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Alistair Tait Profile
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Registered: 04-2004
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Presence - a review


Album Title: Presence
Artist: Led Zeppelin
Year: 1976

This is an album that I have never really regarded as being any good. For years I always felt that Zep let things seriously drop below standard when they stuck this out. To really understand what Presence is all about, one has to have a wee lesson in Zep history first!

Robert Plant had a serious car accident prior to recording the album and actually did all the sessions in a wheelchair. John Paul Jones and John Bonham were certainly beginning to lose interest in the band and wanted to spend more time with their families. The result is that this album is basically a Jimmy Page driven effort. Indeed there are no keyboards on this album and JPJ and Bonzo have little in the way or writing credits. With this, one can expect to hear a very dark sounding album and that is exactly what this is.

Now, whilst I started this review of by saying that I have never really regarded the album as being a classic, it certainly does sound a lot better after a few years! Achillies Last Stand has always been a decent enough song (although I would have to admit, a bit boring). Page's overdubs give it enough merit to have a listen regardless of length! Bonzo's thundering drums and JPJ's tight bass lines work well under the Page guitar orchestra that is layered above. Plant's are very good as well.

For Your Life has a great moody riff which works well. Again Bonzo's drums are very prominent. Page gives the middle section a good workout with the ol' overdubs. Definitely one of the better songs on the album.

Nobody's Fault But Mine is a great little blues workout. The rhythm section of JPJ and Bonzo is yet again as powerful as ever. Plant's vocals, and more particularly, harmonica playing is fantastic. This would become an important staple in the live set over the next few years. The second blues number on the album is Tea For One. This is somewhat in a similar vein to Since I've Been Loving You and the later day I'm Gonna Crawl. It starts off with multi-layered guitar harmony parts which Page was obviously rather keen on at the time, considering the album is full of them! This song really happens to contain the last great Page and for that reason alone it is worth listening to.

The rest of the songs whilst not bad, don't exactly get the hairs on the back of the neck raised. Hots On For Nowhere is a funky rhythmically tricky song which has a nice feel to it, but Royal Orleans and Candy Store Rock are throwaways.

Overall, this album is certainly Led Zeppelin's most darkest hour. Jimmy Page is in full control here (for the last time as it would transpire) and takes full of advantage of the situation by filling the album with multi-layered guitar tracks. Some have described this as disc 3 or Physical Graffiti; I wouldn't. Not an essential Zep purchase.

Rating: 5 out of 10
4/11/2004, 22:08 Link to this post Send Email to Alistair Tait   Send PM to Alistair Tait
 
Milan Fahrnholz Profile
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Re: Presence - a review


I happen to quite like this one. Achilles Last Stand and Nobody´s Fault But Mine always have been favourites, so half the album is great already.

Nobody´s Fault But Mine is also a classic, no doubt about that.

Haven´t listened to it in a while, I have to admit I can only remember the riff of Royal Orleans and some vocal of Candy Store Rock(oh, baby,baby,baby) maybe that says something...
4/11/2004, 22:16 Link to this post  
 
Alistair Tait Profile
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Re: Presence - a review


Yes, that is how I felt before I stuck it on the other day! Tea For One is a great song though. Well worth taken a listen to.
4/11/2004, 22:17 Link to this post Send Email to Alistair Tait   Send PM to Alistair Tait
 
Milan Fahrnholz Profile
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Re: Presence - a review


So Zeppelin didn´t tour in ´76 because of Plant then? So you can more or less say the broke up anyway after the ´77 after which they only did 3 or 4 gigs in ´79 and maybe about 20 in 1980.

Didn´t it take them 1 year to annouce an official breakup after Bonham´s dead?

Anyway, I digress...
4/11/2004, 22:21 Link to this post  
 
Gillans micstand Profile
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Re: Presence - a review


I happen to like it myself,but I can remember being a little unhappy when it first came out...then it grew on me.
I'm not the type of Zeppelin fan that has to have the high standards constantly shoved in my ears,this and the third album are my absolute favorites,probably for personal listening enjoyment purposes.

Plant recorded this one from a wheelchair huh,thats wild! emoticon
5/11/2004, 5:23 Link to this post Send Email to Gillans micstand
 
Alistair Tait Profile
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Re: Presence - a review


quote:

Milan Fahrnholz wrote:

So Zeppelin didn´t tour in ´76 because of Plant then? So you can more or less say the broke up anyway after the ´77 after which they only did 3 or 4 gigs in ´79 and maybe about 20 in 1980.

Didn´t it take them 1 year to annouce an official breakup after Bonham´s dead?

Anyway, I digress...



I think it was September 23rd 1980 is when they announced that the would not be continuing. You are correct in thinking there were only a handful of gigs in 79/80, but there were big plans to take the In Through The Out Door songs to America towards the end of 1980 and the beginning of 1981. Sadly, we never got to see that...
5/11/2004, 8:19 Link to this post Send Email to Alistair Tait   Send PM to Alistair Tait
 
Gillans micstand Profile
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Re: Presence - a review


...a tour was infact booked,I have a poster for a gig in northern CA,1980.
5/11/2004, 8:28 Link to this post Send Email to Gillans micstand
 
Alistair Tait Profile
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Re: Presence - a review


Yes you are correct there. Peter Grant really wanted to make Zep huge again. The project was originally entitled 'Led Zeppelin - The Eighies: Part One'. Realistically, I reckon that if they had released more material after ITTOD it would've been much different from Plant's solo material.
5/11/2004, 9:42 Link to this post Send Email to Alistair Tait   Send PM to Alistair Tait
 
Milan Fahrnholz Profile
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Re: Presence - a review


quote:

Alistair Tait wrote:
I think it was September 23rd 1980 is when they announced that the would not be continuing. You are correct in thinking there were only a handful of gigs in 79/80, but there were big plans to take the In Through The Out Door songs to America towards the end of 1980 and the beginning of 1981. Sadly, we never got to see that...



So the gig in berlin wasn´t really planned to be the last one?
5/11/2004, 11:48 Link to this post  
 
TeleCat Profile
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Re: Presence - a review


For Your Life is my favorite Zep tune. It features alot of tremolo bar action from Page which is uncommon. I like Hots On For Nowhere also-campy fun song.
5/11/2004, 16:10 Link to this post Send Email to TeleCat   Send PM to TeleCat
 


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