Led Zeppelin

The flutes and gnomes and shag-carpet make-out sessions inspired by "Stairway to Heaven" (the most-played, most-requested song on American radio, despite never being released as a single) made Zeppelin's fourth, officially untitled record the band's last wholly formed masterpiece and a cultural bellwether of the '70s. All wheat and no chaff, the record's influence on heavy metal and rock can't be overstated, from the weirdly enchanting medievalism of "Battle of Evermore" and Joni Mitchell-dedicated "Going to California" to the flawless testament to Bonham's genius, "When the Levee Breaks."

It might seem a bit incongruous to say that Led Zeppelin–a band never particularly known
for its tendency to understate matters–has produced an album which is remarkable for its
low-keyed and tasteful subtlety, but that's just the case here. The march of the dinosaurs
that broke the ground for their first epic release has apparently vanished, taking along with
it the splattering electronics of their second effort and the leaden acoustic mov... More >

More even than "Rock and Roll," which led me into the rest of the record (whose real title, as all adepts know, is signified by runes no Underwood can reproduce) months after I'd stupidly dismissed it, or "Stairway to Heaven," the platinum-plated album cut, I think the triumph here is "When the Levee Breaks." As if by sorcery, the quasi-parodic overstatement and oddly cerebral mood of Led Zep's blues recastings is at once transcended (that is, this really sounds like a blues), and apotheosized (that is, it has the grandeur of a symphonic crescendo) while John Bonham, as ham-handed as ever, pounds out a contrapuntal tattoo of heavy rhythm. As always, the band's medievalisms have their limits, but this is the definitive Led Zeppelin and hence heavy metal album. It proves that both are--or can be--very much a part of "Rock and Roll." (Grade: A)