1282. Led Zeppelin / Physical Graffiti. 1975. 2.5/5

In 1973, Led Zeppelin released their fifth studio album, “Houses of the Holy”, an album that deviated from what had come before in their catalogue to include further improvisation and experimentation with the use of synthesisers and mellotron orchestration. The result of this was... worldwide acclaim... as if they hadn’t already become used to this kind of reception. The album topped charts worldwide, and the subsequent tour of North America in 1973 broke attendance records, including the one show record of over 56,000 people in Tampa Bay which outstripped the previous best held by The Beatles. Three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City were filmed for a motion picture, which was released as “The Song Remains the Same” in 1976. On the back of all of this, the band decided to take a break from touring in 1974 and instead launched their own record label called Swan Song.
It wasn’t until the end of 1974 that the band reunited and began to look at writing songs for the follow up album. They returned to the site of the writing and recording of their fourth studio album, Headley Grange in Hampshire. It was during these sessions that Jimmy Page and John Bonham recorded an instrumental track that would eventually become the basis of the song “Kashmir”, one of the band best known songs. However, these sessions ground to a halt far quicker than expected, and the band left the premises. At the time the press reported that the abrupt end had come because of an illness to John Paul Jones. Eventually the truth came out, which was that Jones had become disillusioned with the group as a whole and touring in particular and was reevaluating whether he wanted to remain in the band. He told their manager that he was considering quitting, who then asked him to reconsider his decision and instead take another two months off in order to rest and come back with a clear head. There was no guarantee that this was going to happen, but come the start of the new year, Jones returned.
The four members of Led Zeppelin were back at Headley Grange in January and February 1974, where they recorded eight tracks. Lead singer Robert Plant in later interviews referred to these eight tracks as "the belters,". The reason that the band had returned to Headley Grange was because of the informal atmosphere that the property held for them, which allowed the group to improvise and develop material while they were recording. It was very much a group writing experience, with songs played and rehearsed together before sitting down and discussing the elements that could be improved or left out altogether. Drummer John Bonham became a driving force at the sessions, regularly suggesting ideas or the best ways in which a complicated arrangement could be played successfully. It led to a feeling during this time of the album being the concept of the whole group rather than a patchwork of individuals and their individual songs.
The eight songs composed and recorded here extended beyond the length of a conventional album, almost spanning three sides of an LP, which led to the band deciding that they would create a double album, rather than trying to edit out songs they had already written. To do this, they delved back to material that they had recorded during other albums that had not been used or released at that time. These were re-recorded for the new album, which stretched the release time out further. On top of this, despite hoping to release the album at the end of 1974, further delays meant that it finally saw the light of day in February of 1975, some 16 months after the iitial sessions had begun.What the music listening world wanted to know however, was whether the wait was going to be worth it?...

The album kicks off with the heavy thunder of 'Custard Pie', a statement opener that is packed with Jimmy Page riffing on guitar and those hard thumping Joh Bonham drums. Lyrically there’s plenty here that reminds you of a latter day Whitesnake attribution from David Coverdale with innuendo and double entendre gathering momentum. Page’s guitar solo is a beauty, while the requisite harmonica from Plant doesn’t disappoint. A great opening to the album. Further goodness comes in the form of “The Rover” which is the first of the older tracks, originally written as an acoustic track as early as 1970 and messed around with several times since then before landing here on “Physical Graffiti”. It has a great rhythm and guitar riff throughout, nicely driven by the bass underneath from John Paul Jones and Bonham’s driving drumming. Some overdubbing of guitars was done here, but it isn’t noticeable that it came from different album sessions than this one.
“In My Time of Dying” is a long blues extension, another of those traditional old blues songs that Led Zeppelin would borrow from and then from that make their own song out of it. Now while it was mostly done live in the studio, and is considered one of the defining tracks on the album, there are those people out there who would have a drawing problem with the length of the track. At just over 11 minutes in length it does test the patience of the casual listener. There are some good pieces within the framework of the song but it does draw out towards infinity in places.
“Houses of the Holy” kicks starts side two of the double album and was initially written and recorded for the previous album which carried the same name. Apparently, the reason it wasn’t used for that album was because of its similarity to other songs already crafted. It is a benefit to this album that it was available, as it is one of the better songs here. That same similar style is also prevalent on “Trampled Underfoot”, a song which John Paul Jones openly admits was inspired by Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition'. The clavinet gives the song a bouncy funky feel, with Bonham instrumental in rearranging the originally composed track to give a more upbeat style rather than the soul sound it first inhabited.
One of the most recognisable riffs in music history is follows with the epic and truly wonderful 'Kashmir'. Full of that eastern music direction that brings in the mellotron alongside the strings and brass sections and the basic attention grabbing rhythm of the band itself, this is a song that barely fails to deliver, a song that touches nerves and sends tingles down the spine listening to even, even today so many years on. It is arguably the band’s finest moment, combining everything they had brought to the table up to this point of their careers, and doubling down to create a song with such atmosphere and depth of feeling that it is hard to dismiss.
The second LP of this release probably does not live up to the excellence of the first LP. “In the Light” is very much the accomplishment of John Paul Jones. He takes the lead on the song, wrote most of it and plays some tremendous keyboards and synthesizer throughout. His influence was so great on the song that although Robert Plant wanted to play it live, Jones refused, saying he couldn't recreate the synth effects outside a studio environment. Interestingly, Jimmy Page has also stated that it is his favourite song from the album. It is another 8 minutes plus song on the album, and one that does split the fan base because of its tendency to overstay its welcome. The short instrumental 'Bron-Y-Aur' follows and is a standard acoustic workout for Page. “Down by the Seaside” was originally an acoustic track and was recorded for the fourth album but left off. It may have been considered too similar to 'Going To California' and would likely have received more recognition had it been included on that album. “Ten Years Gone” features a great vocal from Plant and multiple guitar tracks from Page. While the song barely gets out of second gear at any point of the track, it still has a creation of all four main instruments. Then comes “Night Flight” which was another track initially recorded at the sessions for the fourth album and also has the feel of that album. Once again, there is a noted similarity to songs that were performed on that album, which perhaps explains why it was left over until this album. The harder and more likely tempo returns with “The Wanton Song”, a song that has more similar tones that Led Zeppelin of the past have harped on, and with more in common with bands such as Deep Purple and Rainbow of that period.
Then... what the hell is “Boogie with Stu” doing on this album? For the life of me, if you wanted to add tracks and are using unused recording sessions from previous albums, surely there would be something better than this? Not only this, but it was also a jam session with former Rolling Stones keyboardist Ian Stewart, and based around the tune of a Richie Valens song “Ooh my Head” (which the band then failed to credit on the album, which once again saw the band in court).
"Black Country Woman” was recorded outside in Mick Jagger's garden, hence the talk of aeroplanes at the beginning and was initially recorded for inclusion on the “Houses of the Holy” album, but eventually found its way onto this album. And the album closes with 'Sick Again' which runs along a similar vein to the album opener, with slide guitar and changes in tempo that combines with the sometimes rampant drums and guitar that collide on their way out of the speakers. It comes across as an intermittent closure to the album, and one that is a topic of discussion amongst the bigger fan base.

My enjoyment of Led Zeppelin’s catalogue is still a work in progress. They were not a band I picked up on early, either pre-metal or post-metal eras of my music listening life. My parents didn’t listen to them, nor any of my parents friends that I can think of. By the latter days of high school, I certainly knew the band and their most well-known dozen songs, but the albums were very much a mystery to me. I bought the “Remasters” collection when it was released in 1990 and loved it – still do – but even then, I didn’t track back to find and buy or listen to their albums. “Remasters” was all I needed.
Eventually of course I could put it off no longer. If I was to continue to a music education that I hoped would give me the most well-rounded music life I could lead, I knew I had to master the Led Zeppelin discography. So, I slowly began to collect the albums on CD and listen to them and decide for myself whether they were for me or not. And overall, I have enjoyed their music and albums. Sure, for me, most of the albums have half great songs and half... less than that... but they still continue to grow on me the older I get.
My main memories of when I first listened to “Physical Graffiti” is that it was too long, and that some of the songs dragged on for far longer than was necessary. In the main, I’m sure this was why when I had listened to it at that time and then put it back on my shelves, that it didn’t seem to get chosen to come back out again very often. If at all. Indeed, it is quite possible that I have not played my copy of the album since that time, though I have heard it at other locations since. And having pulled it back off my shelves again a month ago in preparation for this album review episode, I would say it would be accurate that I have listened to it more in that past few weeks than I have for the rest of my life prior to that.
My opinion on the album now is pretty much the same as I thought when I first got the album. Why did it have to be a double album? To my ears at least, this could comfortably have been pared down to just enough songs to satisfy a single album release. Seriously, if you are going to trawl through songs you have already rejected for previous albums, you just don’t have enough new material worthwhile. There are songs here that aren’t up to the standard you would expect, and others that are fabulous. I know the band felt they had eight great tracks from their sessions in early 1974, and didn’t want to leave off any of them. And perhaps in including the older tracks we got some good songs we may never have done so without this eventual album. I’m no musician or songwriter, but as a music enthusiast there are songs here that could have done with some pruning and other that could have been lopped off altogether.
"Physical Graffiti" has been referred to as Led Zeppelin's best album in some quarters. For me, it doesn’t rate better than the five albums that came before this one. Maybe some of that is a close call. There are some obviously brilliant songs on this album, but another couple or so that don’t rate anywhere near the quality you’d expect. I’m sure long time Led Zeppelin fans are already throwing things at their listening devices. You just can’t please everyone all the time.

1137. Led Zeppelin / Led Zeppelin [IV]. 1971. 3.5/5

Back in the days when bands released albums almost at the drop of a hat, Led Zeppelin came out and released their first three albums in an 18 month period in 1969-70. All three had been well received by the fans, although the final of those three albums, Led Zeppelin III, had been a bit cool with the music critics, something that hadn’t sat well with the band. Apparently as a result of this, the band decided that their fourth album would not have a title at all, and would be represented by four symbols on the inside sleeve, with each of the members of the band – Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham – designing one. Given the difficulty this would have in both promoting the album and selling the album, let alone when people wanted to discuss the album, it has almost universally been labelled as Led Zeppelin [IV]. In interviews, Page and Plant have mostly only ever referred to it as ‘the fourth album’.To write and record the album, the band moved to Hampshire into a place called Headley Grange, an old house built in 1795 where several bands had rehearsed and recorded – indeed Led Zeppelin had utilised it in the past also. It was here that perhaps their best known album and songs were written and recorded. Once recorded, the album was originally set to be released in April, but the band disliked the original mix, so after tour dates were played Page remixed it entirely. There was then some debate over the cover of the album, and also whether or not all of the songs the band had recorded should be included to make it a double album, but eventually the format that was released was the one that was confirmed, and fifty years ago it hit the shelves to an adoring public.

The quieter, acoustic-like songs still seem to dominate the album despite the appearance of the big hitters here. “The Battle of Evermore” is basically Jimmy Page playing on the mandolin, while Plant duets the song with Sandy Denny, who was the lead vocalist of British folk-rock band Fairport Convention. It is an interesting segue on side one of the album, as it passes from the two opening rock tracks and then into the number one hit that follows it. No John Bonham for quite a length of time through that period. “Misty Mountain Hop” mixes moments of that same folk rock with a more progressive rock sound, with Page’s guitar riffing in the back half of the song showcasing the sound that he brought to music, and is similar in that era that Brian May of Queen also began using. “Going to California” is a much quieter, acoustic number, with interviews from both Plant and page saying that it was inspired by the music of Joni Mitchell. You can certainly tie her sound to this track. “Four Sticks” lifts the tempo and barometer of the second side as Bonham gets his moment to impress, while the closing track is a cover of an old blues song “When the Levee Breaks”, and allows all four members to improvise their way in the music that is a heavy base to their own style.
That leaves the three most famous songs from the album, ones where even if you don’t know their names you would know if you heard them. Two of them you have already heard here. “Black Dog” is always known by Plant’s opening monologue, while “Rock and Roll” for me is dominated by John Bonham’s drumkit, which he pounds into oblivion throughout the song. It must have been something to witness live.
Led Zeppelin was one of those bands that I was always told I should be listening heavily to, but in general I just cherry picked at the songs and moments that actually enticed me and left the rest of the carcass for the other listeners. That wasn’t my way of being blasé about a band that had a crucial and massive part in forming the genre of heavy metal at its core. It was more about the fact that a lot of their songs for me just weren’t in anyway near the sphere of music that I enjoyed, and so rather than pushing blindly through these types of dongs constantly in order to appease others, or to find some way to enjoy them myself, I generally just left them, happy to enjoy those songs that appealed to me and not feeling as though I had to own the whole Zeppelin discography just because ‘everyone has to have those albums’. Even to this day, I only own Led Zeppelin CDs that were gifted to me or were cheap at the time I felt like buying something. As a result, I am no expert when it comes to Led Zeppelin and their music. My most played Led Zeppelin album is the Remasters double CD that was released in 1990, which acts as their greatest hits. The second most played album of theirs would be this one, and pretty much just for those songs I have chosen to play here.

The last track to discuss is of course their most famous. “Stairway to Heaven” has been one of those tracks that, for many people, is a constant, and that applies to me as well. One of my friends from high school actually did “Stairway to Heaven” as his performance piece for his music exam at the end of high school, and several other of my friends were involved in supporting him in that performance piece. Many of us sat outside the hall as they performed it, and it is still my favourite memory of any Led Zeppelin song. When I lived in Sydney and frequented the Erskineville Hotel on a regular basis, I would always slot the same twelve songs on the jukebox, in the same order. It became known as “Bill’s Burly Dozen”, and when regulars heard the opening strains to Deep Purple’s “Highway Star”, they would look around to find me. That dozen always finished with “Stairway to Heaven”, the perfect way to end that playlist.

What do YOU really think of Led Zeppelin, and in particular this album? Like I’ve said, Led Zeppelin is a band where I tend to like songs rather than albums. I wouldn’t say that I think any of their albums are rated more than a 7 out of 10, and the main reason for that is just that they all have songs I like, but others I could happily not listen to. There isn’t on album that I can put on and listen all the way through without thinking... “man, this song is still a bit average”. And this album is still like that for me. I have listened to this album quite a bit over the last couple of weeks, probably more in that time than I have in the previous 50 years since its release. And my taste in music is different from most of the stuff Led Zeppelin released, because they are of a different era. It’s a bit like that old mantra – I can appreciate it, but I just don’t love it. Apart from those three songs.

1003. Led Zeppelin / Led Zeppelin II. 1969. 3.5/5

The legacy of Led Zeppelin, of what they provided for the world of music and how that is still relevant, can often be related back to this, their sophomore album. Following the story of how the band came together and the subsequent release of their debut album, which you can find on the episode dedicated to that album in Season 6 of this podcast, the band continued on their rigorous touring schedule. It is difficult to fathom that in the period from when that debut album was released in January 1969 through until August of that year, the band had completed four separate European tours, and three further tours of the US. Not only is that a lot of touring and a lot of ground covered, but at the same time the band was also working on new material, and in some cases had begun playing new material live before they had recorded it, something that was more prevalent back in those days than necessarily occurs in the modern day.
Given that the songs for the next album were written on tour, they were also recorded in the same fashion. The band would have a song that they had written and completed and would then book a studio for a couple of hours between concerts, and go in and record the song, and then head back out to the next gig. It was a frantic way to do it. Under such time constraints each time they had the studio booked, you can imagine the urgency that went into the recording, and no doubt the spontaneity that was required on occasions in order to finish off a song. And there are certainly places in certain songs on this album that you can hear where something like that probably occurred. Studios in places such as London, Los Angeles, Memphis, New York and Vancouver were all used to record parts of the second album. The process used to write and record the album could easily have given it an uneven feel given that they came together at different periods, but in all likelihood it gives the album the point of difference from their debut album, with this one in places almost feeling like a live studio recording, and to many people a far better sound overall, a jump in quality of both writing and playing, that became ground breaking “Led Zeppelin II”.

From the outset, “Led Zeppelin II” makes a huge jump in the band's quickly evolving musical style based around blues-derived material and their desire to increase their guitar riff-based heavy drum sound. Some suggest it is the band’s heaviest album as a result. The speed at which the band went from the release of album one to the release of album two brought its own challenges. Six of the nine songs on this album are written by the band, while the other three are the band’s interpretations of blues songs by originally written and performed by Willie Dixon and Howlin' Wolf. Still, given the short time span between releases it is interesting to note the progression made between the two albums.
The heavy blues influence is still there for all to hear, especially in songs such as “The Lemon Song”, which is the band’s version of a Howlin’ Wolf track titled “Killing Floor” and had been played by the band live for some time with new lyrics and “What Is and What Should Never Be”, a Page and Plant track which uses flanging and other techniques during the song. but the take on songs such as “Ramble On” and “Heartbreaker” is more progressive in that they still have that blues base, but they have moved to a more hard rock influence. “heartbreaker” has that iconic guitar riff that Jimmy Page wrote that transcends time, while “Ramble On” moves from the quiet and acoustic through to the electric by the back half of the song.
You can hear how the way this album was written and recorded has affected its sound, with most of the songs having the feel that it’s a freeform writing style, stopping and starting into solo breaks for all members. It’s a style very much of that age, where bands on stage would happily stretch out instrumental breaks between songs or even in the middle of songs, creating new sounds as they went. Many of the songs here sound like that is just what they are doing, with a flowing structure rather than anything concrete. In the long run, it must have been almost impossible to tame and keep in check the four musicians in the band as they move towards the new decade. John Bonham just wants to hit those drums hard and fast and in a seemingly random order that falls into place perfectly. “Moby Dick” gives him that outlet, once both John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page have completed their own riffing at the start of the song. Both of these two musicians also sound like they are looking for greater outlets for their talents, and the morphing from straight blues backed songs to something a bit harder comes through. Combined with those honeyed vocal chords of Robert Plant you have a band that is bursting out of its original cocoon.
“What Is and What Should Never Be” has Beatles-ish qualities throughout, perhaps not a huge surprise given the era and the origin of the band, and “Thank You” has both Deep Purple and Pink Floyd similarities, again no surprise given the heritage of all of those bands and having all come from the same era and built on the same foundations. "Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)” is another upbeat track, but one that the band itself did not enjoy and felt was filler material, and yet whenever it comes on it almost lifts the mood of the album. On the other hand, the closing track “Bring It on Home” is a cover of a Willie Dixon song which mirrors the original.
“Whole Lotta Love” is perhaps still the star of the show, a song with some lyrics taken directly from a Willie Dixon song “You Need Love”, which eventually led to the band being sued for plagiarism, which they eventually settled out of court. Still, with that excellent Page guitar riff, Jones’s cool bass line underlying the song, Bonham’s wonderful drum rolls along with Plant’s super vocal performance it is a great song. It feels heavier than it actually is but has wider musical appeal regardless.

I suppose you can talk about the legacy that Led Zeppelin has until you are blue in the face, but if the style of music just isn’t what you enjoy you still aren’t going to rate a song, an album or a band as highly as those who are obsessed with that artist. “Led Zeppelin II” is one of those albums that the fans insist you must listen to, and in essence that you must love as much as they do, and immediately. Importantly however, it won’t be to everyone’s taste. That said, this is an important album in the history of music,
My appreciation of Led Zeppelin as a band does tend to outweigh my actual love of their music. They are one of those bands where if you put on a best of compilation, say, the excellent “Remasters” collection, I will sit there and love listening to it. If you put on a Led Zeppelin album, I will appreciate it but have some reservations of some of the songs that fit on that album.
In that regard, “Led Zeppelin II” fits nicely into that category. I am happy to listen to the album, and about half of the songs here I think are still terrific to this day. The others... well, they are there so I listen to them. When the songs break out with guitars and bass and drums, and Robert Plant gets his voice out there, then Led Zeppelin are fully worth listening to. If not... then at times it is a little tedious.
While I had a digital copy of this album for years, I only recently got a CD copy of the album, which I have been listening to a lot over the last couple of weeks. And, through my stereo in the Metal Cavern, it sounds great sonically. Most things do actually. And I’ve enjoyed having it on. But my thoughts haven’t changed in this regard. I appreciate all four musicians and what they have done on this album. Each of them is terrific. And I can appreciate why this is so highly regarded. In the long run however, I’ll stick to “Remasters” when it comes to listening to a Led Zeppelin album.

764. Led Zeppelin / Led Zeppelin. 1969. 3/5

Rising from the ashes of The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin's first album shows glimpses of their initial influences as well as what their music was going to develop into. The story about how the band came into being is like so many bands of that era. Guitarist Jimmy Page was left with the name rights and obligations of The Yardbirds when all of the other members quit, and he had to perform a tour of Scandinavia that had been booked ahead of this. Through a combination of acquaintances and their own friends, Page was able to recruit vocalist Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham and bass guitarist John Paul Jones to join the band to fulfil those tour requirements. They toured under the name of The New Yardbirds, and in the process played some old Yardbirds songs as well as some newer material that the foursome had been working on in rehearsals for the tour. With the feeling within the group being positive, the band returned to London, with Page changing the name of the band to Led Zeppelin, and they entered the studio to record their first album.
The album took only 36 hours to record, a figure that Jimmy Page was able to ascertain because he paid for it, and had the bill from the studio that listed 36 hours as the billable fee. Reportedly the band was able to have the album done in this short period of time because the material for the album had been selected beforehand, and had been rehearsed and in most instances played on that tour of Scandinavia. Thus everything was in place for the band’s first foray onto vinyl.

Many songs on the album are cover versions of other artists tracks, especially the very noticeable blues tracks. "You Shook Me" is complete, unadulterated, blues, written by Willie Dixon. No need to try and work out what the basis of this track is in the scheme of things. Apart from the higher pitched vocals on offer here, and the keyboards that make their appearance, it could have come from any blues record from the previous twenty years or so. You've got the slow beat of the drums, the blues riffling guitar, along with those keys and the harmonica as well. And it sometimes feels like it drags out a lot longer than those six minutes too. Still, it fits in well in the scheme of the album as a whole, and doesn't stick out like a sore thumb at least. You can read the same for "I Can't Quit You Baby", also written by Dixon, and showing all the same symptoms of blues. "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" is a reworking of the original Anne Bredon folk song, which is improved by being more up-tempo and with Plant's vocals crying over the top, but also the change from the acoustic guitar to begin into the harder push past the bridge of the song. For those that enjoy the band W.A.S.P. you will also hear where some of the music was ‘inspired’ by for their album “The Crimson Idol” on this song.
Some of it such as "Black Mountain Side" sounds like hippy music with guitars and bongos, the kind of stuff I was forced to go and listen to during my university days when I was courting a girl who loved this stuff (nope, I do not), and while of course that was still very much in vogue at the time of this album it has never appealed to me. This is saved by the immediate interruption of the next song, which then comes crashing into "Communication Breakdown", a much better tempoed song. The same for me occurs in regards to "I Can't Quit You Baby" into "So Many More Times". The slower blues number can sometimes lose my interest, but once the album moves into the last song on the album it jumps back into action.
The opening track “Good Times Bad Times” is a good one, with the initial showcasing of all four in their best environment. Plant on lead vocals has that honeyed main vocal line but the ability to hit the heights when he wants. The backing of all three of the other members is also important. Jones and his beautiful bass line throughout is terrific, while Page’s great lead breaks are that integral part to the best Led Zeppelin songs. “Dazed and Confused” is still one of the band’s best known tracks, but to be honest has never been one of my favourites. I like bits of the song (Jimmy’s guitar in general) but I’ve obviously never been dazed enough or confused enough to appreciate it more fully. And the opening track of side two, “Your Time is Gonna Come”, with opening organ into acoustic guitar with Robert’s vocals is nice and pretty, but for me never seems to get out of first gear. It is another example of a song that is fine for what it is, and no doubt was tremendously popular with the fans of this era, but for me just doesn’t wet my whistle.
This could have been a disastrous album if not for Robert Plant's vocals, and that is not having a go at the other three members and their contributions. It’s just that there are so many quiet places throughout, where only the slow and almost unnoticeable drum beat and a turned down or acoustic guitar leave the vocals open to any slight wavering or cock up. But that just never happens. Plant's voice is just magnificent, and makes those slow silent times become alive. The album shows glimpses of Bonham's hard hitting drum work, but focuses mainly on the lesser extravagant slow tom beating, which is nicely settled in rhythm by John Paul Jones bass guitar. The same with Jimmy Page's guitaring, which shows great technique in the blues and slower songs without really showcasing his greater talent.

I have never been the greatest Led Zeppelin fan, though I appreciate their faster heavier work more than the majority of what it on show here. Like many other albums of its type, I can still put this album on and listen to it without prejudice, and enjoy the skills being shown. Plant's vocals can draw anyone in such as the display on Led Zeppelin. But apart from the second half of "Dazed and Confused" and "Communication Breakdown", I can't say that I love anything else that is on this album. It's more of an appreciation of the talent of the band and what they do with these songs than a great love of the songs themselves for me here.
Over the years I would hear bits and pieces of the band’s work, but it really wasn’t until they released the excellent double CD “Remasters” with all of their greatest hits on it that I began to appreciate the band. And eventually I went back and began to gather their albums, one by one, and listen to them in order to catalogue each album as its own entity rather than listen to a selection of songs.
This debut album is one that I have had for a while now, and one that I am still getting more from each time I take it out and give it a spin. Over the past couple of weeks I have found I have heard more of each member in each song as I have listened. Perhaps that is simply because on this occasion I was listening to it in a critical way in order to present it for this podcast episode. But I think that more than that, being older and less attuned to have to say ‘that’s brilliant’ or ‘that’s crap’ to every album I listen to, I understand the album and its time better than I have in the past. As I said before, that doesn’t mean I actually love all these songs, or even love this album, but I appreciate it and have listened to it with enjoyment rather than out of necessity. The playing on this album is the real winner, the way the four members combine in the first instance of what became their music immortality. As a starting point, you can’t help but be drawn in just a little.

546. Led Zeppelin / In Through the Out Door. 1979. 3/5

Led Zeppelin’s amazing run through the end of the 1960’s and through the 1970’s saw fans elevate them to legendary status, both through record sales and concert tickets sales, both of which had reached extraordinary heights by the time their 7th studio album “Presence” had been released in 1976. The band had toured extensively behind it as well and appeared to be on a constant rise in the eyes of their fans. In some ways however, there were doubts beginning to crop up as to how long this could all be sustained. In some quarters “Presence” received a mixed reaction, with the band changing their output to exclude acoustic ballads and intricate arrangements, and instead look for a more straight forward rock guitar sound. They were also unable to tour their home UK at this time for tax exile reasons, and then vocalist Robert Plant and his wife Maureen were involved in a serious car crash while on holiday in Greece. Plant suffered a broken ankle and Maureen was badly injured. This meant the band was losing the hearts of those fans. On top of this, both guitarist Jimmy Page and drummer John Bonham were facing their own addictions, Page to heroin and Bonham to... everything.
To cover for not being able to tour in 1976 the band released the concert film “The Song Remains the Same” along with the live album to accompany it, but the reception was lukewarm at best. A 1977 tour of the US saw big crowds in attendance, but it was then cut short by the news of the death of Plant's five-year-old son due to a stomach virus. It put the band on an indefinite hiatus.
It wasn’t until another 15 months had passed that the band reconvened and began to write and record their next album, and even that was made difficult through events. The album was named to describe its struggles after the death of Plant's son and the taxation exile the band took from the UK which resulted in the band being unable to tour on British soil for more than two years, and trying to get back into the public mind was therefore like "trying to get in through the 'out' door." And thus became the start of Led Zeppelin’s determined course to lift its profile once again, one that ultimately came to signal the end of more things than was expected.

The songs composed for this album again show a different style to what the band had produced early in their career. This could be attributed to the fact that both Page and Bonham were still very much in the throes of their own addictions, and this resulted in them being less involved in the process from the rehearsing and writing stage. Both often failed to show up on time at the recording studio, which left bass guitarist and keyboardist John Paul Jones and Robert Plant to their own devices, and as a result the music written for the album saw their greater influence. This skewed the direction eventually taken, with Page for the first time not being credited on every song on a Led Zeppelin album. It also got to the point that Jones and Plant would arrange the songs during the day, and Page and Bonham would come in at night to put down their parts. It seemed like something that would not be sustainable down the track, but that was a problem for another day. There is also in increase in the front and centre position of the keyboards being utilised by Jones on this album. In the past the keys have been there, but act as a secondary styled instrument behind Page’s guitar and Jones’s bass. In a lot of ways the music on the album acts as a transition from what the band had achieved in its early years... to what could have been for the future. The rise of the synth and keys with the rise of new wave in the early 1980’s does tend to cultivate this thought.
Of the seven tracks created and recorded for the album, there is more atmosphere from the keys than the stomp of the guitar and drums. And the changing face of the songs does make for some rearranging when it comes to fans of the band. The opening track “In the Evening” tends to process this, with the quiet opening and then serene melodic guitar in the middle bookended by a harder beat and Plant’s vocals that come across in a very un-Plant way. “South Bound Saurez” follows with a very southern blues rock piano dominating the song, and the low mixing of everything else. This is one of two songs on the album credited to Plant and Jones without Page, and the music of the song does play this out. Then comes “Fool in the Rain”, which combines differing rhythms in a basic rock sound, and ends up coming across as a repeatable tempo plod through the first half of the track, and then a faster beat into the second half. It almost has a reggae feel at different times which was not unusual for music at the time but surely was unusual for a band such as Led Zeppelin. “Hot Dog” then goes in a different direction once again, incorporating rockabilly ragtime piano again with almost Elvis-like vocals throughout. It’s short and sweet, and draws on very US country themes as well. It’s a strange song, one that takes some time to get used to.
“Carouselambra” is a 10 minute monster, dominated throughout by Jones’s keyboards. And this is something that I mentioned earlier, that the keyboards and synth sounds on this album, and in this song in particular, showcase the way that new wave was impacting the music work at the time, and how it then began to be so prominent especially in the UK music scene. So while this may not be what many would classify as a typical Led Zeppelin track, it did come across as a glimpse of the future. Even if Led Zeppelin was not to be a part of that. And it is interesting to ponder whether the band would have explored that further after this, or if they were to return to their hard rock roots as the members suggested in interviews after this album’s release. “All My Love” is the second Plant/Jones composition, which is about Plant’s son. Jones plays a keys and synth solo throughout the middle section of the song inspired and flavoured by classical music, offset by Page’s quietly sombre guitar leading out the song. The album the concludes with “I’m Gonna Crawl”, a blues/soul track with the extra addition of Jones’s synth again proving a dominating factor. Once you have listened to the whole album, it is amazing that that instrument has had such a heavy influence on the album, but by this point it is the easily held conclusion.

As I have probably mentioned somewhere here before, I have never been the biggest Led Zeppelin fan. My appreciation of their work has only really come as I have gotten older, but when I was growing up it was a little like ‘old people’s music’. I had acquaintances at school who kept telling me I HAD to listen to albums like “Houses of the Holy” and” Led Zeppelin III” because they are the BUILDING BLOCKS of rock music!... but I generally didn’t find that to be the case. The only Led Zeppelin I owned for a very long time was the Remasters double CD released in 1990, which I really enjoyed, as the songs chosen by Jimmy Page to remaster on that album were terrific. But for a long time that was enough for me.
Eventually I found a time where I began to go back in time and try and collect albums and bands that I knew I should probably listen to but had never done so, and Led Zeppelin was one of those bands. And through that, I eventually got around to “In Through the Out Door”.
When it came to doing this episode however, I had no recollection of what I thought of it at the time. I had to delve back to my old reviews that I had done over 20 years ago, and find the couple of paragraphs I had written when I was first listening to this album. And what I had written is this. “Compared to the ground breaking efforts that Led Zeppelin made early in their recording career, this is just average. Not a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, but just a run-of-the-mill one that suffers more for the name of the band that recorded it than the material it contains. Certainly, listening to the album again today, none of the songs jumped out at me as memorable in any fashion. Probably its most damning critique”.
Listening to it over the past couple of weeks, and it is quite probable that I have listened to it more in that time than for the rest of my life combined, I again fall back on that old word to describe my feelings for it. “Appreciation”. Because I appreciate the music here, but I don’t love it. It is an interesting listen but now that the episode is completed, I don’t know how often it is going to come off the shelves again.
This proved to be the band’s final offering, with drummer John Bonham’s passing just over a year after its release, and the band’s unwillingness to continue without him. This was the only album that did not have a song credited to him, the reason behind that the same as for his eventual demise. This album therefore concludes the career of one of the most influential bands of their age.