There are two ways of guaranteeing you’ll hear Side 1, Track 4 of IV. One, of course, is to play a recording of the album in original or remastered form.
Click the cover and listen to Led Zeppelin IV on the streaming service of your choice.
The other is to spend a Saturday afternoon browsing in a guitar shop. Unless they’ve taken the Wayne’s World step of banning the song, someone is bound to try out a guitar - and demonstrate their Jimmy Page-eque skills - by launching into Stairway to Heaven.
For casual listeners, who may only know one Led Zep song, that song is Stairway to Heaven. There’s much more than one song to IV, though.
Stairway bears out the saying “Familiarity breeds contempt”. Over the decades, it’s become unavoidable; even though it clocks in at 8:03, the song can often be heard on daytime radio alongside modern AI pop. Say what you like about Stairway, it’s not computer-generated.
Even if you know the song; even if you have been known to try out a guitar by playing it in your friendly local music shop, it might be time to sit down and give the song your full attention with an active listen. Imagine you’ve never heard Stairway before. Page picks out the introduction, soon to be joined by Plant: “There’s a lady …” And, remember, at this point, you don’t know what’s coming. It’s lovely. But does it go anywhere?
You know it does, so I’ll just note the way it builds. How Plant’s vocal register changes as the power is turned up during Page’s solo. Bonham and Page restrained and then providing the jets to join Plant in the air. John Paul Jones is an exemplar of one of those bassists who hold it all together.
Of course, there are another seven tracks on IV. It’s a classic album because those tracks, even if heard less often, are all significant. I’m going to pick out three, briefly, for special mention: The Battle of Evermore, Going to California, and When the Levee Breaks.
Evermore is a first for Robert Plant with Led Zeppelin; a duet. His voice blends gloriously with Sandy Denny, who was singing with Fairport Convention and a solo artist in her own write. The song, by Page and Plant, carries a strong Lord of the Rings influence, with mention of Ringwraiths and runes (four symbols again). It’s based on a riff played on the mandolin and means the intersection between Led Zep and the Fairports was closer than the borrow of a singer, taking Led Zep into folk-rock territory. It’s possible the success of this collaboration inspired Plant to work with Alison Krauss, decades later.
Going to California is also a quiet song, reflecting the end of the hippy dream, even in California. Or is it the end of Middle Earth? There are references to mountains of dreams and the gods getting a punch on the nose.
When the Levee Breaks brings us the Led Zep we knew and loved from the previous three albums. Now we have Bonham’s distinctive pounding of the drums on a song that takes the album firmly back into the blues-rock genre. Lovely blues-based guitar from Page in a song that, as Led Zep had mastered, sets up a groove and never lets go across seven minutes. Levee is credited to the whole band plus Memphis Minnie; Zep added credits to the original writers of many of their songs that they borrowed from.1 (I’ll be exploring this issue as part of the forthcoming Led Zeppelin Long Gaze post, expanding and substantially adding to this Glimpse - more details soon.)
On, and the album’s title? Officially, it doesn’t have one, but that doesn’t work in a database or casual conversation. So, people refer to it as Untitled, IV (following on from the earlier albums I, II, and III, and as I am referring to it here), or, more imaginatively, Four Symbols or ZoSo. Each band member chose a symbol (above) and Page’s choice does seem to spell out the word ZoSo, although it’s a symbol, not a word. Page has never explained its meaning, and fan theories (mostly invoking the occult) abound.
There’s also a fifth symbol for Sandy Denny:
Of course, it would be wrong to give the impression IV doesn’t rock hard, with the opening volley of Black Dog followed by Rock and Roll. Those two tracks alone would bring the album classic status. Well, every track is a classic.
What an album!
What do you think about Led Zeppelin IV? Please leave a comment, or, if you’re a paid subscriber, use the orange button to send me a direct message.
HOW TO BUY (Amazon aff. link)
Vinyl - remaster | CD - remaster
Further reading (Bookshop.org aff. link)
Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin IV: 33 1/3 Series by Erik Davis
Led Zeppelin On Track: Every Album, Every Song by Steve Pilkington
RECORDING DETAILS
Side one
1 Black Dog / 2 Rock and Roll / 3 The Battle of Evermore / 4 Stairway to Heaven
Side two
5 Misty Mountain Hop / 6 Four Sticks / 7 Going to California / 8 When the Levee Breaks
Musicians
John Bonham – drums
John Paul Jones – bass, electric piano, mandolin, recorders, synthesizer
Jimmy Page – electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin on "The Battle of Evermore" and "Going to California", production, mastering, digital remastering
Robert Plant – vocals, harmonica
Additional musicians
Sandy Denny – duet vocals on "The Battle of Evermore"
Ian Stewart – piano on "Rock and Roll"
Production
George Chkiantz – mixing
Andy Johns – engineering, mixing
Peter Grant – executive production
Barrington Colby M.O.M. – The Hermit illustration
Keith Morris – photography
Graphreaks – design coordination
Memphis Minnie - When the Levee Breaks
Enjoy the music,
Ian
See also John Entwistle for The Who, Chris Squire for Yes, and currently Greg Spawnton for Big Big Train, among others. Yes, this is the bassist’s job, but not all embody the role. It’s more than playing the correct notes, more even than playing those notes in the right order.
(I’ll be exploring this issue as part of the forthcoming Led Zeppelin Long Gaze post, expanding and substantially adding to this Glimpse - more details soon.)
Great Glimpse! And, yep, it's back on rotation in this household! Brilliant album.
When I was a preteen, after the LP had come out and was all over the radio, I couldn't listen to "When the Levee Breaks" without really getting creeped out. Just so, so heavy.