The point is this: even the most trivial art offers some virtue, even the most evanescent entertainment, even the most utter jive, even Led Zeppelin.

To hear a retrospective of their music is to recognize a variety, or simply a musiciality, that never before seemed evident. Not that their fourth LP [#&@%] proves all that exhilarating but in listening I realize a certain jadedness in myself; too often I've accepted their more egregious Top-40 like The Lemon Song (possibly the worst rock song ever) as their noisome hallmark—and this is not always so….

[Despite] all the vile humors I've spewed upon the band, the music of Led Zeppelin is at least amusing….

The album compares unfavorably to the more stylized and/or simply more creative recordings of Jack Bruce, Zappa, the Beach Boys and others. But Led Zeppelin nonetheless remains an original "heavy" band, far better than the...