"The time has come," she said, "to review Led Zeppelin IV." "Why?" they asked. "Why now?" "Because," she replied, "I was just out in the garden and it was about to rain and I had 'When the Levee Breaks' stuck in my head."
At this point I would like to offer a disclaimer in that if you don't have the Kashmir font on your system, the title will just look like some random percent signs and stuff. My advice: get the Kashmir font here. There is a Mac and a PC version of the font.
What can I say about such a legendary rock masterpiece. Ok, I know. It was, um, produced by Jimmy Page. The same man who later in life, possibly due to the drugs, momentarily said "Hey, who needs fans I've had for 30 years," and recorded a duet with (I'm putting this in italics to show my distaste) Puff Daddy of all people, bastardizing one of the all-time-great driving-around songs just to make the soundtrack for some pathetic, obnoxiously overbudgeted movie that went on to be seen by an estimated 17 people in all of North America!!! (Few deep breaths...) We'd better get to the track-by-track.
Black Dog This song gets the album off to a great start with the timeless pick-up line "Hey hey, mama, seen the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove." Ok, so the lyrics are kind of stupid. This, I think, is actually one of the great things about LZ. On the one hand, they had these songs with themes along the lines of mythology, Eastern mysticism, Celtic legends, the whole nine yards. But then they could go back and be the raucous (guess what I used to look up that word....that's right, Bloom County cartoons =) guys playing greasy ol' rock and/or roll. You couldn't really accuse them of being posers in either genre, so it was great.
Rock and Roll Continuing along the same lines, as it were....just another out'n'out fun song. The band really operates as a whole to create this perfect fusion of sound. Everything fits together, driving the beat along, letting it go on "lonely, lonely" and then catching it again with a swift cymbal crash. The honky-tonk (can I say that on the internet?) piano in the background really adds to the overall sound, and the drum fill serves perfectly to wrap up the song with gusto.
The Battle of Evermore If I had to pick a weak track on the album, this woud be it. Just a little too trippy for my taste. Apparently someone called Sandy Denny appears by courtesy of Island Records. I'm not really aware as to what it is s/he adds to the song. It's the kind of song where I think I would get a lot more out of it if I had the lyrics in front of me. I'm a visual person, so sue me. Anyway, I do dig the "bring it back" part, though sometimes it sounds like "ring of fire" which is a little more interesting. In this song's defense, it is a nice exercise in contrasting styles.
Stairway to Heaven I have a few confessions to make. First of all, I can never remember how to spell "heaven," whether it's en or an. Even as I wrote the title, I had to look at the CD to check it. The other confession is that for a good part of my life, I had never heard this song. Oh sure, I had seen Wayne's World, and laughed at the part where the music store guy won't let him play it, but it never made any sense until the day I finally heard this rock "epic." I think it was on one of those countdown specials, like the top 100 rock songs of all time, and this was naturally #1. I was very thrilled to finally hear it. It seemed very long at the time, but held my attention through the whole thing.
Now, lawyers, this is a review, so anything I write in here would be in the context of a review, right? Like if I was in my basement watching tv, that would be in the context of a basement. So it's ok if I mention Dave Barry's comment on the length of "Stairway" as cited in Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs, published by Andrews McMeel Publishing.
"I know I'm going to get into serious trouble with the Led Zeppelin people for this, but I need to get it off my chest--I seriously believe that "Stairway to Heaven" would be a much better song if they cut maybe 45 minutes out of it. For example, they don't need the part about 'If there's a bustle in your hedgerow.'"This brings up an interesting point. What exactly is a hedgerow, anyway ? Go here to read an interesting interpretation.
Anyway, the lyrics of this song are what sell it, in my opinion. Sure, there's the acoustic and flute intro that was forever memorialized in a midi that Mr. Lukens had on his computer. But you have to hand it to lines like "And as we wind down on the road, our shadows taller than our souls." Even if it does sound like "And there's a wino down the road, I should have stolen a toad." They're all written up in a really neat font in the liner notes to the CD.
The last thing about this song that I want to mention is that, unlike some rock "classics," I'm not sick of it. I would qualify that with a "yet," but I don't want to jinx myself.
Misty Mountain Hop I just love the intro to this, one of the few LZ tunes you can actually dance to. When I was in track in 8th grade, I would always have this song in my head when I was running, the "I didn't know this but it had got very dark" part. I would get the words in synch with my footsteps and just sort of keep going until I reached the bus. I really like the changeups with the tempo. Makes it interesting. Continuing with the baseball terminology, the windup that gets us into the last "Ooh, ooh," part (where he sounds like he's singing underwater).
Four Sticks I didn't really like this song when I first heard it, but it's actually pretty cool. "Four Sticks" sounds like it should be the title of an insanely complex drum solo, but maybe in this case it's just a percentage of the sticks the guy on the cover is carrying. You get the feeling that it's in some weird tempo, like 5/4. It's a neat song, I'd say the most underrated on the album. And this is just my opinion, but I'd wager that this is the album with the highest percentage of songs that get played on the radio. Maybe tied with Dark Side of the Moon.
Going to California According to Rolling Stone, sounds like it was recorded while sitting around jamming in some guy's yard. And it does evoke that feeling; sitting in lawn chairs with your friends on a cool summer night, drinking lemonade and watching the sun set. Aah. This was the first song I listened to on my trip to San Fransisco last summer obviously for the title, but also for the line "took my chances on a big jet plane." A very nice, peaceful song. The "seems that the wrath of the gods" part is a bit harsh, but I love the "aahs" at the end.
When the Levee Breaks This has been called "the greatest cover tune of all time" due to the fact that it was actually done by Memphis Minnie before LZ. I'd love to hear her (?) version. Anyway, this is a really cool song, due to the
the dragging, bluesy beats, the guitar that sounds almost like a harmonica, and the whole atmosphere it creates. Excellent personification--mean old levee. Truly evokes the spirit of the old South, down on the delta, etc., except that "going down
to Chicago" only makes sense if you're in Michigan (the state or the lake). And then the little endy part comes and tells you that the song is over and you have to get up and turn the record over.
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