# Favorite Led Zeppelin album **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408 "2011-03-20T23:10:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/1 "2011-03-20T23:10:36Z")
Vote for your favorite Led Zeppelin album, doesn’t matter if you think it is ‘the best’ or not. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/2 "2011-03-20T23:18:20Z")
II for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/3 "2011-03-20T23:28:13Z")
Tough call between II, IV, Physical Graffiti and Presence. I voted Physical Graffiti but while writing this post I get second thoughts… Well, at least I get two records to my desert island. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/4 "2011-03-20T23:31:15Z")
Their first album, because they plagiarized from better sources. 🙂 It also had far more musical range. The rest of the work was primarily made up on variations on “Communications Breakdown.” ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/5 "2011-03-21T00:08:53Z")
I checked Physical Graffiti, but really it’s tied with II. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/6 "2011-03-21T00:16:24Z")
Interesting. I love the first five albums, but I like the variety and range on the later albums much more. I’m actually quite tired of all the straight mid-or-down tempo Zeppelin blues tunes that appears on I&II. Things really start getting interesting for me by III and IV. I voted IV because, to me, it has the perfect balance of everything that made Zeppelin great. It’s also the first Zeppelin album I bought, so it is a sentimental favorite. But between III, IV, and Houses of the Holy, it’s a tough choice. Physical Graffit is great, too, but it’s a little too sprawling for me. If I had to rank them in order, it’d probably go: IV, III, Houses of the Holy, II, I, Physical Graffiti, In Through the Out Door, Presence, Coda. But those first six are really tightly bunched. We’re talking the difference between a “10” album for IV to an “8.5” for Physical Graffiti. ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/7 "2011-03-21T05:32:08Z")
This is a tough one to narrow down. But I had to go with Physical Graffiti. Which isn’t really fair to compare it with the others since it’s a double album. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/8 "2011-03-21T06:46:55Z")
I voted for IV, but i’d like to give an honorable mention to _How the West Was Won_, which contains a recording of Moby Dick which is FAR superior to the one on _The Song Remains the Same_. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/9 "2011-03-21T10:25:35Z")
I’d say the [BBC sessions album](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Sessions_(Led_Zeppelin_album)). Wonderfully atmospheric stuff and capturing their 1969 brilliance. It also contains their version of “Travelling Riverside Blues” which may well be one of their finest moments. I played it to my 3 and 5 year olds yesterday and they couldn’t keep still. I think they missed out on the symbolism of “squeeze my lemon”…thankfully. ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/10 "2011-03-21T13:05:15Z")
III. Purely because it has Since I’ve Been Loving You on it. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/11 "2011-03-21T13:21:48Z")
IV has the classic concentrated Zep goodness, including _Black Dog_ and _Rock and Roll_. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/12 "2011-03-21T13:40:02Z")
This was tough, but I voted for _Physical Graffiti_ because it contains “In My Time of Dying,” which is my hands-down favorite Led Zep song. When that comes on the stereo, the world stops spinning for 11 minutes. But IV, II, and _Houses of the Holy_ are close behind. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/13 "2011-03-21T13:45:09Z")
I went w/ Physical Graffiti but honestly I think every single one is frikkin’ awesome. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/14 "2011-03-21T14:07:58Z")
I went with II, because it’s a standard bearer; a classic, yet immediate-sounding LP. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/15 "2011-03-21T14:42:06Z")
Hard to pick, but I went with III. Every time I hear Immigrant Song, it takes me back to riding the school bus my first year of highschool. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/16 "2011-03-21T14:44:33Z")
I love the first 6 but I voted for IV as it has a slight edge in my heart. But all of the first 6 are perfect albums. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/17 "2011-03-21T15:34:53Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I went w/ Physical Graffiti but honestly I think every single one is frikkin’ awesome. +1. PG has Kashmir, which I think is the quintessential Zep song, along with a solid representation of their light and dark sides… ---
**Author:** ![Mllz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Mllz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mllz)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/18 "2011-03-21T15:37:28Z")
Tough choice between _III_ and _Houses of the Holy_ for me, but _HotH_ ultimately won out for being more solid start-to-finish and more listenable as an album. With _III_, I’ll usually skip “Immigrant Song”, though occasionally making up for it by listening to “That’s the Way” and “Since I’ve Been Loving You” twice! I love all of the Zeppelin albums–and for different reasons with each–but as I’ve gotten older I don’t feel the same connection to the harder-rocking radio staples that I did as a teenager… and nostalgia does not win the day for me when it comes to the Zep. Oh, and “all of the Zeppelin albums” for me does not include _Coda_ (for reasons probably understandable to most readers of this), nor does it include _Presence_ (which I just could never get into, and don’t really care to try anymore). ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/19 "2011-03-21T15:38:25Z")
Not a fan, which you can tell by my choice of _In Through the Out Door_, Plant’s least screechy and Page’s least masturbatory album. ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408/20 "2011-03-21T15:53:05Z")
_Physical Graffiti_ also has the fantastic underworld melody “In The Light”, with gorgeous chorus, and at song beginning (and mid song) features two dragons flying miles apart and above the stratus clouds… eerily calling, trumpeting out to one another. A haunting song. Under noticed. And under played. It also has “Humble Pie” and “The Rover”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-led-zeppelin-album/575408.md?page=2)