Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

One more before the weekend...

Led Zeppelin IV: Released November 1971

http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/p...es/ledzep4.jpg

Personnel:
John Bonham – drums
John Paul Jones – synthesizer, bass guitar, keyboards, mandolin, recorders
Jimmy Page – acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, production, remastering, digital remastering
Robert Plant – vocals, harmonica

Track listing:
Black Dog (Page, Plant, Jones)
Rock and Roll (Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham)
The Battle of Evermore (Page, Plant)
Stairway to Heaven (Page, Plant)

Misty Mountain Hop (Page, Plant, Jones)
Four Sticks (Page, Plant)
Going to California (Page, Plant)
When the Levee Breaks (Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham, Memphis Minnie)


37 million sold.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

I can imagine some folks will say this album is overrated, but I wonder if it's more likely that the main hit is overplayed. There are some really great tracks on this one (IMO).

Battle of Evermore is one of my favorites.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

Screw the hype and the naysayers and all of that. This is my favorite Zeppelin album, and my second favorite album of all time.

The first side is absolutely flawless, and yeah I may have heard Stairway a million times, but I still stop and listen. "Black Dog" is probably my favorite on side one, but they're all great songs. Interestingly, "Going to California" is right up there with "Living Loving Maid" as my least favorite Zeppelin tune. At least LLM rocks. California just bores the piss out of me. Of course all of that is just prelude to "When the Levee Breaks", one of the most incredible blues-rock hybrids of all time and in my opinion the greatest song they ever wrote. I could never get tired of that song. I don't think anything has ever sounded as thick and massive as those thunderous, stairway recorded drums. Just epic. Page's production is just killer on this album.

IV deserves every bit of praise it's ever received. Easily one of the greatest recorded works of all time.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

I agree. It's been played to death, so it's hard to look at it objectively. But I never get tired of listening to this, especially on vinyl.

When the Levee Breaks is an absolute beast.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

My favorite song from IV has always been "The Battle of Evermore".
Perhaps the only song from this album that wasn't played on the radio unless they were doing "Album-side Weekend" or some great rock radio special that featured classic album cuts they used to do in NY back in the 70's or early 80's.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

I'm listening to this now on my computer (never owned the album on vinyl), and the juxtaposition of Stairway and MMH as last track/first track is a great move. I can imagine listening to it in the 70s, vegging out with the first side at the end of the day, basking in Stairway; getting up, walking across the room to turn the record over, and then getting MMH to sort wake you up for the rest of the album.

Good stuff.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

Great song, great way to start an album.
I've never liked this song.
This may be the most annoying song ever recorded.
It's a great song, even if I've heard it a million times, mainly against my will.
Another great side opener.
I have no memory of this song at all.
I hate this song. Robert Plant is the lamest hippie in history.
Totally, absolutely badass.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

Will the people who put down II because the songs are "overplayed" still elevate IV because the songs are "classic"? :)

I think this was my first Zep album when I was 10 or 11. I think it was everyone's first Zep album who weren't alive or too young when they first came out. Maybe. Who knows.

The album is a classic, and objectively speaking it's a great piece of work, but my GOD I can't stomach Black Dog or Rock N Roll anymore, and Stairway is its own punchline.

And as God as my fucking witness, I wanted to kill every last Peter Jackson-fellating LOTR fanboy who pre-2001 used to skip right past Battle of Evermore to go straight into Stairway for the umpteenth-gazillion time, who suddenly realized "ZOMG THIS IS ABOUT LORD OF THE RINGS!!!" and acted as if they were the first people to discover this. Only three decades later. Nice.

And yet... the album is still great. Nowadays Side 2 gets infinitely more play than Side 1, but I will cop to still listening to (and loving) Stairway and Evermore.

So far, I'd rate the albums as follows:

III
II
IV
I

III is the definitely front-runner, but there is really barely any variance between II, IV, and I. All four albums are stone-cold classics.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

This is the album where, in my opinion, Led Zeppelin finally came together as a cohesive unit. The album isn't perfect (Battle of Evermore can be grating, Four Sticks is wholly unmemorable), but this is their best album to date (it would soon be knocked out of the water by Houses of the Holy), even though most of it has been overplayed on the radio.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

I bought this album thinking "Kashmir" (oblivious to the song title) was on it since it was playing in the car during the scene in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" when Mike Damone tells Rat, "And five, now this is the most important, Rat. When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV." Doh! :D

I spent many Friday nights in high school listening to a local radio station that would play an hour of Zeppelin. Several songs from this album were featured then as they are now. That's probably the reason I don't listen to this album too much but it is an incredible album. I have rediscovered "Black Dog" in recent years -- such a heavy song and a great way to start an album as wenders points out. I never turn the dial when I hear it on the radio.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

Check out the original from the 1930s. Exact same lyrics. The original "Nobody's Fault But Mine" by Blind Willie Johnson has the same lyrics also.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

I'll go on the overrated side, just because well, I'm not a fan of Battle of Evermore, Misty Mountain Hop (i actually hate that song) and going to cali.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

I actually still enjoy hearing Stairway to Heaven to this day.It's Black Dog and Rock and Roll that have been killed for me by being overplayed on rock radio.I'm about 50/50 on the rest of the tracks and like most i love Levee and couldn't exactly recall Four Sticks till i popped the cd in.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

I haven't played this album in years, but it's indelibly etched into my mind thanks to constant radio play. It is good. Incredible, even. But it's also amazingly overexposed around here. It's one of those thing I feel I don't really need to own because it's so easy to find on the radio.

Black dog is a great riff. I remember when I briefly tried to learn guitar that it looked really hard to play, even using tabs. It's a little too repetitive though.

Rock and Roll - it's a car commercial to me now.

Battle of Evermore - never liked it, but again, I haven't sat down and actually listened to it in at least a decade. I'm finding I like complex music more as I get older, so I should probably give it another chance.

Stairway - I was never a huge fan of the song, having heard about it for a long time before I actually heard it. Always thought it was an odd thing for people (especially those who aren't big music fans) to latch onto as the greatest thing ever. I imagine if I had heard it when it first came out, I'd have a different opinion. That's not to say it's a bad song. My only complaint would be that after taking its time to gracefully build layer upon layer, the finale is too short.

Misty Mountain Hop - remember liking it, but it sounds really dated now, and it really was out of place on this record.

Four Sticks - I always liked the rhythm to this song, although it's sort of a throw away filler track.

Going to California - a nice song, but too slow for my tastes.

When the Levee Breaks - a solid heavy jam. Definitely an album closer.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

It's actually really easy, even for a beginner. The riff is pretty much one position, yet fun to play. Give it another whirl.

Sums it up perfectly. :up:

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

I don't listen to radio much either, but the overexposure of this album has been going on for the last 2o+ years. I've been burned out on Led Zep for at least a decade.

Although I keep meaning to rip a few songs from the box set that's gathering dust and throw them into rotation on the iPod...

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

If I ever decide to try another instrument, it'll most likely be the bass guitar, but that's good to know.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

This album brings back a lot of memories of my teenage years and got quite a few spins back then.

"Misty Mountain Hop" is my favorite on the album and reminds me of a best friend I had that passed away that turned me on to Zep when we were kids.

Every time I hear "When the Levee Breaks" these days, I think about Hurricane Katrina and those folks in New Orleans and think about what happened to them out there.

Re: Led Zeppelin, Album by Album: Led Zeppelin IV
 

This is pretty cool.

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