The Led Zeppelin Discography Discussion: v. Everything still turns to gold

[jingle.boy]

And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show

<love them or hate them, there are no better lyrics on this album>



For what I consider the apex of the band's discography, and the conclusion of Act 1 of their career, Led Zeppelin's fourth and untitled album was essentially finished in February of '71, but not released on November 8, 1971.  Problems in mixing the album (the first mix in the US was supposedly disastrous, and they re-started essentially from scratch in the UK months later), combined with their tour commitments resulted in the 9 month delay.  I can't believe there is a rock music fan in the history of the world that doesn't know this album, and some of the history behind it, but I'll give it anyway.  After the lukewarm reception of Zeppelin III, Page wanted the music to stand on its own.  As such, he led the decision to release the album without any written information on the album sleeve (contrary to strong advice given to him by several, suggesting that after their absence from recording - a whole year! - the move would be akin to "professional suicide").  Not only does the album have no title, but there is no printing anywhere on the front or back cover, or even a catalogue number on the spine.

However, Page proved them all wrong.  The album was a massive instant seller. It entered the UK chart at No. 10, rising to No.1 the following week and stayed on the chart for 77 weeks. In the US it stayed on the charts longer than any other Led Zeppelin album and became the biggest selling album in the US not to top the charts (peaking only at #2).  Led Zeppelin IV, as it's most commonly known, (though some refer to it as "Four Symbols, "Zoso", or "Runes") received overwhelming praise from critics. In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, Lenny Kaye called it the band's "most consistently good" album yet and praised the diversity of the songs.  Other acclaims of "genre masterpiece"; "the definitive Led Zeppelin and hence heavy metal album."; "monolithic cornerstone"

The writing process for IV was remarkably similar to III - with Page and Plant heading back to Bron-Yr-Aur (which it turns out I've always mis-pronounced... it's 'brawny rawr') to pen their ideas over an acoustic guitar, and Strider at their side.  Recording took place at Headley Grange, a big Victorian mansion in Hampshire that the band had hired for rehearsal, along with the Rolling Stones mobile studio.  The combination of the two gave the band a relaxed, atmospheric environment.  It also resulted in many of the tracks being made up on the spot and committed to tape almost there and then.

Proving they were truly an "album" act, the single released for Black Dog would ultimately be the second worst selling single the band ever had. Fans didn't want singles, they wanted the whole damn album; the whole damn experience.

According to wikipedia, there are over 130 known and officially recorded covers of songs from this album (+ the 25 times When The Levee Breaks has been sampled - mostly for the drum beat by rap artists).  Claiming worldwide sales of 37 million since it's release, it is the 9th best selling album of all time - 5th best in Rock, behind only Dark Side of the Moon, The Eagles Greatest Hits, Rumours and Back in Black.  Certified sales of 29 million place it 4th all time (behind Thriller, Eagles Greatest, and Shania Twain's Come On Over (excellent album imo))

The Four Symbols:

Page stated that he designed his own symbol, and has never publicly disclosed any reasoning behind it (though he would publicly deny that they were Iclandic runes). However, it has been argued that his symbol appeared as early as 1557 in the alphabet of the Magi, closely representing Saturn. The symbol is sometimes referred to as "ZoSo", though Page has explained that it was not in fact intended to be a word at all.

John Paul Jones' symbol, which he chose from Rudolf Koch's Book of Signs, It is intended to symbolise a person who possesses both confidence and competence.  Jones jokingly told Page that they represented an exorcism.
 
John Bonham's symbol was picked by the drummer from the same book. It represents the triad of mother, father and child - but, inverted, it also happens to be the logo for Ballantine beer. 

Singer Robert Plant's symbol was his own design, being based on the sign of the supposed Mu civilization.  Plant also insinuated meanings of truth and justice.

There is also a fifth, smaller symbol chosen by guest vocalist Sandy Denny representing her contribution to the track "The Battle of Evermore"; it appears in the credits list on the inner sleeve of the LP


During Led Zeppelin's tour of the United Kingdom in winter 1971, the band visually projected the four symbols on their stage equipment. Page's symbol was put onto one of his Marshall amplifiers, Bonham's adorned the outer skin of his bass drum, Jones had his symbol stencilled onto material which was draped across his keyboard, and Plant's feather symbol was painted onto a side speaker PA cabinet. Only Page's and Bonham's symbols were retained for subsequent Led Zeppelin concert tours.

[The Curious Orange]

What's to say about this album that's not already been said? It's as damn near perfect as a rock album will ever be.

Yes, most people will be sick to death of it. Yes, we've heard these songs sooooo many times we've become numb to them. Yes, we can all agree that Physical Graffitti is the band's best album, actually...

But there's a reason why things become cliched. It's becasue they work. There's a reson why this album has been played to death over the years. It's because it's F*CKING BRILLIANT.

Seriously, every song nails it. What's the weakest song on this album? Answer - there isn't one. This is the album that every other rock album ever aspires to be.

[Orbert]

I've always considered the symbols themselves to be the "title" of this album.  They appear on the record label in the position normally occupied by the album title, with Led Zeppelin of course in the position occupied by the band name.  There is no writing on the jacket at all, but on the cover of first-run pressings (and probably most subsequent ones), there is a decal.  This decal also proudly announces the "title" of the album along with the band name.  For simplicity, I never refer to this album by title.  Yeah, I could call it IV (pronounced "Four" of course), but I just call it "the fourth album".

The album itself is brilliant.  I generally put it on and let it play, start to finish.  (Then I do the same with Houses of the Holy.)

[hefdaddy42]

This is the apex, the perihelion, of classic heavy music.  IMHO, the greatest album of rock music ever recorded.

[mikeyd23]

Absolutely fantastic album, it represents all the diverse greatness of Zep. Also, great write-up Jingle!

[Jaq]

Led Zeppelin IV is an album I've always been ambivalent about for the simple, obvious reason, which I feel deserves some discussion.

If you were growing up in the early 1980s, when classic rock was becoming a format, Led Zeppelin was, of course, one of the foundation acts in that format. But if there was an album that could be said to be the bedrock of classic rock, it was this one. Five songs off of it-Rock And Roll, Black Dog, Stairway to Heaven, Misty Mountain Hop, and When The Levee Breaks-were in near constant airplay. The two acoustic numbers cropped up occasionally, with only poor Four Sticks being the neglected child of the album. Back in the early 80s, you didn't need to own Led Zeppelin IV. The songs were everywhere and that damn Zoso symbol was on patches on the backs of denim jackets and drawn on the backs of notebooks and on book covers and seemingly everywhere. Overplayed doesn't do this album justice. It was overly familiar. Whether you wanted to hear it or not, you heard Led Zeppelin IV. Some dude would be blasting it from his van out in the parking lot of the high school at lunch time. Stairway to Heaven almost always won the yearly Best 500 songs thing a local radio station did. It was omnipresent. You could know nearly every note and not own it.

Which, of course, obscures the obvious: how damn good it is. Led Zeppelin's fourth album is where the band figured out how to properly be the band that went from crushingly heavy on one track to light and gentle on the next. (They came close on LZ III, but didn't quite hit it.) It's the album in their discography where their intent was matched by the results. Every song has a purpose and every song hits its mark. You know why 5/8ths of this album was getting nonstop airplay back in the day, when few other Zep albums managed more than a couple of songs?

Because they're really fucking good songs, that's why.

So yes, there are occasions where I will look at Led Zeppelin IV and be overwhelmed by how familiar it is. And there will be occasions when I overlook that and listen to it and realize what it is: the quintessential Led Zeppelin album. The one that is the most Led Zeppelin of them all.

[Cyclopssss]

Well ten pages in and heīs aboard! (FINALLY!) 
The Great Zep. Almlost forgotten how awesome this band was and what a soundtrack to my early life.
More or less stole the lpīs from my older brother (who was a real hippie). I went from LZ I straight to III (didnīt get to hear II until WAY later). Loved them both, especially the heavier shorter songs, but I LOVED Since Iīve been loving you. That song is still very special to me.

IV, off course is the all time classic LZ album, carved in stone. Whatīs not to love? Black Dog, Rock īnī Roll, Stairway to Heaven. Just gotten the three reissues and lovinīem to bits. Love those write-ups! Keep em coming, very informative! 

[jingle.boy]

Well ten pages in and heīs aboard! (FINALLY!) 

You've got a lot of catching up to do!

[Mladen]

Yeah, this album is just great. It contains one of the best songs ever written, Stairway to heaven, which is a rare example of a band's most famous work being my favorite song by the band. Other songs that are awesome beyond words are Misty mountain hop, Black dog, The Battle of evermore and Rock and roll. I'm kinda on the fence with Four sticks - sometimes I love it, sometimes I... just like it. 

[Anguyen92]

Yep.  This, for me, is probably my favorite Led Zeppelin album.  Nothing more that needs to be said that's already been said before.  Rock and Roll, Black Dog, Misty Mountain Hop, Stairway to Heaven, of course.  Any one of these tracks on anyone's albums would be the main standout for sure.  The fact that those tracks are on one album, in addition to songs like Four Sticks and Going to California, makes it a phenomenal, iconic album, and rightfully so.

[TAC]

Led Zeppelin IV is an album I've always been ambivalent about for the simple, obvious reason, which I feel deserves some discussion.

If you were growing up in the early 1980s, when classic rock was becoming a format, Led Zeppelin was, of course, one of the foundation acts in that format. But if there was an album that could be said to be the bedrock of classic rock, it was this one. Five songs off of it-Rock And Roll, Black Dog, Stairway to Heaven, Misty Mountain Hop, and When The Levee Breaks-were in near constant airplay. The two acoustic numbers cropped up occasionally, with only poor Four Sticks being the neglected child of the album. Back in the early 80s, you didn't need to own Led Zeppelin IV. The songs were everywhere and that damn Zoso symbol was on patches on the backs of denim jackets and drawn on the backs of notebooks and on book covers and seemingly everywhere. Overplayed doesn't do this album justice. It was overly familiar. Whether you wanted to hear it or not, you heard Led Zeppelin IV. Some dude would be blasting it from his van out in the parking lot of the high school at lunch time. Stairway to Heaven almost always won the yearly Best 500 songs thing a local radio station did. It was omnipresent. You could know nearly every note and not own it.

Which, of course, obscures the obvious: how damn good it is. Led Zeppelin's fourth album is where the band figured out how to properly be the band that went from crushingly heavy on one track to light and gentle on the next. (They came close on LZ III, but didn't quite hit it.) It's the album in their discography where their intent was matched by the results. Every song has a purpose and every song hits its mark. You know why 5/8ths of this album was getting nonstop airplay back in the day, when few other Zep albums managed more than a couple of songs?

Because they're really fucking good songs, that's why.

So yes, there are occasions where I will look at Led Zeppelin IV and be overwhelmed by how familiar it is. And there will be occasions when I overlook that and listen to it and realize what it is: the quintessential Led Zeppelin album. The one that is the most Led Zeppelin of them all.

Amen, Brother. This is where I officially get on the Led Zeppelin train.

[jingle.boy]

Amen, Brother. This is where I officially get on the Led Zeppelin train.

Dammit Tim, make a u-turn, and hit the last couple of stops.

[TAC]

Well, you know like Jaq said, seemed like growing up in the early 80's all you ever heard was Zeppelin. So I'm familiar with all the early stuff., Have II and III on CD and have owned I before as well. But here is where they start to crystallize as a hard rock band, and that's what appeals to me.

[King Postwhore]

This started a 4 album tear for me.  Zofo to Presence is all masterpieces.  At least to me.

[TAC]

This started a 4 album tear for me.  Zofo to Presence is all masterpieces.  At least to me.

And me as well.

[jingle.boy]

It's right in the middle of an 8 album tear for me.   

[King Postwhore]

I liked the 1st 3 albums but I tend to shy away from the bluesier stuff.  Not my cup of tea.

[TempusVox]

From George Case, author of Led Zeppelin FAQ: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Led Zeppelin ‘IV’:

1. They had a good reason for not including their name or faces on the cover.
“The cover wasn’t meant to antagonize the record company,” Jimmy Page told reporter Brad Tolinksi in 2001. ‘It was designed as our response to the music critics who maintained that the success of our first three albums was driven by hype and not talent… So we stripped everything away, and let the music do the talking.”

2. The opening sounds of ‘Black Dog’ are a byproduct of studio technology.
 As Case explains, “Page did a lot of overdubbing, so when you’ve got three separate tracks of guitars to be played together, they have to get synched. It’s the sound of the tape rolling. He could have cut it out, it’s just them getting lined up from the separate takes and all.” Instead, the guitarist left them in, thinking it sounded like “the massing of the guitar armies.”

3. Robert Plant’s the only one moving at normal speed on ‘When the Levee Breaks.’
Much has been made of the Headley Grange stairwell that helped capture that massive ‘Levee’ drum sound: “People wonder how that sounds so planetary, but there was a natural echo there, and then they put more on it. They also slowed it down in the mix so it sounded really booming, had this huge reverb to it, it’s almost physical when you listen to it.” In fact, “The only sound on ‘When the Levee Breaks’ that’s recorded in natural time is Plant’s voice, everything else is slowed down just a little bit to make it really heavy.”

4. If you had to pick the least popular song on the album, it would probably be ‘Four Sticks.’
Although he’s quick to label it “a very tough call,” Case mentions in the book that the rhythmically tricky ‘Four Sticks’ is probably the least essential of all the songs on ‘IV.’ “I don’t think it’s bad at all, but I think of all the songs on the record it’s the least listenable.” Perhaps the band agrees: “Seven of the eight songs from that album are on their 1990 box set, and ‘Four Sticks’ was the one that didn’t make it. Compared to the other tracks on there, it just doesn’t stand out as much.”

5. The album was recorded in several different places.
 When discussing the recording of ‘IV,’ the reportedly haunted house known as Headley Grange comes up, but big parts of the record were recorded at places like Island Studios and Sunset Sound. “Headley Grange is the one that gets known, because it’s a spooky house and that’s really cool, that’s where ‘When the Levee Breaks’ was recorded, in that echoey stairwell, but they did use a lot of other studios too. Headley was not professional enough. They had Ronnie Lane’s mobile outside, but Page was saying they had to go into a real studio for what they were doing.”

6. The band realized they needed to start crediting their lyrical inspirations.
 Zeppelin has taken much grief from blues fans for heavily relying on lyrics from other artists in their earlier work, and it seems the degree of this “borrowing” is still being realized. “One thing I didn’t even mention in the book, that I heard just recently, I was listening to Count Basie, and he has a song called ‘Going to Chicago’ — “Sorry that I can’t take you,” so obviously Plant was getting into that at the end of ‘Levee.’ So all the lyrics were taken from Memphis Minnie, except for that little bit of Basie at the end. By that point, by ‘IV,’ I think they knew it was too obvious, that they couldn’t take someone else’s song and all the credit for it, so they snuck her name on it at the end.”

7. Contrary to rumors, there are no backwards messages on ‘Stairway to Heaven.’
 “It sounds cool, it’s a great legend, but all that is just something that’s been thrown at it from long after the record was done. It wasn’t until the ’80s, after Zeppelin broke up, that these ideas started getting aired in public. It had to do with the religious backlash that happened in those days, people were reading satanic messages into ‘Dungeons and Dragons,’ this was just one more target for them. The band did use backwards sounds, for the aural effect, but they weren’t trying to put any messages on there.”

8. They weren’t the first to name a song ‘Stairway to Heaven.’
They were beaten to that title, if not by others before him, by none other than pop crooner Neil Sedaka, who included his own song by that exact same name on his 1960 album ‘Neil Sedaka Sings Little Devil and His Other Hits,’ taking it all the way to No. 9 on the charts.

 9. There could have been more than eight songs on ‘IV.’
Zeppelin had a habit of holding onto material until they deemed it ready, for years sometimes. Many of the songs from 1975′s ‘Physical Graffiti’ were actually recorded as far back as the ‘III’ sessions. ‘Boogie with Stu’ from ‘Graffiti’ originally came from the ‘IV’ sessions, as did ‘Black Country Woman.’

10. The symbols the band chose for themselves on the album art don’t mean as much as you might think.
“They were put together pretty hastily, people have read so much into them over the years. When you get down to it, it sounds like John Paul Jones and John Bonham just said, ‘Oh, we’ll pick these, you know, sure, whatever,’ they weren’t that interested. Robert Plant picked the feather in the circle from some mystical account of some lost civilization that probably never existed. It was one of those hippie things that they thought was out there. Page’s “Zoso,” goes way back to the renaissance, really, but basically it’s a representation of Capricorn from a document dating back the 1500s. In those days, the way people drew astrological symbols was a lot more elaborate than just scales or fish, but it does derive from a symbol for Saturn, or for Capricorn. It’s nothing satanic or anything like that.”

[KevShmev]

As good as IV is, I rarely listen to most of it.  And honestly, while they are all good songs, I find Black Dog, Rock and Roll, Misty Mountain Hop and Going to California to be a bit overrated in the sense that I can think of dozens Zeppelin songs I like better, but that's just my subjective personal opinion.

Also, IV is similar to The Who's Who Next in that it is filled with classics, but both albums are where both bands starting sound better from a sound quality standpoint,  but the flip side of that is both albums sound like the bands lost a bit of edge and aggression that was more prevalent on those "dirty" sounding early albums, if that makes sense.

[TempusVox]

Led Zeppelin IV is an album I've always been ambivalent about for the simple, obvious reason, which I feel deserves some discussion.

If you were growing up in the early 1980s, when classic rock was becoming a format, Led Zeppelin was, of course, one of the foundation acts in that format. But if there was an album that could be said to be the bedrock of classic rock, it was this one. Five songs off of it-Rock And Roll, Black Dog, Stairway to Heaven, Misty Mountain Hop, and When The Levee Breaks-were in near constant airplay. The two acoustic numbers cropped up occasionally, with only poor Four Sticks being the neglected child of the album. Back in the early 80s, you didn't need to own Led Zeppelin IV. The songs were everywhere and that damn Zoso symbol was on patches on the backs of denim jackets and drawn on the backs of notebooks and on book covers and seemingly everywhere. Overplayed doesn't do this album justice. It was overly familiar. Whether you wanted to hear it or not, you heard Led Zeppelin IV. Some dude would be blasting it from his van out in the parking lot of the high school at lunch time. Stairway to Heaven almost always won the yearly Best 500 songs thing a local radio station did. It was omnipresent. You could know nearly every note and not own it.

Which, of course, obscures the obvious: how damn good it is. Led Zeppelin's fourth album is where the band figured out how to properly be the band that went from crushingly heavy on one track to light and gentle on the next. (They came close on LZ III, but didn't quite hit it.) It's the album in their discography where their intent was matched by the results. Every song has a purpose and every song hits its mark. You know why 5/8ths of this album was getting nonstop airplay back in the day, when few other Zep albums managed more than a couple of songs?

Because they're really fucking good songs, that's why.

So yes, there are occasions where I will look at Led Zeppelin IV and be overwhelmed by how familiar it is. And there will be occasions when I overlook that and listen to it and realize what it is: the quintessential Led Zeppelin album. The one that is the most Led Zeppelin of them all.

I totally get where you're coming from with regard to the album being overly familiar, but I think at some point I had heard this album so many times and became so familiar with it that it became like an old friend. Always reliable. Always there to flawlessly deliver on epic music. There is never a time where I can listen to any of these eight songs and NOT really get into them. I know every beat, every note, every word. Listening along to this album has become as much of a second nature  thing to me as breathing. Yes, there are times where when I'm randomly playing Zep while working (as I often do) where I may skip past "Stairway", or ''Rock and Roll"; but like breathing, when I listen to any part of it, it refreshes me somehow. And it contains the other two of my top 5 Zep songs of all time.
My order of preference:

1. When the Levee Breaks. I cannot tell you what that drum beat does to me. I think I have probably restarted this song just to hear that opening beat more than 2,000 times. It has never failed to blow my mind. Love this song. Hard driving blues at it's finest.
2. Going to California- Folksy mysticism. Excellent, captivating and driven melody.
3. Stairway- It's not constantly chosen as the greatest rock song of all time for nothing.
4. Black Dog- Kick ass, in your face, and unapologetic. "Hey, Hey momma, said the way you move...." Holy shit! What a song! And who can resist singing the line as "Eskimo Pussy" every time you hear it now? Anybody? No, you cannot!   
5. Battle of Evermore-  Who knew pure genius could come from just messing around with a mandolin?? Great song about good and evil, Scottish folklore, LOTR. Who needs anything else? Epic.
6. Misty Mountain Hop- Great song. Hippy dippy rock at its best. Great understated use of the keys to drive this along. And the solo that begins at about 2:40 is ended with that repeating Page riff that is perfect to lead into the transition.
7. Four Sticks- That driving rhythm by JHB, and that riff by Page keep the pedal to the floor on this song; then you're hit with that synth transition by JPJ which goes to show they were in rare form by not being predictable. Great tune.
8. Rock and Roll- I love this song, I really do. Reminds me of something that Chuck Berry would have done. Excellent blues rhythm,and everybody in top form. But if there is one song that has suffered due to overplay for me, it's this one. If not for that, this song would be in the top 4 for sure.

[CrimsonSunrise]

We interrupt the regularly scheduled show to bring you this important news........


This Day in Music

12th Aug 1968, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham played together for the first time when they rehearsed at a studio in Gerrard Street in London's West End. The first song they played was a version of 'The Train Kept A-Rollin.' They also played 'Smokestack Lightning' and a version of 'I'm Confused' (soon to become 'Dazed And Confused'). The first live dates they played were as The Yardbirds, and it was not until the following month when they started to use the name Led Zeppelin.

[jingle.boy]

Is there a better opening vocal delivery in the history of music than Black Dog?  I think not - though I'm biased (see the OP). Musically, the song takes inspiration from Little Richard's "Keep a-Knockin", with the start and stop a cappella verses coming from Fleetwood Mac's 1969 song "Oh Well."  The song's title is a reference to a nameless, black Labrador Retriever that wandered around the Headley Grange studios during recording.  The retriever, despite his advanced age, was still sexually adventuresome just like the song's protagonist.  Plant's vocals were recorded in two takes. 
Jones wrote the main riff, with the song's complex, shifting time signature was intended to thwart cover bands from playing the song. Jones originally wanted the song recorded in 6/8 time but realized it was too complex to reproduce live. In live performances, John Bonham eliminated the 5/4 variation so that Plant could perform his a cappella vocal interludes and then have the instruments return together synchronized. Bonham can be heard tapping his sticks together before each riff. He did that to keep time and to signal the band. In mixing, they tried to eliminate most of them, but muting was much more difficult in those days than it is now.

Rock 'n' Roll came to be written as a spontaneous jam session, whilst the band were trying (and failing) to finish the track "Four Sticks".  They started jamming out with Little Richard's "Good Golly Miss Molly", and Rock 'n' Roll emerged.  This is one of the few Led Zeppelin songs where all four members share the composer credit.  Touring member of the Rolling Stones, Ian Stewart plays piano - a rare occasion when the two bands would co-mingle.

The most medieval of all Zeppelin songs, Battle of Evermore was made up on the spot by Plant and Page. Page states that he "just picked up John Paul Jones's mandolin, never having played a mandolin before, and just wrote up the chords and the whole thing in one sitting".  Plant felt he needed another voice to tell the story, and for the recording of the song, folk singer Sandy Denny was invited to duet with Plant. Denny was a former member of British folk group Fairport Convention, with whom Led Zeppelin had shared a bill in 1970 at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music. Some would say Plant plays the role of the narrator and Denny represents the town crier; some say it's the Prince of Peace and the Queen of Life.  For years, I never even knew there was a second vocalist, simply assuming that Plant was singing both lines - his range probably would've allowed for it.  This is the only song Led Zeppelin ever recorded with a guest vocalist. 

For anyone who didn't discover Zeppelin in the 70s, Stairway to Heaven is more than likely the first Zeppelin song you ever heard - it was for me. Love it or hate it, there's just too much to discuss to put it with the rest of the album.  So.... I'm gonna dedicate an entire post to this song later.  Though, I think Bob had a brilliant and brief dissertation of it, summing it as follows:

This song is sex set to music.

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=35513.msg1778212#msg1778212

Stay tuned for more.

The most common interpretation of the title for Misty Mountain Hop seems to be a reference to the Misty Mountains in The Hobbit, though the lyrics refer to the events of the a 1968 "Legalise Pot Rally" in Hyde Park, London, in which police made arrests for marijuana possession.  It's a medium tempo rocker which begins with bassist John Paul Jones playing the electric piano. It is notable for the presence of layered guitar and keyboard parts, making it solidly melodic.

The title for Four Sticks came from the fact that drummer John Bonham played with two sets of two drumsticks.  His decision to play the song with four sticks was a result of him being very frustrated with not being able to get the track down right during recording sessions at Island Studios. After he grabbed the second pair of sticks and beat the drums as hard as he could, he recorded the perfect take and that was the one they kept. However, the song was particularly difficult for the rest of the band to record (with riffs in a mixture of 5/8 and 6/8 time signatures), and required more takes than usual.  The band is only known to have played this song live once, at Copenhagen on their 1971 European tour, as has been preserved on some bootleg recordings

Going to California is a tribute to Canadian singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell (in reference to Mitchell's 1967 song "I Had a King"), with whom Plant and Page were both infatuated. In live performances of the song, Plant would often say the name "Joni" (in case there was any question who the song was in reference to) after the stanza To find a queen without a king / They say she plays guitar and cries and sings.  Plant stated that the song was about "Me reflecting on the first years of the group, when I was only about... 20, and was struggling to find myself in the midst of all the craziness of California and the band and the groupies".  It initially starting out as "Guide to California", the song made references to earthquakes, and in a twist of irony, while mixing the album in LA, the band experienced a minor earthquake.

It took me years to appreciate and enjoy When the Levee Breaks.  Because the drum beat was being repeatedly sampled/reproduced by rap acts in the mid-80s, it always reminded me of a rap song.   Written and first recorded by husband and wife Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie in 1929, the song is in reaction to the upheaval caused by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.  As Tempus siad, the famous drum performance was recorded by placing Bonham and a new Ludwig drumkit at the bottom of a stairwell at Headley Grange.  And the rest of the song was recorded at a different tempo, then slowed down, explaining the "sludgy" sound, particularly on the harmonica and guitar solos. Because this song was heavily produced in the studio, it was difficult to recreate live; the band only played it a few times  This was the only song on the album that was not re-mixed.

Jingle.boy's ranking:
Battle of Evermore
Stairway to Heaven
Rock 'n' Roll
Four Sticks
Black Dog
Going To California
When the Levee Breaks
Misty Mountain Hop

[Orbert]

Wow, I forgot I even wrote that.  I was gonna chime in here about "Stairway to Heaven" and say pretty much the same thing.  Seems I did that already.

[CrimsonSunrise]

Wow, I forgot I even wrote that.  I was gonna chime in here about "Stairway to Heaven" and say pretty much the same thing.  Seems I did that already.

One of the joys of getting old, we get to do and say cool things over...and..over...and over,  each time being the first!

[TAC]

Like T-Vox said, the drum intro the Levee has NEVER failed to blow my mind. Absolutely stallar.

Obviously Stairway is one of those songs that I can never skip. If i am shuffling through radio stations , and it is on, I have to stop.

[The Curious Orange]

I know the original ending of Stairway... has been lost to time, and as a result the CD remasters fade off too soon - does anyone know if they've managed to restore this for the new remaster, or does it still cut off?

[Kwyjibo]

Very, very, very late to the party. As for my excuse I was on vacation in the middle of nowhere, Sweden. Almost three weeks without internet 

I've put myself in the expert category but solely because I really own Coda (even had it on vinyl) and have seen (and own) The Song Remains the Same. I know the music by heart but am not so knowledgeable with the behind the scenes stuff.

Led Zeppelin is one of my alltime favorite band. I've known the band through the 80s but I really came to appreciate them in 1990. I was doing my time in the army when I got ill and had to stay a week at the army hospital. There was nothing to do and it was boooooring. They didn't even have nurses, because women weren't allowed in the army back then. The only thing I had brought with me was my walkman and some cassettes. For some unknown reason I had all the LZ albums from I to Physical Graffiti. Because I had to lay in bed and there was really nothing to do I listened to Led Zeppelin for five days straight. Beside the hits I came to know all the deep cuts, I noticed all the little details, I experienced the magic and LZ went from good band to alltime classic.

Led Zeppelin I: What a great debut. Good Times, Bad Times, Communication Breakdown, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You, Dazed And Confused are all stellar songs and performances. The rest is good, the only song I can't really connect with is How Many More Times. Was surprised to see it ranked so high by most of you.

Led Zeppelin II: Even better than I. Heartbreaker, Ramble On, What Is ..., Thank You are my top picks. Whole Lotta Love is part great and part wtf? But that solo is absolutely killer! Moby Dick has nice riffs but is otherwise boring. I don't like drum solos. I don't like them in songs, I don't like them on records, I don't like them in concerts. There, I said it. Btw the same goes for almost all solo spots outside the context of a song.

Much was already said about the recording process so I will only mention this little fact(?) that I read in a guitar magazine some years ago. Apparently they were recording on an 8-track recording device and on some songs (mainly Whole Lotta Love) they had to use the same track for vocals and the guitar solos and fills because all other tracks were already used. So Page had to make sure he wasn't playing lead when Plant was supposed to be singing and the other way round.

Led Zeppelin III: Immigrant Song, Gallows Pole, Since I've Been Loving You (the ultimate LZ blues tune) are killer, the rest is great with the exception of Hats of to (Roy) Harper which (for me) is crap

IV: Simply put, this is the essence of rock. If you look up the words "rock album" at google or wikipedia this album should start playing automatically. This is so diverse, it has the rock, the heavy, the ballad, the acoustic, the weirder stuff and everything is executed with perfection. I absolutely adore every song on this record, ranking them would result in Four Sticks at 1b and the rest at 1a.

[Lowdz]

No arguments from me. Bona fide classic and I enjoyed listening to it last night. Liked all the tracks. I do own this album but haven't played it in 15 years before last night. I did remember most of the tracks but i wouldn't say I'm that familiar with much of it beyond the obvious tracks (which is most of it thinking about it!).
I noticed that Gary Hughes' Against the Wind on Bob Catley's Middle Earth album is ripped from Battle Of Evermore.

[Orbert]

I know, I shouldn't be spamming pictures in a discography thread, but this is relevant.

Playing "Stairway to Heaven" last weekend at the jam.  Just for shits and giggles, I did the intro and first verse with an acoustic flute, and switched to piano at the appropriate time.



Orbert, Chris on guitar, Jim on vocals, Danny (hidden) on drums, Tracy (in the kitchen) making a sandwich, Ruben on bass.

[TAC]

Obviously a Spam sandwich.

Awesome shot, O!

[jammindude]

Just slightly echoing what everyone else has said.   Even though it's not my favorite Led Zeppelin album, that would only be because of overplay.   But the airwaves are saturated with it for a reason.   Every song on this album is amazing (Four Sticks can sometimes get lost among the classics, but it's still really good).

It is not my favorite LZ album...but it is *the best* LZ album.    If anyone at all were to wonder where to start with Led Zeppelin, it would have to start here.   This is everything the band is about in 8 songs. 

Someone said earlier that LZII is *the* Led Zeppelin album, but it's hard to say that definitively while LZIV is in existence.

[bl5150]

I just had a listen to my first full LZ album     I have no real attachment to the band and was never a huge fan of Plant, so wasn't necessarily expecting to be into it. 

Although my #1 album of all time - Van Halen I - was from the 70's ( it really doesn't sound 70's though )- in general I find that the further I go back into the 70's the less I like.  Having said that I found IV a nice listen .  The tracks I was semi familiar with via radio ( Stairway, Rock And Roll and  Black Dog) I really liked and those I wasn't  familiar with , aside from Misty Mountain Hop , I found a decent listen but have no need to hear them again on a regular basis.   The rock was fine, the more laid back and/or folksy stuff isn't really my thing for the most part ......I'd actually prefer to hear the Doobies do "folksy".

So I enjoyed it more than I expected and favoured the four tracks mentioned.  My version had a 30+ minute version of Dazed and Confused tagged onto the end - I lasted all of 3 minutes .

[hefdaddy42]

I don't even

[bl5150]

Then don't...

[hefdaddy42]

I'm not.