Led Zeppelin In Through The Outdoor

Totally agree! Even Presence was a tad disappointing (Although with some killer songs).
I was however looking forward to seeing them in Montreal in 1980, which unfortunately the tour got cancelled due to Bonham's passing.

 

Would have been interesting to see what kind of influence the 80's would have had on the band like it did for so many others.

 

One of my favorite LZ songs

 

Mine too. The synth intro only gives it great contrast (IMO), as the song gets darker beginning with the first hit of Bonham's drums. Explosive static electricity with Page. Also love Plant's very soulful and bluesy delivery. Top shelf Zeppelin for me!

 

I don't agree with the OP that ITTOD marked the beginning of the end for Zeppelin as determined by the content or quality of that album. When that album was released the excitement was palpable, at least in terms of radio play and hype. Especially when you consider Presence which faltered a bit commercially. I find it hard to believe they'd end it all after successfully releasing a #1 album.

Bonham's death marked the end of Led Zeppelin. Not the direction they took with Outdoor. The band basically took ninety degree turns with each release anyway, so who knows what their next album would have been like. Coda notwithstanding.

 

I imagine a projection like this:

1983: Zeppelin releases new studio album, lots of reverb on the guitars, drums sound boxed in, one minor MTV hit, one or two solid AOR hits, nowhere near the success of the prior albums, only three songs make it to this tour, the one big MTV/AOR hit to the following tour, after...

...their 1986 album, featuring sterile digital production, Bonham nearly missing or using Simmons pads, record has no low end, JPJ is all but missing. Record fares poorly, is no longer played on radio by 1987, and then...

...in 1989, Zeppelin releases a "return to roots" record, still has a 80's sheen to the production, minor AOR hit, drums sound more natural but are still low in the mix. Massive world tour in 1989-90, but...

...Nirvana hits big in 1992, and Zeppelin are washed away, playing your local state fair every year, to which you can get free vouchers at your corner liquor store.
Another release follows in 1998, critics love it, MTV and radio won't have anything to do with it.

So, in the end, I'm really glad Zeppelin didn't make it to the 80's.

 

I really don't think John Bonham ever would have used Simmons drums.

 

I also never thought Dave and Eddie would ever work together again, but here we are.

 

Well, ITTOD was a weird record for me, I really liked Presence, buy I thought ITTOD that they kinda lost their spark. The band admits this too, and Plant and Bonzo were apparently interested in getting back to a blues record (at least that what I remember reading in HOTGs), but they should probably have taken some time off and gotten healthy.

 

Not an album I play.

 

Wasn’t it released in August?

 

I listen to Robert Plant's solo work and know Led Zep could and would have done just fine if they had carried on.

That said, everything good about them was covered by Plant, so in a very big way, I don't feel we lost anything. After all - Bonham was gone, so change was inevitable.

In Through the Out Door - sounds awful, but I like the music.

 

"Hot Dog" is their best song by a mile.

 

I really like In Through the Out Door. It's my favorite after Houses of the Holy. To put it into even more perspective, I find I and II pretty boring and don't own copies of them.

 

Wow, tough room. True, it was not the high quality we saw before, partly because Page was checking out and somewhat because Karac's death took its toll on Robert. But he was able to channel that grief into "All of My Love". All in all, there's still music here that is far above most of the competition. Prog folk still find "Carouselambra" interesting. "In the Evening has a great riff and a jarring solo. "Saurez" and "Hot Dog" are auto-skips for me. "Fool" is pure genius with that magnificent middle section and Bonham's descending trainwreck roll coming out of it - Plant sings his lungs out on this piece. And Plant again is marvelous on "I'm Gonna Crawl" - that intro is like what you'd hear on an old Atlantic R&B side and the performance is both subtle and passionate, full of weariness and ache.

 

I always think of ITTOD as the seed that started Plant’s solo career. His Pictures at Eleven album seems like the next logical step after this album. I’ve always liked this album. Even though Page is in the depths of addiction there’s still some great playing on it.

 

Not sure if you are joking or not, but I LOVE this song...

 

Musically, I like the album. Is it IV? No, but how many times can a group hit that mark? In the Evening and I'm gonna Crawl are awesome, along with All of my Love. What I find lacking is the sound quality of the recording. I have the Classic and the original "Strawberry" vinyl pressings, and they don't come close to Presence or Led Zep II (RL). Was it the studio in Stockholm? I mean, it sounds "OK," but not great.

 

Try the 2015 reissue. It's the best I've heard that record sound.

 

Huge Zeppelin fan here, and I love ITTOD. It changes direction in much the same way that the 90125, Long Distance Voyager, Never Say Die, Crime of the Century, and Genesis (1983) albums did around that era. I might add that I love all of those albums too. That era, and those albums, all bring back such good memories, and they were all so enjoyable and popular when they were released. It is mainly through the lens of retrospect that some people have decided that the sound and style of that era is somehow inferior.

 

Three hit songs that are all played practically every hour on one station or another in most big cities even 40 years later, and all anyone does is bitch. Like every other band, they had to move forward at that time and they did it pretty well.

 

ITTOD is my favorite Zep album.

 

And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that!

 

Exactly.

 

I could listen to the intro to album over and over on a loop. What a great start. What power