One of my favorite live lp's.

Led Zeppelin - Presence


Presence is an underrated album. The album was made in 1976 as a result of a car crash Robert Plant suffered in Greece in 1975. So instead of a world tour, Plant started to write song lyrics; he was later joined by Jimmy Page and later John Bonham and John Paul Jones. The album was hurried quite a bit (it was recorded in 18 days) which lead to a seemingly unpolished product.

However, the songs recorded are classic Zeppelin. "Achilles Last Stand" is an epic proto-speed metal song. Page's swift, clean picking and Bonham jackhammer-like drums have made this a fan favorite (it is also Jimmy Page's favorite as well). At 10:25, it is one of Zeppelin's longest songs as well.

As for the rest of the tracks on the album, only "Nobody's Fault But Mine" received any kind of recognition by the public; however, "Hots On For Nowhere" and "For Your Life" are two of the album's stronger tracks. "Royal Orleans" tells the story of a man how accidentally took a transvestite up to his room (said to be about John Paul Jones). "Tea For One" bears resemblance to "Since I've Been Loving You." Page, in fact, said that this song was the only time Led Zeppelin ever repeated themselves.

Looking back at it, Presence was hurried, but it is not as bad as the critics say.

My rating:

8.5/10

The most underrated Led Zeppelin album and maybe the heaviest album they ever recorded. Every track on this album is a winner and Bonham's drumming stands out on this recording.

'Royal Orleans' an underrated classic and I am not sure how many of these songs got added to set list since I believe the tour may have been cut short due to the death of Robert Plant's son.

"Candy Store Rock' is another stand out cut and Jimmy Page's playing captures all the rage and emotional rollercoaster the band was experiencing.

This was Led Zeppelin' worst selling album and it still managed to obtain platinum status. Highly highly recommended and one of the few Led Zeppelin albums not burn out from classic rock radio's unimaginative playlists.

great lp... "Tea for One" is a personal favorite

Easily one of my favorite Led Zeppelin albums and criminally ignored for the most part. The quick recording actually adds to the immediacy of the material and adds that little extra "edge".

Nobody's Fault But Mine is a stone classic, as is the majority of the album. As Manny mentioned not a bad song here and thankfully it hasn't been played to death by classic rock radio.

This album also contains my favorite Jimmy Page performance on Tea For One. That track is just pure magic and Page's guitar work is flat-out genius. I love the way it opens with a riff that is quickly discarded as the song slows down for it's main groove...it's a great sensation that tricks you into thinking one thing...before it takes you to an entirely new level. This song is a textbook example of how to play blues rock with real passion.

Probably the Zeppelin album I listen to the most.

To this day this is this only Zeppelin album I own.

I guess it's mostly because growing up I had probably heard just about every other album of theirs about what seemed a million times. It always seemed that growing up wherever I went; a friends house, a party, a dorm room, or just about any kind of gathering somebody had a Zeppelin album playing. This doesn't even take into account the tons of times I heard many of these same songs on the radio over the years.

Needless to say I had become pretty burned out with them. I remember seeing this album cover in a music store one day and thinking, hey I know I don't own that and picking up and being surprised that it was a Zeppelin album and even more surprised that I didn't recognize almost all of the songs. When I listened to it I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it given my Zeppelin burnout and it remains a favorite album to this day.

Going back to The Song Remains The Same, that was my first introduction to Led Zeppelin.

Well since its so far along and much has already been said, Ill keep it brief.

Houses Of The Holy: One of my favorite Zeppelin albums, just perfect all around.

Physical Graffiti: Another great one, only a few dull moments which are few and far between, but even those songs I dig.

The Song Remains The Same: I dig the film, and I love Zeppelin, but this is an album I listen to rarely, pretty good though.

Presence: One of my favorites, another flawless one IMO. Anyone who thinks Zeppelin started to slip here really needs to listen to this again

Presence was kind of weak for me. Besides Achilles' Last Stand and Nobody's Fault But Mine, I can't remember a song on it.

Where's that confounded bridge?!

I really dig this album and as mentioned before it is not played to death on the radio. I read somewhere that the cover art has satanic albeit cryptic imagery. Bonzo's best album performance IMO.

That's one of the problems w/some christians, they see Satan everywhere!

I always thought they put a pattern on a photograph and cut it out and placed something black behind it.

from wikipedia:

The cover and inside sleeve of this album, created by Hipgnosis, features various images of people interacting with a black obelisk-shaped
object. Inside the album sleeve, the item is referred to simply as "The
Object". It was intended to represent the "force and presence" of Led
Zeppelin.^[1] In the liner notes of the Led Zeppelin Remasters, Jimmy Page explained:

There was no working title for the album. The record-jacket designer
said `When I think of the group, I always think of power and force.
There's a definite presence there.' That was it. He wanted to call it
`Obelisk'. To me, it was more important what was behind the obelisk.
The cover is very tongue-in-cheek, to be quite honest. Sort of a joke
on [the film] 2001. I think it's quite amusing.

The background used in the cover photograph is of an artificial marina that was installed inside London's Earl's Court Arena
for the annual Earl's Court Boat Show that was held in the winter of
1974–1975. This was the same venue where the band played a series of concerts a few months after the boat show, in May 1975.
In 1977 the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of best album package.

Led Zeppelin - In Through The Out Door


A better name for this album could perhaps be the John Paul Jones Album. Led Zeppelin was falling into disrepair at this point. Plant was mourning the loss of his son, Karac, Jimmy Page was stung out on heroin half the time, and John Bonham was a full blown alcoholic. This left John Paul Jones to do most of the writing and arranging of the music. The band was also splitting into two factions. Jones and Plant would come in at one time to work, and Page and Bonham would come in at a different time to put in their hours.

This is again a very diverse Zeppelin album. Keybroads, an instrument that Jones played, was very prominant in the mix (mainly because Jones wrote the album). Whether it was the keyboard intro to "In The Evening" or the keyboard-driven songs "Carouselambra" or 'All My Love", Jones has heavy influence on the album.

"Fool In The Rain" and "Hot Dog" again show Zeppelin's diversity and Jones's piano skills. It is a far cry from the guitar driven rock of Fourth Album and Led Zeppelin II.

Sadly, John Bonham passed away roughly a year after the album was released. His death subsequently caused the grounding of the mighty Zeppelin. Plant has said that they just couldn't pug someone else in and keep going on. RIP

My rating:

8/10

The album was rapped in a brown bag, and it came with many different combinations of covers.














The covers are in combinations of two. The back is posted first and the front cover is posted second.

This album is definitely John Paul Jones baby, and it is album that deserves to get more attention.

'In the Evening' is a great opening track and John Bonham's playing is extraordinary as always. Jimmy Page's guitar playing was more subtle, and most of the time taking a supporting role. His playing on 'All of My Love' is beautiful.

'All of My Love' was written as a tribute to Robert Plant's song Karac. Robert Plant's voice has changed slightly and is a little deeper and more expressive.

'A Fool in the Rain' is another example of why you could not just go out and replace John Bonham. His half beat shuffle and latin gives this track its feel.

A great album, highly recommended.

It's actually been years since I heard this record, think I'll pull it out and spin it today prior to writing up my thoughts on it.

another great lp

different but still great.

I love the different combinations of cover art that came with the album. Each one was unique.

Didn't the brown bag it was wrapped in change colors if you added water to it?