My conclusion is Led Zeppelin Presence my #1

As a big LZ fan this has always been my favorite. Great mix of heavy rock and slow ballad.

 

For Your Life is a favorite.

 

I find Presence a great listen and unique album by Zep, and listen is a must to get or understand this album.
It is pretty busy and at times going all over the map with quick changes or parts that sometimes go off in weird directions (kinda like the Winchester Mystery House), but it has it's share of hooks and timing that are easy to catch even with quirks and being surrounded by a lot going on and you get a very different (for Zep) overall sounding album.

Overall each member of the band delivers an almost urgent sounding performance.

I really can't put into words trying to describe it, so much was going on within the band, music worldwide was having some changing going on in every genre, old or new/upcoming.
It sounds to me like their playing their hearts out and pretty hard at times on this masterpiece, the key is giving listening to it the same, then unlocked is it's magic, and it hits you like a ton of Led (pun intended) every time from then after.
It's different, great sounds, I like it a lot!

 

Simply put, a perfect album. Too much fun, groove and power.

And then there's Tea For One! Medicine for the soul.

 

There are guitar solos on both, and it doesn't take much effort to hear them.

Presence is a fairly dense affair. I didn't know what to do with it the first five times I listened to it. Achilles and Nobody's Fault But Mine have some moments that grabbed me right away, but the rest took some time.

 

Hate that part. Destroys the mood before it even begins.

 

I've always liked this one, and a few songs didn't do much for me, but then I bought the guitar tab book for only $10, & played through all of them, then quickly liked them all. It was weird that knowing how they really go by playing them & realizing they were fun to play made them more enjoyable to listen to. BTW, Iron Maiden's No Prayer For The Dying had the same effect on me.

 

Agreed. It's a bit monotonous compared to most of their albums.

There's a ballad on Presence? Slow blues numbers don't count, IMO.

 

I always thought Physical Graffiti, Presence and In Through The Out Door formed a perfect trilogy of late-period Zeppelin. All three albums illustrate how their sound was still evolving and that they were far from finished. Tracks such as "In The Light," "Achilles Last Stand" and "Carouselambra" were hints to how they would have sounded into the '80s if they didn't disband after Bonham's passing.

 

Tea for one is a great slow song
How ever you want to label it

 

I don't dislike Presence at all, but it's my least favorite because it seems really short. Dumb of me, I know

 

To me, it's about a must-have grower and about a must-have groover so therefore a must-have album. Fwiw I share enthusiasm for and interest in it and enjoy it.

 

One of my favorites. It rocks.

 

Just went back and listened to this. Yes, they both have solos that start at 1:27 and last 15 seconds. They are so limp that they may be the worst solos Page ever recorded. Not sure what he was thinking, maybe it was the heroin doing the thinking for him.

 

You said it seemed like there weren't solos on either one. Voila!!

So - you don't like them, which is fine. Every Led Zep song wasn't an excuse for Jimmy to take a balls-to-the-wall solo.

Hey! There's no five-minute guitar break in Kashmir! Kashmir sucks.

 

Yeah, I can remember the disappointment among my Led Zeppelin fan friends when Presence came out. They thought it boring. Of course PG was their opus.

 

I never liked this album very much until yesterday, when I found an original vinyl pressing in NM condition.
I can't believe how good it sounds. The songs have just come alive for me now.
I'll be throwing out my old crappy sounding CD.

 

The last great Zep album, but they only recorded one more! Bonham plays a blinder and it grooves. Not their best set of songs by far but the playing and production is excellent. I also like the surreal artwork.

 

Joint tied with the debut as my fave Zep album,it's full on attack mode until Tea for One comes on.

 

It is probably my favorite Led Zep these days. A big reason is back when it came out I had the notion that it wasn't so good, so I didn't play it to death the way I did with their earlier albums.

 

The thing is that those are two of the band's greatest achievements. I'll agree that the record falls off after those two and Tea For One, but it's hard to knock any record containing those three songs. Problem is comparing anything to the first six records is bound to come up short, but I still count Presence as my favorite Zep after III, PG, and HOTH.

 

Two great tracks doesn't make a great album & Archilles Last Stand is too repetitive. I think it's Zep's weakest album.

 

It's a grower, probably became my favorite Zep in my early 20s after playing the death out of their first 5 records in during junior high/high school.

 

It rocks, a great album. The production is also very good... maybe the best of all Led Zep records.

 

Not in my universe.

For me, in order

IV

I

II (Side Two of this is their best side ever... especially with an RL)

PG

III

not much interest in the rest except for "The Rain Song"

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