Well what better to start with than this is constantly voted the best rock album ever made, every single song on this album is a genuine bonafide classic and everyone of the songs on this album will be played dozens of times each on rock radio stations around the world every single day for the rest of your life and probabaly for the rest of any of your relatives, relatives, relatives lifes probabaly.
The track on this album that gets the most airplay is undoubtedly stairway to heaven, which for those of you unlucky enough never to have heard of it, is the song that gets voted the best rock song ever made more than any other, but if you look at the facts that becomes rather unsurprising, I mean that one song alone has officially spent more than 50 years of continous play on the many legal radio stations across the world , but the amount of airplay its had can probabaly be doubled if you think about how much pirate radio stations have played that tune to death as well, perhaps more amazing is the fact that stairway is the only tune on led zep 4 that isnt really based on a meaty riff, instead the song is based around a rather clever acoustic sound and only really becomes a raging rock monster when it nears its climax, which to be fair is probabaly the best climax to a song ever, the end guitar solo in particular is heavenly
This isn't a one trick pony album though for instance one of the slower tracks on the album, when the levee breaks officially has the most sampled drum-beat ever and is quite the monster of a song as well
The two songs black dog and rock n roll are both major rock radio staples which both have riffs to die for, misty mountain hop, going to calafornia and four sticks all show a slightly tenderer side to the led zep musical pallette and between them provide some really good acoustic pieces and then finally there is battle of evermore which is hard to describe to say the least but is like a little folk song but worth having a good listen to, if nothing else just to see how robert plants vocals are much stronger and powerful in the song than sandy dennys from the band fairport convention and to see how jimmy page implements his mandolin to good effect
As for individual performances on the album all four members played their part in making what is quite possibly the most jaw dropping musical statement ever made and you get the feeling they knew it was something really special when they made it because they couldn't be bothered to even give the album a proper name or at least put theie band name on the front, the only way the album was identifiable is if you knew what you were looking at and it takes an album and a half to create its own identity
Overall this is not just a landmark album and it is not just a musical statement it is in fact a work of art and if you are into rock music the chances are you will agree, the singing on this album is fantasticly emotive and powerful, the guitar work is fantastic to the point where some people think its never been bettered by anyone and the rhythm section of john bonham and john paul jones is a masterclass in how to put real music together
This is a genuinely breath-taking album and it is one of the few albums out there that is worth 6 stars if you dont own it, invest in a copy, you won't be disappointed