The Led Zeppelin guitarist shared a reflection commenting on IV, one of the most acclaimed albums in the history of the musical genre
Rock fans who have never come across the saying “the albums of the past were really good” probably have an isolated experience with this genre of music. In fact, the most acclaimed works of this style were recorded decades ago. AND Jimmy Pageresponsible for some of these documents, has an explanation about it.
In a 2014 interview with Classic rock (go Music Radar), the guitarist of Led Zeppelin was asked to reflect on the power of the untitled 1971 album known as Led Zeppelin IV. The album in question has sold more than 35 million copies worldwide.
Initially, he agreed when the interviewer pointed out that the A-side of the vinyl is the one that brings together the classics “Black Dog”, “Rock and roll”, “The Battle of All Time” AND “Stairway to Heaven” – it’s powerful. The page says:
“It’s cool, right? You get the full sense of the creativity of this band. It’s coming in full force. It’s showing the whole picture of what this band is musically. There’s no doubt about it at this point.”
Jimmy’s theory was born to explain why older albums sound so good compared to newer ones. For him the difference was that bands, at that time, had to play together in the studio to record their songs.
“They were really honest performances. If I recorded a song, it wouldn’t be recorded one word at a time and put together with the ProTools [programa de edição musical muito usado a partir dos anos 1990]. This is one way of doing things. I’m not saying it’s necessarily wrong, because I really like what they do with modern mixing. But then it was a real performance: you feel the dynamics and it’s a perfect mix.”
In the end, the English musician ended up resorting to a word he’s not a big fan of:
“The whole thing is really… I don’t want to use the word ‘organic’, but you know what I mean!”
Led Zeppelin IV song order
Elsewhere in the conversation, Jimmy Page made another important point for older rock bands: in those days, they cared about the album as a whole. In recent years the music market has once again given priority to singles. When commenting on the definition of the order of Led Zeppelin IVhe said:
“We were making albums for the album market, which is what everyone was doing outside of pop singles. It was important to have the flow, the rise and fall of the music and the contrast, so that each song had more of an impact compared to the other.”
He was asked if he thought about putting “Stairway to Heaven” upon finishing the album as a whole – rather than just finishing on the A-side – Page responded:
“No, no, no! “When the Levee Breaks” had to close. You had your opening statement, which is the A-side of the record. But I thought so “Pauses on the banks” I had to finish the overall sound picture of what we had done, because she was so sinister. It is sinister, dense and would disturb people. After caressing them with ‘Stairs’now you will disturb them! But that’s exactly the point, isn’t it? Evoking all these different emotions.
+++ READ MORE: Jimmy Page: How did the musician’s good relationship with Brazil arise?
+++ READ MORE: Was it difficult to work with Jimmy Page? He himself answers
+++ READ MORE: Led Zeppelin’s greatest merit, according to Jimmy Page
Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
