Here's where I show my age: Wanted to vote for "In the Evening" here.
That four-CD set they put out in the early 90s, where the sequencing wasn't in chronological order, did a number on my memory.
― pplains, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 13:38 (eight years ago) link
Here's where I also throw down the dare to combine Presence and In Through the Out Door into one single LP.
― pplains, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 13:39 (eight years ago) link
interesting idea but they are probably the two zep albums that sound the most differernt from each other production wise, presence is so dry and stripped down, out door is synthy and proto 80s
― Ma$e-en-scène (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 13:42 (eight years ago) link
I could probably get it down to an EP for you.
― Simply Sensational (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 13:43 (eight years ago) link
presence is so dry and stripped down, out door is synthy and proto 80s
I agree with those descriptions, but they're closer together in my mind than any of the others.
― pplains, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 13:54 (eight years ago) link
the historical consensus, that Achilles Last Stand is greater than anything else on this album by a good distance, is correct.
― tremendous crime wave and killing wave (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 13:58 (eight years ago) link
― pplains, Tuesday, September 1, 2015 8:54 AM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i agree with the concept just saying, unfortunately unlike trying to do a mix of, like, i don't know Houses of the Holy and Physical Grafitti into one album or I and II into one album or something like that it'd be hard to make it sound like one album because the production differences are so stark but yeah Zep breaks down pretty nicely into 2 album "eras" for me:
I & IIIII & IVHouses of the Holy/Physical GrafittiPresence/ITTOD
works pretty neatly
― Ma$e-en-scène (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 14:20 (eight years ago) link
They really dropped the ball on not having a song called "Physical Graffiti" appear on The Song Remains the Same soundtrack.
― pplains, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 14:23 (eight years ago) link
I always found the cover art on this one to be out of character -- it looks like a post punk record.
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 14:40 (eight years ago) link
― pplains, Tuesday, September 1, 2015 8:39 AM (1 hour ago)
I'll go you one better and add their best outtake.
Side A, 23.58In the Evening — 6.53For Your Life — 6.25Achilles Last Stand — 10.30
Side B, 23.11Royal Orleans — 2.59Carouselambra — 10.34Candy Store Rock — 4.11Wearing and Tearing — 5.27
Total time about 47 minutes, tight but doable.
― Gett Off, Eileen (WilliamC), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 15:12 (eight years ago) link
JPJ's 8-string bass playing should have taken over the world but didn't.
― Three Word Username, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 15:22 (eight years ago) link
"Hots on for Nowhere" for its general funkyness and that really weird hanging-on-a-note guitar solo
― Lee626, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 15:31 (eight years ago) link
That would work for me, WmC. Might try that out in a bit.
― pplains, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 17:14 (eight years ago) link
Presence/ITTOD combined: Achilles, Royal Orleans, Hots On, Carouselambra, Southbound, Fool, Hot Dog
― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 18:05 (eight years ago) link
iiin the eeeeeeevvvennniiiiiiiiing
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 18:06 (eight years ago) link
is boring
― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 18:18 (eight years ago) link
My combination of Presence/ITTOD as one LP:
A1 Achilles Last StandA2 For Your LifeA3 Royal Orleans
B1 Nobody's Fault But MineB2 Candy Store RockB3 Hots On For NowhereB4 Tea For One
― rushomancy, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 18:23 (eight years ago) link
lol
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 18:35 (eight years ago) link
otm
I would at least throw 'South Bound Suarez' a bone.
― Simply Sensational (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 18:37 (eight years ago) link
Holy shit, I just noticed for the first time ever that it's 'Saurez', not 'Suarez'. As in 'dino-saurez'?
― Simply Sensational (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 18:39 (eight years ago) link
My combination of Presence/In Through The Out Door as one LP:
A1 Achilles Last Stand
Followed by turning it off and putting Physical Graffiti on.
― You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 18:43 (eight years ago) link
aw
― Gett Off, Eileen (WilliamC), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 18:48 (eight years ago) link
I like the way you think, Turrican.
― Simply Sensational (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 18:51 (eight years ago) link
stop with the paring down. theyre both great all the way through
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 19:03 (eight years ago) link
Page on "For Your Life" is a nice mix of precision and absent-minded whammy bar-testing.
― bentelec, Tuesday, 1 September 2015 19:04 (eight years ago) link
man I was nine years old on the floor of my babysitter's teenage son's bedroom going through his LPs to try and understand the music these grown-up boys listened to and just TRIPPING on the Presence sleeve. It would have been new or nearly brand new and it felt like it was something so weird and deep and impenetrable, I would look and look and look. At that one, and at Wish You Were Here. It is a weird fit for the sounds, but since IV they'd been going for a pretty mysterious vibe with Hipgnosis.
― tremendous crime wave and killing wave (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 21:12 (eight years ago) link
I like WmC's reduction, makes for a muscular listen, especially with Wearing and Tearing. Seems like mixing the best of Presence (achilles) with ITTOD (carouselambra) yields... Trans Am.
For all the chops and power of Achilles tho I'm going with Tea For One, cos of the aura.
― Portugal minus Pedro Foster Cage (Spectrist), Tuesday, 1 September 2015 23:37 (eight years ago) link
For Your Life needs to be half as long and twice as fast.
― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 00:47 (eight years ago) link
^ i did this in audacity last night and it was fucking awesome
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 17:52 (eight years ago) link
Haha, me too.
― pplains, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 17:57 (eight years ago) link
Canyuknowwhoaowitrollsanyureallyfeeelit? UH - OH OHH.....
― pplains, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 17:58 (eight years ago) link
You'll all be slowing down Achilles to half-speed to make it last the length of a 20 minute side next!
― Turrican, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 17:59 (eight years ago) link
I think part of what makes Achilles so masterful is that it'd just be a boring, gradually deflating jam in the hands of almost any other band, but they're able to both sustain and control such a high level of intensity throughout the track, kicking it up just a little bit more and then bringing it back down when needed.
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:07 (eight years ago) link
never feels like ten minutes either, more like five
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:11 (eight years ago) link
'Achilles' is already a masterpiece, but imagine what it would have been if Plant had been at full fitness in the studio... fuck!
― Turrican, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:24 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scz-omSoQb0
― rushomancy, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:29 (eight years ago) link
lol sounds like a shreds video
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:33 (eight years ago) link
Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh
― Brad C., Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:34 (eight years ago) link
― Turrican, Wednesday, September 2, 2015 2:24 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I dunno, his performances on Presence are easily my favorite in their oeuvre. The wandering whining and aimless pseudo-scatting are largely dispensed with, and his voice has a breadth in the upper register it didn't really have before.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:40 (eight years ago) link
Couldn't make it through that Tempe performance. Do they ever agree on where they are in the song? They should've stopped to ask directions.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:41 (eight years ago) link
yeah does plant have to stand up to sing well
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Wednesday, 2 September 2015 18:48 (eight years ago) link
ITTOD and things like Knebworth give a glimpse of LZ had the band lasted longer and Page gone full '80s Strat.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 2 September 2015 19:45 (eight years ago) link
i actually just bought a powered subwoofer for my stereo system recently, last night picked up the new Presence vinyl
man....today before work i just kept cranking the volume higher and higher on Achilles, just in awe of its power
page really knocked these remasters out of the park, just excellent
― Ma$e-en-scène (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 17 September 2015 14:05 (eight years ago) link
also just listened to 10 Ribs/Carrot Pod Pod, one of the few genuine "rarities" in this whole series but kinda neat I guess, funny for Zeppelin...almost feel like I'm listening to the basic track of a pretty good Wings song
― Ma$e-en-scène (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 17 September 2015 14:07 (eight years ago) link
So far very little from the outtakes/rarities on the new remasters has really grabbed me.
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Thursday, 17 September 2015 14:08 (eight years ago) link
the one on LZ I that sounded like The Who was kinda good
I don't even know why they bothered really, I guess to make extra dough but I guess everyone who said there was really nothing there to bootleg was right, I mean "Travelling Riverside Blues" off the old box set is the only thing that felt like a proper new Zep song.
but as far as the vinyl quality and remaster etc, these are great
― Ma$e-en-scène (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 17 September 2015 14:18 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, "La La" is probably my favorite of all the outtakes, but it's seriously slim pickings. Most of the rough mixes are barely discernible from the masters, and on ITTOD, the "alternate mixes" just sound like a 3rd-generation cassette dub of the LP.
Everything on the Coda set could've easily fit on two discs; nice of them to pointlessly spread it out to 3, and price it accordingly.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 17 September 2015 14:23 (eight years ago) link
In a weird way I wasn't that upset about it because it made it easy to not even consider the deluxe editions and just get the regular reissues
― Ma$e-en-scène (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 17 September 2015 14:31 (eight years ago) link
You'll love the next wave of reissues, when they tag that Puff Daddy song at the end of Physical Graffiti.
― pplains, Thursday, 17 September 2015 14:32 (eight years ago) link
The assessment of this album being 'Achilles Last Stand' and 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' plus a lot of sub-par Zeppelin is still OTM.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Thursday, 23 November 2017 07:19 (six years ago) link
you're so wrong I don't even know where to start
― calstars, Thursday, 23 November 2017 12:18 (six years ago) link
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, 23 November 2017 14:31 (six years ago) link
#hotsonfornowhere
― calstars, Wednesday, November 22, 2017 7:43 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
otm. the rhythm section is so weird on this song. the way the drums switch to doubletime but the rest of the band keeps the same tempo so funky and disorienting
― voodoo chili, Thursday, 23 November 2017 18:37 (six years ago) link
Very difficult song to play drums on, for sure. Even air drumming the fills on the “oh oh” part is hard as fuck
― calstars, Thursday, 23 November 2017 20:26 (six years ago) link
my favorite Zeppelin album
― flappy bird, Thursday, 23 November 2017 22:28 (six years ago) link
Yeah, I'll never understand that - not when this band released six stone cold classics in a row prior to this, which was their weakest record up to that point until they followed it up with one worse.
It's another one of those records that suffers from "Gaucho syndrome" - where people actually got it right first time around.
― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Thursday, 23 November 2017 22:55 (six years ago) link
It's easy to understand if you consider every Zep LP (exceot ITTOD) the best one.
And yeah, HOFN is a jam
― Scape: Goat-fired like a dog! (Myonga Vön Bontee), Friday, 24 November 2017 00:47 (six years ago) link
Presence isn't as good as most of the other Zeppelin albums, no. It's more fragmented. It suffers by comparison. It's still considerably better than "two good songs and nothing" -- that's, like, weirdly "is it a banger or not???" thinking. Zep are considerably more interesting than that imo
― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Friday, 24 November 2017 00:51 (six years ago) link
― flappy bird, Thursday, November 23, 2017 4:28 PM (two hours ago)
same, by a mile
― WilliamC, Friday, 24 November 2017 01:18 (six years ago) link
and this isn't the fault of any of the records, but Presence is also the least culturally saturated Zep LP. I didn't listen to Led Zeppelin until about 2 years ago (right around when I made this poll). but songs like "Heartbreaker," "Kashmir," "Immigrant Song," "Dazed & Confused," "No Quarter," "When the Levee Breaks," "All My Love," "Whole Lotta Love," "Black Dog"... they're inescapable. And I love all their records. But the combination of Presence being completely fresh to me, along with its very straightforward no-frills meat&potatoes rock sound, appeal to me much more than all of their other records, which have much more dramatic narrative and sonic arcs. The epics, the acoustic songs, the drum solos, the riff-dozers. Presence is also one of the greatest examples of a band that's just really fucking tight and together with each other and well oiled and powerful, the kind of power and chemistry that can only come from years of playing & touring, and obviously the talent of the individuals.
― flappy bird, Friday, 24 November 2017 01:41 (six years ago) link
thank you Greta Van Fleet for bringing me back to this record
― flappy bird, Saturday, 27 October 2018 04:45 (five years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/jaVmPCm.jpg
― calstars, Friday, 22 May 2020 00:48 (three years ago) link
precience
― budo jeru, Friday, 22 May 2020 00:50 (three years ago) link
oh hell yeah
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Friday, 22 May 2020 00:50 (three years ago) link
"alexa, what is the strange plastic alien object in the center of the room that this entire family seems creepily infatuated with ?"
― budo jeru, Friday, 22 May 2020 00:59 (three years ago) link
yikes i made a typo i meant prescience **
― budo jeru, Friday, 22 May 2020 01:16 (three years ago) link
if you're not taking advantage of quarantine to carve/whittle your own Object it's probably never going to happen
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Friday, 22 May 2020 01:20 (three years ago) link
fortunately i have insurance that will cover that and don't need to DIY
― Kate (rushomancy), Friday, 22 May 2020 02:32 (three years ago) link
Want to hear a mashup of Royal Orleans and steely’s Green Earrings
― calstars, Sunday, 4 September 2022 02:45 (one year ago) link
I've often thought that The Object anticipated the mobile phone by several decades.
― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Sunday, 4 September 2022 05:27 (one year ago) link
wow do i not miss turrican
― mookieproof, Sunday, 4 September 2022 06:28 (one year ago) link
This is an amazing record where every song (except "Royal Orleans") has flashes of tedium about 80% of the way through - not because the band's energy is flagging, but because they're trying to goose the songs past their natural lengths.
Presence is also the least culturally saturated Zep LP.
I was visiting a woman who had all of the Zeppelin CDs except for this. "Oh, you don't have Presence!" "What's that?"
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 4 September 2022 14:31 (one year ago) link
― When Harpo Played His ARP (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 4 September 2022 14:36 (one year ago) link
I think “Achilles’…” is perfect. No flashes of tedium there.
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Sunday, 4 September 2022 14:51 (one year ago) link
"Tea For One" is my favorite Zep closer.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 4 September 2022 14:53 (one year ago) link
I think this album has perhaps the weakest *songs* of any Zeppelin album (not that there aren't also flashes of genius, ie Achilles), but even when the songs aren't thrilling, the machine powering through it all, the band, is still a remarkable thing.
― politics is about vibes and the vibes are off (stevie), Sunday, 4 September 2022 19:48 (one year ago) link
Did Turrican leave ILM? Also, I like Robert Plant a bunch, but I think his is at least a reasonable perspective.
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 6 September 2022 21:06 (one year ago) link
"Nobody's Fault But Mine".
I'd never heard this album until a couple of days ago. I can't say I like it very much - despite the best efforts of JPJ and Bonham. "Achilles Last Stand" is good but it's really a bit too prog metal for my tastes - I find some of it really clunky. The rest of the album just isn't very memorable.
― Bulky Pee Pants (Tom D.), Tuesday, 23 January 2024 21:32 (three months ago) link
u mad broAchilles is like their best song
― calstars, Tuesday, 23 January 2024 21:54 (three months ago) link
I'm mad? One person thinks "Royal Orleans" is better!
― Bulky Pee Pants (Tom D.), Tuesday, 23 January 2024 21:56 (three months ago) link
“tea for one” is dreamy and incredible
― brimstead, Tuesday, 23 January 2024 22:27 (three months ago) link
"Tea For One" and "Hots on For Nowhere" on two ends of their spectrum are marvelous; the latter is top ten Zep imo.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 23 January 2024 22:38 (three months ago) link
― WilliamC, Thursday, November 23, 2017 7:18 PM (six years ago)
a hundred miles by now
― that's when I reach for my copy of Revolver (WmC), Wednesday, 24 January 2024 02:24 (three months ago) link