Led Zeppelin Five

John Andrew Fredrick's steady work under the Black Watch name continued into another decade with Led Zeppelin Five -- the kind of title that might have seemed like a Dead Milkmen reference in the '80s around when Fredrick began recording, but now comes across like a gentle acknowledgment of everything that's compiled into a cultural memory of an increasingly receding past. If that's not an overt theme of the album, there is the sense of familiarity throughout: Fredrick's gentle but rich voice; the clean, strong feeling of the performances throughout; a tension and focus in delivery that balances between calm and turning it on, as on the shift of "How Much About Love" when the feedback and drums suddenly arrive. The band's ear for a tight, clipped arrangement is another thing that's always been key, first coming to bear on "Emily, Are You Sleeping?," choppy, brisk guitar parts and rhythms giving Fredrick a chance to deliver descending, sinuous verses and multi-tracked choruses. That sense of drive recurs throughout Led Zeppelin Five -- indeed it would be more surprising if it wasn't there! Other songs include "Cognate Objects," with Fredrick's singing a cool, sweet glide over guitar parts both choppy and heavily treated while the rhythm section kicks along, and the sweet chug of "The Stars in the Sky," as much an implied valentine to a heyday of '80s college rock as one could want. Then there's "Kinda Sorta," a fun balance between an acoustic-guitar-led steady groove and some freakish guitar heroics that give Fredrick a chance to play around with his pedals. Slower, slightly dreamier-sounding songs like "The Maid's Been Round," featuring one of Fredrick's best vocals in a generally excellent series of performances throughout, flesh out the album, while ending on an unlisted cover of the Beatles' "It's All Too Much" makes perfect sense as a nod to the past. ~ Ned Raggett