Rock without the c*ck
Way rockier than Triumph Unseen by Nick Worrall but no less brilliant. Hailed by most who hear it as a classic it very probably is. Buy it and find out.

Led Zeppelin, "Led Zeppelin IV aka ZOSO), 1971
By the far the best Led Zeppelin album you can buy and one of the greatest rock albums you can buy. This is Led Zeppelins best period of time and when they sounded the best and were the best. All eight songs on here are great and this album should be bought by any fan of rock music.

1. Black Dog, a nice start too this album and has good blues singing(Robert Plant), and plus the beat on here is very cool and that guitar sound is very nice. Great song 5/5 stars

2. Rock N Roll, this song has one of the coolest drum intros of all time and its riff and beat cant be sold. A classic song that so many people today still download. Nothing else too say except its a great song and if you havent heard it than download it now. 5/5 stars

3. The Battle Of Evermore, pretty good song but its too soft and gets a little boring 4/5 stars

4. Stairway Too Heaven, great song and great guitar on this song. I love this song great zeppelin song 5/5 stars

5. Misty Mountain Hop, now this is where things start getting heavier. This Led Zeppelin back too the beggining. A nice cool rock beat and a cool drum beat also great song, 5/5 stars

6. Four Sticks, another good song and has a cool drum intro to this and has a nice riff. great all around song,
5/5 stars

7. Going Too California, a great song also not much more too say, 5/5 stars

8. When The Levee Breaks, a nice way too end this album and has a cool heavy blues rock beat too it. Great song 5/5 stars

buy this album now if you dont have it...

"Over the hills where the spirits fly...."
This Led Zeppelin album is one of those albums that's a little hard to classify since virtually every style they've been known for is represented. It's also the beginning of unconventional artsy album covers as there are no pictures of the band, nor does the name Led Zeppelin appear. In the days of LP records, only the lyrics of "Starway to Heaven" could be found in the inner sleeve and the 4 individal symbols for each band member. Technically, there's no official name for the album, though fans have called it "Led Zeppelin IV" or "Zoso" or "Runes" or even "Stairway to Heaven."

The hard rockin' "Black Dog" starts out this album. Guitarist Jimmy Page hits the E chord several times and then Robert Plant sings "Hey, hey, mama, say the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove." Page, bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham answer furiously. All of the members shine on here.

"Rock and Roll" follows, a 1950's Chuck Berry style rocker. Bonham (aka Bonzo) hits the snare drum for the intro and Page lets loose with a killer riff. Jonesy adds some Jerry Lee Lewis style piano. I'll bet you won't be able to just stand still and listen to this song!

The English folk piece "The Battle of Evermore" helps mellow the mood. Page plays an acoustic guitar here, Jonesy plays mandolin and Plant shares lead with Sandy Denny. The lyrics speak of Tolkien influence.

"Stairway to Heaven" needs no introduction. What could I tell you that you haven't read on this page already? If you've ever had the dial on FM somewhere, you're quite familiar with this close-to-8 minute epic. In fact, I'll bet even some of your parents listened in bewilderment even in 1971. Folk and hard rock are combined in this song. The song's lyrics have been interpreted on many levels.

"Misty Mountain Hop" sounds enigmatic in the verses, both melodically and lyrically. Jonesy starts it off with an electric piano riff (A, G, E) with Page answering the riff on guitar, with Bonzo adding in a fill on drums. Plant multitracks his voice.

"Four Sticks" is an Eastern sounding rocker, heavier than "Friends" and perhaps a precursor to "Kashmir."

The 1960's style folk ditty "Going to California" mellows the mood again, with an acoustic guitar from Page and Plant singing in an uncharacteristic baritone. The lyrics seem to speak of hoping to find happiness out in California.

"When the Levee Breaks" is the only blues song on the album. It is also the only song where Plant plays harmonica. The song is based off an old Memphis Minnie blues standard and for 7 minutes Led Zeppelin plays raunchy blues, ending with an unusual coda, which sounds almost like an abrupt earthquake (I don't know for sure but it sounds like Page is playing a banjo through an amplifier).

Timeless classic rock
Everyone I knew had this album when I was a teenage stoner and it's not only because it's what all the other stoners expected you to have - it's just a damn good album and thanks to all those Zep heads out there, it's now been remastered with a little help by some of the members. So I get "Rock & Roll", "Stairway To Heaven" and all the others in full glory. Makes me wanna smoke up, but maybe I'll just pour myself some wine and go back to the Carly Simon albums - age sucks.

More than worthy of its reputation
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant new the band had something special when they completed the album. Each song holds incredibly well by itself with the exception of Four Sticks. The album contains many genres of music from rockabilly-inspired to folk-rock to music that technically did not have its own category. I think it is erroneous to Led Zeppelin as a Hard Rock or Metal band because their repertoire is rich with many varieties of music that they cannot simply be one type. It is comparable to calling the Clash solely a punk band or Neil Young solely as a folk artist. Led Zeppelin is just a rock band.

I will not discuss the songs individually as previous reviews have already done that. Zoso is simply one of the best Rock and Roll albums to have appeared in the century.