VH1 has a very good series titled VH1’s Classic Albums that’s made with the cooperation of the artists and gives insight into the recording and production of classic rock and roll albums.  While this Rock Milestones series seems to be a knock-off of that series, it doesn’t ever get quite as good as the VH1 series.  It isn’t as horrid as some other unauthorized rock -n- roll documentaries I’ve come across, either.

Rock Milestone: Led Zeppelin’s IV opens with a black & white film of a live performance of Rock & Roll.  It achieved two pluses for me right there with actual live footage of the band and actual use of their music.

Graham McTavish narrates this documentary.  In addition, there are a variety of rock critics, writers, historians, and record producers most people won't recognize.  The bottom line is why do I care about what they think?  I don’t know.  When they are focused on what seems to be a behind-the-scenes look at the recording of the album, this works.

After 2 years of touring almost non-stop and a third album that was received with less enthusiasm than their first two albums, Led Zeppelin went to work on their fourth album.  The commentary that comes along with that is decent, although there are no deep discussions about each song and many people who are Led Zeppelin fans will have heard this all before.  These don’t seem to be people with intimate knowledge of what happened in the studio, but rather people who have heard the stories for themselves from other sources and are just repeating them.

If you are someone who hasn’t heard all of the stories before and are interested in hearing them, there are a number of parts that are interesting.  A good part is when one of the musicians shows how a Bach piece influenced the song Stairway to Heaven.  I found that to be one of the most interesting parts of the entire disc.  However, it never gets into the influence the writings of author J.R.R. Tolkein had on Robert Plant which was an important influence on the song The Battle of Evermore.  It’s hardly a comprehensive look at this classic rock album.

There is good use of live footage, although it all appears with writing across the bottom.  There are some recorded interviews with the members of Led Zeppelin, although none of them actually are interviewed live for the DVD.  In many cases, though, while there is talking going on, the same footage or photographs are used over and over again.  After a while, it does get boring.

While Rock Milestone: Led Zeppelin’s IV isn’t as bad as many other rock documentaries I’ve seen, it misses out on being as deep and comprehensive as it could be.  Die-hard fans will probably hear nothing new on this DVD, and for those of us who are fans, we will notice things that should have been discussed but aren’t.  It’s really not worth checking out, although I have seen much worse out there.




© 2009 Patti Aliventi

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