LED ZEPPELIN IV

One of the foremost albums in rock, along with "Machine Head", "Dark Side Of The Moon" and "Boston", this is one of those albums that you will see on the shelves of just about every single person you know and their parents and aunts and uncles and former college roommates' dogs' owners' third cousins', too. And there's good reason for it; Led Zeppelin's fourth release, whatever you want to call it, is a really solid album.

Normally I'm not a fan of Led Zeppelin, whether it's because I can't stand Robert Plant's voice (OooooOOOH MaaMaa Mamaghg) or because I find Jimmy Page's playing sloppy or his tone tinny, but those unfortunate elements are nowhere to be found on this album. Instead we find a collection of 8 coherent, well-written songs performed in a collected but exciting manner. The album strikes a good balance between hard rock and folk sensibilities. I don't care for the folk songs, such as "The Battle Of Evermore" and "Going to California" as much, but the folk work on "Stairway To Heaven" is sublime, regardless of whether or not you believe to be plagiarized from Spirit's "Taurus". The hard rock numbers really are the winners here, though, with "Black Dog", "Rock And Roll" and the blues rock "When The Levee Breaks" standing on par with, or above, proto-metal contemporaries Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep.

The album isn't quite tight or innovative enough for me to call it a masterpiece, but it is still a great album for rock fans to have. If you haven't heard this album yet, go listen to it right away.