LED ZEPPELIN - LED ZEPPELIN

YEAR: 1971

LABEL: Atlantic

TRACK LISTING: Black Dog, Rock and Roll, The Battle of Evermore, Stairway To Heaven, Misty Mountain Hop, Four Sticks, Going To California, When the Levee Breaks

IMPRESSIONS: The monster. What's to say about this album? A rock solid listen from stem to stern. All this and the angelic voice of Sandy Denny as well!

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: All of 'em.

GUEST ARTISTS: Sandy Denny (vocals on "The Battle of Evermore"), Ian Stewart (piano on "Rock and Roll")

FACT SHEET: LED ZEPPELIN is Led Zeppelin's fourth album. It is not entitled "LED ZEPPELIN IV" although that is how it's usually known (owing to the numerical names of their first three albums); it has also been known as "FOUR SYMBOLS", "THE FOURTH ALBUM", "RUNES", "ZOSO" (after Jimmy Page's "rune"), or "UNTITLED". At 32 million sold, the album is one of the best selling albums in the world with 23 million sold in the U.S. making it the third best-selling album in the U.S. The four runes were created by the four band members to represent themselves. Jimmy Page's rune (which looks like "ZOSO") he claims he created himself; some say it is a symbol for Saturn dating to 1557. John Paul Jones' rune is a circle intersecting three vesica pisces called a triquetra from Rudolf Koch's "BOOK OF SIGNS" representing confidence and competence. John Bonham's rune is three interlocking rings (also from Koch's book) which represents mother, father and child (but also is the logo of Ballantine beer). Robert Plant's rune is a feather inside a circle is a design the singer created based on a supposed symbol from the lost civilisation of Mu. Sandy Denny also has her own "rune" appearing in the credits list in the liner notes: three triangles touching at their points. The famous cover features a 19th century painting purchased by Plant at an antique shop in Reading, Berkshire affixed to the wall of a partly-demolished suburban house; the cover was chosen by the Royal Mail in January 2010 as one of their ten "Classic Album Covers" stamps.