In Through the Out Door

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I gather this one is usually poo-pooed on. Which is a shame, as, aside from "Hot Dog," this is really fucking good.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Wait, I just realized I like "Hot Dog."

 

Paradigm Shift

[Guest Felonies!]

I was always a sucker for "Fool in the Rain." I think "All My Love" would've been pretty cool without the dated synths, but this whole thing was Jonesy's baby, so they're everywhere.

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

It's a killer album and one of the most underrated of all-time. I don't care much for Hot Dog and South Bound Saurez is just there, but the rest of it is totally awesome stuff.

[DMann2003 0]

"In the Evening" is such a kickass song

[Copper Feel 0]

John Paul Jones

[Annabelle 0]

plant says its him and jones who made this. bonham & page were too busy getting fucked up. i like this album a lot. its fluffy fun. fool in the rain is a great am radio pop song. but don't watch any live peformances of zep from this period. they look like florescent flaccid cocks.

 

edit

 

all of my love is easily top 5 of my favorite zep songs. dont front.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

"All My Love" is fantastic, but then I think LZ pre-Zoso is spotty at best. Take that into consideration before you seriously consider my opinion on these guys.

[JangoFett4Hire 0]

Carouselambra (sp?) is a fun synth rocker.

[pochorenella 0]

"In the Evening" is such a kickass song

 

Word.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Personally, I never liked "All Of My Love", as it sounds a bit too much like they were runing out of ideas. "In The Evening", "Carouselambra", "Hot Dog", and "I'm Gonna Crawl" are great though. I agree with Czech on the dated synths though.

[Guest Felonies!]

It's about Plant's dead son. That's hardly what I call scraping the bottom of the ol' barrel.

[1234-5678 0]

Fool In The Rain is one of my absolute favorite songs of all time........Hot dog however........good god that one effing sucks.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

In my opinion, In Through the Out Door is the weakest link in the Zeppelin catalogue. That's not to suggest that I think it's a poor album, but it falls far short of their earlier work. Jones was a talented musician, but I don't think that his keyboard driven stuff really embodied the Zeppelin sound. This album is lacking the riffs that made their sound unique (which is not surprising given Page's mental and physical capacity at the time).

 

As for the songs, the stuff is hit and miss. "In the Evening" is as hard as anything they've done. "Carouselambra" is by the far the hidden gem our of all their songs. "Hot Dog" is downright embarrassing. "All of My Love" and "South Bound Suarez" aren't technically bad, but not my cup of tea. "Fool in the Rain" is fun, but ultimately I could take it or leave it.

 

As for the positives, Bonham's drumming is as great as ever, and his groove really drives the album. And while Plant's voice was shot by this point, it gave the music a unique feel. It's probably better that the band ended shortly after this because I think they would have eventually tarnished their legacy by changing their output to match the new wave and disco trends that were creeping into popular music at the time.

[Annabelle 0]

In my opinion, In Through the Out Door is the weakest link in the Zeppelin catalogue.

 

stop the presses!

[Guest Felonies!]

Haha.

 

I think Presence might be weaker, actually. As cheesy as the synths on ITTOD get, at least the songs are memorable, and not bad. On the other hand, it's "Achilles' Last Stand" and then what?

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

Haha.

 

I think Presence might be weaker, actually. As cheesy as the synths on ITTOD get, at least the songs are memorable, and not bad. On the other hand, it's "Achilles' Last Stand" and then what?

 

I really like "Tea For One" and "Nobody's Fault But Mine" is pretty decent, but yeah Presence is not a particularly strong album overall.

[Annabelle 0]

no presense IS the worst. i really like ittod. but to say its the worst is like the boring allmusic/rollingstone way of thinking.

[Guest Felonies!]

Presence is just so half-assed. I know they were all in varying stages of near-death or whatever, but it's like they came up with "Achilles' Last Stand" and that just exhausted them, so they filled the other side-and-a-half with generic blues rock, which then looks worse when you consider that they loaded up their last two albums with more progressive fare. I mean, does "Nobody's Fault But Mine" go anywhere at all? It's like eight minutes of the same eight-bar phrase!

[Gary Floyd 0]

It's about Plant's dead son. That's hardly what I call scraping the bottom of the ol' barrel.

Well, then never mind then. Thanks for letting me know.

 

Personally, I always thought "Coda" was the worst Zeppelin album. Sure, it's a leftovers album, but it still isn't a good album. "Wearing and Tearing" is the worst thing they ever recorded.

 

"Presence" is a very hit and miss affair. "Tea For One" is too meandering, and "Candy Store Rock" is too generic, and while I like "Nobody's Fault But Mine" more than Czech, I do agree that it could use a little trimming. "Achilles Last Stand", "For Your Life", and "Royal Orleans" are good though.

[Annabelle 0]

most music critics are so afraid of change that any time a spectacularly successful artist/group changes their approach they'll be lambasted. zeppelin could've made the most fabulously synthosized pop opus and the critics would still trash it. its easy for people to say its the worst zep album when we've had it drilled into our brains for the past 25 years that it was a failure. the same could be said for lennon's 70's albums. i avoided those fucking things like the plague for the longest time for said reason, but when i checked them out, they were pretty righteous. not anywhere near beatles levels, but certainly wortwhile in its own right. had he not been a beatle, i'd certainly think they'd still have been notable releases from the decade. the only time the critics have been correct about an artist truly fudging a decade would be dylan in the 80's...and even those got SOME good reviews. those albums are so bad. yuck. but ya, ittod, wicked.

[Guest Felonies!]

Plant's dead son song > Clapton's

[Annabelle 0]

tears in heaven is alright. but all of my love is such a dynamic pop song. a staple. people like it inspite of its r.i.p. overtones. in fact most people (myself included) don't/didn't know it was about plants dead kid. tears in heaven was blatantly marketed and promoted as a sappy tribute to clatpon's kid. so most people's feelings on it have been influenced by the sad occurence that influenced it. all of my love is loved because its really fucking fantabulous.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Plant's dead son song > Clapton's

I always hated "Tears From Heaven".

 

Also, I heard "All of my Love" earlier today, and whike it's somewhat better than I remembered it to be, it still feels hurt by the dated synths, which sound too much like something bloated groups like ELP.

[Guest Felonies!]

A little more guitar would've made it more timeless, I think. It's not the synth-strings that bug me so much as that bad synth-brass in the middle.

[ZGangsta 0]

I dig "In Through the Out Door," but I'd tie it with "Presence" as Zeppelin's weakest (not counting "Coda"). I still like both albums though.

All of my Love is a great song. Yeah the synths date it but I still love the atmosphere. Fool in the Rain is kind of neat, but the guitar solo is just a trainwreck, and not in a good way. In the Evening just kicks so much ass. The main guitar riff the last of those iconic riffs that Page came up with, it's up there with Heartbreaker/Whole Lotta Love/Rock n Roll and the others. There's an amazing version of it on that live Zeppelin DVD that came out a couple years back. It's trippy seeing Page use a Strat on that song.

But yeah ITTOD was definately Jones' baby so it does have a different feel from all the other albums, which were all Page. Jimmy was just completely strung out on drugs when they recorded it.

[Annabelle 0]

i don't hear the "dated" synths. i just hear that song. its been with me for so long. i can't call anything in it dated. or i just don't have the musical acumen (desire) to try.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I don't think the synths are particularly "dated" and that they fit the song well. Certainly better than, say, "Wish You Were Here."

[Guest Felonies!]

Got me there.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I actually diverge from the popular opinion here because I find Presence to be their best album (or at least top 3). The songs may not be as memorable or timeless (well, "Achilles Last Stand" is the greatest fucking thing they ever did, hands down... but that's something for another day), but when listend beginning to end the whole thing feels so epic, yet still raw as hell.

 

Most people say that they like "Achilles" and "Tea for One" but not much else. But when those two take up damn near half of the album, how could you not like the product as a whole? "For Your Life" and "Nobody's Fault" are great rockers as well.

 

Presence is the only album that you can feel the band's weakness, and their state of mind at the time. I really enjoy that, but I guess it's not for everybody.