Led Zeppelin IV [Remastered]

The 16 songs that comprise these two albums [Led Zeppelin IV and Houses Of The Holy] remaining blinding and deafening examples of strident, courageous music. [18 Oct 2014, p.54]

Familiarity hasn't taken all the shine off Led Zeppelin IV, because once you get past the aforementioned over-exposed "hits," there's still the frantic Four Sticks and When The Levee Break's big lumbering blues to knock you off your feet again. [Nov 2014, p.125]

By revealing a snapshot of the creative process part-way through, the working mix included on IV's companion CD only adds to tone's grasp of their artistic achievement. [Nov 2014, p.106]

Expanding on the breakthroughs of III, Zeppelin fuse their majestic hard rock with a mystical, rural English folk that gives the record an epic scope.... A song or two feels slightly different--"Misty Mountain Hop" jumps a bit as it seems to groove a little bit stronger--but by and large this [supplemental] disc shows that as a producer, Page not only knew where he wanted to go but he knew how to get it right the first time.

As with the previous three reissues, the pristine remastering removes a slight audio film that was still present after the 1992 versions. That’s especially obvious on the guitar parts of the more delicate songs but also shines a brighter light on John Bonham’s remarkable drumming that both grounded the band and pushed the other members into expanding their own boundaries.

The remastered mixes highlight how incredibly complex the arrangements were originally, a testament to the true magnitude of Led Zeppelin’s vision all those years ago.

Led Zeppelin IV and Houses Of The Holy feature the band at their peak, and these still hold up after decades of heavy rotation. [Dec 2014, p.90]