Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin IV is the conventional, but unsanctioned designation of the untitled fourth album of English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was issued on November 8, 1971 in the United States and November 12, 1971 in the United Kingdom. Although several of Led Zeppelin's early albums sold well and made an impact on the world of music, Led Zeppelin IV enjoyed the greatest commercial success of all of the band's albums and is the band's best best-known album (charting at No. 2 in the US and No. 1 in the UK respectively). Containing such classic as "Black Dog", "Rock and Roll", and the epic eight minute "Stairway to Heaven", the album combined the blues influenced hard rock of the first two albums and the folk of the third, with the band finding a perfect balance on their fourth album.
Synopsis
The LP was at first recorded at Island Records' Basing Street Studios, London [1] prior to final sessions taking place at Headley Grange, a secluded Victorian era manor in East Hampshire, England, in addition to overdubs at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, California. Subsequent to the perplexed and sometimes indifferent reception Led Zeppelin III was greeted with in the autumn of 1970 by the music press, Page resolved that the following Led Zeppelin album would not have a name, but would in its place present four representative glyphs on the interior sleeve and spine, each one selected by the group member it symbolised. "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 elucidated. "Names, titles and things like that do not mean a thing."[2] Obligated due to the lack of an official name, Atlantic Records originally disseminated typefaces of the glyphs in various font sizes to the media for insertion into album reviews and charts. The release was one of the earliest to be shipped without traditional identification, and this conveyed an anti-establishment standpoint that was contentious at that point in time (especially among some accountants at Atlantic Records).
Led Zeppelin IV continues to be a recurring choice on classic rock programming and introduces highlights such as "Stairway to Heaven", one of the most celebrated and requested rock epics ever recorded.
Meaning
It has no endorsed appellation published anywhere on the album's frontispiece, but is normally called Led Zeppelin IV after the group's preceding three releases. Atlantic Records' catalogue libraries have used the titles Four Symbols and The Fourth Album interchangeably; it has also been monikered as ZoSo, which the first sigil appears to signify. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page commonly refers to the title in interviews as either Four Symbols or Led Zeppelin IV, while vocalist Robert Plant deems it as "the fourth album, that's it". It is one of the greatest selling albums in history, with over 23 million units shifted in the United States, currently third on the all-time sales list.[3] The lack of any information on the sleeve of the album was also in response to the prevalent trend amongst music critics of the day to label successful bands as being "hype". The band wanted the music to solely speak for itself.
All band members selected a personal insignia for the project:
- Jimmy Page's symbol is usually referred to as "ZoSo," though it is in fact meant to represent a non-alphabetic non-pronounceable sigil with a basis in alchemical hermeticism. It's true meaning has not been deciphered although it is similar to esoteric symbols representing the planet Saturn and the elemental symbol for fire.
- John Paul Jones' symbol is a solitary ring with overlapping triquetra. According to calligrapher Rudolf Koch, It signifies an individual with self-assurance and proficiency, and has links with the elements of water.[4]
- John Bonham's symbol is a trio of intertwined rings of identical size. The three rings signify father, mother and child, and form an inverse of Jones' symbol. The selection of Jones' and Bonham's emblems emphasises the interlocked rhythm section of the band, whereby each shape compliments and balances each other. The symbol has links to the element of earth.
- Robert Plant's symbol is am ostrich quill representative of the Kemet goddess Ma'at, enclosed by an unbroken ring. The quill is symbolic of balance, honesty, and justice and the ring eternity.
For this particular album, vocalist Sandy Denny's symbol chose three touching triangles, which according to Koch represents the "godhead".[5]
The usage of the symbols appeared on stage equipment following the release of the album. Page's "ZoSo" sigil was hand-painted onto the front of his Marshall amplifier stack, Bonham's bass drum featured his symbol, Jones' symbol was painted upon a white sheet fixed to the front of his keyboards and Plant PA cabinet featured his symbol. Page and Plant would later use their symbols for the Page-Plant series of tours, and Page's sigil appeared again during his tenure with The Black Crowes.
Cover design
The portrait on the album's frontispiece, presents an old man burdened by a sheaf of firewood. The painting is attached to the peeling wallpaper of a decaying house with skyscrapers rising in the background, was meant to carry the symbolism of an old simple way of life being replaced by the isolation of a new one. Reputedly purchased from a second-hand store in Reading. Berkshire by Plant, who wished to work it into the rustic appeal of Led Zeppelin III but found use for it on Led Zeppelin IV.[6]
Reaction
In 1998, Q magazine subscribers voted Led Zeppelin IV the 26th greatest album of all time; in 2000 "Q" positioned it at #26 in its register of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. It is listed at #7 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of the 1970s. A 2005 audience survey conducted by Toronto, Ontario classic rock FM station Q107 christened Led Zeppelin IV the #2 best classic rock album of all time. In 2006, the release was ranked #1 on 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 rated #7 in ABC media's top ten albums.
Track listing
| Led Zeppelin
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Notes
- ↑ "Their Time is Gonna Come", Classic Rock Magazine, December 2007
- ↑ The Straight Dope: What do the four symbols on Led Zeppelin's 4th album mean?
- ↑ RIAA. Top 100 Albums.
- ↑ Koch, Rudolf (1930). The Book of Signs Which Contains All Manner of Symbols Used From the Earliest Times to the Middle Ages by Primitive Peoples and Early Christians, 1st Edition. London: The First Edition Club, p. 32.
- ↑ Koch, Rudolf (1930). The Book of Signs Which Contains All Manner of Symbols Used From the Earliest Times to the Middle Ages by Primitive Peoples and Early Christians, 1st Edition. London: The First Edition Club, p. 5.
- ↑ Brad Tolinski and Greg Di Bendetto, "Light and Shade", Guitar World, January 1998.