Best Led Zeppelin Album?

I like all periods of Zeppelin but there is something about the post-PG stuff that sounds somehow harsher and colder, more metallic. To me you can audibly hear Page switching over to a different engineering approach, and it's not just in the synthesizers. I almost want to say its like the difference between analog and digital, although I know that is probably not entirely correct. Not saying it's worse either, just different.

New studios? Prescence was done in Germany, and ITTOD was done at ABBA's place in Sweden.

page also switched into a heroin addict. word is he was falling down zoned while they recorded 'presence' and by 'in through the out door' dude was toast and could barely play

there are lots of folks that genuinely hate Presence. I love it. "Achille's Last Stand" is definitely proto-metal

― Neanderthal, Thursday, June 5, 2014 3:48 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Proto-metal? In 1976?

You could call something that came out in 1966 "proto-metal". But I think the genre had been pretty much established by '76.

yeah last two albums are kinda plant and jpj taking the reins. maybe i just haven't encountered it or it's just due to the relative lack of work from page and plant going in a different direction but i've never seen much speculation on what the next zep album would've sounded like.

Maybe here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_r9n1FRh-o

Ugg, sorry for that formatting.

Bill there are still albums deemed "protometal" released in 2014

Page said he and Bonham had discussed making a heavier more riff-based record after ITTOD.

xp

Page also started using Fender guitars more often than Gibsons after PG for whatever reason

Gibsons weighed more than he did at that point.

i used to think of I as an inferior test run for II but i think i like i better now

always been a presence guy

haha that's an awesome fan-trolling tracklist of that bootleg grandavis posted :)

Presence has 'Achilles Last Stand' and 'Nobody's Fault But Mine', which together make up an incredible 16-17 minutes worth of music, but I definitely think the rest of the album falls short of the standards they'd set by that point. I can certainly understand why folks would have considered to be somewhat of a disappointment/let down after Physical Graffiti.

Also, absolutely agree on 'Carouselambra' being a great track. My highlight of In Through The Out Door by miles.

As for what I would have voted for in this poll? Fuck knows. Right now I'm thinking Physical Graffiti but in a few months time I'd probably have changed my mind.

"No Quarter" is such a complete miracle of a song / recording

Presence

presence

My beef with Presence is that Achilles towers over the rest of the album. If there had been one more go-for-broke track like it I think it would rank higher. That said, Achilles Last Stand rules.

They should've presented Teo Macero with "Achilles" and "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and said, "Now edit these into our In A Silent Way."

Nahhhh. There are some rad songs on the album, but Presence is def lower-tier Zep. You can argue about the order within the sets, but the two sets of four albums in the poll results are in the correct order.

And Led Zeppelin are easily one of my all-time top three, so I say this with love.

I'd put Presence just below the Big Four.

ugh i like the zed records with names more than any of the big four

presence is so muscular, everyone is so locked into each other, i just love hearing them play like that. it's the same feeling i get from the 1975-era tracks on physical graffiti but more

By 'Big Four', I mean the four which are correctly-placed at the top of the poll results.

Presence sounds to me exactly like what it is: a band following up their best album while one of their members is convalescing in a wheelchair. It's still great but the energy feels a little off.

By 'Big Four', I mean the four which are correctly-placed at the top of the poll results.

oh lol sorry, well i hella like presence and ittod better than iv and iii

and i think plant's performance on presence is tremendous given the circumstances, he invests a lot in the songs regardless

Presence is an example of biography influencing reception. I don't have beef with anyone who calls it undistinguished but I couldn't tell this from what kind of chair Plant's sitting in.

I didn't know the biographical details behind its recording until nearly twenty years of listening to it pretty regularly. The background just helped make sense of why it felt a little off.

alfred otm

it's good that I can't make out Plant's lyrics tbh

Presence has two tracks on it which are as brilliant as anything they ever did: 'Achilles Last Stand' and 'Nobody's Fault But Mine', which are automatic inclusions on any Led Zeppelin playlist I make without even having to think about it. As an album, though, it's nowhere near as consistent in terms of quality as the albums that came before it, IMO, and that's why I could never rank it as Zeppelin's best album. I do think it's better than In Through The Out Door, though.

Today I'd agree. Add "Hots On for Nowhere" though.

"for your life" rules, though

xxpost:

I mean, I'm all up for reappraisal of what are generally perceived to be "lesser moments" in a bands' discography. In the case of Presence though, the general assessment has always been completely OTM, and will always be so.

it's good that I can't make out Plant's lyrics tbh

Generally speaking, pretty OTM.

Just imagine how many "does anyone remember laughter?"-s there are buried within any of his more inscrutable vocals.

Pictures at Eleven > ITTOD overall.

Presence all rules except for "Tea For One"

i love that weird effect they put on on Plant when he says "tryaaan fry iiit" or whatever he says

actually tea for one is p good too

this album rules

"tea for one" is the best

better than "Since I've Been Loving You."

yeah i would agree with that
tho the lugubrious slow blues burner is my least fav zeppelin mode

do ya wanna you wanna co-co-co-co-co-caaaaiiiine?

lol I kind of enjoy just how far Plant is willing to take it on that song. If he had toned it down it would have failed much harder.

Plus I dig the chord progression that hits every time he says "worried mind"

"Tea For One" is the Presence song on which I can believe something went wrong in Plant's life, based on his performance.

Presence really falls off for me after Nobody's Fault -- if not for the last few tracks it could compete for my favorite.

I used to loathe the bluesy 36 bpm Zep as a teen; now it's like, please give me an album's worth of Tea For One.