Led Zeppelin IV

33⅓ Main Series #17

by Erik Davis

In this wickedly entertaining and thoroughly informed homage to one of rock music's towering pinnacles, Erik Davis investigates the magic—black or otherwise—that surrounds this album. Carefully peeling the layers from each song, Davis reveals their dark and often mystical roots—and leaves the reader to decide whether Four Symbols is some form of occult induction or just an inspired, brilliantly played rock album.

“Stripping Led Zeppelin's famous name off the fourth record was an almost petulant attempt to let their Great Work symbolically stand on its own two feet. But the wordless jacket also lent the album charisma. Fans hunted for hidden meanings, or, in failing to find them, sensed a strange reflection of their own mute refusal to communicate with the outside world. This helped to create one of the supreme paradoxes of rock history: an esoteric megahit, a blockbuster arcanum. Stripped of words and numbers, the album no longer referred to anything but itself: a concrete talisman that drew you into its world, into the frame. All the stopgap titles we throw at the thing are lame: Led Zeppelin IV, [Untitled], Runes, Zoso, Four Symbols. In an almost Lovecraftian sense, the album was nameless, a thing from beyond, charged with manna. And yet this uncanny fetish was about as easy to buy as a jockstrap.”

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, Mythology, History

184 pages, Paperback

First published February 18, 2005

Reviews

[Eirini Proikaki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ομολογώ οτι είμαι θύμα της διαφήμισης και της χαζομάρας μου. Είδα Led Zeppelin, είδα εξώφυλλο, ειδα 33 1/3 φοβερή σειρά σου λέει, με βιβλία αφιερωμένα το κάθε ένα σε έναν θρυλικό δίσκο και το πήρα κατευθείαν. Δεν κοίταξα καν το οπισθόφυλλο, που άμα το είχα κάνει κάτι θα είχα ψυλλιαστεί.
Κι αντί να διαβάζω ιστορίες και παραλειπόμενα απο την διαδικασία της δημιουργίας του δίσκου, βρέθηκα να διαβάζω για τα σατανικά μηνύματα που ακούγονται άμα παίξεις το Stairway to heaven ανάποδα.
Να διαβάζω οτι " Το σεξ και η μαγεία είναι τα δύο κέρατα της αινιγματικότητας των Zeppelin, o π*%τσ*ς και ο διάβολος". Οτι η φωνή του Πλαντ "ακούγεται σαν να συμπιέζεται για να περάσει απο το ακροφύσιο ενός λάστιχου για πότισμα".
Υπεραναλύει τα τραγούδια σε βαθμό αηδίας και καταλήγει σε συμπεράσματα που μόνο γέλιο προκαλούν. Όλο το βιβλίο περιστρέφεται γύρω απο το κόλλημα του Jimmy Page με τον Aleister Crowley και όλες οι αναλύσεις καταλήγουν σε μαγείες, μαγγανείες και ξόρκια. Διαψεύδει ακόμα και τους ίδιους τους Zeppelin για την προέλευση του τίτλου του Black Dog και μας λέει μια ιστορία για φαντάσματα βγαλμένη να μην πω απο που.
Ελάχιστες πληροφορίες για την δημιουργία του δίσκου, τίποτα που να μην είχα ξανακούσει και το υπόλοιπο βιβλίο ένα σωρό mumbo jumbo, κάτι σαχλαμάρες για σατανισμούς κτλ.
Είπα οτι το βιβλίο υποτίθεται οτι είναι αφιερωμένο στο τέταρτο άλμπουμ των Led Zeppelin ; Δεν το είπα γιατί το ξέχασα μια που στην πραγματικότητα είναι αφιερωμένο στα οράματα που έβλεπε ο συγγραφέας ακούγοντας τον δίσκο και καπνίζοντας αμφιβόλου ποιότητας προϊόντα.

[Jason Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Davis understands that both myth and technology were essential components in the Zeppelin saga, and he is hyper-fluent in both areas. He also, rather miraculously, evokes the mystique of the band—not an easy thing to do when the subject lies forty-plus years in the past. He locates Zep's cryptic power in a post-Woodstock era when the Aquarian tide rolled back out and revealed a desolate shore. And he is a beautifully evocative writer, describing the music in immediate, tactile ways: "Black Dog," he says, thrashes like a serpent turning on itself, despite the drummer's desperate clinging to 4/4 time; "Misty Mountain Hop" tumbles downward, while "Four Sticks" scrambles upward. He concocts an elaborate narrative for the album that draws together its themes into a mythic whole, but he also understands how most fans throw out the lyric sheet and that this record signifies, above all, sonically. Davis wanders freely in his thoughts, and there are many great, erudite asides—he pegs The Wind in the Willows as a deeply pagan book, makes the case for Aleister Crowley as a proto-hippie—but unlike most academics he gets rock'n'roll.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have appreciated a more in-depth look at the album in its entirety as well as the individual tracks that make up the whole. A whole lot less satanic panic bullshit and information about Jimmy's fascination with the occult would have been nice. I suspect that it was a fleeting interest for him, like it was for so many others. He's obviously moved on, since he sold Boleskin house many years ago. I think he moved on to his Pre-Raphaelite phase when he bought Tower House. Judging by his girlfriend's appearance, he's still in that frame of mind.

I only read this book for that sense of nostalgia, the times when manly, hi-test men were still around. Back in the days before sensitive pony-tail soy boys brought their chronically limp dicks onto the scene and caused mass celibacy in woman-kind.

All of us hardcore rock bitches can only hope for society to improve and usher in a return of real men swinging their dicks and their Stratocasters for our entertainment.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting an easier read because the Madvilliany book was a lot easier to get through, but I think a big part is
1. I don’t know enough about music theory
2. Zeppelin 4 was written in the 70’s so there isn’t the best first hand account about the album, considering the amount of drugs that they would have consumed

[Aggeliki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ξεκίνησα τη σειρά 33 1/3 με Zeppelin. Χωρίς να έχω προηγουμένως ψάξει πώς αποδίδεται η ιστορία τους. Αν και τα ακούσματά μου ανήκουν στη ροκ, λίγες είναι οι φορές που έχω ψάξει το βιογραφικό από μπάντες των οποίων τα τραγούδια έχουν παίξει πάμπολλες φορές στο στερεοφωνικό μου. Για πάμε.
Ο Davis λοιπόν παίρνει το συγκεκριμένο άλμπουμ των Zeppelin, καθώς και τους ίδιους ως μπάντα και τους διαμελίζει σε χιλιάδες κομματάκια ώσπου να τους κατανοήσει/απομυθοποιήσει. Στο μεταξύ βέβαια, ως αναγνώστης πιθανότατα θα βαρεθείς με τη σχεδόν εμμονική αναφορά σε μυστικιστές/σατανικές πηγές που εξηγούν την υπόστασή τους, καθώς και τον τρόπο ζωής τους. Όλο το βιβλίο φαίνεται να εστιάζει περισσότερο σε αυτό, παρά στην ίδια τη μουσική τους και είναι πραγματικά κρίμα.

[Alan Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the 33 1/3 books and I like Led Zeppelin, although I have never subscribed to the hyperbolic nonsense and mythologising that constitutes the vast majority of the material written about the band over the years. I mean, they were an very good band but they were no Deep Purple…

In the first few paragraphs of his book, Erik Davis describes buying “a copy of that literally nameless slab of luminous rune-rock we must stoop to dub Led Zeppelin IV, or Four Symbols, or Zoso” and I almost stopped reading but, a few lines later, “sure it was cock rock, but it was also a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, stuffed into a cock.” I thought, maybe this is tongue in cheek.

In truth, there is a lot of nonsense in Davis’s book. He decries myth making and then proceeds to tell the story of Zeppelin’s fourth album with the mythical journey of ‘Percy’ which he seems to feel winds through the two sides of the album. He does have a sense of humour but also a tendency to use the purple prose with which the music press used to be filled. But, ultimately, it is a short book and there is enough here to hold the interest.

And Davis does find some interesting ways into the music, despite his concentrating on Page’s preoccupation with magic(k) and Percy’s ‘bona fide quest’ (which, it has to be said, despite having concocted it entirely unaided, he does lighten by comparing it to ‘The Odyssey or The Hobbit or Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.’ He makes interesting observations about the differences between vinyl and MP3 and how consumption of the former made for a more immersive, and yes, perhaps, a more magical experience; the final chapters which take the songs in pairs are very readable; Davis also spends time on Led Zeppelin’s, primarily Jimmy Page’s, wholesale thievery, whether from blues greats or Bert Jansch, which many other authors are too willing to excuse.

Perhaps I just prefer those 33 1/3 books which delve into the making of the albums. I’m glad I finished this but it is not one of my favourites.

[Cwn_annwn_13 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Davis does a good job of capturing the magical vibe of Led Zeppelin with an emphasis on their fourth album using the spirit of the era of prime Led Zeppelin and the many musical and non musical influences Led Zeppelin had. Crowley and the Boleskine house on Loch Ness that Page lived in for years, Tolkien, Robert Johnson at the crossroads, British Folklore and Black Dog Legends, Moroccan trance music and hashish, Welsh cottages, early 70s California, etc, etc.

Led Zeppelin definitely had an occult magical witchy vibe that was probably at its strongest on this record but my personal moment of getting hit hard by it was a rainy night in my mid teens hearing Dazed and Confused on the radio which is on the first Zeppelin album not the fourth.

[Mason Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one's a lot of fun. This one of the 33 1/3 series isn't about the recording, the circumstances, or the people -- it's about the analysis that's gone into the album and the band, with a particular focus on the magickal nature of the songs, lyrics, and the band members' interests. Davis is ideal to write this, with a very deep knowledge of Crowley in particular. Jimmy Page's interest in Crowley is well-known, and features in a lot of the analysis here. If you just want to read about the songs and how they were recorded, go elsewhere. But if you're interested in the background, check this out. It's also worth noting that Davis, while taking his work seriously, doesn't take the symbology and analysis too seriously, so this is a fun read.

[J.J. Lair · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the format. We start with the album. How vinyl albums are made and how sound is recorded. Then we get onto the cover. The designs and colors. Is this Runes? Symbols? IV? untitled? He analyzes each idea.
We don’t get a literal story of each song, we get a story explaining the songs.
The book went on too long about the runes. It went too long on some mysticism surrounding the band. When he translates the songs, the book is good.

[Alanna Why · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked this a lot more if it was a novella about Jimmy Page living in Aleistair Crowley's house and running an occult bookstore in the late 1970s.

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably a 3.5! Some interesting stuff! A lot about Jimmy and the occult at beginning of book!

[Chris J · Rating 2 out of 5]

When you're a hammer everything looks like a nail.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not prepared for this to be the best written book of the 33 and 1/3 series that I've read to date, but it is. Of the albums in this series, Led Zeppelin's Four Symbols (or @,#,$,% to spite the band) is not my favorite (Steely Dan's Aja is), nor is it my favorite album from Led Zeppelin (God help me, but I think Physical Graffiti just might be my favorite, even though there are several tracks on it that I despise). But this book adds to one's understanding of the album and critically engages the music, lyrics, production, and myth of the album. The author explores the black magic aspect of the album and Jimmy Page, playfully mocking such seriousness at times, while juxtaposing this "darkness" with the lightness provided by Robert Plant's sunny hippiedom and silly appropriation of dorky Lord of the Rings tropes. Furthermore, the author does something that I love: highlights the importance and contributions of often neglected band members such as John Paul Jones. (Think of the treatment of George Harrison of the Beatles or Ron Wood/Mick Taylor/Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, etc.) All the while, the author establishes a theory regarding the album that is both ludicrous and seemingly accurate: namely, that the album is the journey of Robert Plant's alter ego, which the author hilariously dubs "Percy," through the mythical, mystical side one, reaching an epiphany at the end of the band's opus "Stairway to Heaven," only to then have to lift the needle, flip the record, and continue Percy's journey through the contemporary, smoggy, urban world of side two that returns Percy to the earth when the levees break. And pray tell what is it that Percy is pursuing? Why, "the Lady," of course! The author cleverly uses many of Led Zeppelin's lyrics to not only reinforce this interpretation (and deftly so), but also to mock the mighty Zeppelin, poking a few holes and letting out some of the hot air. My favorite was the author's discussion of "Stairway to Heaven," which ends with a discussion of the alleged backmasking of "My sweet Satan" that evangelists claimed could be heard by playing the album backwards:

"The fact is that, within only two minutes of singing, 'Stairway to Heaven' contains at least seven reversed phrases of a suggestively devilish nature, including four mentions of Satan, or Seitan, or Sadie, or something like that. Moreover, these sonic simulacra are buried in a tune about pipers and whispers and listening really hard, a tune that, for a spell, ruled the world. I'm not saying that supernatural forces are afoot, I'm just saying it makes you wonder."

There are also all sorts of unique thoughts throughout the book, one of the best being the author's juxtaposition of white Evangelists of the early 80s using turntables to find latent meanings in recordings at the same time that black DJs were doing the same in early rap music, the main difference between the two being that black DJs found a multiplicity of meanings, whereas the white evangelists (not surprisingly) were literalists in their "mixing" and found only one meaning (typically a bad/devilish one). The author also suggests that this album was a showcase of Page's skill and acumen in producing a record; upon finishing this book, I couldn't help but think that Page was a more sophisticated and thoughtful producer than Brian Eno, though maybe this has more to do with this book being better than the 33 and 1/3 book for Eno's work. If you're not a fan of Led Zeppelin or of this album or of "Stairway to Heaven," then this book is worth reading. And even if it doesn't change your mind or enrich the experience of listening to the album, then at least you can come away with the idea that when listening to Led Zeppelin, you're really just listening to a guy named "Percy."

[Dane]

"This [lack of a title for the album] helped create one of the supreme paradoxes of rock history: an esoteric megahit, a blockbuster arcanum... In an almost Lovecraftian sense, the album was nameless, a thing from beyond, charged with manna. And yet this uncanny fetish was about as easy to buy as a jockstrap."

"Taken literally, Zep's satanism is silly, but as a figure for their cultural power, it warrants attention... [O]ur brains are not just passive receivers of data but active projectors of meaning, constantly weaving the information they pick up into holistic perceptions."

It's a feat in itself to make me care about this album again. It was never my favorite Zep album, and most of it's been played into the ground and mushed into putty (although I've realized that "Four Sticks" and especially "When the Levee Breaks," after even thousands of plays, uncannily retain their power and mystique and crunch).

But Erik Adams very nearly, very very nearly, has written a 33 1/3 almost as amazing as Carl Wilson's Let's Talk About Love. He has in him what the few actually talented cultural critics have: a boundless playful creativity that doesn't accept pop culture as interesting or important enough to discuss only in terms of itself.

He treats this album, as Carl Wilson did with Celine Dion, not as an opportunity to fanboyishly gawk at the history of its creation, but as raw material for a large, clever sociological metaphor. He deploys it with the lightest touch, having fun weaving authentic discussions of paganism into the Led Zeppelin mythos while never denying that it's all just make-believe, a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too approach to nerding out about a band everyone's sick of.

So he combines, with nimble intelligence, discussions of pop culture, Marxism, Crowley occultism, pop neuroscience, and music theory to explain anew the most tiring of discussions: why a mind-bogglingly popular rock band has such allure over millions of fans.

Super entertaining stuff!

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

We file it so often under classic rock, that we often forget just how out-there this album really was/is, and just how much unusual music emanated from Led Zeppelin in its pomp, due to the band members' reading and the eclecticism of their musical tastes.

Erik Davis, while understandably claiming never to want to hear Stairway to Heaven again, gives this album the restless, high-octane treatment built from myth and occult, oral history and musical fandom. It is a tapestry made from half a lifetime's worth of reading and duly prepares us for the daunting task of perceiving the album that Page and Plant, in particular, were looking to make in order to crystallise their various obsessions at the turn of that decade. It is a quest, of course, but not a linear quest. It is a many-headed monster of an album, not content to just dial up the power while there is so much subtlety to be played with. I mean, how on earth could an album containing "The Battle of Evermore", "Going To California" and three-quarters of "Stairway" be regarded as heavy rock?

Looking back, looking outward, looking inward, the band was in a zone where every impulse was placed in the service of the quest. Davis, as well as spending time here on the occult and mythological underpinnings, also goes into the origins of the sound the band managed to achieve, especially the startling guitar sound on Black Dog or the cavernous drum sound on When The Levee Breaks. He pokes into the cultural appropriation argument, noting that the one blues musician honoured with a songwriting credit on these initial albums was Memphis Minnie, on that album-closing track.

As an ideal excuse for going back into an album you may have heard hundreds of times (and one song perhaps rather more), this is just the ticket. It is a pretty wild ride.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read about 30 of the 33 1/3 books and they tend to fall pretty squarely in either the "really great and I loved it" or "someone break this writer's fingers right now" camps. My personal criteria for which one goes where usually falls to how much the author writes about the subject at hand and how twee s/he is about it. The volume about the PJ Harvey book which is basically a short story instead of a discussion about the album? Really grating (Magnetic Fields' "69 love songs" is a fucking dictionary; The Smiths' "Meat Is Murder" a novella about suicide; Sabbath's "Master of Reality" another novella about a depressed teen). So I was pleasantly surprised that, while this isn't a blow-by-blow history of the album ("and then Bonzo got four drumsticks to play "Four Sticks" etc), the analysis of the album as a whole as a story is Not Bad and kind of interesting (e.g.: that electronic echo sound that starts "Black Dog"? The author mentions how it suddenly sounded like a dog panting and hey, that totally makes sense and makes for a nice little snippet of his own viewpoint vs a long, boring essay on the nature of ambience (looking at you, "Aphex Twin's 'Selected Ambient Works, Vol. 2'").

It's not a history of Zeppelin. It's barely a history of this album. But it is a short and entertaining analysis of this album. Worth it if you're a fan and you're curious.

[Nate]

Laughably pretentious. Here’s an example of what this book is like: “The stylus rides the groove like a tiny rollercoaster, physically reproducing the fluctuations that shape sound from the air. Analog is an analogy, then, a graven metaphor. And what analog is like is like the wave, the undulating continuities that everywhere weave the natural world, from the rolling seas to the rolling hills to the petal of the rose.” If that strikes your fancy, you’ll like this book. Me, I couldn’t stand Davis’ purple prose and only finished it for completion’s sake. He over-analyzes the album to the point of ridiculousness. I like reading music criticism, but not like this with self-wankery everywhere and fetishizing of Led Zeppelin as super deep, mysterious magicians who were too awesome for you and me. It’s important to remember that your favorite bands aren’t untouchable gods; they’re just people who make music, and it’s the music that makes them great. You don’t always need to go digging for deep meaning to justify why you love something and think it’s important.

[Chris Ingalls · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thing about the 33 1/3 series is that the author can take the album in question and analyse it any way they like. Erik Davis chose to take Led Zeppelin's most famous (and sometimes inscrutable) album and investigate its general themes rather than focus the music, the actual recording.

This is an interesting approach, and Led Zeppelin is one band that always carried with it a great deal of baggage. Davis unpacks a lot of the occult themes, explaining in great detail how he feels (unless I'm reading this wrong) that Jimmy Page's interest in Aleister Crowley influenced his own occult leanings and that this, Led Zeppelin's fourth album, is a reflection of, and a voice for, that obsession.

Personally I think the theory is a bit of a stretch, but it's fun to watch him explain it. I would have loved to get more musical analysis, but I'll take what I can get.

Solid but not definitive.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the music of Led Zeppelin but I was never a fan of the band like I was of bands like Rush, Genesis, or Styx, possibly because those bands were more “of my era.” So while I could name all four members of the band and many of the songs, I didn’t know the stories behind the members nor much of the rumors about their peccadillos and interests. This book by Erik Davis fills in some of that, although it’s not a biography of the band as it is a prolonged take on their most popular and famous album, mainly for containing “Stairway to Heaven,” that song that will never fade away. Davis provides some nice insights into both how the songs were created, a possible understanding of the structure of the album both in music and lyrics, and some notes as to the underlying concept. I learned some things, which is why I read these 33 1/3 books, but I can’t say it was the best of these (although it was by no means the worst).

[Dave Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another self indulgent effort in what has turned out to be a really disappointing series. There seems to be no editorial control, and a bunch of authors who have decided that their own theories will benefit us all. Onlt the Velevt Underground and Nico book has come up to par, in my view.

So far as this one goes, of course an exploration of where Zep were with regards to Jimmy Page's occult interests is a part of the story, but to make it the "peg" to hang the whole book on is absurd. To then construct a wholly artificial "journey" so as to make the things sound like a concept album is heroically bizarre, and has no substantive justification other than the obscure the fact that author has nothing interesting to say about the music, the lyrics or the process by which the album was conceived, written or recorded.

Must try harder, or perhaps stop trying at all.

[Brian Kovesci · Rating 2 out of 5]

The risk of publishing installments in this series is leaving the content to the author. A majority of them contain pertinent contextual history of the band/artist/album, and some decide to write about their personal relationship with the album. Both make for good reads. However, sometimes you get a nut job who connects his or her own dots to weave a unique mythology behind an album. That's precisely what Erik Davis did to Led Zeppelin's fourth studio album.
I gave this book 2 stars because Davis dabbled in the history of the album and the history of the occult, but it missed the other 3 because he haphazardly attempted to build bridges between the two.
Don't read this book. Instead read the Wikipedia page for the album.

[S Shah · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books on Led Zeppelin I've read, and a book that has instantly leapt to one of my favorite on any topic. It was finished so quickly that there was no time to add it to the Currently Reading list. That's not to say it is light reading. Just the opposite. So informative and entertaining was the 170 page pocket-sized essay, that it's bedside location inspired numerous early nights, and at least one slow-to-rise rainy Saturday morning to reach the right-hand cover in a week's time. A thoroughly Campbellesque analysis shedding light on something so familiar that it seemed almost impossible to reveal anything further. Davis both confirmed private suspicions, and revealed concepts never before considered. Citing Joseph Campbell himself, along with Aleister Crowley, William S. Burroughs, Cameron Crowe, Langston Hughes, Austin Osman Spare, poets Robert Duncan and Lord Dunsany, The Hermetic Library, Mike D., J.R.R. Tolkein (of course), Peter Jackson, Robert Christgau, Lester Bangs, Lorrie Maddox, and Christian fundamentalists, Davis constructs a narrative from an album rarely, if ever, thought to be conceptual. So compelling is this narrative, in fact, that suddenly it seems a screenplay could be devised from it. Although Zeppelin's swagger will never hold as much appeal in Japan as Deep Purple's straight ahead martial drive, and quite possibly the spectre of black magick being all too real on an island where animistic spirit worship can be taken quite seriously, if there were one book I'd want to use my language skill to translate into Japanese, this is it. The post-modern self-referential pop-culture that has crept into the English idiom would make it a difficult task to stylistically recreate the offhand double entendre that punctuate in-depth passages, but there was an overwhelming sense that /everyone/ should be reading this. The synchronicity of the book arriving on John Bonham's birthday signified the connection that was about to unfold.

[Shane Kaler · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5: What surprises me about this series, that I’ve slowly come to enjoy, is how the authors are free to write about whatever the hell they want when it comes to the chosen album. Sometimes you’re presented lush history behind the release, while in this case you get a heavily researched piece regarding Jimmy Page’s obsession with the occult. My complaint, with Davis’ entry, begins with how easily I lost his point - in every chapter. The author never appears to truly subscribe to his own motif, that the members of Zeppelin were devil worshippers, so the layers upon layers of sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek wordplay and countless tangential pop culture references make his work confusing and, ultimately, pointless. #readingrainbow

[Aaron Presslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Led Zeppelin IV - By Erik Davis

This is the first and currently only from the 33 1/3 series which I plan to read a lot more. This is a deep dive into everything surrounding Led Zeppelin's fourth album , the making of , the stories, even Magick and occult rumors that emerged giving the album its almost supernatural edge. Its very insightful and pretty entertaining to read. There was a lot of insight into the album I wasn't other wise aware of so definitely worth a read for anyone interested. There are tons of books within the same series and are there to compliment your favorite albums. perfect for vinyl enthusiasts or music lovers.

[Kamy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 33 1/3 series is fun and fabulous. This particular album homage got mystical, dark, and deep. The author uses a huge musical and occult vocabulary to express his love and research on each song of this legendary album. Zeppelin's weird magic gets full attention, and I learned so much about the band's connections to the runes, the mysticism, the fantastical fundamentals of their music, especially on Zeppelin IV. If you know every song on this album well, and you are not too scared of the occult, then read this book.

[Timothy Minneci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I like Davis' writing, I struggled with how much about the book wasn't actually about the album. This has happened with some previous 33 1/3 books I've read - the author takes a more grand idea and applies it to the album discussion. Here, it was the Satanic Panic of the rock 'n roll and Jimmy Page's interest in the occult/Aleister Crowley. I tend towards books in the series that dig into the nuts and bolts rather than personal interpretations.

[Arthur Cowslip · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this. A brisk, entertaining and whimsical tour through one of my favourite albums. Some of the conclusions might be speculative at best (the author frames the 'story' of the album into a kind of metaphysical quest) but it's all heady stuff and he nails the feeling of rich western folklore that runs through this most monolithic of LPs. The best music writing sends you running back to re-experience the subject matter again, and this book does exactly that.

[Ruy de Oliveira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Say what you will, the author is very well read, proposes excellent connections between Led Zepellin and several books and authors, has a great handle on what has been written about Led Zeppelin, and provides an interesting and entertaining interpretation of Zep's fourth album. All in all, a good read.

[Curmudgeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit silly and overwrought/over-interpretative in places, but seeing as I had no previous knowledge about the making of this album or its cultural influences and interpretation (beyond the accusations of satanic backmasking on "Stairway" or the fact that "When The Levee Breaks" is derived from an earlier, much less epic blues song), it was a decent read.

[Tobias · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay - it made me listen to the album a bit more again and with a different understanding but it also felt a bit digressive sometimes. There is a lot of interesting information about how the album was made and the history of Led Zeppelin, but there are also parts that stray a little far away from the album and reading them felt tedious at times.