Zo40: Led Zeppelin IV Forty Years Later

Two score ago today, Led Zeppelin released their fourth album. The record had no title, no song listing, no serial number and no mention of the gentlemen who recorded it. 

What it did have was the mightiest slab of blues-based hard rock and acoustic hobbit-folk to ever grace the ears of mortal man.


Led Zeppelin IV (aka ZoSo among many other names -- be sure to vote in the RT ZoSo poll in the upper righthand corner) is one of those records that is so ingrained iinto the DNA of the late baby-boomer, Gen- X crowd lhat it is hard to think of it objectively, to think of a record that was written, recorded, produced and released. It seems like it was handed down from the gods of rock, Ten Commandments style, from the hermit on the inner gatefold.

One afternoon, when I was in eighth or ninth grade, and was just starting to explore the classic rock canon, I went to the local record store and picked up ZoSo and Are You Experienced by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Once I could drop the needle “Black Dog” or "Misty Mountain Hop" or "Purple Haze" anytime I wanted, instead of waiting for it to be played on WPLJ, the world was a more macho, slightly more satanic place.

Just as powerful as ZoSo's macho come-ons were the ballads, beautiful ones. “The Battle of Evermore” sounded like it was written in Stonehenge and featured lovely vocals by Sandy Denny who was in the English folk group Fairport Convention. And on Side 2 was “Going to California” a tribute to band hero Joni Mitchell (whose recent Blue LP had a tune called "California") that is the loveliest song they ever recorded.

The album closes with the mighty blues "When the Levee Breaks" which features perhaps the fiercest drum sound ever captured on tape. In the must-see 2007 guitar doc It Might Get Loud, Zep overlord Jimmy Page explains how he got the sound in Mick Jagger's country home, where ZoSo was recorded.

I forgot to mention the record contains "Stairway to Heaven," the most popular epic rock song of all time. The tune, which Rober Plant introduces here as a "song of hope" begs the musical question, Does anybody remember laughter?

If you haven’t given ZoSo a spin in a while, you should, because it is without question one of the most overpowering displays of sheer awesomeness ever recorded, right up there with Revolver, Hightway 61 Revisited, Who’s Next, Sticky Fingers, London Calling, Purple Rain and Slippery When Wet.



Buy on iTunes: Led Zeppelin IV/ZoSo