I bought it when it came out. Or shortly afterwards. And the man who was running the record store talked me into buying a blacklight and blacklight poster. I was broke then but he told me all the young chicks would think I was so cool and that the record distributor assures him LZ would be a super group.

When Van Halen hit the big time I read an interview in Guitar World with Eddie and he was reluctant to get into modifications he did to his Stratocaster. But they were extensive. I think he did reveal he boiled his guitar strings in some kind of oil. And that some of the apparent modifications on his Strat which he dubbed a "Frankincaster" were dummy's just to throw people off from stealing his set up. I think it later came out he had a humbucker and the other pickups were dummies and a couple switches were bogus.

Anyway I thought the young man had taken the unconventional Hendrix wild playing to a new level so he was a curiosity to me but I was a bit PO'd when Eddie began trashing LZ and saying Page wasn't much for a band that got that big. That Page played like he had a broken hand. Page was sloppy and some of his playing live is as rough as a corncob.

I always liked Page and his energy on stage and his creativity. Butch Trucks claimed Duane Allman didn't like Page and his guitar playing and the way Page dressed but Dickey said it wasn't true. That Duane liked Page and LZ a lot.

Then after a bunch of years of hard drugs and hard alcohol abuse, guitarists came along and said that EVH wasn't much, was sloppy and his playing had gotten rough.

Funny how that happens. And true. Some bad live stuff? Good Lord - I have some Hendrix stuff where I am begging the man to tune. I have seen Dickey have some "off" nights with the ABB over the years. Watched Alvin Lee snort coke off his amp all show long once. A mess who played everything a million miles per hour. It was thrash metal 25 years before it happened. Could Page be sloppy live? definitely. Drugs and alcohol? Definitely. Keith and Ron Wood sloppy? Drugs and alcohol? LOL - Built careers on it.

LZ1 is as good as albums get. 50 years ago and still the same today. No one layered guitar parts and wrote like Page. Solos that are almost songs within songs. Sense of melody and harmony and various musical styles and how to blend it all. His production skills and the drum sound he captured. Magic and not a single bad album ever released by Led Zeppelin which is something that only The Beatles attained also.

I agree Canadian mule. I saw a member of a heavy metal band on that metal show trash talk EVH a little. "If he played a guitar without a whammy bar and he's in a state where it's against the law to tap and double tap ( hammer ons with one or both hands) Ed wouldn't have much left". He said he liked Steve Via and the guy in Nightranger much better.

I enjoy hearing Jump or Ice Cream Man etc by VH on the radio but their albums are shallow, simple party songs. LZ and the Beatles have songs that have nice melodies, interesting cords etc.

Even the Allman Brothers had some mediocre albums but Van Halen never had the material and joy of listening that ABB had on Idlewild South, Fillmore East, Eat A Peach and Brothers and Sisters.

LZ1 is as good as albums get. 50 years ago and still the same today. No one layered guitar parts and wrote like Page. Solos that are almost songs within songs. Sense of melody and harmony and various musical styles and how to blend it all. His production skills and the drum sound he captured. Magic and not a single bad album ever released by Led Zeppelin which is something that only The Beatles attained also.

Amen!!!!!!!

I agree Canadian mule. I saw a member of a heavy metal band on that metal show trash talk EVH a little. "If he played a guitar without a whammy bar and he's in a state where it's against the law to tap and double tap ( hammer ons with one or both hands) Ed wouldn't have much left". He said he liked Steve Via and the guy in Nightranger much better.

I enjoy hearing Jump or Ice Cream Man etc by VH on the radio but their albums are shallow, simple party songs. LZ and the Beatles have songs that have nice melodies, interesting cords etc.

Even the Allman Brothers had some mediocre albums but Van Halen never had the material and joy of listening that ABB had on Idlewild South, Fillmore East, Eat A Peach and Brothers and Sisters.

I guess it's a matter of opinions and what we like as individuals. Those albums with DLR are classics in my mind. You can't go wrong with Fair Warning,Women and Children. I know Diver Down is looked down upon but I love it. I think "A Different Kind Of Truth" I feel it can stand toe to toe with those others.

I think EVH is a genius/master on the guitar. The way he mixes his rhythm and lead playing seamlessly is 2nd to none.

One of the best of all time!

There is no need to try to trash-talk another guitar player to make yourself feel better about your favorite. Both Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen are immortals, guys who put their stamp on rock guitar just about bigger than anybody since Hendrix. Quite frankly, I can't think of anyone who changed the game more than these two guys since Jimi - not even Duane, no offense, caught the ear of the guitar-loving public and of the guitar-playing masses like these two.

Shame on Eddie for ragging on Page for being sloppy. It is one thing for chumps like us to bitch about players while we are on the Net, but professionals shouldn't bag on professionals.

That being said, of course Page was often sloppy live from the second half of the 1970s onwards. He was razor sharp live in 1968-1970, playing very crisp and clean. However, if Eddie Van Halen saw Page in 1977, he may have seen something quite different.

Another issue with Page as compared to Van Halen is that by that point, Page was constructing massive studio constructions with overdub after overdub. "Ten Years Gone" and songs like that sound amazing in the studio but really suffered live. Meanwhile, Van Halen really fought to have very few overdubs in the studio, so Eddie really could offer the same kind of sound live. As far as the live sound goes - or the sound overall - Eddie smoked most other hard rock / metal players because he could really play rhythm and then seamlessly slip into lead. He wrote better riffs and songs than most of his peers, which is why folks like Steve Vai and Night Ranger are already footnotes.

Eddie also didn't get messed up and sloppy until a good 25 years into his career, as far as I can tell - the 2000s? - while Page started to deteriorate much earlier in his live playing career. By 10 years into Zepp, Jimmy Page was often hit or miss live.

Guitarists who rag on EVH for being "only" about tapping are like people who say every Dickey Betts solo sounds the same. Come on, people. I once dated a girl who complained that all of my cassettes - Iron Maiden, The Who, Clapton - all sounded the same. Lol.

As far as Van Halen being shallow as compared to Zep, Van Halen always happily admitted that they were a party band, all about getting you to shake your butt, but that is what rock and roll is - and it is what most blues has been also. Chuck Berry, the Stones, AC/DC, James Brown: rock. However, I'd ask anyone to learn some of Van Halen's guitar parts and then come back and tell me that there's not much to it.

Robert Plant did promise to give you every inch of his love, so I guess he is going deep in terms of inches, but come on, man. I know that you mean musically eclectic rather than lyrically deep. Zepp definitely charted more musical territory than most hard rock bands do, but when it comes to lyrics, they were pretty sophomoric.

I don't listen to either band for insights on the human condition. Both of them rock. "Runnin With The Devil" is the stepchild of "Whole Lotta Love." I can hear "Bring It On Home" in "Ice Cream Man." We would not have "Eruption" without the "Heartbreaker" solo.

I have lost hope for Jimmy Page offering any decent new music after decades of hoping. I can't think of anything he has done since 1968-1980 that has been worth much time. There were glimmers of hope on "Outrider" and "Page/ Coverdale," but sparks only. Eddie Van Halen lost me from like 1985 to maybe 2010, but the footage I have seen of him this decade shows that he has sobered up and can really play again, so maybe there is hope for us all.

There is no need to try to trash-talk another guitar player to make yourself feel better about your favorite. Both Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen are immortals, guys who put their stamp on rock guitar just about bigger than anybody since Hendrix. Quite frankly, I can't think of anyone who changed the game more than these two guys since Jimi - not even Duane, no offense, caught the ear of the guitar-loving public and of the guitar-playing masses like these two.

Shame on Eddie for ragging on Page for being sloppy. It is one thing for chumps like us to bitch about players while we are on the Net, but professionals shouldn't bag on professionals.

That being said, of course Page was often sloppy live from the second half of the 1970s onwards. He was razor sharp live in 1968-1970, playing very crisp and clean. However, if Eddie Van Halen saw Page in 1977, he may have seen something quite different.

Another issue with Page as compared to Van Halen is that by that point, Page was constructing massive studio constructions with overdub after overdub. "Ten Years Gone" and songs like that sound amazing in the studio but really suffered live. Meanwhile, Van Halen really fought to have very few overdubs in the studio, so Eddie really could offer the same kind of sound live. As far as the live sound goes - or the sound overall - Eddie smoked most other hard rock / metal players because he could really play rhythm and then seamlessly slip into lead. He wrote better riffs and songs than most of his peers, which is why folks like Steve Vai and Night Ranger are already footnotes.

Eddie also didn't get messed up and sloppy until a good 25 years into his career, as far as I can tell - the 2000s? - while Page started to deteriorate much earlier in his live playing career. By 10 years into Zepp, Jimmy Page was often hit or miss live.

Guitarists who rag on EVH for being "only" about tapping are like people who say every Dickey Betts solo sounds the same. Come on, people. I once dated a girl who complained that all of my cassettes - Iron Maiden, The Who, Clapton - all sounded the same. Lol.

As far as Van Halen being shallow as compared to Zep, Van Halen always happily admitted that they were a party band, all about getting you to shake your butt, but that is what rock and roll is - and it is what most blues has been also. Chuck Berry, the Stones, AC/DC, James Brown: rock. However, I'd ask anyone to learn some of Van Halen's guitar parts and then come back and tell me that there's not much to it.

Robert Plant did promise to give you every inch of his love, so I guess he is going deep in terms of inches, but come on, man. I know that you mean musically eclectic rather than lyrically deep. Zepp definitely charted more musical territory than most hard rock bands do, but when it comes to lyrics, they were pretty sophomoric.

I don't listen to either band for insights on the human condition. Both of them rock. "Runnin With The Devil" is the stepchild of "Whole Lotta Love." I can hear "Bring It On Home" in "Ice Cream Man." We would not have "Eruption" without the "Heartbreaker" solo.
I have lost hope for Jimmy Page offering any decent new music after decades of hoping. I can't think of anything he has done since 1968-1980 that has been worth much time. There were glimmers of hope on "Outrider" and "Page/ Coverdale," but sparks only. Eddie Van Halen lost me from like 1985 to maybe 2010, but the footage I have seen of him this decade shows that he has sobered up and can really play again, so maybe there is hope for us all.

Well put sir!
Yeah....I have given up hope on Page. It pains me to say that. 🙁
Eddie's work on the last VH studio is top notch. Still one of the kings in my book!