Led Zeppelin's Four Symbols by Erik Davis

Led Zeppelin's Four Symbols Reviews

• 
  Matthew

  True story 13 year old me once made his parents sit in the driveway and wait until ‘Stairway to Heaven’ – a song that up until that very moment my newly crowned teenage self and parents for they were on the threshold of adulthood upon the song’s release had heard dozens upon dozens of times – had reached its majestic conclusion Also true story I would soon leave the car and sprint to my room to listen to it again But not just ‘Stairway’; the 4th Led Zeppelin record as a whole Because ZOSO or Runes or Led Zeppelin IV or Four Symbols or whatever you wanna call it was than just its centerpiece In fact one could argue it was than just an album As a pimply faced music obsessed hormone driven kid I wasn’t just into the subtext brought upon by the English band’s 1971 record – I lived for it Fantasy became reality to me I got heavily into Lord of the Rings Became fascinated by cults Wrote my own lyrics – terrible terrible lyrics – that spoke of wizardry and fair ladies and magical dwarfs Led Zeppelin was the perfect blend of catchy pop adrenaline pumping rock ‘n roll and fantastical illusion And I was there for all of it Still am in a sense though my affinity for Tolkienesue mysticism has wavered But great songs are great songs and Led Zeppelin IV is rife with them – so much so I recall having once said during a rather contrarian phase of my 20’s that ‘Stairway’ was the album’s 5th best song Not that you care but for the record today it probably stands as 2nd or 3rd with ‘Going to California’ holding the top spotNeedless to say me and ZOSO have got some history And it’s not even my favorite Led Zep record Nor is it Erik Davis’s favorite Davis being the writer whose 33 13 account of the 4th Zeppelin album brings us here today This similarity alone intimated within the book’s first few pages gave me hope that Davis like me had been thoroughly seduced by the record’s magic before ultimately becoming nothing than a big fan of its big songs This certainly holds true but Davis goes deeper Wayyyyyyyyy deeper How deep? Well let’s just say 13 year old me would’ve dug this as a whole helluva lot than the current version thirty years later That’s not to say Davis’s account isn’t altogether enjoyable; after all we nerds recognize our own appreciate one another’s esoterism The writer devotes most of his essay to the otherworldly uality the album exhibits whether it be lyrically musically or tangibly most especially the packaging And while these are critical elements to the album as a whole allotting the majority of one’s text to expound on these details felt a little superfluous Any reference to the recording process was either cited from other sources or generalized to the point of insignificance To be fair we were warned from the get go Davis posits ‘This book then is sort of a tribute an ode to the Himalaya of heavy rock a paganish take on rock and roll ringwaiths and the iconic fetish of the gatefold LP I write not as a believer but as an “occulture critic” fascinated with esoteric lore but convinced of no secret keys beyond the central revelation of the human imagination’To which Davis delivers and then some Yet for this guy this 43 year old music obsessive who’s gravitated towards culture than occult as time has passed it lost its luster after a while I took my Hobbit poster down sometime before entering college; with it I’d also retired the same fascination Davis demonstrates throughout his account Which is to say said account is still worthwhile regardless of your own “occulture” leanings Because at the end of the day Led Zeppelin IV is above all of its majesty and mystiue an undeniably classic record Just ask my parents
• 
  Holly

  I would have appreciated a 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 mindI 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 kindAll 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
• 
  Alan Taylor

  I like the 33 13 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 PurpleIn 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 cheekIn 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 magick and Percy’s ‘bona fide uest’ 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 immersive and yes perhaps a 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 excusePerhaps I just prefer those 33 13 books which delve into the making of the albums I’m glad I finished this but it is not one of my favourites
• 
  Jason Coleman

  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 mystiue 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 Auarian tide rolled back out and revealed a desolate shore And he is a beautifully evocative writer Black Dog thrashes like a serpent turning on itself despite the drummer's desperate clinging to 44 time; Misty Mountain Hop tumbles downward while Four Sticks scrambles upward He concocts an elaborate narrative for the album but he understands this record signifies above all sonically Davis wanders freely 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
• 
  Mason Jones

  This one's a lot of fun This one of the 33 13 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

  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

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

  Probably a 35 Some interesting stuff A lot about Jimmy and the occult at beginning of book
• 
  Chris J

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