The following songs reinforce the quality of both band and album. "What is and What Should Never Be" comes next, while some of the guitar on "The Lemon Song" is incredible. "Thank You" has an anthemic quality about it, despite being more soothing than the noise before it. The introductory guitar sequence to "Heartbreaker" confirms a return to the exuberance of earlier songs. While being of the same strong standard it is still something of a shame - more variety of the kind of "Thank You" may have been more pleasing.
"Living Loving Maid (She's Just A Woman)" and "Ramble On" is more of the same. However well written these pieces may be, there's only so long that one can keep listening to the same thing. So when "Moby Dick," the following instrumental, appears it is about time. It is a pleasant diversion and forms a nice lead-in to the closing track "Bring It On Home."
Led Zeppelin II, all criticisms aside, is a good album. Still, it is far from perfect. While the music and musicianship are beyond reproach, there is an obvious lack of imagination. More variety would have made for better listening.
RATING: 7.5/10
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