Favorite Album of the 1970's

Of all the decades, the 1970's are easily my favorite for music.  A lot of different things happened throughout the decade that I mostly enjoyed.  This is also the hardest decade for me to pin down a favorite because I have so many.  If yo put a gun to my head, I would go with Led Zeppelin's fourth album.  This album defines everything that Led Zeppelin is all about.  There are the hard rockers, there are the acoustic numbers, and there are the epics.  Led Zeppelin was clearly at their apex as they made sure that there was no weak performance in the album.

Everything kicks off with "Black Dog" and Robert Plant's banshee wail.  I would describe this song as really heavy blues with an attitude.  It is clear that Led Zeppelin is playing for keeps; there is no messing around.  The next song is "Rock And Roll."  I knew this song before I knew Led Zeppelin.  John Bonham's drum intro, Jimmy Page comes in flying in with his guitar, and John Paul Jones lays down the running eighth notes on the bass guitar.  There is a sonic whoosh to it that take me away.  There is no fighting it.  It may have been a long time since Robert Plant had rock and rolled but you won't stop rocking until the final drum fill at the end of the song.  Zeppelin decides to take it down a few notches with "The Battle of Evermore."  Every fan of Lord of the Rings should take the time to listen to this song because it is about the on coming war on Gondor in the Return of the King.  For some reason Robert Plant has an infatuation with these novels.  Led Zeppelin should have been the sound track to the Rings trilogy films.

At the end of the first side of the record is a song many people consider the best rock song ever created, "Stairway to Heaven."  This song is the record and Led Zeppelin in a nutshell.  It starts out slow and acoustic.  The pace of the song keeps picking up as the song builds up.  More layers are added to the song as it goes on.  The drums come in and the song begins to creep even faster.  The break in the song comes and you wait for something incredible to happen.  What you get is an epic Jimmy Page guitar solo with the song finally rocking as a Zeppelin song should.  During the final verse, you can feel you heart pumping as the song is now moving along like a rocket until the song finally ends.  Come to think of it, is this whole song just once big musical metaphor for sex.  At the end of the song I feel like I just climaxed and want a cigarette.

Side two kicks in with an upbeat "Misty Mountain Hop," another Lord of the Rings song.  This song is a rarity in the Zeppelin canon because they have so few upbeat songs.  I really like the song and has really strong drums on it.  The next song, "Four Sticks," is actually played with four sticks on the drums.  IT has a bit of a weird key signature, I believe.  You try head banging to hit; it does not come naturally.  "Going to California" is the sweet acoustic ballad that we had come to expect from Led Zeppelin by this point.  I think that it has a different feel from the rest of the record because it does not feel epic or heavy, just beautiful and heartfelt.

"When the Levee Breaks" is the finale if this grand album.  Every time I hear this song, I always think this song is being sang to me because of the line "...Going down to Chicago."  Living in Milwaukee, there is not to many other people who would go "down" to Chicago, just us Wisconsinites.  Anyways, this song has the heaviest drum sound I think I have ever heard recorded.  The sound is immense!  I think this album is the best Led Zeppelin created and should ranked along side the best of the decade.  Everybody has rocked out to "Black Dog" and "Rock and Roll" at some point in their lives.  "Stairway to HEaven" and "When the Levee Breaks" should be played to anybody who has never heard of Led Zeppelin or rock and roll.  This is what is is all about.