I have some free cd's to cash in at BMG and I've decided that I'm going to use some of them to finally get into Zeppelin and decide what I think.

So, if I was only going to buy two or three albums, what ones would you recommend? (oh, and the three-disc box set can't be purchased with the free vouchers-but i think of Zeppelin as a band that created whole albums as opposed to collections of singles, if that makes sense).


Thanks. I apologize if this has been posted before, I did a search and a million posts came up and they didn't seem to hit on this.

4th
Houses of the Holy
2nd
1st
3rd
Physical Graffitti


I would get them in that order.

I'd buy them in chronological order.

Tough question.

For bombast and boom, get LedZep 2.
For art rock, get In Through the Out Door.
For one of the essential rock albums, get LedZep 4 (Runes).

My favorties:
III (brilliant, IMO LZ's most unconventional album)
Physical Graffitti (double CD)
Houses of the Holy

Also, you cant go wrong with I,II, or IV (Zoso). I rarely find myself listening to IV anymore because the songs seem to have become trite over the years after being overplayed by classic rock radio.

You might want to avoid Presence, In Through the Out Door, Coda, and The Song Remains the Same, which aren't their best efforts.

For completists, you can buy the Box Set and Box Set II, and you'll have the whole catalog plus a few bonus tracks (albeit out of order).

What he said exactly about 1-4.

My favorites are Houses Of The Holy and In Through The Out Door.

I'm hesitant to by ZOSO because I do feel like I know the songs so it will be hard to hear it as a whole album.

Thanks for the suggestions....

"All of 'em! He's gonna shoot the works or 'main line it' as we say here on Let's Make A Dope Deal...."

I'd say if you're just trying to get in to them to go with the best of type albums, so that you'll get a sampling of the full career. I initially went with getting the two albums "The Early Years" and "The Later Years" followed by that INCREDIBLE DVD they put out so that now I'm going through and pretty much obtaining their catalog, slowly but surely.

My favorite Led Zep album is IV (aka ZOSO), it's the only album of theirs where I like every single song on it.

III and Presence are two of my favorites.

every single one. why skimp?

get the 10-disc set.

My order for studio albums:
IV
II
Houses of the Holy
I
III
Physical Graffiti
...and stop.

Then get:
How the West Was Won
-and-
BBC Sessions

Wow - your top three are the top three I was going to recommend. Not sure if the order's the same, but still...

Forgot about the BBC. That is a killer set. "You shook me" is amazing on that disc.

IV and then II.

Done.

III, II and IV. I also enjoy more than that, but if you have to choose.

As you can see, you're going to get a ton of different input on the Zep catalog... Short answer is if you like Zep, buy em' all. Personally, I agree with...

I, II and III would be a great start. Personally, I could care less to ever hear IV again. It's been played to death, every single track on every classic station in the country. I and Houses of the Holy are probably my favorites, followed closely by II and III. Then Physical Graffitti, In Through The Out Door and Presence.

THe first six at the least -- I, II, III, IV (aka RUNES aka Zoso), Houses of the Holy, and Physical Graffiti. If I had to narrow that further down to four I'd go with I, II, III, and IV. But get IV definitely, it's like their definitive album.

My favourites are III, I and Houses of the Holy, in that order.

Like everyone else says, it's hard to enjoy IV as much anymore, as the whole damn thing has been overplayed on the radio. Saying that, I still love "Battle of Evermore", "Four Sticks" and "When the Levee Breaks". They are the only songs I still like listening to from that album, and are 3 of my favourite Led Zep songs overall.

Good move. Start off with these:

I never listen to the radio, so it sounds like I'm in for a treat when I finally pick up IV.

Thanks for all the advice. I think I'm going to get I, II, and HOH. Hopefully, I'll get hooked and end up with all the ones that have been recommended

IV has "Stairway," so that's a big strike against it, but it does have "When The Leevee Breaks" which is, in my opinion, one of the 3 or 4 greatest songs in the history of rock music. All the rest are great too. I just like to have them all so I can make up my own playlist of favorites.

Just buy the box set.