Song Transitions on the Studio Albums

[John M]

I searched for this topic and could not find it so here goes.  Zeppelin had some amazing song transitions on the studio albums.  I have always been fascinated by them.  I am thinking about the transitions with little or no space between songs.  There are many great transitions due to song order, but in many cases there is some silence at the end of one track and or at the beginning of the next, which can lessen the impact.  I am focusing on those transitions with little or no gap at all.

Here is a list of my favorite such transitions.  How about you?  Other favorite studio transitions?

Black Mountain Side - Communication Breakdown breathtaking, abrupt transition

I Can't Quit You Baby - How Many More Times    seamless flow but the musical mood changes

Lemon Song - Thank You  - a fade out into fade in, from ominous to beautiful

Heartbreaker - Living Loving Maid - well, obviously

Moby Dick - Bring it on Home - seamless transition

Friends - Celebration Day  - all based on a studio accident?  Love that spiraling "airplane" sound

Boogie with Stu - Black Country Woman - laughing into talking

Nobody's Fault - Candy Store Rock  - from one abrupt ending into an abrupt start.  I always thought Nobody's Fault was one of the great Zeppelin song endings, like a black hole collapsing in on itself.   
 

 

[Zep Hed]

Song Remains the Same > Rain Song.

[hummingbird69]

the best one PERIOD is Going To California When The Levee Breaks. It completely typifies the light and Heavy aspect of Led Zeppelin's music. 

[rm2551]

Custard Pie into The Rover is epic. The opener of the great double album must have flawed all who bought it and then the intro to the Rover hits and you knew that album was NOT going to disappoint.

[Peter Tea]

Also on the first album and the first great transition is from You Shook Me to Dazed and Confused... which is probably what would happen to you after you were proverbially shook all niiiiiiiiight loooooooooooong. 

[the chase]

All the ones mentioned already... But especially Friends into Celebration Day is pretty awesome.. and as mentioned all from an accident. Studio pros at their best.

On the 4 CD Boxed set, there was a cool transition from the Bonzo's Montreaux / Moby Dick remix right into I'm Gonna Crawl. 

On the Walking into Clarksdale tour, they went from How Many More Times (the descending part right before "Oh Rosey") into What Is and What Should Never Be. perfect transition..I know it says Studio but this really stood out...

[John M]

On Coda, the transition from the frenetic ending of Poor Tom to the vocal opening of I Can't Quit You is amazing.  That is some Page sequencing magic there.

[tmtomh]

On 10/16/2020 at 11:32 AM, Zep Hed said:

Song Remains the Same > Rain Song.

So many great comments here. I would agree with this one, though, because while all the albums (except maybe ITTOD) have tremendous sequencing, this is the best 1-2 punch that I feel really counts as having a song transition. Even though there's no crossfade like they did on the '73 tour, the two tracks clearly feel like a single suite. For me, that makes it special.

[BobDobbs]

YTIGC into BMS, how BMS slowly takes over from YTIGC, one song blending into another.

[Mr. Mountain Hop]

The cassette version of II had ‘Heartbreaker’ at the end of side 1 and ‘Thank You’ as the opening of side 2. As such, the transition from the echo effect at the end of ‘The Lemon Song’ into the opening riff of ‘Heartbreaker’ is virtually seamless. I still prefer that to ‘Thank You’ ending side 1.

[John M]

There is a gap of a second or two, but the transition from NIght Flight into Wanton Song is great.

[Stryder1978]

One of my favorites is the transition from "Heartbreaker" to "Living Loving Maid".  It was so short, radio stations couldn't cut it off so we got two songs for the price of one every time "Heartbreaker" was played.  One guy at work actually thought is was one song! 

[BobDobbs]

5 hours ago, Stryder1978 said:

One of my favorites is the transition from "Heartbreaker" to "Living Loving Maid".  It was so short, radio stations couldn't cut it off so we got two songs for the price of one every time "Heartbreaker" was played.  One guy at work actually thought is was one song! 

Kind of like Journey's Feelin that Way & Anytime combo

[Rodrigo]

The Song Remains The Same -> The Rain Song

[reids]

One of my favorites is the Transition from “Going To California” into “When The Levee Breaks” (the contrast / light & shade: the serenity into the bombast).
 

R😎🎸👍🎶

 

[kirchzep27]

I agree with all song transitions mentioned.

I could see Kashmir, sequence being different on first album of Physical Graffiti.

[kirchzep27]

On 6/2/2021 at 1:43 PM, John M said:

There is a gap of a second or two, but the transition from NIght Flight into Wanton Song is great.

This is a super memorable song transition to me also, it’s not one of the epic ones, but it’s one that illustrates how great zep were and what great albums they made

[Zep Hed]

For some reason this occurred to me the other day and perhaps it's a bit off the board, but Poor Tom > I Can't Quit You on Coda. The sudden stop of Poor Tom then Robert kicks into ICQY. Not too shabby!