August 1, 2023:
Zeppelin really only worked for me when Plant's voice was young and at its most powerful. By Presence he's audibly straining. Part of Zeppelin's Zeppness was how easy they'd made it sound. With strain came absence. Ironically enough.
Always their peculiar contradictoryness. "Juxtaposition" would be more neutral. Musical virtuosity with thematic immaturity. Bombastic electric thud with acoustic delicacy. Page's often breathtaking arabic or spanish accents with Bonham's monster right foot. This was intentional, of course. What Heart later aptly called "dog and butterfly": opposing forces in harmony. Exactly.
The standout exception might be "Achilles Last Stand". The mythology has shifted from Avalon to Troy, becoming more ancient, and emphatically more effective — perhaps affective — with its chant-like repetition. Less flighty, more weighty. It feels like something very old has been evoked.
Again the synesthesia. The record sounds white to me — white like the cover.