Led Zeppelin IV [Remastered Original CD]

After a more experimental third album, the band returned to their more forceful, blues driven rock sound, although now they had acquired many more song writing qualities, techniques, and had come to the studio with a greater knowledge of the world and her music. As if to prove they were the biggest band in the world, they didn’t even put their name on the album, instead provided cover art depicting an old man carrying a bunch of sticks. It went on to be one of the biggest selling albums ever. Of course, if the songs weren’t up to scratch the album would eventually have faded away; instead it thrives today as one of the best rock albums ever, with songs eternally played on radios and ipods all over the globe. Generally regarded as their best album, each of its eight songs is a classic and even if you don’t think you’ve heard them, most have parts which are instantly recognizable. ‘Black Dog’ opens with a swirling sound giving way to a classic Plant vocal blast, followed by one of Page’s most famous riffs. This start stop technique repeats a few times giving Bonham and Jones a chance to crash, bang, and wallop in the background. It’s pretty slow for one of the all time great rock songs and there is a post-coital languid feel to what goes on. There are some interludes with Plant singing ooh yeahs and pretty babies while Page bashes a wobbling solo out near the end, but this is all about a band of technical masters showing off how in tune they are with each other as well as how they have returned to a louder, forceful style. ‘Rock N Roll’ speeds proceedings up quite a few notches, a 12 bar blues progression sounding like they have gone back to the 50s and nuked the rock songs of those days. Like many songs in the band’s catalogue this came about during jam sessions and after twiddling with classic blues and rock standards- befitting then that the song should get such a plain title. Once again this highlights how tight the band were in terms up creativity and understanding- that one member would play a short piece which the others would immediately latch on to and take to completion. All four members get a songwriting credit here. Plant takes simple lyrics from a variety of earlier sources and mixes them enough to make them unique and we even get some bar hopping piano in the background. ‘Battle Of Evermore’ takes the album in a sudden different direction- a massive change of pace, tone, and theme. The song is primarily a folk duet with lyrics on mysticism and mythology, Sandy Denny adding the female vocals beautifully. Plant and Jones also duet with acoustic guitar and mandolin while Bonham presumably slugged some vodka and mouthed the words like a rampaging Viking. Amidst the folklore and LOTR words the melodies soar freely and each singer lets their vocals merge and clash without worry with the others. Thanks to the maturity of the vocals and playing, none of the silliness is allowed to become jarring. ‘Stairway To Heaven’ is, as you all understand, the greatest song of all time. Naturally I don’t have much to add that hasn’t been said a million times before but as I’m ‘reviewing’ the album I can’t pass it by. It’s the central point of the album and the band’s career- at this point they transcended everything they had done and became legendary, Gods, or whatever other superlative you wish to heap upon them. Every single second is perfect, every note, every word is exactly right and shows up where it should. Opening with quiet, folk style acoustics and woodwind instruments the song builds like a stairway in volume and intent, with all of Plant’s strange lyrical ideas eventually coming together. The song did start as a collection of guitar pieces and the band came together as a whole to try to gel them seamlessly. After a long set of similar verses Bonzo sends the song spinning with his introduction and after a few more verses the song comes to an apparent pause which in reality is a bridge between the soft and hard parts. With a sudden crash everyone is flying with a lethal Page solo and superb drumming before the 3 chord booming final section. And then it comes to an end and we press repeat. ‘Misty Mountain Hop’ keeps the high pace and standard going, although it is a more straight forward rock song led by a dual keyboard and guitar riff and kept in line by a blistering Bonham performance. Plant meanwhile sings seemingly of a meeting between groups of people and an eventual trip to the Misty Mountain of the title and from LOTR. Fans claim that this encounter is between the band and the police whilst high. Between all the jamming we get a manic solo from Page and a funky ‘chorus’ part. ‘Four Sticks’ opens like a callback to the second album thanks to a leading blues rock riff, the title coming from the fact that Bonham played here with 4 sticks instead of 2. There are eastern style strings and odd time signatures giving an other-worldly feel and giving a headache to budding cover artists. In stark contrast to how the song opens, it closes more like something from Physical Graffiti in the middle of fuzzing effects and strange sounds. ‘Going To California’ changes the direction of the album again and is one of the band’s softest songs, directly influenced by their love of Joni Mitchell. The lyrics and music meld beautifully to give an innocent, wistful feeling similar to that which many folk artists and hippy musicians of the time were trying to hold on to. The lyrics come across as both a dedication and infatuation, and though reading the words may make them seem twee they are a perfect snapshot of young, unashamed love and hope. It’s one of the most beautiful, tender tracks in the band’s catalogue and shows they were more than just clobbering rock giants. ‘When The Levee Breaks’ though does show the ground-shaking side of the band, opening with a stomping rhythm which does sound like a mammoth trampling underfoot all your cities. A cover of a blues classic about the Great Mississippi Flood, Zep turn around the lyrics and ideas to make it sounds more like social collapse in the 70s thanks to another massive Page riff and dwarfing booms from Bonham. Some interesting echo and reverb techniques are employed to give further dimensions and uniqueness to the performance and the recording was slowed from the original playing to give an added oddness. It ends in a mass of backwards fun, phasing, and noise all layered wonderfully and hinting at the direction the band would be taking next. After 8 tracks of varying styles any listener will come to appreciate Led Zeppelin that bit more. Undeniably a classic in many artistic regards it stands the test of time as the band’s most famous release and one of the biggest and best albums ever. Of the many juxtapositions we get innocence and raw sexual tyranny, experimentation and supreme confidence, soft folk songs against heavy rock beasts and so on. The contrasting styles all feel complete in their merging and all of the trademarks of the band are here in all their glory. II may be a better place to start for the newbie but this is the seminal statement for the ages from the greatest rock band of them all.

Excellent value, quality and speedy delivery

For many the classic Zeppelin album, now newly Remastered and sounding better than ever. I have already reviewed the first batch of Re-releases at length (see Led Zep II), and both this and 'Houses of the Holy' (the two new releases) continue the excellent work done by Jimmy Page. This, the fourth Zeppelin album is so well known that discussing the tracks in great detail is not needed. Suffice to say, yes it has 'Stairway to Heaven' on it which accounts for its worldwide popularity but it has so much more to recommend as well. Every track is a winner, even the often maligned 'Four Sticks' (a killer Page riff), and the seperation between the instruments on this Remaster is superb. The huge drum sound on 'When the Levee Breaks' is better defined in amongst everything else around it, particularly towards the end (on previous releases Bonhams' fabulous fills sounded a little mushy - not now). Again, the companion disc is a slight disappointment. The majority of the 'alternate' mixes are not radically different enough to be of that much interest to anyone other than die-hard fans, but that's not to say its all a waste of time. For instance, the Sunset Sound Mix of 'Stairway to Heaven' is excellent - added reverb on the acoustic guitar and drums - and most interesting of all, the final verse (that starts with the line "And as we wind on down the road.."), features Robert Plant only single-tracked. For the finished mix he added a second vocal track of course. The best alternate mix, however, is that of 'Four Sticks'. Engineer Andy Johns has spoken many times of the difficulties he had trying to get a decent mix of this track and has never been happy with the finished version. The final album version sounds slightly constipated for sure and despite Johns' claim that it was the best of "five or six" attempts, I think this unreleased mix knocks it into a cocked hat. (no blame attached to Andy Johns by the way, who is a brilliant engineer). I can see why it wouldn't have got on the album - its a bit rough around the edges - but the guitar on this mix simply roars out of the speakers and suits the ferocious riff far better in my opinion. Of course, there may have been some modern re-mixing going on here to enhance it but either way its great. A quick comment on the other new release 'Houses of the Holy'. Excellent sound on the original album. Companion disc again not great but the 'rough mix' of 'Dancing Days' included as an extra sounds way better than the slightly muddy mix and boxy drum sound that ended up on the album. Quite a revelation and well worth the investment.

One of the best Zeppelin.

I expected a coloured vinyl. It was black but I've had some bad sounding coloured albums before so I was cool with that. It sounds fantastic. Its difficult to review an album I've loved and played regularly for almost 50 years. For the record, few are its equal, and 2 of them are Zeppelin albums. Zeppelin 4 is perfect blend of blues,rock and folk. Arguably the high point of the genre.

I really love this album as the new remastered sound is fantastic. I've ordered it three times now due to a problem with the second LP which jumps a bit on the B side. That is the only reason I giving it 4 stars but as a Led Zeppelin fan I know it's a awesome LP and deserves 5 stars, not doubt. I'm sure if anyone else had experienced the same problem. I've just read some moaning about these reissues in forums on the internet. This time I think I am going to keep it as I am fed up with the hassle of returning it again. The LP 1 is perfect so I am going enjoy it to the maximum!!!!!

Bought as a present and very well received. Plays perfectly!

Class, just perfect class.

Top demais

What more can you say about this fourth album from Led Zeppelin? It is by no doubt a classic. In fact it was the first Zeppelin album I bought on vinyl once I started high school as the seventies drew to a close. But of course I first this album back in the early seventies when my sister borrowed it from a friend not to mention hearing the songs "Black Dog", "Rock And Roll" and, of course, "Stairway To Heaven" on the radio constantly back in the day. Originally I was going to get the deluxe CD copy of this but then upon discovering the second disc was merely the same set of songs but with different mixes involved as part of head Zep man Jimmy Page's remasters not to mention the altering of the cover so I decided to stick with the standard version as I know it. You have eight great songs on here which is just right[That's four songs per side on vinyl] and much of them classic in their own right. Half of these selections are credited to guitarist Jimmy Page and lead vocalist Robert Plant. Two songs("Black Dog" and "Misty Mountain Hop")has Page and Plant co-credited with bassist John Paul Jones. All four members of the group[The fourth member being drummer John Bonham]collaborate on "Rock And Roll", which is considered a drummer's favorite amongst aspiring rock drummers everywhere. The album's concluding track "When The Levee Breaks" find the entire band co-credited to Memphis Minnie(!) when in actually the song dates back to 1927 as recorded by the artist herself with the help of another blues guitarist. This version makes it a rock classic within itself with its recorded set-up involving a single mike for Bonham's drums, the fantastic harmonica wailing from Robert Plant and Jimmy Page's use of slide guitar with John Paul Jones' bass anchoring the bottom. There are two guest appearances on this album. The first is the piano playing talents of original Rolling Stones co-founder Ian Stewart on "Rock And Roll"[The Zeppelin song "Boogie With Stu" from Physical Graffiti was recorded in the same session reportedly. "Stu" was the nickname of Stewart for those who still don't know]. The second is Fairport Convention vocalist Sandy Denny on "The Battle Of Evermore", the first of two acoustic songs on the album. The other acoustic song is "Going To California" in homage to the Joni Mitchell song "California". Both of these acoustic songs feature mandolin playing by either Jimmy Page or John Paul Jones. The only other track featured on this fourth Zeppelin effort is "Four Sticks" with its barrage of riffs any guitarist and bassist could use. Supposedly the title was literally due to the use of four drumsticks used by John Bonham when recording the piece. Arguably, the best song on here is "Stairway To Heaven" and is considered an anthem for AOR[Album Oriented Rock]and always tends to top the lists of various FM station countdowns with Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird" coming in second. The arrangement itself is crafted out well-the acoustic beginning supplied with double-tracked recorders by John Paul Jones; the middle section half acoustic/half electric featuring electric piano, 12-string electric guitar, bass guitar and drums; the electrifying conclusion including a guitar solo that has force to be reckoned with. Finally, the title of this album has many people puzzled. Even though this was Led Zeppelin's fourth album they never had an appropriate title for it and each member of the band chose his own symbol or rune and they each appeared on the label next to their group name. Many people assumed it was titled after Page's rune Zoso[A 1527 meaning for Saturn reportedly], while Plant's was the feather within a circle, Jones' was the trilateral interlocking within a circle and Bonham's was the interlocking circles meaning man, woman and child which bears striking resemblance to the Ballentine beer logo. Sandy Denny also had a rune for herself which was the three downpointing triangles that looked almost similar to the Fallout Shelter design. Other nicknames for this album were: The Hermit[The front cover design], Runes, The Stairway To Heaven Album[The songs' lyrics were printed inside the inner sleeve plus it showed an illustration of a man carrying a lantern atop of a high hill], The Fourth Album and, of course, Zoso. If you don't have this album in your collection, then you don't know what you're missing. This is one Led Zeppelin album no one should be without. If you want to get the Led out, get it out with this one and you won't go wrong. Rock And Roll!

Great records...In a good condition...love it!!!

Parfait

Quarto capitolo discografico dei Led Zeppelin, per uno dei vertici assoluti del rock di tutti i tempi e dei maggiori successi commerciali mai registratisi, crocevia dal quale è veramente difficile non passare. L'album non trasuda un forte appeal commerciale, chi non lo ha mai ascoltato non immagini di imbattersi in canzoni di acquisizione immediata, e non lo si può definire straordinariamente superiore al resto della produzione degli zeppelin, quello che è certo è che rispetto agli altri comunica una sensazione di compiutezza e di equilibrio ineguagliati. Le canzoni sono straordinarie e senza tempo, riescono con estrema sottigliezza a far suonare in maniera moderna la tradizione. Black dog è in hard blues scuro che vede l'alternarsi di parte cantato e suonato in un continuo spalleggiarsi, fino alla risoluzione finale. Rock and roll è come da titolo un tributo al rock'n'roll, grintoso, suonato a velocità supersonica, con tanto di boogie finale, tradizionale ma straordinario per scrittura ed esecuzione vocale e nell'assolo di chitarra di Page. Un pezzo senza tempo che poteva andare negli anni 50 come nei 2000. The battle of evermore è uno straordinario folk dal sapore medioevale, un superbo pezzo acustico le cui chitarre rimandano a tempi immemori. Si arriva a stairway to heaven , una canzone per nulla orecchiabile che è diventata il simbolo dei Led Zeppelin e uno dei pezzi più celebri della musica rock. Che dire se non che E' TUTTO. E' un pezzo straordinario proprio perché ai primi ascolti spesso lascia perplessi non comprendendo il motivo di un successo così clamoroso. In realtà anche dopo decine o centinaia di ascolti (immagino di non essere il solo ad averla ascoltata più di cento volte...) riesce a soddisfare e comunicare piacevolmente qualcosa di nuovo. Come detto c'è tutto, un testo allegorico in cui ognuno può vedere la sua storia, un'introduzione strumentale di chitarra acustica e flauto dal sapore arcaico, una melodia vocale che poco alla volta conquista ma rimane sempre un pò indefinita, un crescendo strumentale con chitarra elettroacustica e quindi con batteria, la chitarra elettrica che irrompe con un assolo epico e un finale grintoso, un hard rock futuristico (sfruttato dai soundgarden di jesus christ pose....) che non ha più nulla a che fare con quello che si ascoltava cinque minuti prima - ma si tratta della stessa canzone - dove voce chitarra batteria sono un insieme unico, granitico, prima della battuta finale in cui la voce rimanda di nuovo all'inizio. Si, un pezzo straordinario, che permette a ciascuno una personalissima esperienza di ascolto. Misty montain hop è un hard rock con cadenza circolare e coro dissonante che sviluppa un senso di capogiro, un incredibile esempio di originalità e creatività. Four sticks è in tutto e per tutto un (signor) pezzo grunge dei '90, solo che è stato concepito e inciso nel '71. Al punto che quando lo si ascolta viene voglia di controllare il booklet dell'album per essere sicuri: ma quando è uscito questo disco. Going to California è un altro vertice acustico degli zeppelin. Arpeggi dolcissimi e melodia soave per una canzone acustica pienamente compiuta. Finale strepitoso con when the leave brakes, un hard blues dall'incedere marziale e maestoso rotto solo dalla chitarra slide di Page e dal grande ritornello febbrile di Plant. Direi un monumento eterno a come si concepisce e suona un hard blues. Otto pezzi che come detto danno un senso di compiutezza e realizzazione unici all'interno della produzione dei led zeppelin, gruppo straordinario anche sotto il profilo artistico, ma che ha avuto il grave torto di vendere uno sproposito ( pur senza mai essere stato un gruppo che ha cercato la formula commerciale) e questo non li ha mai fatti mettere in cima alle preferenze della critica più intransigente. Un album con cui ogni appassionato di rock e non solo deve necessariamente confrontarsi.