This is the album equivalent of one of those official forms that states "This page intentionally left blank." This gatefold album cover has no band name, no album title, no track listing and nothing on the spine to identify it in any way. Blank.
The band settled on four symbols to represent the album and because of that, the release has been given a number of unofficial names for ease of identification. Referred to as 'Four Symbols', 'Zoso' and as a logical progression from their previous three albums 'Led Zeppelin IV' or 'The Fourth Album.' In reality though it should be indexed as 'Untitled.' Even though the album shall remain nameless, the track names are forever embedded on the musical timeline.
Dropping the needle on side one track one - with high volume - has Robert Plant's unmistakable voice leading the way with 'Black Dog'.
"Hey hey mama said the way you move
Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove"
and as anyone who has ever listened to the lyrics knows, this song never mentions, nor does it have anything to do with, a black dog. The song was created while the band were at Headley Grange and there was a black Labrador roaming around. A song title was needed, the dog got the job. I'm always reminded of Fleetwood Mac's song 'Oh Well' when I hear this track and was pleased to find out that it was inspired by 'Oh Well' so I sort of feel validated.
Track two is 'Rock and Roll' which does what it says on the tin with extra accompaniment provided by an 'almost' Rolling Stone. Ian Stewart very nearly became one of the original Rolling Stones, but Andrew Loog Oldham didn't think he had the right look. He stuck around for many years as the Stones' road manager and pianist. He came to Headley Grange with the Stones' mobile recording studio and ended up playing piano boogie-woogie on this track.
Skip to track four and you get to Led Zeppelins signature song, 'Stairway to Heaven'. There's no need to write anything about this, everything has already been said and if you've read this far, you know the song well enough without hearing more from me.
If those 3 songs totaling just under 17 minutes was the whole album, it would still be well worth it. Fortunately there are 5 more tracks, including 'The Battle of Evermore' which was inspired by the Scottish Independence Wars. This song is unique because of the involvement of Sandy Denny. The Fairport Convention (Vinyl Vault 4 June 2021) lead singer duetted with Robert Plant, providing the only female voice to appear on a Led Zeppelin record.
Then to my favourite track, the gentle acoustic Joni Mitchell inspired mandolin driven 'Going to California'. Written about a guy in a bad relationship who heads off to make a fresh start in California, the song has references to the fact that Los Angeles, where Joni Mitchell lived and where they went to mix the album, was prone to earthquakes.
"The mountains and the canyons started to tremble and shake
The children of the sun began to awake, watch out"
A classic album by a classic band - needs to be in every collection.
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