Which Led Zeppelin songs had guest performers?
There was never any need for more star power when it came to Led Zeppelin. The band had already set a precedent for what a hard rock band was supposed to look like in the 1970s, and on every album, they seemed to go one step further in terms of what was customarily allowed in rock and roll. But as much as Zeppelin could put together different shades of rock that no one had heard before, there was no way that they could do everything alone.
After all, it would have been a nightmare trying to give Jimmy Page more to do on any of Zeppelin’s records. Outside of being the mastermind behind their classic riffs and producing the lion’s share of their records, hearing him adapt to every situation made him one of the few guitarists who could practically play anything and make it work, whether changing to alternate tunings for ‘The Rain Song’ or working with a mandolin to create the brooding atmosphere for ‘The Battle of Evermore’.
It’s not like John Paul Jones couldn’t carry the group, either. He was already an industry veteran before getting the call from Page to form a band, but as soon as he started adding his keyboards to their best ballads, it was like watching a ray of sunshine break through the endless string of dark guitar passages that Page was doing.
But Zeppelin’s music was all about creating musical textures, and when they needed to add the right sonic spice to everything, they had enough self-awareness to know when something could have been pulled off on their own. And despite keeping things fairly in-house, their guest performers go all the way back to their debut record.
So who were the guest performers on Led Zeppelin’s albums?
Whereas most of Zeppelin’s debut is nothing but blues covers played with the most punishing force known to man, ‘Black Mountainside’ was the one comedown of the album with Page playing different Eastern-sounding passages on his acoustic. His performance sounds fantastic, but what really makes the track work is hearing Viram Jasani play the tabla in the background. The Beatles had already begun introducing this sound to the Western world, but if George Harrison was becoming a capable sitarist, this was the purest example of Eastern music infiltrating rock.
While the occasional overdub might be one thing, the whole reason why Zeppelin needed additional members was to capture the sound of them playing live. So when they were making a track like ‘Rock and Roll’ as a live jam, bringing pre-Rolling Stone Ian Stewart to play the keyboard was exactly what they needed to add that signature Little Richard touch to everything. Since they were all friends, Stewart would eventually find his way onto ‘Boogie With Stu’ on Physical Graffiti as well.
If we’re talking about guest performances, though, there aren’t very many in rock history better than Sandy Denny’s performance on ‘The Battle of Evermore’. A lot of the notes of the song may have been well within Robert Plant’s range, but hearing the tale of a battle in medieval times is given even more drama, with Denny acting as the town crier talking about the horrors of war.
Even though Zeppelin’s guest performances are limited to only three people, it wasn’t a case of them not playing nice with others. They already had the best musicians anyone could ask for in the group, so when someone was brought in, it was a case of them thinking like sonic artists rather than musicians.