Kashmir: The Zeppelin Epic to End All Zeppelin Epics

Led Zeppelin is no stranger to an epic - it’s their whole MO, being the best of the best making the grandest of the grand while never really slipping up. 

Arriving on the shores of their fifth studio album was at the very least an easy accomplishment - no matter what it was they had a cult of devotees that would make sure it was going to be popular in some way, shape, or form. After Untitled (Zeppelin 4), they were pretty much destined to never fail again. Even if House of the Holy was delayed upon release and Physical Graffiti was more or less an amalgamation of songs from the cutting room floor of the past few years, it’s hard to doubt that no matter what happened they were set to be hits and even more so, their quality barely dipped. With all the talk of the four or five album runs that happen in music spheres, it’s hard to deny that the one that has the most influence, impact, success, and consistency is none other than Zeppelins streak from 1969 to 1975. They were known for being these God-like figures in the eyes of the rock world, they were seen as the godfathers of hard rock, and the definition of a perfect band in the wake of The Beatles. They were of epic proportions, unique enough to be considered cool yet mainstream enough to be considered superstars. They were scraping the upper echelon of the genre they were pushing forward and it was about time they paid the dues in the form of another sprawling epic.

1971’s Stairway to Heaven opened a door that was not just shut but didn’t exist before Zeppelin created it. It created the rock and roll epic as we know it, the sprawling hero's journey, a lengthy guitar solo branching the verses in place of a chorus, the whispering to end a large-scale epic. The song is long and drawn out without ever feeling like it ever overstayed its welcome, it’s easy to understand just how it became part of its own mythology. The thing about Stairway to Heaven is that it’s, well, Stairway to Heaven: a song so huge that overshadows pretty much anything that has come to be before, after, or even in conjunction with it. While Zeppelin is now viewed for being the leading hard-rock band of their time, a simple look through of some of their album tracks actually reveals quite a large somber side to the band. Starting in 1970 with their divisive Led Zeppelin III, they became a sort of hippie-esque band then they were originally billed. For every Immigrant Song there was a That’s the Way or Tangerine. IV sort of found the band returning to their “roots”, but still keeping to these soft album cuts: Going to California, The Battle of Evermore, When the Levee Breaks. There was a full display of their love of Tolkien, the occult, the stretch of their musical muscles that proved them to be so much more than the one trick pony they easily could’ve been, that they very successfully could’ve been. Stairway to Heaven ecliplsed all of these ventures, influencing the direction of their singles and their stage shows, ones centered around the idea of huge spectacle, pulling songs to be as long as possible, and a certain degree of showing off (but when you're Led bloody Zeppelin you show off).

Stairway to Heaven live in 1976

Houses of the Holy accomplished this perfectly fine in 1973, doing the lore-heavy and technically fascinating stuff well within the means Zeppelin were most popular for. You had songs like Dancing Days but you had the much more successful Over the Hills and Far Away. 1973 was the last time Robert Plant's voice was showcased to the public in the way it was indroduced, a surgery in 1974 to fix the damage of howling at insane deciples every night for years altered his voice slightly, bringing it down to a more understated tone. Houses of the Holy broke the facade of Zeppelin to the public more than the previous albums had tried, it showcased the type of music they were keen on making (Plant's more fantastical folkly numbers) with the hard rock backing that made them just palatable enough for those who didn't like the "hippie" stuff. When it came to record the follow up - or "record" - it was more or less a throwing spaghetti at the wall situation. Physical Graffiti was released in 1975 and was the band's double album - an incredibly en-vouge standard for rock music at the time. The album was a mod-podge of cut songs from previous albums and a whole lot of typically weird shit for the band. It was the Led Zeppelin that perplexed people to the double, the Zeppelin that makes them so damn good today. It was a mixture of their hard rock hits, their bluesy claim to fame, and their more off-center balladery. They took advantage of being the biggest band on Earth to do whatever the hell they wanted. Pushing together all the different eras of their work in one, long, confusing album is exactly what it’s like to fully understand you’re too big to ever truly fail. Plant's vocal change wasn’t noticeable as he didn’t push himself as far on every song, and the ones he did were an old song being recycled. The centerpiece of the album, and one could argue the whole career of the band, is Kashmir. It's a classic Zeppelin epic, one that contains each and very piece of what makes them such a great band. 

If I were to be asked, Robert Plant is the unequivocal star of Kashmir, but then again I feel that Robert Plant is the unequiviocal star of Led Zeppelin as a whole. But on Kashmir specifically be fulfills the duty of a frontman so often lacking in such a compositon and jam-heavy band. Plant wails on the vocal, recorded early in 1973, but that is resereved for the moments when the music swells. He uses this almost whisper tone, sounding much older and a hell of a lot more wise than the twenty-five year old he was. I'm a travler of both time and space / To be where I have been / To sit with the elders of the gentle races this world has seldom seen / They talk of days for which they sit and wait, all will be revealed. When he does "let loose", the screams don't fall into the catergories they so often do with Zeppelins hits - they don't rely on the sound of whimpering and moaning and aren't to be written off as Plant simply howling as he does because he can. The moaning was part of his stage act, of course, but the music improved so much more when he stopped catering to the sexual image he portyed on stage when the audience ceased to be in front of him. It was Plant singing to sing, letting the howls become almost reactionary for the surge of power felt throughout the song.  With the exception of their first album, Plant was the primary lyricist of the band to immense success. Inspired by classical

folklore and fantasy writing, as well as the aforementioned horniness of his stage act, his writing stood apart from what many others did. While many sound like nonsense, there are certain verses and lines that hold a certain kind of charm about them. Kashmir is great at this - while yes it is a repetitive romp with the continuous Mama and Baby’s thrown around, it paints a vivid picture within Plant’s words. The second verse is truly an all-timer of the band, Plant’s baritone singing Talk in song from tongues of lilting grace / Sounds caress my ear / And not a word I heard could I relate / The story was quite clear. He’s a very wordy writer, but it never alienates those who aren’t necessarily listening to what he’s saying, it more so stands as something to chew on for those who may happen to listen to the bigger picture. It elevates Zeppelin from being the version of the band that is so often imitated - while a large sampling of their material is just as annoying and easily spoofed, it’s these certain moments that showcase them a cut above the rest, in a true and genuine way. 

John Paul Jones also had a moment to shine that calls back to my personal favorite area of his work, his string arrangements. Being late to the original sessions of the song, he was kept off the writing credit but overdubbed the string arrangement that cataloged the whole song expertly. The swelling, almost acting as a backbeat of the song without completely overshadowing everything else. It gives the song a timeless feel while also appealing to the more classical edge some pieces of music were beginning to take in the mid to late 1970s (soft and yacht rock capitalizing on a more stripped and classical sound for rock after the very  fusion and progressive heavy first half of the decade). John Bonham is also at the top of his game here, for a song clocking in at nearly ten minutes he never deals his hand too heavy, something that drummers often get caught in doing. Drummers like Charlie Watts and Ringo Starr are so revered for that reason - they were never flashy, just absolutely perfect for what had to be done. Bonham is often left out of that discussion for very obvious reasons, being the man that helped pioneer the obnoxious drummer, but man was that guy the best for the subtle duality he could play. He never feels out of place, yet he’s never perfectly in-line like how a drummer who wants to fade into the mix perfectly would be. Jimmy Page, as overrated as I find him, is pretty good here as well, especially his bit of interwoven riffs between the strings and drums. As the song goes forward and his riffing is undercut with JPJ’s strings it creates an unbeatable atmosphere. Everyone is at the top of their abilities in a sense of collaboration, it never once feels like a musical hair is out of place. 

I often find Zeppelin boring a majority of the time, until I hear one of the songs that makes me remember just how good they were. I am more partial to their “experimental”, folky periods, I love Plant’s voice when it’s on a genuine display, and to see the rest of the band out of their element in some ways, the way that they adapt and contort to fall in line showcases their strengths better than being at an 11 all the time ever could. But the moments when they are at 11, there truly was never a better band. Kashmir is perhaps the greatest example of this, it was them harnessing the lightning they set free in the first place when they thrust Stairway to Heaven into the world, therefore creating an epidemic of every band wanting to have their epic, but somehow they were the only band to get close. Get close, and go above and beyond. They were Led Zeppelin after all. 

1975’s Physical Graffiti has later become seen as the last truly phenomenal Zeppelin album. With Plant's blown-out voice, their sound being slightly affected by this difference in tone, and the next two albums released by the band followed a sort of throughline of what would become the sound of Plant’s [very good] solo work. The beginning of the end to some, but a triumphant standard of what make Zeppelin so good to people who never chose sides of their sound.

Kashmir live in 1979