Led Zeppelin Discography

TheNazgul wrote:

Metalguy posted exactly what I would say.

I was going to continue on about a weird fetish I have involving balloon animals, but I wasn't sure if that's what Naz would say as well, so I stopped right there.

Led Zeppelin - Fourth Album


The Fourth Album is the definitive Led Zeppelin album. It is one of the pillars of early metal and is sighted by many bands to be their inspiration. It is truly one of the greatest heavy metal albums ever.

Side One:
The Fourth Album starts off with Black Dog, containing Page's finest riff. It plods along like a giant dinosaur from ages past; crushing the listener with its layered bass and guitar riff. The album then picks up some speed on the next song, "Rock And Roll." The song features another of Jimmy Page's monster riffs and Plant's soaring vocals. Jones and Bonham keep the rhythm tight with great performances from the both of them. It is one of the bands' greater songs. And then, the album hits the brakes. "The Battle of Evermore" is obviously inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings (a book that Plant was a huge fan of). It features the first time Jimmy Page picked up, let alone played, a mandolin accompanied by Jones on guitar. It as features the only guest singer on a Led Zeppelin record (Sandy Denny).

The next song is probably the most well-known song on the planet, "Stairway To Heaven." It starts with an acoustic guitar intro by Page soon joined by Jones on recorder (there are three layers of recorder). Plant then delivers some of the most mystical lyrics in rock (or most Satanic, if you're still that paranoid). As the song speeds up, the song seems to get a little more upbeat in its tone. At about four minutes in, the drums finally start and the song speeds up again and comes to the high point of the song at the guitar solo. It is recognized by many to be the greatest guitar solo in all of rock. Now that the full force of the band is present, the band plays some "Grade A" heavy metal.

Thus concludes one of the greatest album sides in rock music.

Side Two:
Side two starts with the hippie-inspired "Misty Mountain Hop" (another nod to Tolkien). It is definitely the most lighthearted song on the album. The guitar and keyboard riff create and heavy yet happy atmosphere, but the happiness slows done a bit in the next song, "Four Sticks." "Four Sticks" got its name from the fact that John Bonham used four drum sticks to get the sound he wanted. One of their more obscure songs, it is one of there heavier songs as well. The heaviness takes a song off for "Going To California." It is the most delicate song on the album; bringing out the folk element again. This time it's Page on guitar and Jones on mandolin, but it still sounds great. The album finishes up with "When The Levee Breaks," one of Zeppelin's heaviest songs recorded. John Bonham got his drum sound by recording them in a massive stairwell. The gargantuan amount of layers of sound on top of the drums are responsible for most of the albums weight. Only "Stairway To Heaven" is greater in terms of overall mystic and granduer.

The Fourth Album is Led Zeppelin at its finest. It isn't all downhill from here necessarily, but Zeppelin would never quite reach this level again.

My rating:

10/10

I listened to the entire album while writing that review. It took that long.

You know, I said II was my favorite, but I think IV is just as good. One of the best albums ever recorded.

This was the 1st Led Zeppelin album that I purchased in cd format. "When the Levee Breaks" is probably one of my personal favorite songs of all time. Love everything about the song, but the drums just floor me.

Other than that, what more could I really say about this album that hasn't been said already by much more intelligent people than I. Or me.

EDIT: One other thing I remember about this album. My buddy Bobby (who I mentioned earlier) could spin his turntable backwards and we listened to "Stairway" backwards to hear the phrase "Here's to my sweet satan". Under it's spell, we then donned black robes and went into the park to perform ritual animal sacrifices.

I used to be a huge fan of 'Led Zeppelin IV' but overplay has almost ruined the album for me, if I could set aside the feeling of slight case of burn out I have to say that is the album that captures what Zeppelin was about up to this point in their career. All the different influences that the band had picked during the last few years are injected into all the songs.

'Black Dog' start amd stop riff is amazing, Jimmy Page's guitar solo in 'Stairway to heaven' is its own mini compostion, and John Bonham sounds like monster on tunes such as 'When the Leeve Breaks' and shows why Bonham was so important and so unreplaceable.

'The Battle of Evermore' is another great track thankfully that has been overplayed. It features the late Sandy Denny accompanying Robert Plant's vocals.

It is hard for me to hear this album with a fresh insight, like I said an excellent album, but I may have heard a few tracks one to many times.

First Led Zeppelin I ever owned.

manny wrote:

I used to be a huge fan of 'Led Zeppelin IV' but overplay has almost ruined the album for me, if I could set aside the feeling of slight case of burn out...
It is hard for me to hear this album with a fresh insight, like I said an excellent album, but I may have heard a few tracks one to many times.

Yeah, I get a bittersweet feeling reading all this enthusiasm for these great albums. Same with Purple. When these albums came out I only owned maybe 50 albums and so we played them to death because that's all we had. Then classic rock radio came along and finished the job.
I was talking to an old friend about Zep just the other day, and I think it's tempting for old timers to write off classic rock as somehow passe or culturally invalid (the Mike Patton syndrome). But I don't think it's true. I think if we get tired of something we like to rationalize it as something more than simple oversaturation or burnout. I did that at one time, but I realized from discovering old Zep influenced bands (Orang-utan s/t) or newer ones (Witch s/t) that I really still enjoy the idea of Zepppelin, it's just that the songs became too familiar over the years.
The good news is that since a lot of these classics have been shelved for decades at my house, I have been able to work some of them back into play and hear them from a fresher perspective lately. I've really been enjoying Deep Purple's Machine Head for the first time in 30 years, and I'm looking forward to Akeldama sending me Zep II and IV, which I haven't owned since vinyl!

I've burned myself out on Van Halen and Queen, but I always find myself coming back to these records. I don't listen to Queen like I use to, and there's no way I'm listenig to the same amount Van Halen as I did in high school; however, I still make my way back to these records, and I can still see why I love them so much. The same has happened for Zeppelin recently.

It's an ok album.

Actually, writing a review of this album is like reviewing the Mona Lisa or Michelangelo's paintings in the Sistine Chapel.

This album would be the last of the early Zeppelin albums, the hungry years, the 4th album in a 2 year span (after this they would take 2 to 3 years between albums) and I agree with the above post that they would never again reach the creative peak that they reached on this album.

I got to jam with the older dudes in the garages of the neighborhood alot cause of having "gotten" the timing of
Bonham's playing. I had a huge 26" Rodgers bass drum
that just "boomed" on "...Levee Breaks" Besides the drum sound on "Levee", Plant's harp is amazing. I got my favorite
drummer joke in regards to this album. I ask another drummer, "How old were you when you learned how to play "Going To California" ? It's classic cause more often than not I actually get an answer

I pretty much feel like Manny does about this album, so instead of repeating the same thing I'll pass on a bit of trivia...

Zeppelin IV was recorded in a church that had been converted into a recording studio. There was a small basement room (where Zeppelin was recording) and the larger studio was upstairs. While Zeppelin was downstairs recording Zeppelin IV...Jethro Tull was upstairs recording Aqualung.

Zep IV and Aqualung recorded at the same time, in the same building...gotta love that.

detuned wrote:

Zep IV and Aqualung recorded at the same time, in the same building...gotta love that.

Aqualung's better.

Feel pretty much the same way about III and IV that detuned does.

Sandy Denny kills me every time i listen to her, her voice is so good it makes me forget about the silly Tolkien referencing "Battle Of Evermore". Although her voice isn't there to save "Misty Mountain Hop". It's always something that bugged me about Zep, when they draw on Tolkien for inspiration in songs.

"When The Levee Breaks" is a monster though and "Rock & Roll" and "Black Dog" are still great despite radio/parents playing overkill.

Good record despite being let down by overplay and Tolkien........their best was yet to come though.

rattpoison wrote:

makes me forget about the silly Tolkien referencing "Battle Of Evermore". It's always something that bugged me about Zep, when they draw on Tolkien for inspiration in songs.

Good record despite being let down by overplay and Tolkien........their best was yet to come though.

No love for Tolkein?

first four zep albums, are all 10/10, flawless and timeless.

detuned wrote:

I pretty much feel like Manny does about this album, so instead of repeating the same thing I'll pass on a bit of trivia...

Zeppelin IV was recorded in a church that had been converted into a recording studio. There was a small basement room (where Zeppelin was recording) and the larger studio was upstairs. While Zeppelin was downstairs recording Zeppelin IV...Jethro Tull was upstairs recording Aqualung.

Zep IV and Aqualung recorded at the same time, in the same building...gotta love that.

Here is a story from Guitar World in regards to both bands recording in the same studio. This was when Martin Barre was recording the guitar solo for the song 'Aqualung':

“While I was playing the solo, which was really going well, Jimmy Page
walked into the control room and started waving. I thought, ‘Should I
wave back and mess up the solo or should I just grin and carry on?’
Being a professional to the end, I just grinned.”

Schbopo wrote:

detuned wrote:

Zep IV and Aqualung recorded at the same time, in the same building...gotta love that.

Aqualung's better.

You're smoking crack.

Schbopo wrote:

No love for Tolkein?

I like Tolkien! Some of Plant's Tolkien-based lyrics don't really work for me but I've always thought Battle for Evermore was a great song.

xyz wrote:

Schbopo wrote:

detuned wrote:

Zep IV and Aqualung recorded at the same time, in the same building...gotta love that.

Aqualung's better.

You're smoking crack.

Aqualung and IV are both classic albums...however, they shouldn't be compared in the first place, completely different bands/conceptions.

But if I was told I could only own one of them, I'd pick Aqualung in a heartbeat.

Quote :

Aqualung and IV are both classic
albums...however, they shouldn't be compared in the first place,
completely different bands/conceptions.

Oh yeah? Well who's better? Jethro TUll or Pantera?

SpectreFate wrote:

Quote :

Aqualung and IV are both classic
albums...however, they shouldn't be compared in the first place,
completely different bands/conceptions.

Oh yeah? Well who's better? Jethro TUll or Pantera?

detuned wrote:

xyz wrote:

Schbopo wrote:

detuned wrote:

Zep IV and Aqualung recorded at the same time, in the same building...gotta love that.

Aqualung's better.

You're smoking crack.

Aqualung and IV are both classic albums...however, they shouldn't be compared in the first place, completely different bands/conceptions.

But if I was told I could only own one of them, I'd pick Aqualung in a heartbeat.

To me, Aqualung isn't even there best album. I'm a fan of Thick As A Brick.

xyz wrote:

To me, Aqualung isn't even there best album. I'm a fan of Thick As A Brick.

It's not my favorite either, that would either be Stand Up or Minstrel In The Gallery.

Schbopo wrote:

rattpoison wrote:

makes me forget about the silly Tolkien referencing "Battle Of Evermore". It's always something that bugged me about Zep, when they draw on Tolkien for inspiration in songs.

Good record despite being let down by overplay and Tolkien........their best was yet to come though.

No love for Tolkein?

Not in my rock n' roll.