Led Zeppelin "Moby Dick"

"Our percussionist, on drums, John Bonham. Moby Dick!!!"

This is a great song for two reasons. It has a kickass guitar riff with a legendary drum solo. I was reading the newspaper last January and saw in the section titled "On This Day..." that it was John Paul Jones' birthday. I immediately, without thinking, starting playing air bass while humming the riff to Moby Dick. My sister joined in with the drum part and together we sang practically the whole song - including the drum solo! You know you're really good if you can sing the drum solo in Moby Dick.

I had a friend in college who was a huge Zepp fan and could also play a cracking human beat box. This guy got drunk one night, called me up and left the Moby Dick drum solo on my answering machine - in human beat box! I was amazed at how well this guy could mimic John Bonham's classic strumming and wish I still had the tape!

The guitar riff is standard 12-bar blues amplified into a biting hard rock rhythm. Even without the drum solo Moby Dick is a great song. And the studio version of Moby Dick on Led Zeppelin II is a mere template for this song's greatness. In the grand arsenal of rock drum solos, the studio drum solo of Moby Dick isn't all that great. It's the live versions that really come alive. This was a song that was meant to be played live before thousands of rabid fans. For the real Moby Dick experience, check out the version of How the West Was Won or The Song Remains the Same.

These 20 minute odysseys set the standard for concert drum solos that has never been matched and never will be. You can't argue with any sincerity that there was a better live rock drummer than John Bonham. Don't even try!! No one could match his power and it was his sound that drove the Led Zeppelin. Everyone knows it so let's just settle this debate right now. The guy was the best rock drummer that ever lived. Like Michael Jordan he completely dominated his game and will never be equaled.

Moby Dick is a classic, and a key component in one of the best rock albums ever recorded. Along with Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love and Bring it On Home it is a great guitar-driven tune with a bitchin' drum solo (try to sing it!). It would later be remixed with Bonzo's Montreaux and released as a new song on the band's box set - but that's another review (actually two other reviews).

"John Bonham! John Bonham! ...John Henry Bonham..."