A pivotal scene in Fast Times At Ridgemont High features Damone giving Rat what he says are key seduction tips. The final touch, he says, involves putting on “side one of Zeppelin IV.” The next scene shows Rat and Stacy riding along to the tune of “Kashmir”, which isn’t on the album. The question remains: did Rat get it wrong, or was it the filmmaker’s goof? Whatever the case, the band’s fourth album, which doesn’t have a title, is what rock snobs could call a seminal album. 
“Black Dog” begins with a sound akin to a machine being wound up manually, then that voice hits us. With all the spot-on stops and starts, this one is just riveting. The solo over the fade is one of Page’s best. “Rock And Roll” doesn’t let up the attack at all, and sounds like it could have been recorded 15 years earlier—or at least 15 minutes after it was written. We’d come to expect a slow blues burner at this point, but now it’s something different: “The Battle Of Evermore” seems to have some Tolkien undertones, and is another late bloomer. Sandy Denny’s piercing voice meshes perfectly with Plant’s on this spooky tale of something or other. “Stairway To Heaven” is still pretty incredible after all these years, and expertly orchestrated. (It used to be that whenever your local rock station had one of their three-day weekend countdowns of the greatest songs of all time, “Stairway” was always a lock for first place. Now it’s a race to switch the station whenever it comes on, and one that gets skipped on CD.)
“Misty Mountain Hop” brings a funky electric piano vibe for a change to start the second side. With even more Tolkien references, it’s very evocative of a sunny afternoon relaxing in the park, with your only cares being whether the beer will run out before dusk. Failing that, it also works well if you’re sitting on a porch in winter pre-dawn, in a car, at the office or anywhere the groove takes you. “Four Sticks” apparently got its name from the number Bonham used, and is the least successful track on the album. (A version recorded later with native musicians in Bombay is much more effective in capturing the sense of exoticism, but wouldn’t be released for decades.) “Going To California” is a direct cousin to side two of Zeppelin III, evoking the spirit of Joni Mitchell beautifully. “When The Levee Breaks” has that much-imitated drum sound exploding from the other side of the hall, and is as successful a blues lift to close the album as any. The backwards effects work and the way the chords are turned against each other makes it much more interesting than your average 12-bar. The “guitar-falling-down-the-stairs” ending is also a favorite moment.
If you’re going to start with one Zeppelin album, you might as well make it this one. And if you don’t like this, don’t bother with the rest of them. (The Deluxe Edition offers an alternate version of the album, with rich instrumental mixes of “Going To California” and “The Battle Of Evermore”, a working mix of “Four Sticks” that includes a count-in—good luck trying to keep up—and negligibly alternate mixes of everything else.)
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin IV [aka Zoso, Untitled, Four Symbols, The Runes Album, etc.] (1971)—4
2014 Deluxe Edition: same as 1971, plus 8 extra tracks
i don't think i understand your ranking system. zoso is only the third best of their first four albums? i think you are a little off there.
ReplyDeleteif led iv is not a five, what could possibly be? it is the defining album of the defining band of the time.
dick
The rating is my rating today. It may go up or down in time. Zoso is a good album, but I don't feel it's their best. As for what is their best...keep reading.
ReplyDeleteI’ve always had pretty much a love/hate relationship with Led Zeppelin’s music. As in some of their songs I really like and there’s a lot more that I can’t stand, with very few falling in between. This is, in very large part, about very contrary feelings that I have about the individual group members.
ReplyDeleteJimmy Page, of course, was a master at production and playing all sorts of stringed instruments. J.P. Jones, in his supporting role, was multi-talented as a musician an arranger.
However, then we get to John Bonham. No doubt, he was very agile and skilled, but there’s something about his drum sound that I just don’t like or understand. I hear them go “thud” and “clunk” a lot. Why? Is it the way they were recorded? Is it the way they were tuned? Why did Page think this sounded good? It doesn’t always distract from their songs, but I often think they would have been so much better with a different percussionist.
Finally, there’s Robert Plant, who is even more of an acquired taste. His range was astonishing, but when he got up in the screeching range, he could be unbearable. Sometimes, it really worked, like on “Immigrant Song” and the end of “Stairway to Heaven”. On other times, it was annoying, like when he is telling a woman that he’s giving her every inch of love or asking her to squeeze his lemon. It’s hard not to summon the image of his scrawny chest and his skinny body stuffed into his too tight jeans.
Nonetheless, this album is one of the most popular, ever. So, I decided to try and reassess it and see if my opinions of some of the songs would change. The answer is, yes -- somewhat.
At the bottom of the of the pile is “Misty Mountain Hop”. I don’t know what they were thinking with that sing-songy melody in the verses, and Plant’s asides are really irritating. “Baby, baby, do you like it?” Nope, can’t say that I do, Robbie. Next up is “Four Sticks”. Page and Bonham do come up with a very impressive Wall of Noise. Then, however, are the lyrics and the VOCALS. I find it hard to believe that Page didn’t speed up the vocal track. In any case, Plant’s shrieking utterly demolishes the song. I think the later version with the Bombay Orchestra is so much better, because there’s NO Plant.
However, “Rock and Roll” and “Black Dog” are songs I can enjoy because Plant doesn’t seem to be taking them too seriously. At least, he doesn’t nowadays. Plant is so far over the top lyrically and vocally that he becomes hilarious. Musically, they are absolute riff monsters.
I was, will always be, drawn to the three acoustic numbers. “Going to California” has a ridiculous bridge, but it’s otherwise quite tranquil. “The Battle of Evermore” is an amazing performance. Finally, not much else can be said about “Stairway to Heaven”. I never turn it off if I come across it on my car radio. I once read an interview with Plant that he considers “Kashmir” to be the ultimate LZ song, not this. It’s a tough call.
So, in the end, I’d still leave a couple of songs here off my LZ playlist. Still the best way to listen to their music, IMHO.