Oh, well, the night is long, the beads of time pass slow,
Tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow.
- The Battle of Evermore, Led Zeppelin
I'll just say it now to get it out of the way. Stairway to Heaven, although a fine song, is not my favourite Led Zeppelin song. In fact, it wouldn't even make my list of top 25 Led Zeppelin songs. It used to be my favourite song, but I think that was when I knew very little about the band's catalogue. There are way too many great songs to allow this one to take a preeminent places.
Back in high school, Stairway to Heaven was often the last song at school dances (it was either that or Babe, that awful piece of shit from Styx). Those songs served as a signal that the dance would soon be over, and it was your last chance to get close to a female. But, let's face it, this is a difficult song to have a slow dance to. The beginning works, but once the track speeds up, most kids were at a loss as to how to deal with the tempo change. Most just clung to their dancing partner until the song ended.
The album jacket for this record omits the band's name. It's a curious thing to do, but I imagine a hype sticker would have alerted people to the contents. My copy is a Canadian pressing from 1979, and it's in great shape. I think there were close to twenty Canadian pressings of this record.
This record is packed from start to finish with awesomeness. It contains some of my favourite Zeppelin tunes, like Black Dog, Four Sticks, and When the Levee Breaks, all of which are in my top 20 Zep tunes.
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