Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II

Recorded on the fly during the band's grueling second North American tour, Led Zeppelin II is the sound of a group cementing itself as the heaviest thing in rock while barely stopping to catch its breath. Sessions were grabbed wherever the schedule allowed, from London's Olympic Studios to studios across the US, with Jimmy Page piecing the record together between gigs.

The album opens with "Whole Lotta Love," built on a monster riff from Page and John Paul Jones with John Bonham driving it home, and a psychedelic midsection born when engineer Eddie Kramer leaned into an unwanted echo on Robert Plant's vocal rather than fighting it. It became the band's only US top ten single, peaking at number four, and remained a set closer for years. Elsewhere, "Heartbreaker," "Ramble On," and "Moby Dick" show a band pushing riffs, dynamics, and Bonham's drumming into new territory.

Led Zeppelin II gave the band its first number one album in the US, knocking The Beatles' Abbey Road off the top of the Billboard 200 in December 1969. It would go on to be certified 12 times platinum by the RIAA, a staggering figure for a record made in the cracks of a relentless touring schedule. The album's success helped launch Led Zeppelin's decade-long run as one of the most innovative and successful groups in modern music, a legacy later recognized with induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, and the Polar Music Prize in 2006.

This edition is digitally remastered and housed in a gatefold sleeve with an eight-page booklet, a solid way to own the record that turned Zeppelin into chart-toppers.