Led Zeppelin IV

This is the greatest album by Led Zeppelin and it happens to be my first LZ album. It is impossible not to fall in love with Led Zeppelin. The music set in it is mind-blowing. It starts with the powerful song - "Back Dog" and ends (with my favorite) with "When the Levees Break". The When the Levees Break shows the power of John Bonham on the drums. Of course, let's not forget one of the greatest songs of all time - "Stairway to Heaven". This is a remastered version and definitely worth it. Jimmy Page did a great job cleaning up the songs from the original tapes to make this version.

What more can you say about this fourth album from Led Zeppelin? It is by no doubt a classic. In fact it was the first Zeppelin album I bought on vinyl once I started high school as the seventies drew to a close. But of course I first this album back in the early seventies when my sister borrowed it from a friend not to mention hearing the songs "Black Dog", "Rock And Roll" and, of course, "Stairway To Heaven" on the radio constantly back in the day. Originally I was going to get the deluxe CD copy of this but then upon discovering the second disc was merely the same set of songs but with different mixes involved as part of head Zep man Jimmy Page's remasters not to mention the altering of the cover so I decided to stick with the standard version as I know it. You have eight great songs on here which is just right[That's four songs per side on vinyl] and much of them classic in their own right. Half of these selections are credited to guitarist Jimmy Page and lead vocalist Robert Plant. Two songs("Black Dog" and "Misty Mountain Hop")has Page and Plant co-credited with bassist John Paul Jones. All four members of the group[The fourth member being drummer John Bonham]collaborate on "Rock And Roll", which is considered a drummer's favorite amongst aspiring rock drummers everywhere. The album's concluding track "When The Levee Breaks" find the entire band co-credited to Memphis Minnie(!) when in actually the song dates back to 1927 as recorded by the artist herself with the help of another blues guitarist. This version makes it a rock classic within itself with its recorded set-up involving a single mike for Bonham's drums, the fantastic harmonica wailing from Robert Plant and Jimmy Page's use of slide guitar with John Paul Jones' bass anchoring the bottom. There are two guest appearances on this album. The first is the piano playing talents of original Rolling Stones co-founder Ian Stewart on "Rock And Roll"[The Zeppelin song "Boogie With Stu" from Physical Graffiti was recorded in the same session reportedly. "Stu" was the nickname of Stewart for those who still don't know]. The second is Fairport Convention vocalist Sandy Denny on "The Battle Of Evermore", the first of two acoustic songs on the album. The other acoustic song is "Going To California" in homage to the Joni Mitchell song "California". Both of these acoustic songs feature mandolin playing by either Jimmy Page or John Paul Jones. The only other track featured on this fourth Zeppelin effort is "Four Sticks" with its barrage of riffs any guitarist and bassist could use. Supposedly the title was literally due to the use of four drumsticks used by John Bonham when recording the piece. Arguably, the best song on here is "Stairway To Heaven" and is considered an anthem for AOR[Album Oriented Rock]and always tends to top the lists of various FM station countdowns with Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Freebird" coming in second. The arrangement itself is crafted out well-the acoustic beginning supplied with double-tracked recorders by John Paul Jones; the middle section half acoustic/half electric featuring electric piano, 12-string electric guitar, bass guitar and drums; the electrifying conclusion including a guitar solo that has force to be reckoned with. Finally, the title of this album has many people puzzled. Even though this was Led Zeppelin's fourth album they never had an appropriate title for it and each member of the band chose his own symbol or rune and they each appeared on the label next to their group name. Many people assumed it was titled after Page's rune Zoso[A 1527 meaning for Saturn reportedly], while Plant's was the feather within a circle, Jones' was the trilateral interlocking within a circle and Bonham's was the interlocking circles meaning man, woman and child which bears striking resemblance to the Ballentine beer logo. Sandy Denny also had a rune for herself which was the three downpointing triangles that looked almost similar to the Fallout Shelter design. Other nicknames for this album were: The Hermit[The front cover design], Runes, The Stairway To Heaven Album[The songs' lyrics were printed inside the inner sleeve plus it showed an illustration of a man carrying a lantern atop of a high hill], The Fourth Album and, of course, Zoso. If you don't have this album in your collection, then you don't know what you're missing. This is one Led Zeppelin album no one should be without. If you want to get the Led out, get it out with this one and you won't go wrong. Rock And Roll!

Excelent disc and soiinds amaizing in the LP version

Love this vinyl album and price along with packaging was fantastic.

What else can you say about this timeless album still sounds great magic the extra cd is nice but the remastering is why I purchased it

Love it!

As we said in the 70’s. It is the BOMB. THANK YOU

I decided to write this review, not for the content of the vinyl, but for the quality of the record pressing. The ZoSo album is a classic and one of my favorite music recordings. I preordered the vinyl a month ago, and I could not wait for it to arrive....like a little kid a few days before Christmas. When it finally arrived I was extremely pleased with the sound that this vinyl put through my Rega setup. I own the 1993 Remastered CD Box Set, and the 2014 remastered vinyl versions of the first four albums sound so much better; and no pops, no clicks.Everything was pure bliss until I reached the last few bars of Stairway to Heaven (last song on Side 1). That is when a loud pop from hell started to take over the music, and continued through the end of the song. I could not believe my ears. I pulled the needle out of the way, and looked at the record under a light, and there it was. The groove had physical damage, and there was nothing I could do to take that pop away.Today I tested the replacement that Amazon shipped (Thank you for the super fast shipment.), and I am sad to report that the record has almost exactly the same pop. This time is not as loud, and I cannot see any physical damage to the groove. I remain hopeful that the pops can be removed with a good cleaning, so we shall see. What I find curious is that the rest of the record is virtually pop and click free and the heavy, loud pops occur at the same location on both records.This is the first time I encounter something like this with a new vinyl LP. I did a brief search to see if others have encountered this issue, and found another reviewer here that had a problem with the ending of Side 2 of the vinyl (apparently physical damage as well). I restarted acquiring used and new vinyl several months ago (resuming a hobby I stopped in 1987), and since then I have gotten some new vinyl in pretty bad shape, the worst of them all being Rubber Factory and Magic Potion pressings from The Black Keys. They were so filthy right out of the sleeve that they looked like second hand records. I almost returned them, but decided to clean them instead and ended up keeping them. The best surprise so far has been an used copy of U2's Joshua Tree original pressing. The cover is a little beaten, but the record looks and sounds like a new copy...Yeah..but I digress...Enjoy your Led Zep reissues!11-10 Update: Received 2nd replacement copy from Amazon a few days ago, and it is perfect. No defects on this pressing. I was feeling a little pessimistic about this whole thing (had to return 2 copies of the album), but Amazon had my back. Their excellent service made the difference. I am a happy Zeppelin fan once again!