Led Zeppelin IV

Description

In 1968, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant formed Led Zeppelin, one of the most influential, innovative and successful groups in modern music, having sold more than 300 million albums worldwide. The band rose from the ashes of The Yardbirds, when Page brought in Plant, Bonham and Jones to tour as The New Yardbirds. In 1969, Led Zeppelin released its self-titled debut. It marked the beginning of a 12-year reign, during which the group was widely considered to be the biggest and most innovative rock band in the world. The Led Zeppelin reissue campaign got off to an remarkable start in June 2014 as deluxe editions of Led Zeppelin , Led Zeppelin II , and Led Zeppelin III debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The albums achieved similar international success with debuts near the top of the charts in more than a dozen territories, including Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom. For the second round, the band prepared the reissues of Led Zeppelin IV (the third best-selling album in U.S. history) and Houses Of The Holy . As with the previous deluxe editions, both albums have been newly remastered by guitarist and producer Jimmy Page and are accompanied by a second disc of companion audio comprised entirely of unreleased music related to that album. The second round of reissues begins with one of the most artistically influential and commercially successful albums in the history of music, Led Zeppelin IV . Released in November 1971, the album—which is officially untitled—defined the sound of rock music for a generation with ubiquitous anthems such as "Stairway To Heaven, " "Rock And Roll, " "Black Dog, " and "When The Levee Breaks. " The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, has been certified 23x platinum by the RIAA. The Led Zeppelin IV deluxe editions include unreleased versions of every song heard on the original album including alternate mixes of "Misty Mountain Hop" and "Four Sticks, " mixes of "The Battle Of Evermore" and "Going To California" heavy with guitar and mandolin, and the fabled, alternate version "Stairway To Heaven, " mixed at the Sunset Sound Studio in Los Angeles which lets fans hear one of the most revered songs of all time as they have never heard it before. Led Zeppelin continues to be honored for its pivotal role in music history. The band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005, and a year later was awarded with the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm. Founding members Jones, Page and Plant – along with Jason Bonham, the son of John Bonham – took the stage at London’s O2 Arena in 2007 to headline a tribute concert for Ahmet Ertegun, a dear friend and Atlantic Records’ founder. The band was honored for its lifetime contribution to American culture at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012. In January of 2014, the band won their first ever Grammy award as Celebration Day , which captured their live performance at the Ertegun tribute concert, was named Best Rock Album. Review: Great Music - Real Music Purchased as a gift for the electric guitar sounds for a music oriented High School family member. This music came out when bands Had to Be Great to survive. Led Zeppelin survived and his music is iconic to an era. Review: Led Zeppelin's Fourth Album: A Superb Classic! - 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!