225. Led Zeppelin | Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

---

Wikipedia Entry

---

Tracks

1. Black Dog
2. Rock and Roll
3. The Battle of Evermore
4. Stairway to Heaven
5. Misty Mountain Hop
6. Four Sticks
7. Going to California
8. When the Levee Breaks

---

Note: There is no official title to Led Zeppelin's fourth studio album. Atlantic Records, Led Zeppelin's record label, often used the titles, The Fourth Album and Four Symbols to catalogue it. Other names that have been used are Led Zeppelin IV and Runes. Members of Led Zeppelin have referred to it as The Fourth Album and Led Zeppelin IV.

Led Zeppelin IV is an masterful album. The music is hard rock. Led Zeppelin has gotten even further away from their blues rock style. This album blends folk rock with hard rock which would suggest that the music is tempered, but it's not. This is one of the heaviest rock albums to date. This lyrics give this album a mystical and transcendent aura.

This is a relentless album.  Nowhere on this album is there a down period to recoup. The album just comes charging out of the gate with Black Dog and Rock and Roll which are two of the heaviest songs ever recorded. The album slows down but keeps charging ahead with The Battle of Evermore and Stairway to Heaven which feature the folkier side of the album. The album regains speed with Misty Mountain Hop and then goes into overdrive with Four Sticks which is not very different from the two opening songs. Going to California is another folkie song which slows down the pace just to prepare for the final burst of energy that comes from When the Levee Breaks.

Led Zeppelin has always had a timeless quality to their albums, this album especially. Logically, there is no reason why Led Zeppelin should have sounded any different from the English blues rock bands from the mid-to-late 1960s. A lot of great music came from that group, but none of them transcended their moment in time. Led Zeppelin did and I've always wondered why, as I'm sure many others have. I think this album reveals why. It's not the musicians or songs or group dynamics; it's Jimmy Page's album production. Jimmy Page is a master producer and it's his genius as producer for why Led Zeppelin transcends their moment in time.

This is a phenomenal album. It should be listened to and it belongs in every serious collection. This album deserves to be on the 1001 Albums list because of its timeless quality and also because it just extends the hard rock boundary so far that in some ways hard rock hasn't yet reached the boundary again.

Every song is brilliant. I would list them all as stand outs, but I would rather instead point out that When the Levee Breaks is the best song on the album. And I will never tire of listening to Stairway to Heaven. The final section will always make it worthwhile.

★★★★★★★★★★