[.ca] Presence

From Amazon.co.uk:
Presence is one of Led Zeppelin's more overlooked albums, languishing in the monstrous shadow of its predecessor, Physical Graffiti. It's more noted in Zeppelin mythology for the circumstances in which it was recorded, in double-quick time with vocalist Robert Plant's leg in plaster after a car accident. The lack of time does show--much of the album feels like generic heavy rock, bigger on volume than variety. It's worth the price of the album, however, for the ten and a half minute long "Achilles Last Stand", a crashing, galloping epic with John Bonham sounding like he's eschewed drumsticks in favour of tree trunks--and "Nobody's Fault But Mine", a Blind Willie Johnson blues standard regenerated with a 3000-watt boost by Jimmy Page. Led Zeppelin's contribution to rock was primarily physical--raising its heat and density levels, heightening its sensual force. --David Stubbs

any other hard rock band's crowning achievement:
yes, it is definatly a generic heavy rock album. lacking the complexities and diversity of zep's previous efforts. lacking the keyboards too. forgivable due to the sucky situation it was recorded. polar oppisite of In Through The Out Door, which is a synth-happy, diverse album. achille's last sand- geat. a classic. zeppelin's most metallic song. what's with all the hype about the drum's though? bonzo kicked major ass on In My Time of Dying (from Physical Grafiti). for your life- so so royal orleans- forgetable. nobody's faultbut mine-great. a clssic. plant saves the day with his harmonica! it's kind o a shame that many of zep's greatest tune's were rip offs of blues artists. candy store rock- has a cool sound, but the lyrics are lame hots on for nowhere- very catchy tea for one- OH THE AGONY! MAKE IT STOP! when i first heard this song i thought i was an aternate take of Since I've Been Loving You, which is an awesome song by the way. this song, on the other hand, is best defined by the lyrics, because the minutes feel like hours. you'll feel like you've been listening to a song for 9 hours, and it still hasn't gone anywhere yet. i thought it was a general rule for zeppelin to get rid of any song that sounded exactly like another. like i said, this would've been any other hard rock band's crowning achievement. this album is great for what it is, but it does not match led zeppelin's classic 6 albums. when compared to zoso, this one is so so. when on it's own, it sits on a throne. this along with In Through The Out door, and Coda round out zeppelin's stinky albums.

Great, but not great by Led Zeppelin standards:
Presence (1976.) Led Zeppelin's seventh album. In 1976, Led Zeppelin released their seventh studio album, the oddly-entitled Presence. With their previous studio effort, Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin had served up a double-LP rock and roll masterpiece that has been hailed as one of the band's finest, if not THE finest, release of their career. As you probably would have guessed, fans of Plant, Jones, Page, and Bonham had high hopes for the release that would follow Physical Graffiti. How does the Presence album measure up? If you want to find out, read on. After hearing the masterpiece entitled Physical Graffiti, this album was a letdown. Rather than a double-LP set with a widely diverse mixture of tracks, this was only a single-disc set in which most of the tracks stuck to the same general styling - that of hard rock. Fortunately, the album still has its share of musical diversity and excellent songs. The most widely loved track to come from this album is, by far, Achilles' Last Stand. This is a rock and roll masterpiece, and it's not surprising that so many Zeppelin fans have praised it over the years. The other tracks never achieved the same type of success that that this one did, but they too are excellent. For this album, as I previously stated, the band sticks to a hard rock styling for the most part, but each track does manage to maintain a sense of individuality. Still, it's not the band's finest work, and is really an album only for the die-hard fans. I'm guessing the band probably rush-recorded it, so that they could get a follow-up to Physical Graffiti on the marker as soon as possible, and cash in on the success of that album. It's not perfect, but still damn good. Like the other Led Zeppelin albums, the version of this album that is readily available in America (as of July 19, 2004) is the standard remastered edition. I really don't feel one way or another about this remaster series, but I DO feel that many stores rip people off by jacking the price of the band's album's up. Accordingly, if you're planning on buying any Led Zeppelin albums, DO NOT GET THEM INDIVIDUALLY - GET THE COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS BOX SET INSTEAD! The price looks steep, but in actuality, it is a much better value. What else can be said? This isn't really a great album by Led Zeppelin's standards, but it's still a very good album. Still, new fans should consider starting with another album (but steer clear of hits compilations! All of the band's compilations are horrible!) Final verdict? This one's for the die-hard fans. Mew fans need to start elsewhere.

Presence:
I did not care for Presence that much. Though it had one of the best songs onit- Achilles Last Stand. But I can understand why this album was Zep's downside. I mean every bands going to have a stinker, and plus, this was nearing Zep's breakup. I give it 3 stars though because of Achilles LAst Stand and Nobody's Fault but mine. Though I will say that one of my least favorite songs from Zep is Candy Store Rock.

Bad Zeppelin:
This is the second worst of Zeppelin's CD's (Only Coda was worse). "Only Achillies Stand" and "Nobody's Fault But Mine" are very good, the rest is filler (Candy Store Rock might be the WORST Zeppelin song EVER (That or "Hats Off To Roy Harper" it is close)). This CD is for completests only (And I guarantee you, it will not be played that often even by them (I know, I have everything except "Coda", and I avoid "Presence" like the plague). You can get "Achillies Last Stand" amd "Nobodys Fault But Mine" in disk 2 of "Early Days & Latter Days" (An excellent greatest hits package), so you do not even need to spend the money on "Presence" to get them. Simply put, this is a bad Zeppelin CD.

"The Fall Of Zeppelin":
By "Presence" Led Zeppelin had already reached their peek and done most of their best work.Still Led Zeppelin themselves said "Presence" is their best album and most true to their music.I am not a huge fan of this album but i can still consider it as "good" but not up to their best and older stuff.That doesn`t mean "Presence" isn`t worth listening to.In fact it has some shining moments like the 10 and half minutes "Achilles Last Stands",and "Nobody`s Fault But Mine". After the 1975 double LP release "Physical Graffiti",Led Zeppelin went for a more simple,less complex and experimenting style with "Presence" a single LP containing only seven songs.At this point Led Zeppelin was nearly at the end of its life with one devastating event after another(Robert`s car accident,his son`s death and more were to come).In a way "Presence" was overshadowed by all the events happening in their personnal lifes. Presence is definatly not one of Zeppelin`s finest recordings,it is too short and has some fillers songs "Tea For One" and "Royal Orleans" making it,unfortunatly one of the worst Led Zeppelin albums,but hey even their worst ain`t so bad!Is just not up to some of their other stronger releases and in a way it was overshadowed by "Physical Graffiti" and unfortunate events. Presence was also the quickest album the band made,all of that making for a significantly less good Led Zeppelin album.Unfortunate for us fans,this marks the fall of Zeppelin,they would never be as great as they were.Besides all that it has some good moments,good but not to the full Zeppelin potential.

• Achilles Last Stand
• For Your Life
• Royal Orleans
• Nobody's Fault But Mine
• Candy Store Rock
• Hots on for Nowhere
• Tea for One