Led Zeppelin (1971) Four Sticks

 An oft forgotten track from probably the mother of all heavy rock albums, heavy a term here used for dynamic music based on extreme contrasts than just loud, aggressively played hard rock or metal. On the mighty Zeppelin's fourth and entirely untitled album, unless you count some rune based symbols, the most delicate pluck of a mandolin was as importantly to the most droning and distorted power chord ringing out in a sonic wonderland, Four Sticks having a veyr unique sound that made it stand out on this stand out set of tunes.

 Dominated right from the go by the pounding 'tree trunk' drumsticks (two sets of them hence the title) of John Bonham and the fast paced, fuzz toned riff that was a million miles away from the superficial eastern psychedelic and raga rock scene of the 60s but a more earnest imitation of the kind of mind bashing power and enlightenment of tantric mantras. The simple note riff has the groundbreaking riff based sound they debuted on their debut album tracks like Communication Breakdown. And like their music it goes down some novel shifts, first for the chorus we go to another simple melody this time played on a mandolin though still sounding eastern with it's interesting use of ascending scales you could almost imagine a raga vocal choir singin along to it. This mix between eastern heavy rock and Old English folk gives this track a Prog Rock label earned by the mystical Yes like lyrics based on certain imagery to possibly illustrate kicking a drug habit or a breakup? Plant's sensual delivery has an eerie double track to it as he achingly sings somewhat in agony about 'when the owls cry in the night','when the pines begin to cry', and a number of 'baby, baby' lyrics probably more than any other song almost running into the rock star archetype he pretty much created.

 Then another sequence begins on a early Yamaha keyboard which had a flat, odd sound like a sampled orchestra or mellotron, this closing multi-tracked Moog sound layered over a relentless drum beat and a gigantic riff is pretty much the template for the song, Kashmir, two albums later; look at the structure of the song included Plant's Arabic, atonal style of wailing at the end it's all a dry run for their 1975 epic track.