Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin IV [conventional title] by Led Zeppelin (1971) In 1982, eleven years after this album’s release, a 17-year-old ‘big man on campus’ named Benny walked into his private-school math class singing: “Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove”. His stern, no-nonsense Intermediate Algebra teacher (me) turned from writing the day’s assignment on the blackboard to shoot Benny a disapproving glare. Benny sheepishly clammed up. But as I turned back to the blackboard to finish, I sang softly: “Ah, ah, child, way you shake that thing Gonna make you burn, gonna make you sting” As I put down the chalk and turned again toward the class, smile met smile as Benny and I shared a trans-generational moment of awareness of the power of Led Zeppelin IV. Benny ended the semester with a surprisingly good ‘A-‘ in math. It would have been a ‘B+’, but his anachronistic love for Led Zeppelin tilted the scales in a positive direction, and I don’t regret it one bit. There was a time when I considered Led Zeppelin IV to be the greatest album ever, and I’m not sure that that time is past. Young people today should do themselves a favor and develop such a strong a familiarity with this record that they will be able to recognize each track from its opening strains, like Beethoven’s Symphony #5 or Bach’s Toccata and Fugue. It’s that good. Few albums have ever had both the variety and cohesiveness of Led Zeppelin IV. Each listen is an immersive experience, striding through an aural gallery of head-banging rock, moan-inducing blues, culture-resonating folk, and a time-transcending mysticism that carries perennial fascination. And tying all these disparate features together is a musical synthesis of sounds of today (the ‘now’) and images of the misty past (the ‘then’—see below). As musicians, each of the six performers (including Sandy Denny, ethereal backing vocal on “The Battle of Evermore” and Ian Stewart, piano on “Rock and Roll”) executes at peak virtuosity. The four members of Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page [guitar], Robert Plant [lead vocals], John Bonham [drums], and John Paul Jones [bass & keyboards]) are each individually on lists of the ‘greatest of all time’ in their respective categories of performance. Yet no rock group (other than The Beatles) ever played better together. From the electro-windup intro on the opening track “Black Dog”, the listener knows he/she is in for a thrill and a treat, in that order. Robert Plant’s inimitably powerful yet soulful a cappella lead vocal storms onto the scene, grabbing the ears. Then, struggling to discern the meter, the listener immediately discovers the groove, even though it seems that John Bonham’s ingenious rhythmic composition is performing a different song altogether, ignoring the standard gum-chewing backbeat of early rock. But everything is in miraculous sync, as Page and Jones muscle on, all pausing to let Plant do his thing before kicking back in with pure power rock. We teenagers listening to this in 1971 had never heard anything like this before, because there never was anything like this before. Then, without letting up, we hear the smashing rock & roll of “Rock & Roll”, where Bonham reminds us that the backbeat still lives, and Page cooks like never before with wild guitar solo work. Page later said the track was written and recorded in fifteen minutes. I would have paid serious money to sit in a room with Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Chuck Berry to watch them hear this track for the first time. And by the way, the most convincing cover of this song was done by Heart (the closing track of Greatest Hits/Live [1980]). And just when we think the album is going to mash out hard rock from beginning to end, we are jolted into a little fantasy medievalism with the next two tracks, “The Battle of Evermore” (check out the Tolkien, Lord of the Rings references) and “Stairway to Heaven”, where Page’s first-time (!) experience with mandolin and iconic solo electric guitar passages wrap around Plant’s mystical lyrics (Plant was only 22 years old at the time). “Stairway to Heaven” is in the rock ballad canon because of its dramatically drawn out development and increased intensity over a steady chord structure. It’s one of the greatest songs ever, not because of profound lyrics, but because of its incomparable instrumentation and vocal performance. Yes, it has been overplayed and over analyzed, but it still moves. The amazing guitar solo (at 5:55) and the wailing lead vocal on the closing bridge (at 6:45) still bring shivers after a thousand listens. Side two begins with “Misty Mountain Hop” providing an explanation of the contrast on side one between the ‘now’ of the first two tracks and the ‘then’ of tracks three and four. After a tale of a druggie’s awkward encounter with a cop in the mundane ‘now’, the artist concludes with a flight to ‘then’: “So I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains Where the spirits go now Over the hills where the spirits fly, ooh” And the listener, clutching a copy of Tolkien, The Hobbit, is glad to go along for the ride. The ‘now/then’ duality is beautifully pictured in the cover art, where the front side shows the weathered ruins of an interior wall adorned with an old painting of a seemingly even older man, contrasting with a modern but dull and overcast cityscape where buildings battle with trees on the back side. And between concern for “when the river runs dry” (in “Four Sticks”, featuring Bonham’s superlative drumming with four drumsticks in 5/8 alternating with 6/8) to the droning blues dread of what will happen “When the Levee Breaks” we hear of a search for the perfect woman as the acoustic guitar (Page) and mandolin (Jones) accompany the softly melodic tune “Going to California”: “To find a queen without a king They say she plays guitar and cries and sings... La la la la Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn Tryin' to find a woman who's never, never, never been born.” When in fact she has been born, and her name is Joni Mitchell, and Robert Plant knows it. But he can dream, and so can we. I will listen to this album till the day I die. 5/5

Hard to argue this should be anything but a 5. I won't waste my time justifying. Go live your life

Oh we heard you like classic rock, lord of the rings, and poetry. Here is an album you might enjoy. Mastapiece

Unimpeachable. Nearly every song on this album is a classic.

Black Dog, Stairway, AND Levee?! You gotta be kidding me

I seem to be mostly alone with this opinion, but here goes: I find Led Zeppelin overrated. That said, this is still a really good album. I like it much better than the other two LZ albums we've had. And Stairway To Heaven and When The Levee Breaks are great songs. But I really can't see this as a masterpiece and tracks 5-7 were pretty weak.

I don't even know what to say about this one. This album is part of the fabric of my life. I remember being ten years old, listening to it as loud as possible with my friends' parents. Songs on this album underscored crushes on boys in Zeppelin t-shirts. I've listened to it on many car rides to cottages in the summer, from my first time having the car for a weekend in high school through to the last summer pre-pandemic. It's impossible to be objective, it's one of the greatest albums of my life.

1001 Albums To Never Hear Again Before You Die Chapter 1 - Led Zeppelin IV (Zoso, if you’re nasty) Dear Reader, In this first installment, I’ll ask you some baseline questions in order to gauge your eligibility for opting out of this album permanently: 1. Do you often find yourself in relationships (romantic or otherwise) with people you know are no good for you? If you answered no, do you enjoy feeding stray dogs? (Black Dog) 2. Are you partial to American made luxury cars?(Rock and Roll) 3. Do you like songs about hobbits and get amped up by J.R.R Tolkien and/or weed references? (Battle of Evermore, Misty Mountain Hop) 4. Would you like to reminisce about the time you got a chubby while slow dancing with your crush at your 8th grade dinner dance? (Stairway to Heaven) 5. Do you have a predilection for drum circles and a high tolerance for the phrase “oh, baby”? (Four Sticks) 6. Have you ever wondered what a Joni Mitchell song about wanting to sleep with Joni Mitchell would sound like? (Going to California - Give Zep some credit here, they were doing meta in 1971…truly innovative.) 7. Have you ever taken Quaaludes and tried to write a blues song? (When The Levee Breaks) Now, you’re probably asking yourself “how are these questions going to determine if I never have to listen to Led Zeppelin IV ever again?” The short answer is…they’re not. The truth is, you probably don’t ever need to hear this album again. You’ve probably already heard more than half of it on the radio/commercials/films/tv shows, or you’ve heard it in full hanging out at your weed guy’s apartment, or from an older relative who thinks it’s the pinnacle of mankind’s achievements in recorded music. But, if you find yourself enthralled by the prospect finding out the answers to the questions posed earlier, by all means, revisit this record. It’s actually pretty good.

One of the GOAT rock albums and a truely influential album. Zeppelin is like an all-star cast of musicians for this genre. When The Levee Breaks still has one of the most amazing intros of all time. A masterclass. Favourite Tracks: All of them, but special shout out to Misty Mountain Hop, Battle of Evermore, and When The Levee Breaks

This album is a fuckin' masterpiece. IMO stairway is the best song ever written (that I've heard) and totally deserves all the praise it gets. Black dog is surprisingly hard to play on guitar. Really jazzy feel but it's a rock song. Rock n Roll is such a simple tune but Plant's singing just sends it into the stratosphere. Even the more, uh, "adventurous" tunes are still interesting and hypnotic. The Battle of Evermore is basically a vocal solo. Interesting drumming, Jimmy fuckin' Page's leads... there's more or less nothing I can criticise about this album. It even goes for the perfect ~40min. And they were in their early 20s when they wrote it. It defies belief. 6/5 if I could.

This truly is one of the best albums ever released. 8 tracks, 6 huge hits. It's kinda unbelievable, even for Led Zeppelin.

Wait, this is supposed to be one of the greatest Rock albums of the early 70s? THIS?!? Granted, Stairway to Heaven is a powerful and classic (albeit severely overplayed) track, but outside of that, I hear a lot of generic white-men-playing-the-blues rambling and songs without too much variation or ideas. The Battle of Evermore is pointlessley meandering without going anywhere. The same could be said about Four sticks. Going to California is a welcome change of pace, but is too generic to be really good and sounds the same throughout. When the Levee Breaks left me shrugging. Led Zeppelin are supposed to be one of the best bands of the 60s/70s, but I've been suspecting for some time now that they are simply overrated. This is another case in point. 2/5

I have already written at length about the pros (great musicians, powerful production, swaggering performances, Bonzo's drums) and cons (weak songwriting, ridiculous lyrics, plagiarism, culpable business behaviour, sexual assault, Bonzo's behaviour) of Led Zeppelin, so I will avoid repeating myself. This album contains all the best and worst of Led Zep. How can an album bookended with Black Dog and When the Levee Breaks go too far wrong? I am going to suggest that Stairway To Heaven is, in fact, the weakest song on the record. It is cobbled together out of disjointed sweepings with the world's naffest lyrics. Robert Plant is right to be be embarrassed by this song. It does have an iconically great guitar solo (and typically great playing from Bonzo and JPJ), BUT THIS IS NO EXCUSE. Just because it was played on FM rock radio a hundred billion times does not make it good, just familiar. Ubiquity is not the same as quality (see also: Hotel California). That said, this album also has Sandy Denny and a couple of tunes with mandolin (hi Dave, those tracks are your favourites, aren't they?) and that monster drum beat on Levee. For all their myriad faults, Led Zep are still a band you have to hear. I'm not convinced it is actually their best record, but it's still pretty damn great. It's really hard to make a case that this isn't a five star classic.

I feel as if this album should be prescribed--at least every 10 years put on headphones, lie down, and listen to this album a little more loudly than you might typically (to 11, duh). Feel your brain be cleansed as incredibly tight, expertly played pure rock swaggers through your skull. Enjoy the vocals for the sound and whatever you do, don't think too much about the lyrics.

Compelling range, and several great songs - Black Dog, Stairway to Heaven, Going to California, When the Levee Breaks. They avoid the trap that they seem to fall into on other albums, of just rocking out in a way that sounds cool but doesn't go very deep. Their best album?

I'm supposed to love this but I just don't

Led Zep are abysmal. Not even listening.

Really dont like led zeppelin

Arguably the best album -by possibly the best rock band to ever grace the planet.

There are days when you are disappointed with the albums, others when you're surprised or pleased. Today is a very special day. It is akin to Charlie finding the golden ticket. Such a brilliant album from the first second to the last. It really makes my Monday feel a bit closer to a Friday.

The fiviest of five stars. Theory: though Robert Plant was necessary, as every hard rock band had to have a wailer, this is all about the other three. Case in point: Bonham's drumming on When The Levee Breaks. Case two: Stairway to Heaven is the best example of can hardly hear it/quiet/soft/nice/loud/very loud dynamics ever recorded. Who cares about the lady who knows? Not me Clive.

A bona fide goddamn rock 'n' roll masterpiece! It's way nerdier than you'd think, but it's fucking glorious. Imagine buying this album in 1971? You get it home, you put it on thinking "sweet, new Zep" and then they relentlessly assault you with so much motherfucking badassery for 42 minutes and 35 seconds you don't even think your brain can process one more shit hot guitar lick? What a time to be alive. Wish that's how I heard it for the first time.

You already KNOW this is getting 5 stars! What an incredible showing, from groovin rock songs to intimate, delicate acoustic arrangements, IV may be the peak of Zeppelin's performance. It's more polished than 1, but more raw than later work. Seriously dig it.

When they say "they don't make them like they used to", this is what they have in mind. In my humble opinion, Led Zeppelin IV is the second best album of all time. Apart of containing groundbreaking music (which, later, provided some "rejects" to Physical Graffiti) , with songs like Stairway to Heaven, there are plenty of spectacular individual performances here: John Paul Jones on mandolin in Going to California, John Bonham's solo at the start of Rock and Roll, and (of course) his so creatively recorded performance in When the Levee Breaks. Created by four individuals at the top of their craft, this is a masterpiece from start to finish.

I know this is usually the LZ album that appears on 'greatest albums' lists, but I didn't realise just how many classics they crammed on here. It's also a good touchpoint for a lot of their different styles: rocky, folky, bluesy, Stairway to Heaven-y. It's not perfect but it's still worth 5 stars.

Probably my favorite album of theirs, has quite a bit of range and they are quite far along with their style that this is a great vertical slice of Zeppelin. Unfortunately it's almost become too ubiquitous that I have a hard time separating it from a lot of people that taints the impression. However, it's not my favorite style of rock and I don't always wanna listen to Zeppelin in general. I actually prefer the slower songs like The Battle of Evermore and Stairway to Heaven (as much as it was overplayed). I quite enjoyed Four Sticks with the addition of synths and the percussion is a lot of fun. Culturally and of the genre a 5 but in terms of listening pleasure it's a 4.

Man, the hits here are absolute bangers. But the tracks that aren't hits are major misses. Miles off the mark. It's insane to me that the same album that contains "Black Dog," "When the Levee Breaks," and "Stairway to Heaven" also contains "The Battle of Evermore" and "Four Sticks" which are ... well, there's a reason you probably haven't heard them. They're not bad enough to tank the album but they do pull the rating down a star.

girl this sucks

Obviously.

"When you get down to making out, whenever possible, put on the first side of Led Zeppelin IV" - Mike Damone

Almost totally non-experimental, with the narrow exception of some parts of Four Sticks. Still an immaculate straight rock album: Inescapable, cohesive, with many corners which have been partially duplicated since. Even Battle, the low point of the tracklist, manages to make moving upper notes on a guitar sound moving, plaintive, not done-a-million times. The followup fails the latter criterion through no fault of its own.

I'm back and forth a lot over which Led Zeppelin album I think is their best. But honestly, I think, song for song, IV really delivers everything that Zeppelin is about as a band. If you listen to classic rock at all, you probably know most if not all of these songs. They are stone cold classics, all of them. I cannot stress enough how rare that is in an album. Yeah, a few have been overplayed somewhat in the past 50(!) years. But this is an album that holds up ridiculously well to repeat listening. From the mega energy “Rock and Roll,” to the grandiose, epic “Stairway to Heaven,” to the delicate acoustic “Going to California,” to the slow burning blues of “When the Levee Breaks,” every flavor of Zeppelin is present here. “Black Dog,” my word. That is possibly the best intro to any album that I have heard. It's perfection. Fave Songs (All songs, in order from most to least favorite, adding that I love them all): When the Levee Breaks, Going to California, Rock and Roll, Black Dog, Stairway to Heaven, Misty Mountain Hop, Four Sticks, The Battle of Evermore

Led Zeppelin provides crucial evidence in the age old debate about what would happen if the greatest cock rock band of all time was made up of a bunch of Tolkien nerds. Turns out it's pretty cool. This album is excellent the whole way through, and it finishes even stronger than it starts. Stairway to Heaven gets a lot of the attention for this album, but When the Levee Breaks is my nomination for the best Zeppelin song of all time. 5/5

ashamed this is the first time i'm listening to led zeppelin... liked this album to listen to again. misty mountain hop is dooooope i love the discordance and atonality!!

That's a guy with sticks on his back

Probably their best I've heard so far, which isn't really saying much. Stairway to Heaven is cool (if over played), the rest is pretty bland and typical. I'll be nice and give a 3 I guess. I don't hate it, but I definitely don't love it either.

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... i'm bored LMAO

This. In a sea of amazing albums from Led Zeppelin, this one, Led Zeppelin IV, is their magnum opus. "Stairway to Heaven" is not my favorite Led Zeppelin song, but I'd be remiss not to mention this song. It's a masterwork of a song that tips the scales on this already stacked album. This song builds and progresses expertly from a musical, lyrical, and vocal standpoint. It creates mystery and intrigue, it tells a story, it climbs upward, and it unleashes. It does all of this while dabbling across multiple genres, refusing to be pinned into any one box. It really is a stellar song. The important thing is that the rest of the album really lives up to "Stairway", though. Each song is epic, creative, and unique in its own right. While they may not be 8 minute long epics, these other tracks really do stand out, as well. This album doesn't just rest on its laurels, though it could. Every listen, across every year, across the passing decades, is a reminder of why this album really is a no-skip masterpiece. It's just one of the greatest albums that has and ever will exist, and that's saying something when your basis of comparison starts at "every other outstanding Led Zeppelin album".

Dear Gabriella, I'm sorry I blasted Misty Mountain Hop and Four Sticks in the car on prom night instead of asking if you were excited for the evening but John Bonham's drumming seemed more interesting than the way you had done your hair.

A classic for a reason. Great music, great memories.

Feels a little silly writing a review of this, so all I'll say is that in case you weren't aware, "When the Levee Breaks" is one of the most sampled beats of all time, for example on fellow 1001 album lister Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill (Rhymin' and Stealin'). It's one of the hugest, heaviest grooves you'll ever hear, mainly because John Bonham is has a devastating sense of time that makes him one of the funkiest drummers ever and people will continue to borrow his beats for many years to come. Go listen to it again right now if you can, focusing on the drums. Magnificent. Listen to Black Dog, for example. The guitar and bass are playing these ridiculously complicated riffs and Bonham cuts through it all like Alexander The Great slicing through the Gordian knot, with an incredibly simple beat that takes great maturity and musical instinct to conceive, and immaculate sense of time to execute so effectively, and provides a powerful contrast to the busy strings. People tend to get distracted with the fiery guitar and Lord of the Rings references and blues thievery but for me at least, Bonham is the most interesting and probably most influential musician in this band and this album is a tremendous showcase for his talents.

That was so good 😊

Well, come on now…. Could there be a more influential rock album? Rock song? There’s an argument to be made, but probably a waste of breath. It’s not my all-time, but deserves the accolades of a top ten. So 5, despite the plagiarism.

Another classic, even if Stairway is the most overplayed song in history.

Starts well, ends well, goes on a bit in the middle. Honestly, like, Zeppelin are good, they're just not as good as their fans or, more important, they themselves think they are.

A classic of course - can't really review it neutrally as I have the vinyl and have listened to it repeatedly, though not for a while. Not sure my 52 year old self likes it quite as much as my 17 year old self did, but it is still pretty good.

Yes! Finally an album that I'm quite familiar with. Immersed my self in all the 60's classic bands when I was just a young pup coming of age to the realization of what music means. What an album. Hell, what a band! Full blown classic Zep' immediately on display in Led Zeppelin IV from the opening riff of Black Dog to the unmistakable hard drumming of Bonham in When the Levee Breaks. Been a long time since America simply rock and rolled and no one did it better than LZ. The fantasy interlude of The Battle of Evermore slows down the album and not one of my favorites but an enjoyable tune non the less. Admittedly, I switch the station if Stairway to Heaven comes on but still fully appreciate the impact and value of Stairway and the lyrics. And if I do listen to it, can still bring on the goose bumps...does anybody remember laughter (added in one of their live versions). Right back into the head banging, body thumpin' with Misty Mountain hop. Why don't you take a good look at yourself and describe what you see and Baby, Baby, Baby do you like it? Always thought the lyrics were drowned out in Four Sticks. Going to California is one of my favorites, not of just Led Zeppelin's. Could listen to it over and over. Meet you up there where the path runs straight and high...Tellin' myself it's not as hard, hard, hard as it seems...it's hard (it's hard included in a live version). And one last full blown hard rock song with Plant's unique singing exhibited: Don't it make you feel bad When you're tryin' to find your way home You don't know which way to go? If you're goin' down south They got no work to do If you're going down to Chicago. A-ah, a-ah, a-ah...

Not much care here. III for me. But yeah, should be on this here list.

Misty Mountain Hop and Going to California are forever favorites. It's really hard not to love this album and really hard not to skip Stairway to Heaven.

There is a lot of plagiarism on this album, it’s so brazen, like one of those hiding in plain sight situations (Jimmy Saville). I get that stairway is a boomer anthem but it made me feel nothing. It’s a decent album overall but it’s like they colonised black music and copywrited it.

The fourth rock album from Led Zeppelin was a critical and commercial success, as well as the band's best selling album. The album is certified 24x platinum which makes it diamond certified too. The band's most popular song "Stairway to Heaven" also comes from this album. This album is regarded as a cornerstone of the 1970's hard rock music, because it had a great diversity of songs and was so popular. I thoroughly liked this album and will listen to more Led Zeppelin songs I haven't heard yet.

Messieurs Boombastic (Not quite telephontastic) The good here is very very good. The not so good is just that.

it’s like a country album but with rock. i don’t like it, i only like one song. 4/10

My friend Twelve Pint Simon loves this record. He used to travel to Belgium every weekend and play it LOUD so all Belgians could hear and kiss him on his mouth. I said "Nobody likes phlegmish kisses" and he said "did you just say phlegmish or flemish?" Then I pointed out that they are homonyns and I was making a pun. Simon laughed, went outside and ate crisps in the carpark.

Super Dope

great album. classic for great reason

Probably the album I listened to the most on this list. Damn right it’s a must listen!

I haven't listened to Led Zeppelin in far too long. I had nearly forgotten how much I love this album. Essential listening for sure. 5/5 #91

Anyone who worked in a guitar center hates this band and specifically this album.

Transcendental.

Schaar mezelf nooit echt onder de vele fans van deze hard rock-giganten, maar dit is een onmiskenbaar monument in de rockgeschiedenis. En naast dat het gewoon bij vlagen geweldig rockt ('Black Dog', 'Rock and Roll'), weet hij deze no-nonsense songs ook subtiel te doseren met blues, folk en roots rock. Het zorgt ervoor dat zelfs de niet doorgewinterde hardrockers echt met gemak door deze plaat fietsen. 'The Battle of Evermore' (met een geweldige bijdrage van Sandy Denny van Fairport Convention) en 'Going to California' breken heerlijk het hoge tempo. Het zijn echt songs die Led Zeppelin in hun kracht spelen, door rock te maken die altijd lijkt te zinspelen op iets mythisch, vooral geworteld in Keltische geschiedenis. En de twee obvious sleutelsongs zijn natuurlijk 'Stairway to Heaven' en - mijn favoriet en één van de meest epische afsluiters - 'When the Levee Breaks'. Daarmee voelt dit toch wel als een volmaakte plaat: waar een verhaal inzit, die een decennialange indruk achterlaat met een aantal iconische songs, en die soms gewoon lekker dom kan rocken. 9/10 Highlights: Black Dog Stairway to Heaven Going to California When the Levee Breaks

Classic album with lots of classic songs. It's got a little bit of everything Led Zeppelin does well: blistering rock 'n' roll (including "Rock and Roll"), psychedelic folk rock, and heavy metal. For whatever reason though, it's the one Led Zeppelin album from their classic period that I feel the least personal connection to. Maybe that's because a bunch of these songs -- "Black Dog," "Rock and Roll," and "Stairway to Heaven" -- have been played so much on classic rock radio and in commercials. It's hard for me to hear them with fresh ears. It's still a great album, but for whatever reason, I gravitate emotionally more toward some of their other albums. "When the Levee Breaks" is incredible though! I think that's my favorite song here. It's got such a sexy riff and groove. I was really jamming to that one today!

Arguably the best album by arguably the best rock band ever. It deserves all the acclaim, the love, and the adoration of the masses. It's got their classic groovy hard rocking songs like Black Dog, it's got their timeless ethereal epic Stairway to Heaven, it's got their Lord of the Rings folk adventure in The Battle of Evermore, it's got their stunningly beautiful moments like all of "Going to California", and it ends on an amazing cover of "When the Levee Breaks". Every track is amazing. Jimmy Page's guitar playing is masterful. It's jam packed with slanky lazy-yet-crisp overdriven moments, and it's so dynamic and yet still cohesive with his overall music vocabulary. John Bonham's drumming is at full force here. "Rock and Roll" is one of the great classic rock drum beats, and I love that he knows exactly when to overdo a beat, and when to take a step back and let the others shine. John Paul Jones is a perfect style of superglue to all of the band around him. His bass on "Rock and Roll" really drives the song in an incredible high energy war of attrition between him and John Bonham. How one of them doesn't get tired a minute into the song is amazing to me. And of course, Robert Plant's voice is maybe as close to perfect as you can get on a recording. It is soft and intimate, it is loud and aggressive, it's emotional, it's so wonderfully tied into the band. Great unique lyrics too. The time period in my life where I listened to "Stairway to Heaven" the most was probably when I was in my teens. I dove pretty deep into the conspiracy rabbit holes around this song and all the alleged Aleister Crowley occult connections. That stuff has always interested me but 13 year old me was really fascinated (and probably a little frightened) by it, so I remember listening to all of the chopped up versions of the song, and the reversed clips and all of that. Since then I've of course heard this song throughout my life, but it feels almost a little less epic now? I am 36 now, and maybe time just moves a bit faster, as an 8 minute song can be listened to while you drink a cup of coffee. When I was younger, this song was somehow 15 to 30 minutes... it was an experience. It's not to take away from the song, more so just something that I recognize in my own life and music-listening-experience. Anecdote aside, this song is one of the best ever. It encompasses everything that is great with Led Zeppelin, and this song alone would make this album a 5/5. This album captures the ethos of this project as well as any. It is a record that transcends music taste, that transcends generations; it is truly timeless, and one of the best works of art ever created. It's a clear 5/5, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the highest rated album on this 1001 list.

Killer songs throughout except maybe four sticks, that one was weird.

My favourite Led Zep album. So many riffs. So many classics. Starts hard and finishes strong. Well sequenced track list. This album is a journey through genre and feeling. It's really fantastic. Black Dog! Rock and Roll!! They rock hard. All hepped up on rock and need a rest after the first two tracks? Battle of Evermore will give you a break. Feeling calm now? Fricking Stairway will trick you and bring you from placid vibe back up to rock Nirvana again, ready for a cruisy Misty Mountain Hop. If there's any filler it's maybe Four Sticks, but not really, it just moves your along and before you know it you're going to California. String and satisfying Bluesy finish with When the Levee Breaks, and I could almost go round again. It's just a well rounded, thoughtfully structured powerhouse made by a band at their peak. Morrissey couldn't dream of making anything this good. Five stars.

Classic

Awesome.

Perfect

Loved this at 17, rolled my eyes at it in my 20s and 30s, and now I love it again.

I still remember how it blew my mind the first time I really listened to Stairway.

No way they haven't sold their souls to the devil!

9/10

Big fat guitar riffs. Makes me want to join a band.

What can I say that hasn’t already been said? Nearly every song on this album is a classic and they come together to make the album a masterpiece. If you like rock, especially progressive/hard rock with fantasy-themed lyrics, this is your holy grail, your One Ring. 5+⭐️

Hadn't listened to this one in a while, as I overplayed a lot of the songs when I was a teenager. Forgot how great this album is! Not a bad song on it and many of Zeppelin's best. John Bonham's ferocious drumming is the highlight, especially on When the Levie Breaks.

Going to California is such a beautiful song man. This album was 42 minutes of pure euphoria, it almost felt too short. I wish I had more time so I guess I’ll just have to spin that mfer back again!

a classic and a must listen

How could one argue with this record? Start to finish badassery. 5 stars easy.

Every track outstanding

Really enjoyed this one as I was working outside, and will listen to it again. Intricate orchestrations, throbbing blues bass lines, screaming guitars, soaring vocals, what's not to like.

Fun listen! Great instrumentals and good vocal work. 'Stairway to Heaven' is my fave and and all time classic.

Album phare. Pas de faiblesse, même Black Dog... Pour satisfaire Guillaume ils auraient pu intervertir la première et la dernière chanson: débuter par Rock and Roll et terminer par Black Dog.

J - 5/5 Best Track - "Stairway To Heaven" F - 2/5

Un plaisir de redécouvrir cet album. Tellement un beau mix de blues, hardcore rock, psychédélique. Et je réalise à quel point Jimmy Page est un génie du riff (et de la guitare 12 cordes)

Led Zeppelin's masterpiece, so many good songs.

Classic. One of my favorite albums.

Timeless

Timeless masterpiece

we need more popular music about hobbits

Smack in the middle of a legendary six album run

Fucking hell… That’s life changing stuff

First Led Zep to turn up on the list. Always good to get an album already owned. Brilliant openers and for me the last great Led Zep album.

Perfect

Everything about this album is amazing, Great mix of hard rock and then a folksy element with the mandolin driven songs. The vocals are amazing, love the sound of the drums and then some of the most iconic guitar riffs. A band at the peak of their powers.

One of the most iconic rock albums of all time, might not even be in my top 3 Zeppelin albums which shows how consistently great their catalogue is, nearly everything on here is a classic

Black Dog - 5/5 Rock And Roll - 5/5 The Battle of Evermore - 4/5 Stairway to Heaven - 5/5 Misty Mountain Hop - 4/5 Four Sticks - 4/5 Going to california - 4,5/5 When the levee breaks - 5/5

Who’s this ?Untitled? Probably sucks. Four Sticks is clearly the breakout single.

Perfection

14/05/2025 I'm surprised I've never listened to this before but I actually enjoyed it.

A classic. The LOTR of Albums.