Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

Released - November 1971

Genre - Hard Rock

Producer - Jimmy Page

Selected Personnel - Robert Plant (Vocals/Harmonica); Jimmy Page (Guitar); John Paul Jones (Bass/Keyboards); John Bonham (Drums)

Standout Track - When The Levee Breaks

So, it's time for an admission that will perhaps seem out of keeping with the music taste I've demonstrated so far on this blog - I don't much care for Led Zeppelin. Quite why I find difficult to express. I'm a big fan of classic rock, particularly acts like Zeppelin with a taste for the theatrical and the over-the-top. Zeppelin were certainly never a prog rock act (I'll stop going on about prog eventually, I promise. I mean, by the time I get to the mid-70s I'll pretty much have to), but they had a penchant for grandiose ideas and lengthy solos that the likes of the Rolling Stones and the more traditional rock acts like the Who and the Rolling Stones would have balked at. But for whatever reason, their music has just never incited much passion in me. When it's good, it's very good, but far too often I find it a rather plodding, uninspired mashup of ideas snatched from the blues, folk and the nascent heavy metal scene without often managing to do anything really musically innovative or arresting. Their heavy metal qualities push them into territory I'm not too keen on (I'm similarly unimpressed by the work of the likes of Black Sabbath and their ilk), while their more folk/blues/hard rock work just doesn't sound that fresh very often. It could be any number of reasons - perhaps I came to them too late having heard too many other hard rock acts who had borrowed from them, and perversely the band that was one of the biggest pioneers in classic rock sounded somewhat stale by comparison with similar music I already loved. It's also probably the case that Led Zeppelin could very easily be a band I would enjoy more if I made more of a conscious effort to get into them. There are many artists in my collection who it took me time to really appreciate as well as ones that hooked me in immediately, and all the ingredients are there for Zeppelin to become one of those, but it just hasn't happened yet. The same is true of the Stones, who one day I'll find time to give more attention to. But anyway, when cataloguing a list of the greatest albums of all time, at times it is necessary to include something by an artist that in general hasn't managed to inspire much awe. Because Led Zeppelin IV is a classic, albeit one beset with problems and low moments and with more than its fair share of filler. But when it's on form it shows Zeppelin at their peak and inspired scores of other great musicians. It's not my favourite classic rock album, but it has some great stuff on offer if given time.

Led Zeppelin had sprung out of the ashes of the seminal 1960s rock group the Yardbirds, led in turn by both Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck and then by Jimmy Page in the late 60s. After the Yardbirds eventually splintered around him, Page went on to build a new band which would ultimately become Led Zeppelin. Principally defined by Page's gutsy guitar and the genuinely great vocals of Robert Plant, who is able to slither from a sinewy, oily croon to a raucous howl in moments, the band set about staking their claim as one of the biggest and most iconic rock acts of the late 60s and early 70s. One of their most admirable stances was their insistence that their albums were complete works in their own right and thereby refusing to make radio edits of singles for the sake of the money, and similarly they refused to make lucrative TV appearances, preferring to insist on the value of their music itself by demanding that their fans come and see them live if they wanted to see them. Both hugely commendable statements from a band in the early days of the mass commercialisation of music. 1970 saw the release of Led Zeppelin III, an album I've always found it hard to love (it largely showcases an acoustic, folk-styled version of the band other than the hard-rocking "The Immigrant Song," and personally I don't feel it's a style of music they can pull off). In response to the mixed reactions to III, the band set about creating their master statement, and IV (officially released with no title and often referred to by a whole host of different monikers mostly derived from the album artwork) was that masterwork.

And, in places, they pull it off. The iconic opener "Black Dog" is a barnstorming showcase for Plant's raw screaming vocals, driven by Page's thunderous proto-metal guitar riff. It's a song short on actual musical development, but that makes up for it with sheer guts and power. It acts as one of two standout bookends for the album's first half, the other being the legendary "Stairway To Heaven," a song that's ingrained into everybody's consciousness and is barely even worth saying much about here. Suffice to say, it's a true classic, effectively progressing from the Medieval stylings of its recorder-led intro to Page's iconic firebrand soloing and Page's impassioned wailing at the climax. It's the sound of history being made. On side two, "Going To California" is an elegantly mysterious acoustic ballad that had largely slipped my attention listening to this album until Emily made me listen to it with my full attention and accept that it was one of the album's highlights. Then there's the true standout and the best song Zeppelin ever recorded, the stomping hard rock of "When The Levee Breaks," setting Page's barnstorming heavy riff against the warbling scream of Plant's harmonica while John Bonham's thundering drums crash away at the forefront, to make another true hard rock rock classic. Unfortunately, everything else on the album is, in my eyes, fairly tedious filler that's certainly unremarkable and occasionally actively irritating. "Rock And Roll" is a plodding and unsuccessful attempt to repeat the riff-driven magic of "Black Dog" but again fails to develop enough to do anything fresh, and "The Battle Of Evermore" is a fairly uninspired ballad that shows Zeppelin on cringe-inducing lyrical form, being a paean to the works and worlds of Tolkien. True, most classic prog rock mined similarly ethereal fantasy material for inspiration, but at least the music was innovative and daring enough to mask the ridiculousness of the lyrical preoccupations, whereas here there's just not enough going on to distract from the faint absurdity of Page's sincere conviction singing about "the Dark Lord." Then "Misty Mountain Hop" and "Four Sticks" are two more songs that really do nothing to grab my attention or to develop it in any way.

So, yes, this album has to be included, if nothing else for its phenomenal legacy and status in the annals of history. And for half its running time it shows a band at the top of their game, making rock music with real conviction and power. But it also misfires more frequently than such a revered album should, and even at its best moments does nothing to really convince me to give Led Zeppelin more of a chance than I already have. Perhaps they're just the wrong sort of rock music for me. They would follow up their seminal masterwork with Houses Of The Holy, an album that contains a few moments I genuinely enjoy in the lovely "The Rain Song" or the mysterious "No Quarter," but elsewhere would prove to be further wheel-spinning or repeating of ideas. So, for me, this is the only moment where Led Zeppelin created anything halfway essential. Perhaps I'll come to bite my fist at the thought of this review one day. But for now, Led Zeppelin's place in my list of the greats starts and ends here.

Track Listing:

1. Black Dog (John Paul Jones; Jimmy Page & Robert Plant)

2. Rock And Roll (John Bonham; John Paul Jones; Jimmy Page & Robert Plant)

3. The Battle Of Evermore (Jimmy Page & Robert Plant)

4. Stairway To Heaven (Jimmy Page & Robert Plant)

5. Misty Mountain Hop (John Paul Jones; Jimmy Page & Robert Plant)

6. Four Sticks (Jimmy Page & Robert Plant)

7. Going To California (Jimmy Page & Robert Plant)

8. When The Levee Breaks (John Bonham; Memphis Minnie; John Paul Jones; Jimmy Page & Robert Plant)