LED ZEPPELIN: IV (HARD ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

It was November '71 and Led Zeppelin released an untitled fourth album, but it would go down in history as "IV" or "ZoSo", a name derived from the first of the four esoteric symbols on the inside of the original vinyl cover. Robert Plant later said, "We decided that the record wasn't going to be called 'Led Zeppelin IV' and we had fun trying to figure out what the title was going to be. So we decided that each of us would pick a metaphysical type symbol that would somehow represent us individually - whether it was a state of mind, an opinion or something we believed in very strongly."

This record is meant to be mysterious on every level, and the artwork is the first sign of that. On the front cover is a framed photo of an old man carrying a bundle of wood. This frame hangs on a wall with leprous wallpaper. Unfolding the cover, the back cover reveals that the wall is what remains of a house being demolished. The 2 inside pages are viewed vertically: a hooded hermit with a lantern in his hand stands on a promontory overlooking a small fortified village visible at the bottom of this print... But let's close this cover and lokk into the music!

"Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move, Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove.", the cry is thrown, immediately followed by one of the most famous riffs of hard-rock ! "Black Dog" is the album's opening track and it's powerful, punctuated throughout by the duet of Jones' bass and Jimmy Page's guitar snoring in unison! Plant vocalizes like never before and Bonham hammers the drums like hell. Hardly the first slap received that already a rock'n'roll tempo unrolls on the well named "Rock And Roll", just to show that Led Zeppelin masters the bases of this musical ancestor dear to Chuck Berry or to Jerry Lee Lewis. A first break comes then and we switch to another world less violent with a folk ballad: "The Battle Of Evermore", acoustic marvel sung in duet by Plant and Sandy Denny (Fairport Convention). Robert Plant will say: "After writing the lyrics of "The Battle Of Evermore", I realized that I needed another voice, totally different from mine, to give the song its full impact. So I asked Sandy Denny to come and play the role of town crier, encouraging people to lay down their arms".

A few notes of acoustic guitar strummed over a flute background leads to one of the most famous phrases in rock music of any genre: "There's a Lady who's sure all that glitters is gold...". "Stairway To Heaven" is, without a doubt, one of the most played songs by the guitarists. A gradual build up takes the listener from those first almost whispered words to the electric explosion of the sixth minute solo, a crescendo that cannot be told. "Stairway To Heaven" is a hit beyond words, to be experienced until the last note. After this so intense moment how to move on without having a feeling of dullness? Maybe by letting yourself be bewitched by the repetitive piano/guitar gimmick of "Misty Mountain Hop" or by the bewitching rhythm of "Four Sticks" (John Bonham is breathtaking!). The first notes of "Going To California" played in duet of acoustic guitars seem to announce: "Attention, masterpiece!", so much this melody is magic .... And then "When The Levee Breaks" arrives with it hypnotic rhythmic, inspired guitar solo, harmonica and heavy tempo, a last composition that is an excellent conclusion to a very high level album.

Call it "IV" or "ZoSo", whatever! This fourth Led Zeppelin opus is a monument that no human being with a pair of normally functioning ears can ignore. - Official website

LED ZEPPELIN

IV

ATLANTIC RECORDS

HARD ROCK