Led Zeppelin IV, the nickname for the Untitled album of Led Zeppelin, which is indicated on the cover as four symbols, one of them looking like the word "Zoso." This is an amazing and popular album, mainly because of "Stairway to Heaven" and "Black Dog," but the album contains much more warm chocolatey goodness. Composed of 8 tracks, because of the popular 8-track players at the time, this album is relatively small, but full of great songs.
1. Black Dog: This is great rock tune here, immediately recognizable by Robert Plant wailing out "Hey, hey, mama, said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove," at the beginning. There's some nice guitar work in here, with a cool riff, and this is just a grooving song that moves along, with plant singing wonderfully, and yes, it is Plant, so there are bound to be alot of Ah's, Oh's, Yeah's, and Baby's. This song finishes out with a groovy guitar solo fading out to the end.
4.5/5
2. Rock and Roll: This is probably the fastest and heaviest song on the album. Another immediately recognizable one, because it starts out with the classic drum riff. Right after that come the powerful guitars, with a rocking riff, and Jones's bassline is groovy, in my opinion. You may know this song from a recent Cadillac commercial featuring it, while the cars are driving around, this song is playing. In comes the piano for the verse as well, which is pretty classy, and the guitar solo is hard to pick up at first, but it's lightning fast and tasty. 4/5
3. The Battle of Evermore: This is a tradition folk song that Led Zeppelin covered, NOT STOLE!! Sandy Denny is in on this song, and sings with Robert Plant, but the other voice parts are sang by John Paul Jones live. John Paul does a great job with the mandolins in here, but the real highlight of the song is Plant and Sandy's wonderful singing.
4/5
4. Stairway to Heaven: This song is regarded as one of the greatest songs in rock history, and it is also the most played song on FM radio to the day. The beginning starts with a beautiful accoustic guitar and than is later accompanied by recorders, and than after, by Plant's singing. The first minute or two is fully accoustic, and slow, and than the song picks up a bit, with the same verses, but with a new section in between ("Oooh, it makes me wonder,"). At 4 or 5 minutes, the song picks up and the drums come in, with a new verse and than after 2 verses, comes the bridge, and finally, an amazing guitar solo. The song builds up in energy, and at the end is fast and intense, and likely to have you totally hooked. The end slows down, and Plant sings the infamous "And she's buying a stairway to heaven..." 5/5
5. Misty Mountain Hop: This is a so-called "Hippie satire", with a groovy keyboard riff, which is joined by guitar, and groove-a-licious singing. Not too much to say about this song, because it needs to be listened to for the full effect, but a great song. 4/5
6. Four Sticks: A very underrated song, with a nice simple guitar riff at the beginning, electric of course, doubled by Jones on the bass. But plant's singing is amazing on this track, and there is also some accoustic guitar. There is a synth bridge later on, which totally hooks you into the song. A rather abtract song, not really about anything, but amazingly groovy. 4.75/5
7. Going to California: A slow, and very beautiful accoustic song. The accoustic guitar is beautiful, and the mandolin work by Jones is truly superb. This is the kind of song that I would want to be my wedding song =). Plant's singing is truly amazing, delivering a powerful message, with a great voice. 4.75/5
8. When The Levee Breaks: An awesome way to close the album. Another Memphis Minnie cover, of course, but an awesome blues song. Page comes in at the beginning with some powerful guitar, and Plant comes in with an awesome harmonica solo. Plant's singing is once again wonderful, with a wonderful story about the levees in New Orleans breaking, and "Goin' to Chicago," because he has lost his home and everything he has. An amazing blues song, and an excellent finish to the album. 4.75/5
