# Deep Tracks - Led Zeppelin - "Presence"



## Guest (Aug 29, 2018)

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Please *choose up to five selections* for this particular poll.

On all polls created if you click on the number of votes following the song title the username of all voters and their chosen selections will appear.

The tunes themselves will be found below the poll itself as links rather than as embedded videos due to bandwidth issues for those who wish to reacquaint themselves with a tune that may have receded a bit too far into the past to be remembered with the clarity that came when they were first released...

Next up is - Led Zeppelin - "Presence"

"Presence" is the seventh studio album by Led Zeppelin, released by Swan Song Records on 31 March 1976. While the album was a commercial success, reaching the top of both the British and American album charts, and achieving a triple-platinum certification in the United States, it received mixed reviews from critics and was the lowest-selling studio album by the band while they were still active.

The album was written and recorded during a difficult time in the band's history, as singer Robert Plant was recuperating from serious injuries he had sustained earlier that year in a car accident on the Greek island of Rhodes on 5 August. This led to tours being cancelled and the band booking studio time to record "Presence" instead.

The entire album was completed in a few weeks, with guitarist and producer Jimmy Page putting in several long shifts to complete recording and mixing. The album is dominated by Page and Plant compositions, with only one track credited to the entire group, and unlike other Zeppelin albums features no keyboards and little acoustic guitar.

Because Plant was still recuperating, the band could not tour to capitalize on the album's release and only two tracks, including ten-minute opener "Achilles Last Stand", were performed live. However, the album has been re-appraised in retrospective reviews for its hard rock dynamics and simplicity compared to the group's other work.

Because of their status as tax exiles, Plant was forced to recuperate abroad, initially in Jersey, Channel Islands then in Malibu, California, and wrote several sets of lyrics that reflected on his personal situation and wondering about the future. Guitarist Jimmy Page joined him in Malibu in September and the pair began to think about plans to make an album instead.

Once they had worked out arrangements, the group were eager to record. Page favoured going to Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, which he felt had state-of-the-art recording facilities. Plant was still recovering from the accident during recording and sang his vocals in a wheelchair, which led to Page assuming most of the responsibilities at the sessions.

The album was recorded and mixed with longtime group associate Keith Harwood engineering, and completed in just eighteen days, with the final mixes finished on 27 November. This was the fastest recording turnaround time achieved by the band since their debut album.

The rushed recording sessions were in part a result of Led Zeppelin having booked the studio immediately prior to the Rolling Stones, who were shortly to record songs for their album "Black and Blue". Page negotiated with the Stones to borrow two days from their recording session time, during which he completed all the guitar overdubs in one lengthy session.

The recording sessions for "Presence" were also particularly challenging for Plant. The studio was in a basement of an old hotel, and the singer felt claustrophobic. He also experienced physical difficulties as a result of his car accident, and missed his family. He later said he was upset about Page and manager Peter Grant about booking the Presence sessions and began to re-evaluate the priorities in his life.

Both Page and Plant had planned this album's recording session as a return to hard rock, much like their debut album, except at a new level of complexity. It marked a change in the Led Zeppelin sound towards more straightforward, guitar-based jams.

Whereas their previous albums up to and including the previous year's "Physical Graffiti" contain electric hard rock anthems balanced with acoustic ballads and intricate arrangements, "Presence" was seen to include more simplified riffs, and is Led Zeppelin's only studio album that features no keyboards, and with the exception of a rhythm track on "Candy Store Rock", no acoustic guitar.

The changed stylistic emphasis on this album was a direct result of the troubled circumstances experienced by the band around the time of its recording. Page later said the music came from this spontaneity. Plant later described it as "a cry of survival" and speculated the group would not make another album like it.

The cover and inside sleeve, created by Hipgnosis with George Hardie, features images of people interacting with a black obelisk-shaped object. Inside the sleeve, the item is referred to simply as "The Object". It was intended to represent Zeppelin's "force and presence". Hipgnosis cofounder Storm Thorgerson wrote that the obelisk represented the power of Led Zeppelin, saying they were "so powerful, they didn't need to be there". Both Page and Plant have said that the presence of the object in the photographs made people stop and think about what is real, which reflected the music.

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The album was released on 31 March 1976, having been delayed by the completion of the album sleeve. In Britain it attained one of the highest ever advance orders, shipping gold on the day of release. It entered at #2 and peaked the following week at #1 on the US Billboard Pop Albums chart and entered at #24 on the Cashbox Top 100 Albums, before rising to #1 the following week. However, this album is the lowest selling of their careers, and it received lukewarm reviews upon its release.

In late 1976 the album was also overshadowed by the release of the band's movie and soundtrack "The Song Remains the Same".

Page later acknowledged that, because the album conveys a sense of urgency resulting from the troubled circumstances in which it was recorded, "it's not an easy album for a lot of people to access ... _t's not an easy album for a lot of people to listen to."

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presence_(album)

Your commentary on any and every aspect of the album and especially any memories reawakened as a result of the poll is welcomed._


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## Guest (Aug 29, 2018)

"*Achilles Last Stand*" -






"*For Your Life*" -






"*Royal Orleans*" -






"*Nobody's Fault but Mine*" -






"*Candy Store Rock*" -






"*Hots On for Nowhere*" -






"*Tea for One*" -


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

My least favorite Zep album, but _Nobody's Fault But Mine_ is excellent. An example where poor sales and lukewarm reviews accurately coincide with what's delivered on the album.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

It's the only Zepp album I never owned. It's so raw it hurts to listen to some of it. Few light moments and Bonham is almost a nonstop pounder.... Jones doesn't seem to get much keyboard work.

As always, Plant plays exciting blues harp on Nobody's Fault But Mine, but it's not as groundbreaking as his minor-key diatonic on the Levee.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

This one's a bit too electric. Maybe because it was made in a hurry. I think the first two tracks are the strongest. And I like the guitar riff on For Your Life. It's the hippest riff on the record. But honestly I can't remember what the rest of the album sound like except for that phaze guitar sound on Nobody's Fault...


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Love it - for me the album was a slow burner but the one I appreciated more after being sniffy in the first place. No keyboards - stripped back arrangements. That lack of fussiness made tracks like _Royal Orleans_ and _Candy Store Rock_ stand by their sheer buoyancy. _For Your Life_ and _Nobody's Fault But Mine_ are top draw stomping Zep.

Please don't go onto _In Through The Out Door_ because that album was a total turkey.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

elgars ghost said:


> Love it - for me the album was a slow burner but the one I appreciated more after being sniffy in the first place. No keyboards - stripped back arrangements. That lack of fussiness made tracks like _Royal Orleans_ and _Candy Store Rock_ stand by their sheer buoyancy. _For Your Life_ and _Nobody's Fault But Mine_ are top draw stomping Zep.
> 
> Please don't go onto _In Through The Out Door_ because that album was a total turkey.


Thanks to these threads I gave Carouselambra a listen a few weeks ago. O woe. But I can still enjoy In the Evening for some sick reason...


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I only chose Achilles Last Stand. This song I really like, it's epic. I find this song well crafted, inventive and very interesting because of the variety of themes / motives. The rest of the album I can do without. Though to be fair, I haven't listened to the entire album from start to finish in many years. I might have a different opinion and assessment after many years. Presence was always my least favourite album, I listened to it the least when I did listen to LZ. 

As I have mentioned before, later this autumn, I'll pay homage to fifty years of Led Zeppelin by listening to all their albums. I'll post my listening and thoughts as I play each album.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

_In The Evening_ was the last waving of the flag - we waited three whole f...….g years for that album and all we got was Page and Bonham sponged on heroin so JPJ had to take up the slack with soupy keyboard arrangements which were dated as soon as the album hit the shops.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I have the album playing now and my wife got up to dance to Royal Orleans. This record is probably closer to what they sounded like on stage. Raw, down and dirty!


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Love to cut the rug with you both but I'm not as young as I used to be. Glad you are both giving it some.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

elgars ghost said:


> Please don't go onto _In Through The Out Door_ because that album was a total turkey.


Sir, we will discuss this issue later, when you're feeling better. Are you sure you're taking your medications as prescribed?


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

starthrower said:


> I have the album playing now and my wife got up to dance to Royal Orleans. This record is probably closer to what they sounded like on stage. Raw, down and dirty!


Exactly, at extreme decibel counts.

I just gave Hots on for Nowhere half a listen before I realized how much I dislike the bridge and Plant's way of finishing the song, so I stopped before it got there... Candy Store Rock would make Elvis groan in the grave...

I say Side 1 wins


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Strange Magic said:


> Sir, we will discuss this issue later, when you're feeling better. Are you sure you're taking your medications as prescribed?


Thanks for the offer but I think if you delve back into an old thread - maybe one of yours - I gave a more detailed explanation as to why I disliked ITtOD. As I recall I wasn't on meds then either - maybe just good old English beer. Feel free to copy and paste my post here assuming Sydney doesn't mind.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Achilles for me is with Kashmir (and No quarter for the third place) the best song they ever wrote.


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