Led Zeppelin IV

Infobox Album
Name = Led Zeppelin IV
Type = studio
Artist = Led Zeppelin


Released = November 8, 1971
Recorded = December 1970–March 1971 at
Headley Grange, Hampshire, with The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio;
Island Studios, London;
Sunset Sound, Los Angeles.
Mixed at Island Studios, London;
Olympic Studios, London.
Length = 42:33
Label = Atlantic
Producer = Jimmy Page
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=Anl508qbtbtv4 link]
* "NME" (9/10) [October 2, 1992 p. 29]
* "Q" Rating|5|5 [July 1994]
* Robert Christgau (A) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Led+Zeppelin link]
* "Rolling Stone" (Favorable) [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/236870/review/5946018 December 11, 1971 p. 63]
Last album = "Led Zeppelin III"
(1970)
This album = "Led Zeppelin IV"
(1971)
Next album = "Houses of the Holy"
(1973)

"Led Zeppelin IV" is the common, but unofficial name of the untitled fourth album of English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released on November 8 1971. It has no official title printed anywhere on the album, but is generally called "Led Zeppelin IV" after the band's previous three numbered albums. Atlantic Records catalogs have used the names "Four Symbols" ("see below") and "The Fourth Album"; it has also been referred to as "Zoso", which the first symbol appears to spell. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page frequently refers to the album in interviews as "the fourth album" and "Led Zeppelin IV",Dave Schulps, [http://www.iem.ac.ru/zeppelin/docs/interviews/page_77.trp Interview with Jimmy Page] , "Trouser Press", October 1977.] [http://www.iem.ac.ru/zeppelin/docs/interviews/page_93.gw Interview with Jimmy Page] , "Guitar World" magazine, 1993] while singer Robert Plant thinks of it as "the fourth album, that's it".Austin Scaggs, [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/robertplant/articles/story/7287549/qa_robert_plant Q&A: Robert Plant] , "Rolling Stone", May 5, 2005.]

"Led Zeppelin IV" was a huge success commercially and critically when it was released. Most of album's songs are staples on classic rock radio stations, including "Black Dog", "Rock and Roll", "When the Levee Breaks", and "Stairway to Heaven". The album is one of the best-selling albums in history at 40 million units, with over 23 million sold in the United States, third most for any album all-time. [ cite web
title = Top 100 Albums
publisher = RIAA
url = http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=tblTop100
accessdate = 2008-08-11] RS500|66

Overview

The album was initially recorded at Island Records's newly opened Basing Street Studios, London at the same time as Jethro Tull's "Aqualung",citation
title = Their Time is Gonna Come
newspaper = Classic Rock Magazine
date=December 2007] before further recordings took place at Headley Grange, a remote Victorian house in East Hampshire, England, as well as Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, CA. After the lukewarm, if not confused and sometimes dismissive, critical reaction "Led Zeppelin III" had received in the autumn of 1970, Jimmy Page decided that the next Led Zeppelin album would not have a title, but would instead feature four hand-drawn symbols on the inner sleeve and record label, each one chosen by the band member it represents. "We decided that on the fourth album, we would deliberately play down the group name, and there wouldn't be any information whatsoever on the outer jacket", Page explained. "Names, titles and things like that do not mean a thing."cite web
last = Adams
first = Cecil
authorlink = Cecil Adams
title = What Do the Four Symbols on Led Zeppelin's 4th Album Mean?
work = straightdope.com
url = http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mledzeppelin.html
accessdate = 2008-08-11]

Page has also stated that the decision to release the album absent of any written information on the album sleeve was contrary to strong advice given to him by a press agent, who said that after a year's absence from both records and touring, the move would be akin to "professional suicide". In the words of the guitarist: "We just happened to have a lot of faith in what we were doing."

Owing to the lack of an official title, Atlantic Records initially distributed graphics of the symbols in many sizes to the press for inclusion in charts and articles. The album was one of the first to be produced without conventional identification, and this communicated an anti-commercial stance that was controversial at the time (especially among certain executives at Atlantic Records).

Reception

In 1998, "Q" magazine readers voted "Led Zeppelin IV" the 26th greatest album of all time; in 2000 "Q" placed it at #26 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. RS500|66It is #7 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of the 1970s.A 2005 listener poll conducted by Toronto, Ontario classic rock station Q107 named "Led Zeppelin IV" the #2 best classic rock album of all time.In 2006, the album was rated #1 on [http://www.classicrockmagazine.com "Classic Rock" magazine's] 100 Greatest British Albums poll; that same year it was voted #1 in "Guitar World" 100 Greatest Albums readers' poll and was ranked #7 in ABC media's top ten albums.

The symbols

Each member of the band chose a personal emblem for the cover, an idea which came from Jimmy Page. In an interview he gave in 1977, Page explained:

Left to right, their members and meanings:

*Jimmy Page's symbol is generally referred to as "ZoSo." Page designed it by altering a symbol he found in a book on ancient mythology. Fact|date=September 2008
*John Paul Jones' symbol is a single circle intersecting 3 "vesica pisces" (a triquetra). According to "The Book of Signs" by Rudolf Koch, it symbolises a person with confidence and competence, and also represents water which is one of the base elements. [cite book
last = Koch
first = Rudolf
title = The Book of Signs
year = 1930
publisher = The Limited Editions Club
location = London
isbn =
pages = p. 32]
*John Bonham's symbol, the three interlocking rings, represents the trinity of mother, father and child. It could also depict an aerial view of a drum kit. It does in fact represent the idea of trilogies and trios, and, more commonly, is a Christian symbol for the Trinity. In the 1990 Bonham tribute radio special, "It's Been a Long Time," son Jason Bonham stated that the symbol was chosen as a representation of man, woman, and child. Jones's and Bonham's symbols fitting together — one to the other inside out, inverse images — is no accident. In any band, the bassist and drummer form interlocking parts of a rhythm section. The symbol also happens to be the logo for Ballantine beer, and it also represents earth which is a base element. Former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has Bonham's symbol tattooed on his right wrist and Silverchair drummer Ben Gillies has Bonham's symbol tattooed on the back of his neck.
*Robert Plant's symbol is the feather of the Egyptian goddess Ma'at, representing truth, justice, fairness and writing, encapsulated by an unbroken circle representing life. According to Egyptian mythology, Osiris, the god of judgment and death, would take the heart of those who died and put it on a balance with the feather of Ma'at. If the heart outweighed the feather, the person's soul would go to hell, but on the other hand, if the heart was lighter than the feather, the soul would go to heaven.

There is also a fifth, smaller symbol chosen by guest vocalist Sandy Denny representing her contribution to "The Battle of Evermore"; it appears in the credits list on the inner sleeve of the LP, serving as an asterisk and is shaped like three triangles touching at their points.

During Led Zeppelin's tour of the United Kingdom in Winter 1971, which took place shortly following the release of the album, the band visually projected the four symbols on their stage equipment. Jimmy Page's "Zoso" symbol was put onto one of his Marshall amplifiers, John Bonham's three interlinked circles adorned the outer face of his bass drum, John Paul Jones had his symbol stenciled onto material which was draped across his Fender Rhodes keyboard and Robert Plant's feather symbol was painted onto a side speaker PA cabinet. Only Page's and Bonham's symbols were retained for subsequent Led Zeppelin concert tours.cite book
last = Lewis
first = Dave
coauthors = Phallett, Simon
title = Led Zeppelin: The Concert File
year = 2007
publisher = Omnibus Press
location = London
isbn = 0-7119-5307-4
pages = p. 72]

Album cover and inside sleeve

The painting on the front of the album, showing an old man carrying a bundle of sticks, was allegedly purchased from a junk shop in Reading, Berkshire by a Led Zeppelin roadie (Jimmy Page has stated it was bought by Robert Plant) and affixed to the internal, papered wall of the partly demolished house for the photograph to be taken.

The inside illustration was "The Hermit", credited to Barrington Colby Mom, influenced by the design of the card of the same name in the Rider-Waite tarot deck.

The typeface for the lyrics to "Stairway to Heaven", printed on the inside sleeve of the album, was Page's contribution. He found it in an old arts and crafts magazine called "Studio Magazine" which started in the late 1800s. He thought the lettering interesting and arranged for someone to work up a whole alphabet.citation
last = Tolinski
first = Brad
last2 = Di Bendetto
first2 = Greg
title = Light and Shade
newspaper = Guitar World
date=January 1998]

Page has explained that the cover of the fourth album was intended to bring out a city/country dichotomy that had initially surfaced on "Led Zeppelin III":

Track listing

tracklist
headline = Side one
writing_credits = yes
title1 = Black Dog
writer1 = Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones
length1 = 4:57
title2 = Rock and Roll
writer2 = Page, Plant, Jones, John Bonham
length2 = 3:40
title3 = The Battle of Evermore
writer3 = Page, Plant
length3 = 5:52
title4 = Stairway to Heaven
writer4 = Page, Plant
length4 = 8:00

tracklist
headline = Side two
writing_credits = yes
title1 = Misty Mountain Hop
writer1 = Page, Plant, Jones
length1 = 4:38
title2 = Four Sticks
writer2 = Page, Plant
length2 = 4:46
title3 = Going to California
writer3 = Page, Plant
length3 = 3:31
title4 = When the Levee Breaks
writer4 = Page, Plant, Jones, Bonham, Memphis Minnie
length4 = 7:07

Personnel

* Jimmy Page – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, producer, remastering, digital remastering
* Robert Plant – vocals, harmonica
* John Paul Jones – synthesizer, bass guitar, keyboards, mandolin, recorders
* John Bonham – drums
* Ian Stewart – piano (on "Rock and Roll", uncredited)
* Sandy Denny – vocals (on track 3)
* Peter Grant – executive producer
* George Chkiantz – mixing
* Andy Johns – engineer, mixing
* Graphreaks – design coordinator
* Barrington Colby Mom – inside illustration ("The Hermit")

; CD Mastering engineers
* Joe Sidore - original CD (mid-1980s)
* George Marino - remastered CD (1990)

Chart positions

Album

In popular culture

In the film "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"; Mike Damone (Robert Romanus) tells Mark Ratner (Brian Backer): "When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on side 1 of Led Zeppelin IV." This line was voted in "Entertainment Weekly" as one of "50 Great Movie Quotes of the Last Half Century". [cite web
title = 50 Great Movie Quotes of the Last Half Century
work = filmsite.org
url = http://www.filmsite.org/greatquotes.html
accessdate = 2008-08-11] In the next scene, Ratner is on the date with "Physical Graffiti"'s "Kashmir" playing in the car. According to the DVD commentary track, the error was not intentional, and the director speculated that the mistake could be used to show Ratner's lack of knowledge. In actuality, Universal Pictures couldn't get the rights to any of the songs on "Led Zeppelin IV", despite screenwriter Cameron Crowe's prior relationship to the band, so they opted to use "Kashmir" instead.Fact|date=January 2008Dubious|date=March 2008

ee also

* Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
* "Symbols (album)", a similarly graphically titled album by KMFDM

References

External links

*