Name your 5 favorite Led Zeppelin tracks.


Led Zeppelin released 8 consecutive studio recordings that are unsurpassed by any band in rock history. Since there is no best "Zep" thread on Audiogon it's much overdue. Any comments regarding your top 5 would be interesting and appreciated. Here is my 5...
1-Ten Years Gone
2-Stairway To Heaven
3-Achilles Last Stand
4-In My Time Of Dying
5-How Many More Times
dayglow
I am not sure if I would agree that Led Zep's 8 consecutive studio recordings are unsurpassed by any band in rock history (the Beatles and Stones come to mind), but the first 4 are pretty fabulous. With that said and in no particular order:

Since I Have Been Lovin' You (3rd Album)
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (1st Album)
Dazed and Confused (1st Album)
When the Levee Breaks (4th Album)
Battle of Evermore (4th Album)

Rich
1. battle of evermore
2. kashmir
3. Stairway to heaven
4. immigrant song
5. Dazed and confused
Black Mountain Side
Black Mountain Side
Black Mountain Side
Black Mountain Side
Black Mountain Side

Instrumental thankfully with none of Robert Plant's bombastic mooing.

*original source was "borrowed" with credit not given or acknowleged till Page was confronted with it.
After my post above, I went to take a shower, and couldn't get "Going to California" out of my head. So I believe I can't narrow it down to 5. Maybe a dozen or so are all very close to being equal top favorites.

"Rock 'n' Roll". They opened with it on both occasions that I saw them play. As high energy an opener as I can ever recall at a concert

"Gallows Pole". Page makes a blues classic his own in a simple and elegant way.

"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" . Memories of my first girlfriend.

"Whole Lotta Love" . Nothing is simpler, not much is better.

Lotsa possibilities for #5, maybe "Ramble On" or Black Mountain" or.....

Marty
Lve em all but in favs are:
1. stairway
2. going to california
3. Hey hey what can I do
4. Kashmir
5. Good times bad times
Can't pick just 5 or even decide which I like best. Too many! Too varied! Sorry.
No Quarter
What is and What Should Never Be
The Ocean
Ramble On
Stairway...

Fun! Gotta go and play some of these now....
Airegin,

The same writing credit issue is true of half the songs listed here. IIRC, all songs on the Zep albums are credited to Page and/or Plant. Many are actually cover versions. Since they never bothered to change the name of the song (or change it much, anyway) that they're covering - you gotta wonder what they were thinking. I think there were a dozen or so lawsuits over this issue back in the day.

Marty
Some background about Pages "Black Mountain Side" here:

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=307
1. How Many More Times
2. Achille's Last Stand
3. Gallow's Pole
4. When The Levee Breaks
5. Dazed and Confused
Oh great. Ask the most difficult question in the history of rock & roll. My opinion has always been that Led Zeppelin is the definition of rock. The Stones had Exile on Main Street but Zeppelin had so much more. I will always defend John Bonham as being the hands down best drummer of all time and Jimmy Page the greatest rock guitarist. JPJ was no slacker either. Here's my list but it could change by the minute.

Bring it on home
That's the way
Your time is gonna come
Royal Orleans
Hots on for nowhere
Dazed and confused

Six? Why not? Stuck on a desert island with one r&r disc? Presence all the way.
I'd like to add that I agree with your statement about the 8 consecutive studio recordings. That's an opinion but it's mine (and yours).
I don't know the entiry catalogue, but from what I do know, "since I've been login you" is hands down my favourite. "Going to california" is not to shabby either, love that "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp", and "Stairway" is of course a timeless classic.
1. When The Levee Breaks 2. Dazed and Confused 3. Communications Breakdown 4. The Battle of Evermore 5 The Rain Song
Many great choices, thanx for sharing. Donjr-Presence is severely overlooked but Physical Graffiti edges out IV as my personal favorite.
Donjr-I don't have these recordings, which is the better recording regarding sound quality? Are there any bootleg recordings you recommend?
Physical graffiti: favorite album.
There i made a decision albeit not the one asked for.
"Donjr-I don't have these recordings, which is the better recording regarding sound quality? Are there any bootleg recordings you recommend?"

I listened to Physical Graffiti on Classic the other night. It is not audiophile quality, but it is very good. I don't have a standard pressing to compare with, but I like the Classics very much. I think the Stairway they did on 45RPM, is exceptional. Too bad Classic didn't press more of that 45 RPM big box. Judging from my Stairway, that is the way I would want to hear all their records.
Maybe not audiophile (Classic version is darn close though) but certainly rockophile to the nth degree.
Let me throw in an outsider I had not heard before yesterday and have not seen mentioned: "All My Love"
When the levee breaks, Tangerine, Hangman, Misty Mountain Hop, Ramble on.
That said, the only disc I ever really play is Led Zeppelin III, and once a year would be a lot for that.
Have to agree with Markalarsen about Stairway. That song was killed from media overexposure. There's a story about it, no one knows if its true or not, but the story goes that Robert Plant was driving around and Stairway came on the radio in his car. This was during the station's fund drive. Plant called the station up and told the DJ he would give him $50.00 if he never played it again.
Going To California
That's The Way
Tangerine
Friends
Kashmir

I like my Zeppelin Moody