LED ZEPPELIN IV

I admit that I'll be the first in any room to start shrieking along to Robert Plant (especially if it's about Middle Earth), but Led Zeppelin's music never connected with me nearly as much as most of the other big prog bands of the day. It's hard to knock the band that helped redefine hard rock, but the majority of this album's songs are simply too straightforward and uninteresting to make nearly as big an impression as the few gems ("Stairway" and "Evermore"). The musicians themselves might actually be the second most overrated players around (after John/Paul/George/Ringo), with the rhythm section being immediately forgettable and Jimmy only delivering the goods with hit-and-miss consistency.

Nevertheless, everyone should own this album, for historical significance as much as anything else, but anyone seeking some truly innovative or creative progressive music should look elsewhere (after all, you can turn the radio to any classic rock station at any time to hear "Black Dog").

Songwriting: 2 Instrumental Performances: 2 Lyrics/Vocals: 3 Style/Emotion/Replay: 3