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Encompassing heavy metal, folk, pure rock & roll, and blues, Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album is a monolithic record, defining not only Led Zeppelin but the sound and style of '70s hard rock. Expanding on the breakthroughs of III, Zeppelin fuse their majestic hard rock with a mystical, rural English folk that gives the record epic scope. Even at its most basic -- the muscular, tradtionalist "Rock and Roll" -- the album has a grand sense of drama, which is deepened by Robert Plant's burgeoning obsession with mythology and mysticism. These obsessions come to a head on the eerie folk ballad "The Battle of Evermore," a mandolin-driven song with haunting vocals from Sandy Denny, and on the epic "Stairway to Heaven," which encapsulates the entire album in one song. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Recorded at Headley, Grange, Hampshire, Island Studios, London, England and Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, California.
Led Zeppelin: John Paul Jones (bass instrument); Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Robert Plant.
Personnel: Robert Plant (vocals, harmonica); Sandy Denny (vocals); Jimmy Page (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); John Paul Jones (keyboards, synthesizer); John Bonham (drums).
Audio Mixers: George Chkiantz; Andy Johns.
Audio Remasterer: Jimmy Page.
Liner Note Author: Masa Ito.
Recording information: Headley Grange, Hampshire, England (1971); Island Studios, London, England (1971); Rolling Stones Mobile Studio (1971); Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA (1971).
Illustrator: Barrington Coleby.
Additional personnel: Ian Stewart (piano); Sandy Denny (background vocals).Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.113) - Ranked #66 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...Towering..."
Rolling Stone (12/23/71, p.63) - "...out of the eight cuts, there isn't one that steps on another's toes, [or] that tries to do too much all at once..." - Lenny Kaye
Spin (p.89) - "[With] whipsaw riffs that treated the blues like ancient runes..."
Q (6/00, p.76) - Ranked #26 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums"
Q (10/94, p.141) - 5 Stars - Indispensable - "...it's...big room ambience still best described by 'When The Levee Breaks'..."
NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #56 in NME's list of the 'Greatest Albums Of All Time.'
Led Zeppelin IV Music Review
Average Rating: (4.6 out of 5 stars)    List All 56 Reviews THE TOP OF HARD ROCK
Three days ago,I read with great surprise two comments about this masterpiece,("Hillbilly Caverman Music" by a reviewer in CA.USA and "Blows" by adam in Frankfurt).I want to say the next:Always,Led Zeppelin was a secret society and its four record is the most important work in the history of Hard Rock ever."Stairway to Heaven" is the masterpiece of this movement for its occult and esoteric symbolism.This song is an alchemic allegory (the phases of alchemic work).I recommend to read Michel Maierīs "Atalanta Fugiens",Altusīs "Mutus Liber" and Jean Valentin Andreaeīs "The Chemical Weeding of C.R." for understand the marvelous significance of this extraordinary song ("The May Queen","The Forest","The Piper","The Climbing to the Knowledge Mountain",etc,etc).Page and Plant were influenced by Aleister Crowley,Golden Dawn and Teosophia in the making "Vol IV".The other tracks are an excellent complement for the principal song,but the key of albumn is ONLY the transformation of ordinary man in a trascendental man-as alchemist-,you must see the painting for understand it."Led Zeppelin IV" is the esoteric and occult trascendence of The Great Group,itīs forever,for many,many generations to come.
Submitted by ralp666 (Jalapa,Equz,VERACRUZ,MEXICO)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 9 of 13 found this helpful.
A rock and roll epic.
With blistering guitars and a fixation on the blues, Zeppelin I and II helped make hard rock huge. On the underrated III, Page and Co. revealed that their dynamics were unparalleled by making a mostly acoustic album. A question then: what are these guys? A serious rock band, or acoustic poets?
ZOSO (or IV, whatever you prefer) answered: Both, and more, with one of the most varied rock albums of all time.
The classic "Black Dog" starts it, with an awesome rhythm and Plant's terrific, jittery vocals. Like in early AC/DC, mindless sex songs are just BETTER when you have a band as skilled and creative as Zeppelin behind the wheel. "Rock and Roll" follows the same blueprint. Same simple but beautifully howled lyrics from Plant while the band goes even crazier than on "Dog". Right from the start, Zeppelin proves that they've taken a hard rock quantam leap from the likes of "Moby Dick".
"The Battle of Evermore" changes it all. It sounds both Celtic and Eastern, with John Paul Jones' orchestrative talents coming through. The beautiful, dancing instruments support a true poem setting the stage of a war in Tolkien's Middle Earth (references don't get much plainer than "the ringwraiths ride in black"). "Evermore" completely reverses this album from the first two tracks, and accentuates Zeppelin's artistic range perfectly.
...well. What more can be said in regards to "Stairway to Heaven"? I will, however, say this. Page pulls off some of the best guitar of his career. The lyrics are meant to be experienced, not analyzed. And the section in which the electric guitar chimes in while Page murmurs "There's a feelin' I get, when I look to the West..." is one of the prettiest moments in music.
"Misty Mountain Hop" is the weakest song here, and the only one I ever skip past when I listen to this album. The lyrics are silly, but that would've been fine if the plodding piano-based music was interesting. It's not really. Still fun, though, if I'm in exactly the right mood. "Four Sticks" isn't given enough credit. Bonham's percussion is top notch, and the beat is pulsing and fun. Better than "Hop", certainly.
"Going to California", which brings III to mind, is gorgeous. Great acoustic dynamics, and when Plant yells "Seems that the wrath of the gods got a punch on the nose and it started to flow, I think I might be sinking", my heart leaps.
"When the Levee Breaks" is THUNDEROUS. A searing blues epic that features some of Page's and Bonham's best work. Once again, the song reaches its peak when Plant reaches his: his yowl of "Don't it make you feel bad when you're tryin' to find a way home, ya don't know which way to go?" accompanied by Page's blistering guitar is flat-out incredible.
ZOSO (or whatever) isn't for everyone, especially if you only like rock n' roll or if you're just buying it for "Stairway". But if you're open and adventurous enough, a palette as varied as "Black Dog", "Battle of Evermore", "Going to California", and "When the Levee Breaks" will delight you for the rest of your life.
Submitted by Orion (Buffalo, NY, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 4 of 7 found this helpful. Zeppelin's the best!
I love this CD it has Led Zeppelin classics like "Black Dog", "Rock And Roll" and "Stairway To Heaven". I think Robert Plant's vocal singing styles are really good on all of their albums. Especially the guitar playings of Jimmy Page is good too on here.
Submitted by CDJay (Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 5 of 9 found this helpful. the best led zeppelin cd
I know a lot of people think the second is the best, but this is my favorite. I mean, it has Black Dog and Rock and Roll and Misty Mountain Hop and of course Stairway to Heaven.
Submitted by screwtheworld31 (Aliso Viejo, CA, USA) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 3 of 6 found this helpful.  The watershed
This was the one that both made and changed the history of rock. With powerhouse blues/rock like "Black dog" and Rock and roll", the album then rolls on to provide us with the anthem for all rockers around the world - "Stairway to Heaven" (which really is just as good as it has been cracked up to be by legions of Led Zep fans - me included!). My personal favourite Led Zeppelin song happens to be on this album; "When the levee breaks". I've never heard such sonic power before - Led Zeppelin take the blues into a new dimension with this one (haunting slide guitar/effects, drums that echo around the room, crying blues harp all mixed together with Plant's trademark wailing vocals). Sadly though this album also has "Four sticks" and "The battle of evermore" which are best left forgotten - if "Led Zeppelin 4" didn't have these 2, it would probably be just as good as their first album (which is their best). Still, this was the album that re-wrote rock and roll - literally!
Submitted by James Richardson (Elizabeth, South Australia)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 1 of 2 found this helpful.
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