Last Updated on 27 January 2026 by Massimo M.
Led Zeppelin III, the album that reveals the folk side of the band of Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham.
Thanks to big success of two previous album, Led Zeppelin e Led Zeppelin II, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, between 1969 and 1970, were almost constantly on tour and, practically, unable to write anything new. At this point Page and Plant decided to acquire the famous Bron-Yr-Aur house located in Wales, precisely to have a sort of quiet refuge where they could finally start producing the new album.
In fact, the choice of this “buen retiro” was particularly apt because, at least according to the band’s official memoirs, many songs were composed during their stay in the Welsh cottage, including Over the Hills and Far Away and The Crunge which will be included in the tracklist of Houses of the Holy, The Rover, Bron-Yr-Aur and Down by the Seaside which will be used for Physical Graffiti, Poor Tom which will find space in Coda and three songs for Led Zeppelin III namely Friends, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp and That’s the Way. Another couple of songs recorded in this period were never used on Zeppelin album.
In May 1970 the entire band locked themselves in the recording room to rework the songs composed by Plant and Page and in October Led Zeppelin III finally saw the light.
Essentially it is a turning point album substantially divided in two parts. The first part, side A of the vinyl, contains the most electric songs which still refer to the music expressed in the previous two albums while the second side clearly shows the acoustic and folk turn of the band which will be harshly criticized at the time for this choice.
The album, driven by songs destined to become classics of Zeppelin’s production, such as Immigrant song, therefore received a terrible reception from critics but, despite this, it very quickly conquered the first position in the charts American and English sales.
It is equally true that sales suddenly collapsed, probably because a large part of the public was expecting a “hard” record like Led Zeppelin II. In the end, however, the album will be certified platinum six times.
The terrible criticism received did not leave Page and his associates indifferent, in fact it was the main reason why Led Zeppelin did not do any tour to support the album’s release and immediately retreated to the studio to record their next work, Led Zeppelin IV.
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Led Zeppelin III track list
A side
Immigrant Song 2:26
Friends 3:55
Celebration Day 3:29
Since I’ve Been Loving You 7:25
Out On the Tiles 4:04
B side
Gallows Pole 4:58
Tangerine 3:12
That’s the Way 5:38
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp 4:20
Hats Off to (Roy) Harper 3:41
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