Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV review
| Band: | Led Zeppelin |
| Album: | Led Zeppelin IV |
| Style: | Progressive hard rock, Heavy metal |
| Release date: | November 08, 1971 |
| A review by: | Herzebeth |
01. Black Dog
02. Rock And Roll
03. The Battle Of Evermore
04. Stairway To Heaven
05. Misty Mountain Hop
06. Four Sticks
07. Going To California
08. When The Levee Breaks
It's an actual challenge to review an album like this one, a classic album made by one of those unforgettable bands, so I swear I'll do my best.
Led Zeppelin released this jewel in 1971 (November 8th to be precise). It's a marvelous album, every song featured here is just incredible, we have the memorable "Black Dog," the classic "Rock & Roll" (we can even hear this song in the Super Bowl specials), the aggressive "Misty Mountain Hop," the mystic "When The Levee Breaks," the catchy "Four Sticks" and well?"Stairway To Heaven."
The album opener is "Black Dog," this song has one of the most amazing riffs performed by none other than Jimmy Page. The song is entertaining as hell, a true classic filled with short (yet incredible) lyrical pauses and the memorable Oh-Oh bit (1:28), this track is complex from the beginning to the end. Plant here has a lot of "Janis Joplin" undertones (which are great by the way), Page is amazing as always, and Bonham presents incredible beats and amazing irregular tempo.
There's no possible way to remark only one song, so I'll write about another classic piece called simply "Rock & Roll," this particular song gave R&B a whole new meaning, yes the who had "Behind Blue Eyes", and yes a lot of bands had amazing songs, but this particular one, written by Page & Plant, preserved everything Hard Rock, Blues and early Metal had to offer: aggressive spirit mixed with harmonious feelings. "Rock & Roll" starts with a quick drumming, then the main riff appears, this riff is now everywhere (Movies, TV Series, etc?) and then the song actually explodes with a Page Solo. The twists are everywhere throughout the song, and the main bridge (2:15) sounds overwhelming.
Then we have "Stairway To Heaven," this song is now one of the most respected songs in music history (along with "All You Need Is Love," "Jumping Jack Flash" and "You Really Got Me"), the song starts with a melodic arpeggio, then a harmonious instrument comes in setting the tragic atmosphere. Plant offers an amazing vocal performance.
A lot of people say? "Stairway To Heaven" is so overrated, Zeppelin has better songs dude?well, Stairway To Heaven is actually not the best Zeppelin song I know, but musically speaking it's enormous, this track features more than 13 progressions per instrument in only 8 minutes of music; I know Yes, Alan Parsons Project, and such bands had more progressions than only 13 per instrument, but those bands needed more than 18 minutes of song to reach this number of progressions, so this is one of the main reasons "Stairway To Heaven" deserves respect. I won't say more, we all know this song, we all have our opinions about this classic tune, so make a fair judgment.
We, as Metal fans, must hear this album, not only due to it's greatness, also because this album influenced at least 5 of our favorite bands.
Comments
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Comments: 49
Visited by: 371 users
| Syk myspace/bonerama Posts: 1504  |
Oh come on, are you serious? I dare you to review it again. This album is bullshit, try Deep Purple's Fireball. edit 6.5 yrs later - I hereby somewhat retract, and apologize for my offensive statements and demeanour all those years ago. Rather, please read comments that came three months after this original one, or for two short sentences, comment #7 in the IV album's own topic/thread
---- death ? thrash ? death/doom/prog ? Hail Zoldon! he's not the kind you have to [url=../bands/album.php?album_id=28982]wind up[/url] on Sundays
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| marillionfan Account deleted |
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| Syk myspace/bonerama Posts: 1504 |
Both bands are hard rockers from the late 60s who are considered heavy metal by a large number of people, with skilled musicians, similar singers and tons of songs about women. I've always considered California a crap song, musically it is just a watered-down retread of Thank You and Tangerine from earlier albums. Black Dog and Rock and Roll are nothing special and most songs seem to go nowhere, it's a whole lot of average. I agree Levee is cool and it may just be my disdain for whatever's popular but overall I say this album sucks. Fireball (from the same year) wins for me with its METAL title track, the scathing Fools and the brilliant Demon's Eye. More people need to be aware of Deep Purple, and in saying all this, more people need to be aware of Zep's other albums. All their others I've heard put this one to shame.
---- death ? thrash ? death/doom/prog ? Hail Zoldon! he's not the kind you have to [url=../bands/album.php?album_id=28982]wind up[/url] on Sundays
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| marillionfan Account deleted |
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| Syk myspace/bonerama Posts: 1504 |
Written by [user id=17278] on 28.02.2007 at 14:01 Yeah, which is why people compare them. Quote: Of course, notice the "I say" in front
---- death ? thrash ? death/doom/prog ? Hail Zoldon! he's not the kind you have to [url=../bands/album.php?album_id=28982]wind up[/url] on Sundays
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| ThrashMetal_Rulz Account deleted |
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| Syk myspace/bonerama Posts: 1504 |
OK, so Jethro Tull - Aqualung may be a better comparison for obliterating this album. Can't believe I forgot that one. Check it.
---- death ? thrash ? death/doom/prog ? Hail Zoldon! he's not the kind you have to [url=../bands/album.php?album_id=28982]wind up[/url] on Sundays
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| MrEddieG Posts: 24  |
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| BrightNight Posts: 236  |
Stairway to Heaven and Black Dog alone make this album one of the best in history. Cant believe the comments i read. Shame on you all.
---- "So you children of the world, listen to what I say If you want a better place to live in spread the words today Show the world that love is still alive you must be brave Or you children of today are Children of the Grave."
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| Samuel550 Account deleted |
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| IronBlackZepp Posts: 180  |
One of the best albums of all time. Zeppelin are perfect in the studio and are one of the best bands period. I am with Samuel550 on this one, Deep Purple just do not compare to Zeppelin. I like Deep Purple ok, but most of their albums suck exept for In Rock and Machine Head. And not even those albums are as good as anything Zeppelin, exept mabey coda. Anyway, Stairway of coure is classic matirial, and Black Dog of course rocks. Oh and dont forget Rock N Roll. However, some of the other songs are pretty underated like Going to California, which is simular to some of the stuff on Led Zeppelin III.
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| Samuel550 Account deleted |
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| Syk myspace/bonerama Posts: 1504 |
Written by [user id=26806] on 20.04.2008 at 22:41 LOL. Really, LOL. Great job showing how little you know about what you're talking about. Try learning what a power chord really is, and then you might want to swot up on Led Zep's myriad uncredited ripoffs.
---- death ? thrash ? death/doom/prog ? Hail Zoldon! he's not the kind you have to [url=../bands/album.php?album_id=28982]wind up[/url] on Sundays
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| jupitreas hi-fi / lo-life Staff Posts: 6660  |
Heh, interesting that a discussion of LZ IV vs. Fireball has emerged here. I think I actually also enjoy the latter more, since it has a level of energy and speed that was very uncommon for those times...
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| Metalhead2 Skinhead1 Posts: 271  |
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| jadawal Posts: 241  |
This is all just a matter of opinion, why didn't anyone say that yet? This argument sounds like a bunch of 7 year olds. Especially Syk, you must love showing people on MS how much you know about everything, and telling them: Written by Syk on 29.04.2008 at 16:39 Your the scum that ruins these the discussions. Your first post ended with "this album is bullshit". What does that mean? You're retarded, that's what that means. I definitely would say that LZ IV is quite different to Fireball, and in my opinion, LZ IV is a lot better music. But that's just my opinion, it's not fucking bullshit. It's one of the most important releases of all time, you're just biased.
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| Syk myspace/bonerama Posts: 1504 |
Written by jadawal on 30.04.2008 at 20:47 Ahh good post, you got me. Although technically I didn't ruin the discussion - in fact I'm the one who got it going  Seriously though, if you (new people entering the discussion) like this, do check out Aqualung, and if this is the only Zep you've heard, don't stop here. I'm sure you'll enjoy some of their other stuff a helluva lot too.
---- death ? thrash ? death/doom/prog ? Hail Zoldon! he's not the kind you have to [url=../bands/album.php?album_id=28982]wind up[/url] on Sundays
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| Samuel550 Account deleted |
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| Syk myspace/bonerama Posts: 1504 |
Written by [user id=26806] on 01.05.2008 at 13:57 Grow up, man. If that was my intention I'd be ripping on a helluva lot more than a couple "classics" like this and Rust in Peace. I just find a majority of it so boring and disappointing compared to their earlier (and some later) stuff - Battle of Evermore and Going to California especially. Four Sticks has a cool riff but the whole song wastes it. Dog & Rock have been WAY over-hyped. There's nowhere near enough segments to make me say "whoa, that was awesome." I totally don't see why you keep calling DP a Jimi ripoff. The closest I can think of is just because they also covered Hey Joe, but hey Sam, they changed that one up too. Written by [user id=26806] on 01.05.2008 at 13:57 You really aren't making sense so I won't be bothered anymore with your uninformed drivel.
---- death ? thrash ? death/doom/prog ? Hail Zoldon! he's not the kind you have to [url=../bands/album.php?album_id=28982]wind up[/url] on Sundays
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| Samuel550 Account deleted |
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| jadawal Posts: 241 |
Someone should ring the bell already, or this discussion should get brought into the arena; one of the two. Jethro Tull rules, I know. All the music I listen to is best, and everyone else's music is absolute shit, and I'm right. haha
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| Samuel550 Account deleted |
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| totaliteraliter Posts: 656  |
Written by [user id=26806] on 01.05.2008 at 13:57 Written by [user id=26806] on 20.04.2008 at 22:41 Heh. This album (IV) is probably decent in theory, but it has been the most damaged by the relentless rape of Zeppelin's catalogue by classic rock radio and American truck commercials. Therefore I would probably find it quite painful to actually sit down and listen to it. I am slightly puzzled by the cryptic comment closing the review: "this album influenced at least 5 of our favorite bands."
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| Dangerboner Lactation Cnslt Posts: 7262  |
Written by [user id=26806] on 01.05.2008 at 13:57 *whether, tbh
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| Samuel550 Account deleted |
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| Dangerboner Lactation Cnslt Posts: 7262 |
xD I thought the change in post flow was amusing. Please don't screw me though, I don't like dudes that way.
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| Samuel550 Account deleted |
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| IronBlackZepp Posts: 180 |
Well I wouldn't go as far to say that DP riped off Hendrix, mabey a lot of there stuff was inspired by Hendrix. I would deffinently say that this is a great album by Led Zeppelin, although in my opinion all of Zepps albums from Led Zeppelin 1 too Phisical Graffitti are equally great. Yes In Rock was not the best album ever, nor is Machine Head but they are still pretty great. They are not as good as any Zepp in my opinion though.
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| Samuel550 Account deleted |
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| Harmonic Account deleted |
Harmonic
Account deleted Written by [user id=26806] on 02.05.2008 at 06:55 Um, that's skewer. Okay, you can let me have it now... but just for the record I never opened a dictionary.
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