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

Opinions, opinions, with no conclusive findings. Some folks like these albums, some do not...
But the fact is, Purple were firing on all cylinders, while most of Zeppelin were burnt out. From what I've observed over the years, it's best when musicians aren't burnt out.

 

Different topic for a different topic thread, but Purple were already huffing fumes on "House". Revise history as you wish.

 

False. Revise history as you wish indeed. You are right that's a different topic! However, Zeppelin were in bad shape mentally and physically. On the other hand, Purple's problem was creative differences. Totally different beast.

 

Whatever.

 

Definitely my least favorite Zep album.

My primary culprit, though, is how deeply buried in reverb Plant's vox are here.

 

Ya, I love getting the Led out, but it’s definitely my least fav album. But hey, they’ve been through hell and back at this point.

 

Nobody's Fault But...Jimmy's.

 

It was one thing for John Bonham to blow minds as he complemented the heavy guitar New Yardbirds model of the first two albums. It was another thing for Bonham to complement acoustic guitar flavored rock 'n roll, pound out rhythms that could damage a levee, and essentially usher in the Zeppelin prog of the 1971-76 time period. It was quite another thing for Bonham to complement John Paul Jones' saucy keyboard fest to such a skilled level on "Carouselambra". What Bonham accomplished on In Through the Out Door combined with his earlier work is virtually unheard of in rock 'n roll. The Bonham/Page dynamic and the Bonham/John Paul Jones dynamic show an immense amount of talent on Bonham's part.

 

Good OP. Love ITTOD and feel its very unappreciated and underrated.

 

It is rockabilly. It's a classic '50s style track. Lean and sparse.

 

There is some very nice band playing going on with "ITTOD" but it's a terriblynweak compared to what preceeded it.
This writing was on the wall with "Presence" which showed that the magic was beginning to wear off (and before that they resorted to old outtakes to beef-up out the terrific "Physical Graffiti" - and I'm glad that they did, I love it!).

 

If Presence is a "Jimmy Page" album, and In Through The Out Door is a "Robert Plant/John Paul Jones" album in a completely different mold, then the Jimmy Page magic wearing off on Presence would have little to no effect on a "Robert Plant/John Paul Jones" album.

 

Exactly. Presence and ITTOD showed them in decline, no matter who was penning material.

 

The band expanded upon what they accomplished with keyboards on "Trampled Under Foot". They took those keyboard textures to further exploration on In Throught the Out Door, so that they continued to chart new horizons with excellent material.

 

haters gonna hate
ITTOD RULES!
Presence RULES!
all LZ but Coda RULES!
different don't mean decline

 

Great as it was, "Trampled Underfoot" was just a little rock twist on Stevie's "Superstition" riff.
Regardless of what instruments were used on ITTOD, the songwriting, the album, was a massive step down from their glory years. They were done.

 

now L:Z rippin off lil stevie...man they suxed!!!

seriously, i laffed kauphi all over my bath robe when I read that. they shoulda hung it up after II...

 

That Page guitar breaks are wonderful! Never tire of hearing it first IIRC acoustic then electric 12 -string.

 

There's nothing wrong with be influenced by great works. They were just wrong in the earlier days for not crediting the original composers for their astoundingly brilliant adaptations.

 

Ahhh.....the outcast....the cousin that's just....different. Big Led Head here, but I had trouble with this for many, many years. Zep, IMO, just lost their Led with this one.
A lower octane Led? But since that time, and only in the past eight or so years, have I really come to appreciate this title. Some really nice tracks on it. I can really only think of two that I still struggle with.
Sure, it's Led with less bite, less of the light/dark thingy that made them a little different, and without strong contributions from half of the band...but there is some really good stuff on here!!!
Just a more melodic Led is how I see it.
Rock on!

 

In Through the Out Door, The Firm, Plant's solo career, John Paul Jones' production work after Zeppelin, and the 2007 Celebration Day concert say that they weren't done.

 

I agree with the general, historic consensus that "In Through The Out Door" was a poor album compared to all their previous efforts, including the slightly off-par Presence.
The "they" that I refered to was Led Zeppelin as a band. What followed wasn't Led Zeppelin, so it doesn't come into this discussion.

 

consensus???

 

If the members of Led Zeppelin were done, then they wouldn't have accomplished anything of note after Led Zeppelin. As it was, they did.

 

Robert Christgau Reviews


Led Zeppelin II [Atlantic, 1969]
The best of the wah-wah mannerist groups, so dirty they drool on demand. It's true that all the songs sound alike, but do we hold that against Little Richard? On the other hand, Robert Plant isn't Little Richard. B

Led Zeppelin III [Atlantic, 1970]
If the great blues guitarists can make their instruments cry out like human voices, it's only fitting that Robert Plant should make his voice galvanize like an electric guitar. I've always approved theoretically of the formula that pits the untiring freak intensity of that voice against Jimmy Page's repeated low-register fuzz riffs, and here they really whip it into shape. Plant is overpowering even when Page goes to his acoustic, as he does to great effect on several surprisingly folky (not to mention folk bluesy) cuts. No drum solos, either. Heavy. B+

Led Zeppelin IV [Atlantic, 1971]
More even than "Rock and Roll," which led me into the rest of the record (whose real title, as all adepts know, is signified by runes no Underwood can reproduce) months after I'd stupidly dismissed it, or "Stairway to Heaven," the platinum-plated album cut, I think the triumph here is "When the Levee Breaks." As if by sorcery, the quasi-parodic overstatement and oddly cerebral mood of Led Zep's blues recastings is at once transcended (that is, this really sounds like a blues), and apotheosized (that is, it has the grandeur of a symphonic crescendo) while John Bonham, as ham-handed as ever, pounds out a contrapuntal tattoo of heavy rhythm. As always, the band's medievalisms have their limits, but this is the definitive Led Zeppelin and hence heavy metal album. It proves that both are--or can be--very much a part of "Rock and Roll." A

Houses of the Holy [Atlantic, 1973]
I could do without "No Quarter," a death march for a select troop of messenger-warriors, perhaps the band's road crew, that you can tell is serious because of the snow (when they're working up to big statements it only rains) and scary sound effects. But side two begins with two amazing, well, dance tracks--the transmogrified shuffle is actually called "Dancing Days," while "D'Yer Mak'er" is a reggae, or "reggae"--that go nicely with the James Brown tribute/parody/ripoff at the close of side one. Which is solid led, lurching in sprung rhythm through four tracks that might have been on II, III, or IV, or might not have been, as the case may be. A-

Physical Graffiti [Swan Song, 1975]
I suppose a group whose specialty is excess should be proud to emerge from a double-LP in one piece. But except on side two--comprising three-only-three Zep classics: "Houses of the Holy," "Trampled Under Foot," and the exotic "Kashmir"--they do disperse quite a bit, not into filler and throwaway ("Boogie with Stu" and "Black Country Woman" on side four are fab prefabs) but into wide tracks, misconceived opi, and so forth. Jimmy Page cuts it throughout, but after a while Robert Plant begins to grate--and I like him. B+

Presence [Swan Song, 1976]
Originals and influentials they obviously are, but too often individual pieces of their unprecedented music aren't necessary. They didn't have time to get really silly here, so this is unusually consistent, but "Hots on for Nowhere" is as close as it comes to a commanding cut, and I prefer "Whole Lotta Love" and "Rock and Roll" and "Dancing Days." Nu? B

The Song Remains the Same [Swan Song, 1976]
List price: $11.98. Category: live double-LP masquerading as soundtrack album or vice versa. Full title: The Song Goes on Forever but the Road Remains the Same. C+

In Through the Out Door [Swan Song, 1979]
The tuneful synthesizer pomp on side two confirms my long-held belief that this is a real good art-rock band, and their title for the first ten minutes or so, "Carouselambra," suggests that they find this as humorous as I do. The lollapalooza hooks on the first side confirms the world's long-held belief that this is a real good hard rock band. Lax in the lyrics department, as usual, but their best since Houses of the Holy. B+

Coda [Swan Song, 1982]
They really were pretty great, and these eight outtakes--three from their elephantine blues phase, three from their unintentional swan song--aren't where to start discovering why. But despite the calculated clumsiness of the beginnings and the incomplete orchestrations of the end, everything here but the John Bonham Drum Orchestra would convince a disinterested party--a Martian, say. Jimmy Page provides a protean solo on "I Can't Quit You Baby" and jumbo riffs throughout. B+