Music Review by Bill Rendall

Led Zeppelin Four

Led Zeppelin's fourth album marks the peak of the band's career. They had copped some flak on earlier albums for having borrowed from blues artists without giving due credit. By their fourth album they had established themselves as innovators rather than imitators.

Jimmy Page insisted that the cover for the fourth album had no title despite protests from the record company. Page was already at loggerheads with the record company over the band's policy of not releasing any singles.

The fourth album demonstrated that the tag "heavy metal" was too limiting to apply to Led Zeppelin. The album opens with 'Black Dog' which is as heavy a song as you will ever hear but later songs such as 'Battle of Evermore' and 'Going to California' sound more like acoustic folk music.

John Bonham cemented his reputation as one of the greatest drummers in rock. His inventive drumming style is in evidence on 'Four Sticks.' The title refers to him playing the drums with four sticks. 'When the Levee Breaks' features an enormous reverberant drum sound which inspired many other drummers and record producers.

'Stairway to Heaven' is often voted the greatest rock song of all time in polls. It has become a victim of its own success and is widely banned as a performance piece in guitar shops.

Andrew Denton, a popular Australian TV and radio personality, complied an album called 'Stairways to Heaven' which consists solely of versions of 'Stairway to Heaven.' The version performed by Rolf Harris became a surprise chart success. If you can stand hearing 'Stairway to Heaven' a few more times then this album is well worth a listen.

Led Zeppelin enjoyed a lot of hype from the outset of their career but also endured a lot of criticism. Their media relationship skills often got them in trouble but their musical skills are undeniable. Robert Plant's soaring vocals are emotionally overpowering. Echo and reverb effects make his vocals sound even larger than life.

Led Zeppelin's fourth album gets my recommendation as their best work. Their first two albums are also very worthy and include many classic rock songs such as the irresistible 'Whole Lotta Love'.

The quality of songs on subsequent albums by Led Zeppelin was patchy. The best development was John Paul Jones playing the Mellotron on 'The Rain Song' and 'Kashmir'. The Mellotron is most prominent on 'The Rain Song', taking the place of a string section. The arrangement is subtle and interesting because Jones plays the strings parts as if they are individual string instruments rather than playing block keyboard chords. There is less Mellotron in 'Kashmir' but it is very nicely mixed with a real string section.

There are not a lot of video recordings available of Led Zeppelin. The best recording is The Song Remains the Same. It captures a live performance of many of their classic songs but the video content is often over indulgent. A lot of the video is of fantasy scenes rather than the band playing their music. The video of the band performing is spoilt in parts by irritating video effects and camera angles.

I recommend the Unledded video featuring Plant and Page with a host of backing musicians. Highlights of the video are 'The Rain Song' and 'Kashmir', even though there is no Mellotron. 'The Rain Song' features a real string section from the London Metropolitan Orchestra. On 'Kashmir' they add an Egyptian ensemble which enhances the Middle Eastern sound of the song.