Led Zeppelin IV

November 15, 2006
Hoskyns' breezy, sometimes overexcited precis of Led Zeppelin further indicates, after Jan Reid's raggedy, larf-a-minute " Layla "and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos (2006), that Rodale's Rock of Ages series of classic-rock-album histories may prove worth staying abreast of. The acme of the Zep's career and the book is the group's fourth album ("The one with 'Black Dog' and 'Stairway to Heaven, ' man!"), entitled with four runelike symbols rather than words. Hoskyns cleaves to how the Zep did what it did, especially on the focal album, relegating remarks on its members' notorious drugging, drinking, and carousing to the end of the book, and contending that the debauchery postdated its finest achievements. The many casual admirers of the band's big numbers may be surprised to learn how scrupulously guitarist Jimmy Page, in particular, crafted each recording, and by the variety of musical styles and treatments the group essayed on each album. Often credited with launching the oafish heavy-metal style, Led Zeppelin was, Hoskyns argues, a serious, conscientious musical group.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)