Does anybody remember laughter?

Led Zeppelin - 1971

I actually considered just typing "ZoSo" here, in the middle of the page, in the biggest font I can find, and leave it at that. After all, there is nothing I can really say that hasn't been said about one of the most legendary albums of all times.
But it's an album I happen to enjoy a lot, so it will deserve, at least, a good few observations and comments.
By the time this album was released, Led Zepp were coming for a disappointing experience with their previous album, which hadn't been well received by critics, and deservedly so, I would say. It's not a bad album at all, but it was nowhere near as exciting as their previous work. It was their annoyance at the lukewarm reaction III had received what made them decide to release this album without a name and without the band's name in the cover.
And because life is irony, the "anonymous" album would become not only their biggest, but one of the most famous and best selling albums ever.
When an album is this big, the first question is always: is it really that good?
And, in this case, I think this one is really that good. It's not simply because of the impossibly amazing riff of "Black Dog", or because of that classic of all classics that is "Stairway to Heaven". Those are brilliant elements in an album that has a lot of great moments, but I think what makes this one stand out so much is that they did everything right, and more than that, each of the songs are the best example of each style LZ tried, before or after.
There is no overlong derivative experimentation here, it feels focused on the job at hand, on making each song impossible to improve, which is a rare thing in music. Robert Plant's rendering has a lot to do with this, I think, singing with less reliance on falsetto, and somehow timing his phrases perfectly. Of course, the musicianship is amazing here and this album could serve as a lesson in how to showcase how good you are as a musician without any need for showing off or overstaying your welcome with extremely long solos.
Of course, there's also that cover, with the 19th century painting in the front, and the hypnotic drawing of The Hermit in the gatefold, and the runes, all of which increased the aura of mysticism the album still has today
And also, I think it's an awfully fun album to listen to. As simple as that, I just enjoy listening to it a lot.

• I'm not gonna comment much on "Stairway to Heaven", because really there's nothing to add. It's suffered the blessing and the curse of being considered the greatest rock song of all times, and I don't know if anyone can listen to it with fresh ears. 
• My least favourite song here is, most likely, "Going to California". I've never been too much into the more folksy LZ songs, at least not this soft ballad style of folk. And while this is also the best they've done in that style, I do find Robert Plant's vocals a bit annoying. I do remember hating it the first times I heard it. 
• While also on the folk side, "The Battle of Evermore" is one of my favourite tracks. The duet Plant / Denny is brilliant and, also, well, there's Tolkien. I am a bit silly like that, I know. 
• Because the album never really had a name, it's been called a lot of things, from Led Zeppelin IV, to Untitled or just "the fourth album". The name ZoSo comes from Page's rune in the cover (which looks like that word, but apparently isn't). I remember the name being something like what the snobbier fans would call the album, but I had pretty much forgotten it until years later, when I heard "Nod Scene" by Monster Magnet, which starts with the line "Bought another copy of ZoSo". I'm also a bit silly when it comes to Monster Magnet. 
• Picking one song to put here is not easy, of course. I'm picking "When the Levee Breaks", the only cover in the album, because I always thought that it's a massive monster of a song, and Zepp never managed to sound this good and this heavy at the same time. Sometimes I think they tried to reproduce that in "Kashmir", but probably tried too hard.

Bonus tracks

• The title of this entry, in case you don't know, is a line that Robert Plant ad-libs in the live version of "Stairway" as it appears in that midnight classic The Song Remains The Same. He says it after the "and the forests will echo with laughter" line. I can't ever hear the song without hearing that line in my mind. The fact that it always appears in this scene in probably the best movie about rock music ever made, Almost Famous, is definitely a bonus. If you haven't seen this movie, please do. 

• If you're reading this, chances are you're more rock oriented than pop oriented. Or you could be like me, that i'm pretty much all-oriented. But even I never really cared much about Lady Gaga. And then I saw this. Massive amounts of respect. 

To be a rock, and not to roll...