This band is too important in the history of music to just get mentioned in other threads. So, it’s high time for a thread dedicated to the GREATEST ROCK & ROLL BAND to date, and possibly for all time to come.
And to kick it off, I’m posting my preferred play order of songs on their best-selling album, the untitled Led Zeppelin IV, which has as over 30 million certified album sales worldwide.
Before I get into the specifics, let me preface that I have been on a mega-Zeppathon for the past two weeks or so shortly I broke down and downloaded all of their studio albums, including the post-John Bonham death/band breakup release of previously recorded material that the band hadn’t before considered ready for prime time, Coda.
Also, intermingled in undertaking that mega-thon, I also watched, and sometimes rewatched, a number of reviews and documentaries available on YouTube in my mobile popular music evaluation lab during breaks in my paying job. So, I didn’t arrive hastily or cavalierly at this preferred play order of such a classic and revered rock music treasure.
With that said, here it is with the original track order in parentheses afte my preferred order.
1 (1): Black Dog
2 (3): The Battle of Evermore
3 (6): Four Sticks
4 (4): Stairway to Heaven
5 (5): Misty Mountain Hop
6 (2): Rock and Roll
7 (7): Going to California
8 (8): When the Levee Breaks
So, why the changes? Overall, they were driven by two concerns: (1) A conflict of tone of “Rock and Roll” with the opening number, “Black Dog”, despite both of them hard driving and fast-paced, and (2) the tonal similarily of “The Battle of Evermore” with the beginning of “Stairway to Heaven”.
(1- Part 1): Rock and Roll” seems out of place as a lighter-spirited fast-paced, hard-driving song after the dark mood of the similarly fast-and-hard charging “Black Dog”. I flirted with swapping it with “Black Dog” given that it was created in response to critics of “Led Zeppelin III” who had wondered where Led Zeppelin had gone musically with it’s much less hard rock-focused third album.
But because “Black Dog” opens the album in such a powerful and iconic way, such a re-ordering would IMO significantly diminish the listener’s experience of both tunes, as well as be too much of a departure from the original play order. Not sure where to put it, but resolved that it would go somewhere on the latter part of the album because it seems a great fire-up-the-crowd song to end a set, I temporarily moved to follow “When the Levee Breaks”.
(2) After repeatedly hearing “Stairway to Heaven” follow “The Battle of Evermore”, I got the sense that the “Stairways…” soft, slow and deliberate opening would better be contrasted by a faster paced tuned than “The Battle…”. Given that “Rock and Roll” would somewhere on the second half of the play-order, I moved the fast-paced-but-darker-mood “Four Sticks” up in the order to serve as a break between “The Battle…” and “Stairway…”.
(1- Part 2) Finally, I moved “Rock and Roll” from last place to where “Four Sticks” had been, which preserved the tonal complement of “Four Sticks” with the originally preceding and following times, “Misty Mountain Hop” and “Going to California”, respectively. This placement of “Rock and Roll” also helps to play on it’s “great end of set” vibe by being placed after most of the offerings of the album, while preserving the special listening experience of the closing tunes of the original play order.
Well, that didn’t take long. Quite enjoyable, actually, while I’ve been listening to a considerable amount of the remaining tunes on my 5-dozen-plus-tunes personal playlist of that mega-band put out. Which I will likely share with in future posts in this thread.
In the meantime, I’ve included a YouTube link to Led Zeppelin IV in its original order, as well as a public playlist my preferred play order as discussed here for your critical evaluation. Listening is ad-free if you have a Premium subscription or know a trick on how to skip/block the ads.
Original:
My playlist order:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...1of4KMVSeHanqP
Originally Posted by Dan Druff
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