01. Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV 1971 (Atlantic)
Hard Rock
A big legged woman ain’t got no soul!
Overview
Led Zeppelin IV was seen as a return to form for Led Zeppelin, after the half-hard rock and half-acoustic rock approach of their previous album
Led Zeppelin III.
Led Zeppelin III had been both a unique and fantastic album and a creative highpoint for the band, but it had raised questions over their future direction, these questions would now be addressed on
Led Zeppelin IV. The hard rock that Led Zeppelin fans always wanted, would make a triumphant return on their fourth album, but with it would come musical advancements, in the shape of the already explored folky elements that the band had been constantly exploring. From a panoramic point of view,
Led Zeppelin IV could be seen as encompassing everything that Led Zeppelin represented as a band. Funky blues-based chunky riffathons that literally made Jimmy Page a guitar god, an unrivalled rhythm section in John Paul Jones and John Bonham, and Robert Plant’s trademark bluesy vocals. This was all combined with the acoustic inspired folk and the pseudo-hippie musings that the band embraced.
Led Zeppelin IV was actually released at the time, without an album title and with just four mystical runes representing each band member. The album cover and the runes also represented the band in many ways and the mystic that surrounded them, this was largely due to the fact that they rarely gave interviews! If Black Sabbath represented the macabre at the time, then Led Zeppelin certainly represented the mystical, as they evoked mysticism in both their sound and image. The mysticism had largely come through their incorporation of a rural British heritage folk sound, that sat perfectly with their rawer blues rock base sound. The mysticism of the band had largely benefitted from the band’s interest in mythology and from Jimmy Page’s love of the occult. The concert footage film “The Song Remains the Same” captures perfectly the mysticism that the band had at this time. At the time of this album, Led Zeppelin were the biggest band on the planet and were smashing previous box-office records, that had been previously been set in the USA by the Beatles, on this album they didn’t disappoint and they delivered the goods lock, stock and barrel.
Robert Plant-Vocals
Jimmy Page- Guitar
John Paul Jones- Bass/Piano
John Bonham- Drums
Production- Jimmy Page
Album
Black Dog- After a Jimmy Page warm up, Robert Plant delivers a batch of juicy blues infected lyrics and vocals, this is quite simply a multi-layered Led Zep classic all the way, with its funky winding-riff and constant rhythm changes throughout and the song doesn’t let up for a minute. This is the type of song that other bands dreamed about writing and the song lyrics are some of the most stereotypical Led Zeppelin lyrics ever!
Rock and Roll- Starts with an infectious rock ‘n’ roll intro, that simply romps its way throughout this song, its raw and simply blistering with energy from beginning to end. Robert Plant sings “It’s been a long time…..” throughout this song, a perfect example of the bands basic and catchy lyrics on certain songs. This is one of the best songs the band ever put out period!
The Battle of Evermore- Starts off with an eerie acoustic laden feel, as the band commence with their folky offerings. The song is mandolin driven and Robert Plant performs a duet here with Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention, a delightful song and in many ways a real showpiece album track.
Stairway to Heaven- One of the most famous songs ever written in the history of rock and progresses from a gentle acoustic set, accompanied by some of Robert Plant’s cleanest ever vocals before gradually increasing in tempo, the song then finally evolves itself into a torrent of intricate storming guitar riffs that just about every budding guitarist dreamt about playing, this is the song that helped to immortalize the band.
Misty Mountain Hop- Kicks off side-two and is a medium tempo rocker that is almost hippie in feel and one of the most light-hearted songs the band ever put out.
Four Sticks- Based around the fact that John Bonham played with four drumsticks on the song. This is Led Zeppelin at their most funky again with some decent guitar strumming, but probably serves as the weakest track on the album.
Going to California- An often overlooked gem, with its wistful folk and it’s supposedly about Joni Mitchell.
When the Levee Breaks- A rhythm section classic and immediately kicks in with the heavy pounding of John Bonham, before being accompanied by Robert Plant on harmonica, the song effectively feels like a powerful album closer.
Verdict
So how great is this album? Well the opening salvo of both “Black Dog” and “Rock and Roll” alone, are enough to blow most of the competition away! These two songs were quite simply some of the most infectious hard rock tracks ever laid down on record and today rank as two timeless classics. The tone of the album then changed drastically with track three "The Battle of Evermore” which with its eerie but bouncy feel, brings the whole album right down to a rustic canter. This type of folky feel would be perfectly encapsulated yet again, in an even more easy going manner on “Going to California” which may rank as one of the best folk inspired numbers the band ever did. All this though, is in stark contrast to the closing track “When the Levee Breaks” with its almost apocalyptic urban blues feel and pounding rhythm section, it probably ranks as one of the most forceful songs the band ever recorded. In general the album contains some of the heaviest and best rhythm sections ever laid down on record, just check out “Black Dog” and “When the Levee Breaks” for proof of this. But no other song on the album, would encompass everything the record was all about better than “Stairway to Heaven”. The song was literally an eight minute version of the whole album condensed and served as the perfect bridge between their hard rock and folk sound, both of which the band were true masters of! The song of course has been talked about constantly over the years, so I won’t ramble on about it on here as well.
Led Zeppelin IV would go on to be the most complete work of the band so far, by fully incorporating all the musical aspects of the band, from their root blues rock sound, their fashioned hard rock and their recently inspired folk rock leanings. The album was also their most experimental work to date as well, but of course they would get even more experimental with their next album
Houses of the Holy which would follow two years later. In fact you could say, that no other group until the arrival of Aerosmith a few years later, could match Led Zeppelin when it came to producing hard rock with a sexy swagger!