You got that right. Since I bought this album their first one released 10 months before Led Zeppelin II. I've always considered this to be an epic somewhat more so than "Stairway To Heven". I wished they had waited at least two more months so that the fans enjoy this album more and not be the almost forgotten/unknown gem that that album is.
Imagine we were all Tolkien fans, they were too, what amazing weaving of musical textures and story line pickups, we knew the basis of the song when we heard , ‘ringwrathes’ all of us deep fans pick it up on first listen. The mandolin rings and is so appropriate
That is Jimmy Page playing the mandolin. John Paul Jones is playing the acoustic guitar. Female vocalist Sandy Denny did the duets with Robert Plant on this. She is the only one to ever be a guest vocalist on a Led Zeppelin album. She was the lead singer for a British folk band called Fairport convention.
And, as all members of the band had a logo; Sandy Denny had one, too! (Should think of printing that on a t-shirt, should I? To see, who would recognize. The 5th logo in Led Zeppelin.
Agreed! The ring of truth with such an economy of words to express such a complex tragedy of humanity. "The ground is rich from tender care, repaid to not forget." Almost as good. Again, absolutely PACKED with nuanced meaning with so few words. Stunning and beautiful poetry! Who actually wrote this?!
Robert Plant was a huge fan of LOTR. In Ramble On Robert mentions Gollum. Here in Battle of Evermore he mentions Queen of light, the dark lord, ringwraits. But my favourite is No Quarter. I cant help but imagine LOTR story listening to that song
Wow. Several reactors have done the “Zeppethon”. Which of course would include this. Check for SalvoG and Soul Train Bro. Those are two reactors I know who have done this song. Others as well.
That's JPJ on a mandolin at the beginning. And the incomparable Sandy Denny (the only artist EVER to guest on a Zeppelin release) on Background Vocals.
There is a video here on YT of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant doing this song with Najma Ahktar as the featured vocalist list. Jimmy is playing the mandolin part on it. The mandolin is built on to a double necked guitar. It’s a good video. I think it is part of Robert Plants album “No Quarter”. There are mid-eastern style ( I think) instruments used in it
You’ve gotta be the best “first reaction” reactor I’ve encounter on YT. You’re obviously intently listening and doing some cursory research in the moment as lyrics catch your attention, instead of just spouting off from a position of ignorance and expecting commenters to tell you what you missed. It’s a breath of fresh air, you’re putting in the work to truly understand why the fans are so dedicated to the band. Not only that, but you bring a distinctly educated background Absolutely earned a subscription! 🤘
The way you break these down and look at them is so very good. I have always known that Led Zeppelin has deep music and is far more than just Rock and Roll I have been listening to them for mor than half my life and it just never gets old revisiting it, As always your ride or die forever Eyyyyy Oooo thanks for the ride !!
Yes, it is a song heavily inspired by folk-myth and Tolkien. There's also something "Shakespearean" about the instruments, the vocals and the way it all comes together... almost as if it is an updated audio theatre play but referencing centuries old music.
Plant is diving deep into the moments before the siege of Minis Turith, you can feel the intensity. this song was released a year before Tolkien’s death
It still is today... for the same reason :) I was born in 70 and the hobbit and TLOR have been in my life from the start. it inspired Zeppelin to Gary Gygax. I like it when people discover this for the first time.
I almost feel like the movies opened up the LOTR too far -- like all those people didn't suffer like we did in the 60s and 70s when it was either unknown, or made fun of, except a handful of us keeping the faith. But I hope lots of people who saw the movies will go and read the books, which is the source of all the goodness.
@@TheNaznineI was born in 66. Both parents were hippies and I read LOTR by age 11. Read it again at 15 after playing D&D. Thank you Gary Gygax! And Zeppelin! And of course J.R.R. Tolkien!
OMG, a masterclass in vocal layering... chilling doesn't describe it. Probably edited on a reel to reel tape. Mind blown. I have some across your channel while on the same journey as you. I'm giving each album a month or more on loop. I'm just about to begin IV. Let's do this!
As teenagers in the late 1970s, reading JRR Tolkien, playing Dungeons & Dragons and listening to fantasy lore rich songs like this was the air that we breathed. This was one of my favorite songs, also No Quarter. Of course Rush - Xanadu and Jethro Tull - Broadsword are a couple more I remember being playlist worthy. Those days were magic (see what I did there?).
Its crazy that Robert Plant has been singing this song for 50+ years. Mr Plant and Allison Krauss do an excellent version of Evermore that still gets cheers and applause.
Appreciate your consistency & keeping your word about doing LZ IV ! Have become a big fan of you're channel. 😀 Zeppelin's "Ramble On" references JR Tolken also, "and Golem the evil warlock crept up and slipped away with her". This is what they grew up with. People used more imagintion back then which helps explain Zepplins creativity. IMHO.
Regarding Zep plagiarism, this is my view on that: on their first few albums they did covers of other artists, or they mixed and matched sections of very old blues masters, maybe did a line from one song and added to a line from another song, and didn't credit them. But always put it through the Zeppelin filter making it something entirely different than it was in the past. Yes they should have known better to not credit people. However most people don't realize something about the history of music. Zeppelin deeply studied the blues. They knew music from a hundred years before them, or even further back. And they followed the traditions too. The old blues masters passed it on down the line. The next musician sung their ancestors songs and made it their own, and they passed it on. Decade after decade, century after century. This process went on from way back. The story tellers told the story to others, and younger story tellers remembered the words and carried the torch. This is the ancient tradition in all the arts. Then in modern times, when people started recording their music, and started to make a living at it, people started claiming ownership and copyrighting their work. A lot of the old blues pieces from way back were not copyrighted or it has been so long that it passed into public domain. Frankly, if Zeppelin hadn't used some of that music, the wider modern world would not have even known about those older musicians because they have been lost to history, except to those who have dug into the past and studied them. I'm not condoning plagiarism, however before people make accusations they really need to understand a lot more about music history, and history of society.
@glass2467 I will say one thing, No one did better covers than Led Zeppelin. I've been a fan for most of my life, But I also don't condone what they did to other artists. I always consider the great Black blues masters that they took from without giving credit, and many of those guys were penniless. What makes it worse is they claimed to revere those guys.
It wasn’t just black musicians they ‘stole’ from. Jimmy Page practically copied Bert Jansch’s utterly unique arrangement of Black Waterside (ua-cam.com/video/f5Gcu0Sv6lk/v-deo.html) and released it as Black Mountainside (ua-cam.com/video/sUFCkM-tNUQ/v-deo.html), with no credit to Bert. Bert was flattered, not least I suspect, because it proved he was a better fingerpicking guitarist than Jimmy.
@@neillenet291 This is a bit of exaggeration, and has become urban legend. On LZ1, in the original 1969 release, for example, they had three covers, fully credited. One they didn’t credit was “Dazed and Confused”, which is now credited as “inspired by Jake Holmes” (I’m sure there’s a story there, but I don’t know it). Now, there’s also an asterisk on “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You”. They were covering the Joan Baez 1964 version, which she listed as “traditional”. Zeppelin did the same, as was done for traditional folk songs. It was two decades later, in the late 1980’s, that the original author, Anne Bredon, became aware of the Zeppelin version of the song, and authorship has been credited to her since 1990. Remember, these were before the internet, and information wasn’t as readily available as it is now.
Fantastic stuff - I wrote about this track in a comment here yesterday, and it gets airplay today already - I'm stoked out of my boots. When I've listened to Stairway a bit too often, this becomes my favourite Zepp track - it's truly a magnificent track.
@@w.geoffreyspaulding6588 Might be my coincidence - I only tapped into Rosalie's channel again yesterday, for the first time in about 5 months, after my last laptop was stolen. Whatever the case, it was a synchronicity event for me.
You should actually do the live version of Stairway to Heaven from MSG 1973. The extended guitar solo alone is worth the time, and Plant's vocals are spectacular with the adlibs.
Congratulations on the discovery adventure, this is how you get to know a band. I grew up on Led Zeppelin, I never listen to anything but a complete album. We hear mandolin in it, played by John Paul Jones. Sandy Denny sings alongside Robert.
Great reaction, I was wondering how you were going to go from electric guitars, banging drums, and heavy bass to mandolin! It's great to see your eyes light up and facial expressions from your new listening experience!
Correct. Only guest to perform with Zeppelin on a studio recording….. She and Plant were voted Top female and top male vocalist in Britain in 1971 I believe. They were also pals, and Robert has always had a good relationship with several people in Fairport Convention and has performed with them occasionally at festivals.
This song ALWAYS gets me in the feels and I don’t really know what it is about! I believe the one voice is the town crier instructing the townsfolk to ‘dance in the dark of night!’ And to flee at night. War is always Hell
Did you notice that there were not any drums on this song? It was a mandolin, acoustic guitar, and Robert’s and Sandy Denny’s voices. It appears, reading several analyses of the song that Jimmy Page played the two instruments. JPJ and Bonzo were not a part of this song, the studio version. When played live, John Paul Jones plays the acoustic guitar, and sings the part that Sandy Denny did on the album. Placing this song third on the album, Jimmy was bringing a breathe of fresh air after two hard rock songs, and before the masterpiece of Stairway to Heaven.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Zeppelin is that many of their songs came together in one shot, pretty much like this song. Some people, even some fans, don't like this song, but it's always been one of my favorites. The instrumentation and lyrics are great, but the interplay between Plant and Denny really blows me away. When the guys of Zep got together, it was like magic, the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, Led Zeppelin. The greatest rock band of all time.
I'm surprised that you didn't notice that this song is a duet with Sandy Denny. She was the lead singer of Fairport Convention back at the time of the recording. One of the reasons I miss the vinyl format is that would have been apparent from the albums inner sleeve.
50-ish years ago, when I got this album, I had only heard Stairway to Heaven, Rock & Roll, and maybe Black Dog beforehand, on the radio. When I listened to the entire album, I realized that the whole thing is full of gems!!! Each song more creative (and unique) than the last. This song seemed just so magical. The Battle of Evermore doesn't take me back 50 years. In a way, it seems to take me back 700 years.
Check out “the rain song”. It’s one of the most beautiful songs ever created in this genre. Also, it will be played at my funeral. It touches on all of the stages of love and life.
To your comment about Bonham and the time signatures and precision you may want to check out the Vic Firth drum cam of Danny Carey from Tool playing Pneuma live. Everybody in Zep was an incredible musician but I think John Paul Jones was overlooked and he played many of the instruments that made songs like this one so special. Thanks for the video!
Beautiful and refreshing to catch a glimpse of the depths of quantum mechanics without the knowledge of a physicist. Go deep and let it all unfold.❤️😊👍🙏🎈
There are several songs by Led Zeppelin that have imagery drawn from Lord of the Rings, and this is perhaps the most direct. The singer accompanying on vocals is the late, great Sandy Denny, lead singer of folk rock band Fairport Comvention around this time, and also a superb singer songwriter in her own right. You really should check out her song Who Knows. Where the Time Goes
It cannot be denied that Zep borrowed from the blues artists that came before them and reworked their material but they almost always gave the credit to the progenitors.
The song is based on the night sky, from the setting sun ("The Queen of Light took her bow"), through the planets rising ("The tyrant's face is red" is Mars) and the various constellations (balance = Libre for example) to sunrise. (" At last the sun is shining"). The line "The sky is filled with good and bad" is the biggest clue. He 'flavors' this narrative with his love of Lord of The Rings.
Now that is an interpretation I have never heard before. I like it. I always thought that line referred to both the ringwraiths and the angels of Avalon being in the sky….
Great Reaction! In it you made mention of Mr Bonhams drumming. Which has skill and enthusiasm. Have you reacted to anything by the band Deep Purple and their drummer Ian Paice? Keep Reacting!
JPJ was the mandolin player, Page is playing acoustic guitar. JPJ played mandolin in a few of their songs, keyboards, bass, and did orchestral arranging.
Plant was such a great song writer. He really doesn’t get enough credit. He could write rock songs or folk songs or love songs or mystical songs. He was brilliant. A hippy lyricist perfect for rock music.
Hey - for a deeper but long and truly incredible track by them (one that also draws on deeper themes with an oblique mythological correlation), check out Achillles Last Stand. It’s a little on the DL but to lots of Zep dans it’s right up there as an all-time best track, they layering of the guitars and some of the vocal improv and some change ups in the time signature are fantastic.
Their song Ramble on has a verse with Tolkien in mind: "Mine's a tale that can't be told, my freedom I hold dear How years ago in days of old, when magic filled the air 'Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair But Gollum and the Evil One crept up and slipped away with her, her, her, yeah."
Sandy Denny, oh my God did Shenstone raise this song to the sonic stratosphere . I love Sandy a class act, Led Zep were lucky to have her appear on this. Check out Fairport Convention.
I'm a guitarist, I can tell you for a fact that everyone borrows/steals from other artists and always will, it's just what unique spin does that artist put on it
The post-Zeppelin TV special "No Quarter - Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded" is a must-see, reworked versions of Zeppelin classics that often as not top the originals.
I feel like Battle of Evermore is one of their hidden gems. It's just a beautiful piece of music.
It is that.
You got that right. Since I bought this album their first one released 10 months before Led Zeppelin II. I've always considered this to be an epic somewhat more so than "Stairway To Heven". I wished they had waited at least two more months so that the fans enjoy this album more and not be the almost forgotten/unknown gem that that album is.
Tolken fans...if you know, you know.
Indeed !
led zep are the fellowship of music
Imagine we were all Tolkien fans, they were too, what amazing weaving of musical textures and story line pickups, we knew the basis of the song when we heard , ‘ringwrathes’ all of us deep fans pick it up on first listen. The mandolin rings and is so appropriate
I know 😊
Exactly
That is Jimmy Page playing the mandolin. John Paul Jones is playing the acoustic guitar. Female vocalist Sandy Denny did the duets with Robert Plant on this. She is the only one to ever be a guest vocalist on a Led Zeppelin album. She was the lead singer for a British folk band called Fairport convention.
And Fairport Convention provides the bridge to Jethro Tull :)
And, as all members of the band had a logo; Sandy Denny had one, too! (Should think of printing that on a t-shirt, should I? To see, who would recognize.
The 5th logo in Led Zeppelin.
Sandy is definitely woth a listen - Who Knows Where the Time Goes is simply wondeful
@@claymmore Sandy and Richard Thompson in the same band. It didn't get better than that!
@@jsd406 Richard Thompson is a rabbit hole not enough people have gone down
The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath.
My favorite Zeppelin lyrics.
The sky is filled with good and bad and mortals never known
I was about to write the same comment 🤘
One of the best
Agreed! The ring of truth with such an economy of words to express such a complex tragedy of humanity.
"The ground is rich from tender care, repaid to not forget."
Almost as good. Again, absolutely PACKED with nuanced meaning with so few words. Stunning and beautiful poetry! Who actually wrote this?!
Mandolin. Sandy Denny was quoted saying it was the first time she felt she was out sung by anyone. She couldn't believe Roberts voice
Robert Plant was a huge fan of LOTR. In Ramble On Robert mentions Gollum. Here in Battle of Evermore he mentions Queen of light, the dark lord, ringwraits. But my favourite is No Quarter. I cant help but imagine LOTR story listening to that song
What he said.....
Let's not forget Over the Hills and far Away. And as she said at the end, the most obvious one, Misty Mountain Hop.
The Rain Song, Thank you and 10 years gone are very mellow
I have waited for years for somebody to react to this song.
Thank you.
Wow. Several reactors have done the “Zeppethon”. Which of course would include this. Check for SalvoG and Soul Train Bro. Those are two reactors I know who have done this song. Others as well.
Very soothing vocals. Powerful lyrics.
Welcome to the rabbit hole that is Led Zeppelin and the inspiration of JRR Tolkien's work to their music. have fun it is deep.
Nailed it.
Great analogy, great reaction.
Big fan...
Mandolin. Heart has a couple amazing covers of this song.
Live in Seattle in the early 2000's is a great cover of this song.
That's JPJ on a mandolin at the beginning. And the incomparable Sandy Denny (the only artist EVER to guest on a Zeppelin release) on Background Vocals.
I believe it was Page on the mandolin. His first time on this instrument
There is a video here on YT of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant doing this song with Najma Ahktar as the featured vocalist list. Jimmy is playing the mandolin part on it. The mandolin is built on to a double necked guitar. It’s a good video. I think it is part of Robert Plants album “No Quarter”. There are mid-eastern style ( I think) instruments used in it
@@bernardpoma2872 I stand corrected - I've seen performances of JPJ doing the mandolin on video and thought he was the player on the studio original.
No, on the studio track it's Jimmy Page on the mandolin.
@@RonHouck-eb1cn The album "No Quarter" was not Robert Plant's album. It was fully a Page - Plant collaboration.
Zepplin, like a box of chocolates, never know whatcha ya going to git.
Get feeling better Rosalie. ❤✌️
Thanks for more Led Zeppelin 😊 my favorite band since 69 ❤
You’ve gotta be the best “first reaction” reactor I’ve encounter on YT. You’re obviously intently listening and doing some cursory research in the moment as lyrics catch your attention, instead of just spouting off from a position of ignorance and expecting commenters to tell you what you missed. It’s a breath of fresh air, you’re putting in the work to truly understand why the fans are so dedicated to the band. Not only that, but you bring a distinctly educated background
Absolutely earned a subscription! 🤘
Thank you very much :-) welcome to the community
To have seen this song performed live, was an amazing experience !
It was except - 1977 acoustic set! JPJ didn’t do justice to Sandy’s response - Robert should have sang both parts
The way you break these down and look at them is so very good. I have always known that Led Zeppelin has deep music and is far more than just Rock and Roll I have been listening to them for mor than half my life and it just never gets old revisiting it, As always your ride or die forever Eyyyyy Oooo thanks for the ride !!
You have a major catalog of theirs to be charmed by. Enjoy.
Yes, it is a song heavily inspired by folk-myth and Tolkien. There's also something "Shakespearean" about the instruments, the vocals and the way it all comes together... almost as if it is an updated audio theatre play but referencing centuries old music.
Plant is diving deep into the moments before the siege of Minis Turith, you can feel the intensity. this song was released a year before Tolkien’s death
The Lord of the
Rings was an essential read in the late 60s early 70s for those of us that were into peace and love 🌞🌞👍
It still is today... for the same reason :) I was born in 70 and the hobbit and TLOR have been in my life from the start. it inspired Zeppelin to Gary Gygax. I like it when people discover this for the first time.
@@TheNaznineI was born in 1947 and first read it in 1969 in Vietnam💙💙🙏🙏
I almost feel like the movies opened up the LOTR too far -- like all those people didn't suffer like we did in the 60s and 70s when it was either unknown, or made fun of, except a handful of us keeping the faith. But I hope lots of people who saw the movies will go and read the books, which is the source of all the goodness.
@@TheNaznineI was born in 66. Both parents were hippies and I read LOTR by age 11. Read it again at 15 after playing D&D. Thank you Gary Gygax! And Zeppelin! And of course J.R.R. Tolkien!
@@barryhall5125
Thank you for producing a vid on Evermore!
The other vocalist is Sandy Denny. Rosalie….PLEASE check out Sandy Denny’s most famous song “Who Knows Where The Time Goes”. It is exquisite.
Who Knows Where the Time Goes - one of the most beautiful songs ever written
Yeah that song is amazing
OMG, a masterclass in vocal layering... chilling doesn't describe it. Probably edited on a reel to reel tape. Mind blown.
I have some across your channel while on the same journey as you. I'm giving each album a month or more on loop. I'm just about to begin IV. Let's do this!
As teenagers in the late 1970s, reading JRR Tolkien, playing Dungeons & Dragons and listening to fantasy lore rich songs like this was the air that we breathed. This was one of my favorite songs, also No Quarter. Of course Rush - Xanadu and Jethro Tull - Broadsword are a couple more I remember being playlist worthy. Those days were magic (see what I did there?).
The only song that had an outside the band vocalist, such a beautiful song, Sandy Denny sure helped to make this even more beautiful.
My absolute favorite Led Zeppelin song. Their first 4 albums released over a 2 year period, think about that. It's unfathomable by today's measure!!
Its crazy that Robert Plant has been singing this song for 50+ years. Mr Plant and Allison Krauss do an excellent version of Evermore that still gets cheers and applause.
Appreciate your consistency & keeping your word about doing LZ IV ! Have become a big fan of you're channel. 😀 Zeppelin's "Ramble On" references JR Tolken also, "and Golem the evil warlock crept up and slipped away with her". This is what they grew up with. People used more imagintion back then which helps explain Zepplins creativity. IMHO.
Over the hills and far away is a really amazing Led Zeppelin song (check out the studio version) it's honestly probably my favorite Zeppelin song
Bless you on that sneeze. I hope you get to feeling better 🙏😍
Great reaction! Thank you so much. Keep the reactions coming.
Nice reaction :) Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart did a version of this that's really incredible. I highly recommend you check it out
Regarding Zep plagiarism, this is my view on that: on their first few albums they did covers of other artists, or they mixed and matched sections of very old blues masters, maybe did a line from one song and added to a line from another song, and didn't credit them. But always put it through the Zeppelin filter making it something entirely different than it was in the past. Yes they should have known better to not credit people. However most people don't realize something about the history of music. Zeppelin deeply studied the blues. They knew music from a hundred years before them, or even further back. And they followed the traditions too. The old blues masters passed it on down the line. The next musician sung their ancestors songs and made it their own, and they passed it on. Decade after decade, century after century. This process went on from way back. The story tellers told the story to others, and younger story tellers remembered the words and carried the torch. This is the ancient tradition in all the arts. Then in modern times, when people started recording their music, and started to make a living at it, people started claiming ownership and copyrighting their work. A lot of the old blues pieces from way back were not copyrighted or it has been so long that it passed into public domain. Frankly, if Zeppelin hadn't used some of that music, the wider modern world would not have even known about those older musicians because they have been lost to history, except to those who have dug into the past and studied them. I'm not condoning plagiarism, however before people make accusations they really need to understand a lot more about music history, and history of society.
All that is fine, except for they didn't give credit to the original artists until they were forced to.
@@neillenet291As I said, I'm not condoning it. Just saying that it's a bigger story than most people understand.
@glass2467 I will say one thing, No one did better covers than Led Zeppelin. I've been a fan for most of my life, But I also don't condone what they did to other artists. I always consider the great Black blues masters that they took from without giving credit, and many of those guys were penniless. What makes it worse is they claimed to revere those guys.
It wasn’t just black musicians they ‘stole’ from. Jimmy Page practically copied Bert Jansch’s utterly unique arrangement of Black Waterside (ua-cam.com/video/f5Gcu0Sv6lk/v-deo.html) and released it as Black Mountainside (ua-cam.com/video/sUFCkM-tNUQ/v-deo.html), with no credit to Bert.
Bert was flattered, not least I suspect, because it proved he was a better fingerpicking guitarist than Jimmy.
@@neillenet291 This is a bit of exaggeration, and has become urban legend. On LZ1, in the original 1969 release, for example, they had three covers, fully credited. One they didn’t credit was “Dazed and Confused”, which is now credited as “inspired by Jake Holmes” (I’m sure there’s a story there, but I don’t know it). Now, there’s also an asterisk on “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You”. They were covering the Joan Baez 1964 version, which she listed as “traditional”. Zeppelin did the same, as was done for traditional folk songs. It was two decades later, in the late 1980’s, that the original author, Anne Bredon, became aware of the Zeppelin version of the song, and authorship has been credited to her since 1990. Remember, these were before the internet, and information wasn’t as readily available as it is now.
The inside of the album cover had a really great LOR illustration.
Fantastic stuff - I wrote about this track in a comment here yesterday, and it gets airplay today already - I'm stoked out of my boots. When I've listened to Stairway a bit too often, this becomes my favourite Zepp track - it's truly a magnificent track.
That’s not coincidental, since she’s doing Zep IV in order….
@@w.geoffreyspaulding6588 Might be my coincidence - I only tapped into Rosalie's channel again yesterday, for the first time in about 5 months, after my last laptop was stolen. Whatever the case, it was a synchronicity event for me.
Love how you’re doing this👍😎🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Mandolin and that's Sandy Denny singing with Robert. Heart also does a very nice cover of this song.
I appreciate you letting the song play.
The recording on the 'Singles' soundtrack as the Lovemongers is superb.
This is a whole different side of zep.i love it.
All of my love is also mellow and written for Roberts son who passed at a young age. Beautiful song.
Love this song. Thanks!
They have a lot of chill songs. All great. Keep playing.
There's albums and there are master pieces, and this is a master piece.
Was my favorite Zep song for years when I was a kid. So majestic 🙏🙏🙏
You should actually do the live version of Stairway to Heaven from MSG 1973. The extended guitar solo alone is worth the time, and Plant's vocals are spectacular with the adlibs.
Congratulations on the discovery adventure, this is how you get to know a band. I grew up on Led Zeppelin, I never listen to anything but a complete album. We hear mandolin in it, played by John Paul Jones. Sandy Denny sings alongside Robert.
Great reaction, I was wondering how you were going to go from electric guitars, banging drums, and heavy bass to mandolin! It's great to see your eyes light up and facial expressions from your new listening experience!
Hearing the backing vocals I had to look it up. Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention sang duet on this with Robert Plant.
Correct. Only guest to perform with Zeppelin on a studio recording….. She and Plant were voted Top female and top male vocalist in Britain in 1971 I believe. They were also pals, and Robert has always had a good relationship with several people in Fairport Convention and has performed with them occasionally at festivals.
@w.geoffreyspaulding6588 thanks for the info that's good to know.
This song ALWAYS gets me in the feels and I don’t really know what it is about! I believe the one voice is the town crier instructing the townsfolk to ‘dance in the dark of night!’ And to flee at night. War is always Hell
Did you notice that there were not any drums on this song? It was a mandolin, acoustic guitar, and Robert’s and Sandy Denny’s voices. It appears, reading several analyses of the song that Jimmy Page played the two instruments. JPJ and Bonzo were not a part of this song, the studio version. When played live, John Paul Jones plays the acoustic guitar, and sings the part that Sandy Denny did on the album. Placing this song third on the album, Jimmy was bringing a breathe of fresh air after two hard rock songs, and before the masterpiece of Stairway to Heaven.
One of the most fascinating aspects of Zeppelin is that many of their songs came together in one shot, pretty much like this song. Some people, even some fans, don't like this song, but it's always been one of my favorites. The instrumentation and lyrics are great, but the interplay between Plant and Denny really blows me away. When the guys of Zep got together, it was like magic, the whole being greater than the sum of its parts, Led Zeppelin. The greatest rock band of all time.
i cant believe your eating during battle of evermore !!!!!! SACRALIGEOUS ! ! !
I'm surprised that you didn't notice that this song is a duet with Sandy Denny. She was the lead singer of Fairport Convention back at the time of the recording. One of the reasons I miss the vinyl format is that would have been apparent from the albums inner sleeve.
Thank YOU for being a friend!❤
You should listen to the lovemongers covering this song! which is Ann and Nancy Wilson from heart amazing...
My favorite lyric of all time in this song. “ no comfort has the fire at night that lights the face so cold”
Music builds upon itself. Always has, always will.
50-ish years ago, when I got this album, I had only heard Stairway to Heaven, Rock & Roll, and maybe Black Dog beforehand, on the radio. When I listened to the entire album, I realized that the whole thing is full of gems!!! Each song more creative (and unique) than the last. This song seemed just so magical. The Battle of Evermore doesn't take me back 50 years. In a way, it seems to take me back 700 years.
The instrument you asked about is a Mandolin. Nancy and Ann Wilson do an amazing version of this song.
Check out “the rain song”. It’s one of the most beautiful songs ever created in this genre. Also, it will be played at my funeral. It touches on all of the stages of love and life.
To your comment about Bonham and the time signatures and precision you may want to check out the Vic Firth drum cam of Danny Carey from Tool playing Pneuma live. Everybody in Zep was an incredible musician but I think John Paul Jones was overlooked and he played many of the instruments that made songs like this one so special. Thanks for the video!
Love me some Sandy Denny her voice is angelic
Grew up on this have the album I bought back in the mid 70's.
The deeper you get into their catalog of songs you will find some more mellow or chill songs which are fantastic!
Beautiful and refreshing to catch a glimpse of the depths of quantum mechanics without the knowledge of a physicist. Go deep and let it all unfold.❤️😊👍🙏🎈
That is the great Sandy Denny dueting with Robert Plant
Robert does BfE with Alisson Krauss as well
Yes in one of there songs "Gollum" from LOTR is mentioned
Queen does this flavor on their earlier albums as well. Queen 2 in particular has a Zep feel, side 2 (the black side)with the song Nevermore.
There are several songs by Led Zeppelin that have imagery drawn from Lord of the Rings, and this is perhaps the most direct.
The singer accompanying on vocals is the late, great Sandy Denny, lead singer of folk rock band Fairport Comvention around this time, and also a superb singer songwriter in her own right. You really should check out her song Who Knows. Where the Time Goes
It cannot be denied that Zep borrowed from the blues artists that came before them and reworked their material but they almost always gave the credit to the progenitors.
There's a fantastic version of this song on UA-cam with Robert Plant and Najma Akhtar on vocals (and Jimmy Page on mandolin).
sounds like you have been born again it happened to me long time ago, enjoy your journey.
Sequencing of the original LP had this preceding Stairway to Heaven. So so good.
The song is based on the night sky, from the setting sun ("The Queen of Light took her bow"), through the planets rising ("The tyrant's face is red" is Mars) and the various constellations (balance = Libre for example) to sunrise. (" At last the sun is shining"). The line "The sky is filled with good and bad" is the biggest clue. He 'flavors' this narrative with his love of Lord of The Rings.
Now that is an interpretation I have never heard before. I like it. I always thought that line referred to both the ringwraiths and the angels of Avalon being in the sky….
Bless you 🙏
Try "Going to California" live at Earls Court
And Whole lotta love for contrast at Earls Court.
Great Reaction! In it you made mention of Mr Bonhams drumming. Which has skill and enthusiasm.
Have you reacted to anything by the band Deep Purple and their drummer Ian Paice?
Keep Reacting!
JPJ was the mandolin player, Page is playing acoustic guitar. JPJ played mandolin in a few of their songs, keyboards, bass, and did orchestral arranging.
Mandolin at the beginning and throughout, played by John Paul Jones
Led Zeppelin as well as Pink Floyd are for the ADVANCED music listener. Really glad you like them. 💥💥💥👍😎
Plant was such a great song writer. He really doesn’t get enough credit. He could write rock songs or folk songs or love songs or mystical songs. He was brilliant. A hippy lyricist perfect for rock music.
Hey - for a deeper but long and truly incredible track by them (one that also draws on deeper themes with an oblique mythological correlation), check out Achillles Last Stand. It’s a little on the DL but to lots of Zep dans it’s right up there as an all-time best track, they layering of the guitars and some of the vocal improv and some change ups in the time signature are fantastic.
Everyone seems to be missing the Greatest female singer of the 60's and 70s . You need to listen Fairport Convention. And the GREAT SANDY DENNY.
In the video game Baulder's Gate 3, I play a Bard. His name is Led Zeppelin.
One of my absolute favorites! I can't help wondering how Two Cellos would render this?
Their song Ramble on has a verse with Tolkien in mind: "Mine's a tale that can't be told, my freedom I hold dear
How years ago in days of old, when magic filled the air 'Twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair
But Gollum and the Evil One crept up and slipped away with her, her, her, yeah."
Heart (again with Heart) has a number of songs that sound like Zeppelin. “The Archer song”, EXCELLENT song mind you, sounds a lot like this one.
Sandy Denny, oh my God did Shenstone raise this song to the sonic stratosphere . I love Sandy a class act, Led Zep were lucky to have her appear on this. Check out Fairport Convention.
Greatest band ever!
Please remember that The Sunlight blinds his eyes 😂❤
I'm a guitarist, I can tell you for a fact that everyone borrows/steals from other artists and always will, it's just what unique spin does that artist put on it
Bonham dropping triplets, three evenly spaced licks instead of two. He was amazing.
HAMMER OF THE GODS.....................Peace!
It was Jones mandolin. Page picked it up and played this song on the recording. Viral Jasani played tabla drums on black mountain side.
Even today when Robert and Allison sing this song it stills sounds great!
The post-Zeppelin TV special "No Quarter - Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded" is a must-see, reworked versions of Zeppelin classics that often as not top the originals.
Led Zepplin 4 is the best album to listen to if you're reading tolkien. This song has Sandy Denny doing some brilliant backup vocals.
Check out : "this means something" from CLOSE Encounters of the third kind.👍🙏🎈❤️😊
That's the great Brit folk-rock singer Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention duetting with Plant.