parts of Houses of the Holy, but the songs are too concise and straightahead, really.

Not when compared to the Ramones, obviously, but certainly when compared to Yes, ELP, etc.

I can see what people mean with Carouselambra - it's a long, keyboard-driven piece with various sections ('movements', in prog-speak!).

It has far more of a drive to it, though and nothing like the emphasis on displays of technical musicianship that actual prog has.

So I guess Carouslambra may be the nearest they got to it - but I'd say it's a superficial similarity, really, and it's not 'real' prog!

[SummerOfMySmiles]

I think the only time they remotely dabbled into prog as I understand it is, like other commenters said, in Achilles Last Stand because of its epic storytelling, its structure in passages and the driving beat and the sudden changes in time signatures outside of 4/4. But keys are the PR in PROG in my opinion.

No Quarter would also qualify for a prog flavor.

[...] And then there are the more one off attempts, like putting reggae into D'yer Mak'er and funk into The Crunge as well as glam rock into Sick Again.

What is glam about Sick Again? While I agree on D'yer and The Crunge, I don't see anything glam in Sick Again, except maybe the lyrics being about the groupie stuff. It's a sweeping hard rock tune!!

[Michael Page]

Presence has ALS, a totally "progressive" song. But PG has Kashmir! I always felt that Zeppelin had transcended the Hard Rock stereotype (think Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc.) by HotH. But them again Zeppelin was always "hors catégorie" music-wise.

I was thinking about Presence also. Very prog rock album.

[Mithril46]

I think a main element here is that even if the rest of Zep was doing something "Prog-like", Plant's voice although very versatile, simply

always ends up earthy and bluesy, or soulful.

[Nutrocker]

I think all of their albums were 'progressive', probably equally at that -not just in terms of "Progressive Rock"- but IMO Zeppelin's records sort of set a standard everyone else had to go by. Very much like The Beatles before them in that regard. Zeppelin never released a "bad" album, all their albums had a different sound and feel about them (the production was always excellent) and there really aren't and totally "bad" songs on any of those albums, either. Not many of Zeppelin's contemporaries could claim that.

So ultimately, in answer to the topic at hand I'd have to say their most progressive album would be the first one- obviously that was the record that made everybody perk up their ears a little bit and go, "Holy shit!" Soon enough it'd be like, "Wow! How the hell can they top that?! What are they gonna do next?"

[The Rover 75]

Curious to know what LZ album you found to have the most progressive (prog) leanings . I think that there is a prog element in all of their albums, but the top three for me would be Houses of the Holy, Presence, and In Through the Out Door, which had the definitive Led Zeppelin prog song, Carouselambra. For number one, I would have to give the nod to Houses of the Holy. It is pretty clear that they were trying to branch out musically on that album, kicking it off with The Song Remains the Same, which was a truly intricate piece with various time changes and segments that tie it together. Then The Rain Song, which speaks for itself as a very unique piece. Add to that Over the Hills, No Quarter, and the Crunge, and you have a pretty diverse and proggy album, but still within a rock framework. I think that they were trying to push some boundaries here, and in turn, created a fairly meandering and interesting album.

What's your choice, and why?

I would go with Physical Graffiti, as it is probably their most diverse, something common in Prog efforts. It also has Heavy Metal overtones, in songs like "The Rover" & "Custard Pie", which Prog bands also do.

I do agree that HOTH is a great Spring/Summer effort, "Dancing Days are here again...", 'The Ocean" has a great warm feel to it as well. Also, "No Quarter" has tons of Prog Feel to it.

[Mithril46]

I really like what nut rocker said. You really have to judge Zep in a totally different way. There are Prog bands in my opinion who

certainly deserve the tag, but over their career didn't move forward all that much over their career. Whether you like ITTOD or not,

for example, Zep is absolutely stretching here. Not totally successfully, but the dice are being rolled. As they were on all previous

releases, perhaps with much better results.