Led Zeppelin 'In Through The Out Door': Nimble and Lean Rhythm Section

I love Page's solo on 'I'm gonna crawl', its so racked with emotion and sadness, it's almost as if it knows it is the 'last' Zeppelin song which in many ways it sort of is (not counting the Coda outtakes).

ITTOD is a very enjoyable album though can take a bit of listening to appreciate that.

 

Well said. The whole album drips with melancholy and indeed plays as if the band had a sort of sub-conscious idea that it would be the last. They went out on top!

 

Good to see some appreciation for SBS. It's clearly the only Zep-worthy track on the album.

Disappointing, but entirely expected, to see yet more misplaced praise for Carouslambra. This is 'epic' only in terms of its length, and is basically the only boring, incoherent song they ever recorded. Just cos it's long doesn't make it good; see also Pink Floyd, ASOS to AHM.

 

I don't like the album as much as the earlier ones, but it has some great stuff on it, no doubt.

 

"Carouselambra" at least has some semi-heavy guitar on it. It and "In the Evening" are the only tunes with any semblance of heavy rock. The rest is just a mishmash of styles (garbage).

 

I don't hear rockabilly. I hear country. I think it's a pretty decent solo.

 

That's how I always viewed it too. I hear it as the band doing a sort of mock-country/western thing. It's really a humorous song, very tongue in cheek. And every album needs a sense of humor. Even one as poignant as "In Through The Out Door".

I think it's a rockin little track. Great fun and wonderfully played.

 

Presence was an album I just didn't get into when I first heard it.

I absolutely love it now. Glad I gave it more shots.

 

I love this album as well! It makes me think that if Bonzo lived, Zeppelin could have made the transition to the 80's quite well, updating their sound without embarrassing themselves like other classic rockers in the 80's.

 

I love 'Hot Dog' but the solo really is pretty bad.

The 'I'm Gonna Crawl' solo is better but still not all that great.

If you compare it to the genius stuff he was doing on 'Tea For One' just a couple of years earlier it's clear something had gone wrong.

 

RE: the most varied album comment...think i opined this on another thread the past year or so, but this is a very varied album, in a way like HOTH part II, with an tiny infusion of musical developments of the end of the 70s. Got some reggae in Fool in the Rain, awesome ballad in All My Love, heavy stuff In the Evening, blues workout on I'm Gonna Crawl, country or hellbilly or whatever with Hot Dog, whatever you call Carelwhatever (a smattering of disco, maybe?)...

It's easy to dismiss ITTOD compared to the groundbrealkng blues/metal fusion of I, the evolution of hard rock/folk rock combos of II-IV, and the self-indulgent baroque sprawl of PG, but when taken as an album of a supergroup NOT copying themselves and not consciously "reinventing" themselves, just exploring music, it is NOT "LZ lite," just a great album. I'm not tossing IV or I, or Presence, but I dig this one.

And yes, that rhythm section anchored all the different styles perfectly-what did you expect, it's Led freakin' Zeppelin!

 

I'll have what he's having.

You had me until this. I've played Houses of the Holy a lot more, but that was the first one I bought in high school.

 

Well said. The album illustrates just how much better a band Zeppelin was than merely being confined to the "adventurous hard rock" label.

 

I guess it just shows how even the great solos of the great ones can effect listeners differently. His solos on "Hot Dog" and "I'm Gonna Crawl" are two moments I anxiously wait for when playing the album. I like his solos on "Tea For One" but I'm not sure they would even make my Top 50 for Page solos.

Any Page solo is great, but I tend to think of the likes of "Since I've Been Loving You", "I'm Gonna Crawl", "The Rover", "Achilles Last Stand", "Hot Dog", "Thank You", "Tangerine", "Stairway To Heaven", etc, as among the ones that continually move me. Especially if considering solos that beautifully fit the song as being the main criteria used.

 

I always crack up at the end of the "In The Evening" solo... when Jimmy comes out of it, it sounds like he's gotten his fingers all tangled up in the strings.

 

ITTOD made a lot of Zeppelin fans uncomfortable to listen to it, and that's a good thing.

 

Yes, flowing and very relaxing. As with every Zeppelin release, "In Through the Outdoor" was artistic, original and refreshing. My wife bought the album for me as a gift and while I was sitting lost in the music she said during "In the Evening"..."That's Pretty". Her words stayed with me forever. This is a band that should of lasted forever.

 

That's a great point!

I see it with lots of popular artists and albums that diverge from the apparent blueprint they established. When I look at many of my favorite albums (and artists), I realize that a great many of them had moments that were a bit off the wall from what the band established, or had albums that initially made others uncomfortable (or still do).

As you said, it's actually a good thing. At least for those of us who like the stuff.

 

For all of the problems Led Zeppelin had, especially live and especially as their career went on, the rhythm section was never one of them.

Agreed. What a much better album it would've been if "Hot Dog" and "All My Love" were dumped and replaced with "Ozone Baby," "Wearing and Tearing," and "Darlene."

 

You nailed it. Maybe the most un-LZ of the LZ albums, and that's cool. First few times I listened to it as a high school senior, when it dropped, I thought "wtf?" I started to dig it more, and now, almost 40 years down the road-holy crap!-I still dig it immensely.

 

Many LZ fans did not like it when they heard for the first time. I heard comments like " Led Zeppelin has gone soft" and "where is Jimmy Page"? It is one of those albums that has gotten better with age.

 

Yes, it sounds wonderful today. As do all their albums really.

Led Zeppelin III is another one in their discography that probably drew the most befuddled stares (at the time). And it has only gotten better with age as well. To the point where many now say it is Zeppelin's greatest album. Time seems to sort all this stuff out. Sometimes in ways very different than how the albums were initially viewed.

 

Even better if they'd replaced Carouselamebra with an extended version of Bonzo's Montreux, and just dumped Fool In The Rain completely

It is what it is, i.e. Jimmy throwing Plant a bone.

 

It has not 'gotten better'. The best that can be said for it - some of it - is 'time heals'.