Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

The untitled fourth album of English rock band Led Zeppelin was released on November 8, 1971. It has no official title mentioned on the cover and is commonly referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, in the style of the band's previous three albums. Atlantic Records catalogues have used the names Four Symbols and The Fourth Album, and it is also variously referred to as Untitled, Runes, Sticks, Man with Sticks, Four and ZoSo (after the appearance of the first character or symbol printed on the LP label). Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page frequently refers to the album in interviews as Led Zeppelin IV, while singer Robert Plant thinks of it as "the fourth album, that's it." It is one of the best-selling albums in history, with over 23 million units sold in the United States alone; estimates for worldwide figures usually top 30 million units.

The album was recorded at Island Records's newly opened Basing Street Studios, London, around the same time as Jethro Tull's Aqualung, and 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, 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."[2]
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).
Led Zeppelin IV remains a perennial favorite on classic rock radio and features "Stairway to Heaven", one of the most famous and popular rock songs ever recorded.
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. In 2003, the album was ranked number 66 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It 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 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.


"Black Dog" (Page/Plant/Jones) – 4:57
"Rock and Roll" (Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham) – 3:40
"The Battle of Evermore" (Page/Plant) – 5:52
"Stairway to Heaven" (Page/Plant) – 8:03
"Misty Mountain Hop" (Page/Plant/Jones) – 4:38
"Four Sticks" (Page/Plant) – 4:45
"Going to California" (Page/Plant) – 3:31
"When the Levee Breaks" (Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham/Memphis Minnie) – 7:08


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
George Marino – digital remastering
Graphreaks – design coordinator
Barrington Colby Mom – inside illustration (The Hermit)

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