http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfR_HWMzgyc Ok, I'm gonna level with you here. Any one of these final three songs might be the greatest Led Zeppelin track ever released - but I have come to trust the three-way coin-toss as a form of psychic bridge into the unknown, and so we have no choice but to accept Kashmir as third best. Written over a period of three years by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page (I know right - what the hell were they doing with their time?) the eight and a half minute track was released on Physical Graffiti in 1975, and performed at virtually every Zeppelin gig since. The signature chord progression came as a result of Page experimenting with a guitar tuning known as DADGAD, whilst working on a new (unreleased) number called Swan Song (also the name of the band's self-created record label since 1974). Kashmir veers away from Led Zep's traditional style and instead incorporates patterns from Indian and Middle Eastern music - prompting Page and Plant to release a live version recorded with an Egyptian/Moroccan orchestra on their 1994 album, No Quarter: Jimmy Page And Robert Plant Unledded. Kashmir is one of the few tracks by Led Zeppelin to use outside musicians, who were brought in to play the string and horn sections. You have to say that without these people, the song wouldn't be regarded as the monumental epic it is today, and so it is necessary that we recognise the wonderful input of these players (whose names I have no idea, I did look them up - forgot 'em) - well done for almost making Kashmir the best ever Led Zeppelin song.