LED ZEPPELIN IV @ 50

 

November 8th marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Led Zeppelin’s eponymous fourth album, alternately known as Led Zeppelin IV or sometimes “ZOSO” in reference to the mysterious symbol used by Jimmy Page for the album graphics. It remains the group’s most critically and commercially successful album, being home to what has become their “signature” song, Stairway to Heaven.

With the somewhat lukewarm & dismissive critical response to Led Zeppelin III, which is MY personal favorite of their canon, Jimmy Page determined to stick it to the critics a bit by making it deliberately difficult to reference the new album by virtue of the fact it technically has no title. Even down to the album graphics on the cover, there’s virtually no information present anywhere. This was a decision the band’s record company resisted as much as they could, considering it commercial suicide, but the band, by this point, had enough clout that they stubbornly hung onto the master tapes until the label agreed to release the album precisely according to the group's instructions. It’s a decision vindicated by the successful mystique that ended up enveloping them and the album in the wake of its release.

Musically, the group found a relaxed retreat to record the bulk of the album when they located production to the Headley Grange country house in Hampshire, England. For recording, they rented the Rolling Stones mobile studio facility. This setup allowed them to work out ideas in a loose, improvisational manner where some compositions could arise out of impromptu jam sessions. The result is an album that manifests organically from the band members, who were able to contribute a wide range of elements to the finished product beyond their established roles. The album also features the extremely rare presence of guest performers in the form of Fairport Convention vocalist Sandy Denny’s contribution to The Battle Of Evermore and Rolling Stones pianist Ian Stewart on "Rock and Roll".

The album has gone on to achieve legendary status in the realm of classic rock, no doubt propelled to astronomical heights thanks to Stairway to Heaven and its near ubiquitous presence on FM radio over the past half century. Personally, I find the song suffers from over exposure and overshadows a lot of other great material that is contained on the album, but you can’t really fault the band for their success. In a sense, this could be considered the peak of their perfection as subsequent releases struggled to live up to this level of achievement.