Led Zeppelin.
Arguably the greatest band of all time.
In my opinion, anyway, hence 'arguably'.
They hold the record for the highest number of records sold worldwide (200 million) and also the largest crowd at a concert for a single act (over 56,000)...
- Although it's known as Led Zeppelin IV, this album was actually left untitled, after critics had given a confused and dismissive reaction to their previous album III. There would be no names or other details on the cover, just four symbols representing each member.
- The record label didn't like the idea, but the band refused to hand over the master tapes until they agreed. Jimmy Page was told by a press agent that the move would be professional suicide, but he replied with "We just happened to have a lot of faith in what we were doing." He felt it would be an answer to critics who could not review one Led Zeppelin album without point of reference to earlier ones.
- Later on in 2001 , Page said "The cover wasn't meant to antagonise the record company. It was designed as our response to the music critics who maintained that the success of our first three albums was driven by hype and not talent. ... So, we stripped everything away, and let the music do the talking."
- To identify the album, many people called it Led Zeppelin IV, but it has also been referred to as Four Symbols, The Fourth Album, Untitled, Runes, The Hermit and ZoSo.
- the inside cover illustration is the hermit, from the tarot card of the same name (also where I got my book cover)
- The album was released on 8 November 1971, and most of it was recorded between December 1970 and February 1971 at the country house Headley Grange in Hampshire, along with a mobile studio outside. It was produced by Jimmy Page
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- It is Led Zeppelin's best-selling album, selling over 37 million copies worldwide, and is highly placed by critics on lists of the greatest albums of all time. It reached No.1 on the UK album charts, and No.2 in the US. At the time, it was widely praised by critics
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Black Dog
An incredible start to an incredible album. The immediate leap into Plant's solo voice, soaring and powerful, complete with sleazy lyrics, is amazing, oddly graceful, and gets even more so when the rest of the band kicks in with one of the best riffs in rock music, composed by John Paul Jones. The call and response is masterfully done, the band and voice moves seamlessly between very different sections throughout the song, including a key change, and a very interesting choice of time signature (4/4 time set against 5/4). I love the contrast between the solo voice and the rest of the band. This song is simply full of attitude and energy, done to show off the tight playing of the band, and the solo is nothing short of epic.
The title comes from an old black Labrador retriever that was often seeming hanging around the house during recording. The guitar strumming sound at the beginning is a result of Page's overdubbing; the three guitar tracks had to be synched, and that sound is the result, just the tape rolling. Though this could have been cut out of the final tape, Page left it in as it "sounded like the massing of the guitar armies."
