Led Zeppelin IV - By Any Other Name

Led Zeppelin IV, The Four Symbols, Zoso, Man with Sticks, Runes, Untitled – such are the names by which Zeppelin’s untitled fourth album have become known. The lack of a name just adds to the mystique of this musical masterpiece.

The mysterious symbols on the record’s label and inner sleeve conjured up great publicity for Led Zeppelin, much in the way that the “Paul is dead” rumour of 1966 was kept alive by the cover of The Beatles’ album Abbey Road.

With Led Zeppelin III, the band had been criticized and accused of having gone soft with its folk and acoustic explorations. Jimmy Page and Peter Grant were determined to let the music on the fourth album speak for itself.

Grant suggested not naming the album. Page had each musician select or design a symbol to represent him. Guest artist, Sandy Denny, had her own fifth symbol. Exactly what these symbols mean and why they were chosen is still unknown.

Page’s looked like “Zoso”, Plant’s was a plume in a circle. Jones and Bonham selected intersecting circles and arcs in complementary but reverse patterns. These symbols would crop up throughout Zeppelin’s career. “Zoso” is clearly seen on stage at the O2!

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Producing A Legend

Like the panned album that preceded it, Led Zeppelin IV (as I’ll call it from now on) was mainly recorded at Headley Grange in East Hampshire. Some recording was also done at Island Studios, London and Sunset Studios, Los Angeles.

Some execs at Atlantic Records considered it professional suicide to release an untitled album. But Page believed in the band’s music, so they used the four symbols for print promotion. It was released in North America on November 8, 1971.

The rest, as they say, is history. The Led Zeppelin IV album opens with Black Dog, so named for someone’s black Labrador retriever that hung about while the band was recording. The words “black dog” occur nowhere in the sexually explicit lyrics.

Based on Page’s monstrous, scathing guitar riffs, this is Zeppelin’s first number since Good Times Bad Times to make such dramatic use of “pockets of silence” between the guitar work. This effective stop/start technique will be developed on future albums.

One Hit After Another

Another standout on Led Zeppelin IV, Rock and Roll captures the spirit and raw energy of the 1960s rock’n’roll revolution. As already discussed elsewhere on this site, the phrase “rock’n’roll” is Black slang that makes this one very sexy song!

The freaky arrangement of The Battle of Evermore is completely unlike any acoustic number Led Zeppelin has done to date, and underscores the band’s determination to keep expanding acoustically. Plant’s lyrics are rich with imagery of apocalyptic conflict.

Jimmy Page plays mandolin throughout, in perfect counterpoint to guest singer Sandy Denny’s ethereal other-worldly vocals.

An interviewee described to me how Page would often relax in hotel rooms between gigs absentmindedly strumming his mandolin, his thoughts - and fingers - wandering.

Some Say The Perfect Rock Song

The commercial and critical success of Led Zeppelin IV is due, in no small part, to the phenomenal and universal appeal of Stairway to Heaven. It’s the most played song in FM radio history and continues to dominate “best-ever” lists.

Zeppelin nearly always tested its material live before committing it to record and Stairway was no exception. It debuted on March 5, 1971 at Ulster Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland but garnered a lukewarm reception.

The band closed concerts with it throughout the 1970s and the song eventually reached anthemic proportions. Starting with classical guitar and recorders in the intro, it’s divided into sections that steadily build to Page’s scorching solo, considered rock’s best ever.

Robert Godwin told me he’d always believed Andy Johns had engineered Stairway. But, during the course of his book research, he discovered an engineer named Digs was the only one in studio when Page laid down that now-famous guitar solo!

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Not Your Typical Dénouement

It seems anathema to say Led Zeppelin IV even has a B side, especially when it leads off with Misty Mountain Hop. Page’s monster guitar riff and Jonesey’s fantastic work on electric piano make it both hypnotic and energetic.

Robert Plant’s trip about smoking pot in the park and getting busted once again supports author Susan Fast’s contention. She told me that Plant comes across as a happy hippie who loves everyone and his lyrics are essentially hopeful.

Side Two Track Two belongs to Four Sticks, another exploratory foray into Eastern tunings. Plant’s vocals on the outro show definite Eastern influences and reflect his fascination with world music, as he screeches to the conclusion.

Despite the flak for Led Zeppelin III, the band persists in penning and performing acoustic material with yet another “hippie” song, Going to California. Delicate patterns on guitar and mandolin develop while Plant makes full use of his formidable vocal range.

It’s Back To The Blues

The final track on Led Zeppelin IV takes the band back to the blues, where it all began for them. When the Levee Breaks is the album’s only cover song, credited to Memphis Minnie but, as usual, transformed from the original.

With its menacing and plodding tone, the song parallels the hypnotic effect generated at the start of Side Two, by Misty Mountain Hop. Although the themes couldn’t be more different, the similar atmosphere created brings the flip side full circle.

Eric Albronda of Blue Cheer enthuses about Stairway to Heaven and declares it the best rock song ever. Robert Godwin expands on the snippet presented above about Digs, not Johns, having engineered the song.

And a woman calling herself Zani Dani describes what it was like to be there with Led Zeppelin in between gigs, when Page played mandolin to relax and John Paul Jones’ ragtime piano playing would wake her!

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