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Music CD - Led Zeppelin: Presence
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Music CD: Presence
Artist: Led Zeppelin
List Price: $11.98
Our Price: $6.12
Your Save: $ 5.86 ( 49% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Atlantic / Wea
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Tracks:
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1. Achilles Last Stand
2. For Your Life
3. Royal Orleans
4. Nobody's Fault But Mine
5. Candy Store Rock
6. Hots On For Nowhere
7. Tea Is For One
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0075679243928
Format: Original recording remastered
Label: Atlantic / Wea
Manufacturer: Atlantic / Wea
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Atlantic / Wea
Release Date: 1994-08-16
Studio: Atlantic / Wea
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Listen to it REALLY LOUD
Comment: Presence is Led Zep's overlooked, underrated, and often hated album. Why? Because of such heavy funk as 'Candy Store Rock' and 'Royal Orleans', not to mention the fact that people argue whether 'Achilles Last Stand' and 'For Your Life' are good or not. My answer to all this is: take the time to listen to the album and listen to it full volume! The album seems to be all about volume and you could hear where the energy is coming from.
First there's 'Achilles Last Stand', a ten minute + epic that only Led Zep could pull off at a time when punk was starting to dominate the scene. People often complain about "how long it is", and that it could have been "shortened to three minutes". But here's the thing: there was no possible way of doing that. They had to make it ten minutes because it wouldn't have built up enough to mean anything otherwise. Sure they've done 3 minute epics before like 'Black Dog' and 'Immigrant Song', but 'Achilles' needed more time for it to build up into something special. We have the two solos, Plant's vocals mimicking Page's guitar, and the lyrics, all of these had to be incorporated into the song because this song defines what Led Zeppelin were all about. That's why it's ten minutes. This song deserves a 10 out 5.
As the opening track one expects the rest of the album to be as epic, but under the circumstances in which the album was recorded, the boys just seemed to tire out.
'For Your Life' at first seemed to be a filler going nowhere, but when the second riff comes along, this songs kicks you right in the face. For the rest of the song the energy is felt and the song is extremely exciting. 5 out of 5.
'Royal Orleans' is the first song on here to showcase the 'pseudo funk' that Zep plays in songs like 'Hots On For Nowhere', and 'Candy Store Rock'. These songs are ugly, no doubt, but the energy is somewhat exciting. But this is Led Zep we're talking about. What the hell are they doing making pseudo funk songs? And for that to be most of the album? What bugs me the most about these songs is that it seemed like Led Zep were trying too hard to come up with something, but they ran out of ideas. This is why this album is looked upon in such a bad light. Granted 'Royal Orleans' may be the worse song on the album (and maybe even the entire Zeppelin catalog), but the song is STILL interesting even tough it's bad. Must be the energy. 2 out of 5.
'Hots On' is pretty bad, and that song doesn't even have energy, but it's not as ugly and clumsy as 'Royal'. 3 out of 5.
'Candy Store Rock' is the best one out of the three, with Plant mimicking Elvis, it's kind of funny. The song is still below the Zep standard though. 3.5 out of 5.
That being said, 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' is excellent. This song is said to be about Page's heroin addiction and it is a strong confession. The start-stop structure and Plant's vocals work so well together here, not to mention that distorted harmonica solo! The drums are immense and the energy is massive. When Plant stutters his lines it's as if he's on heroin himself. 5 out of 5.
Then there's 'Tea For One'. Sure it's a rewrite of 'Since I've Been Loving You', but it is slower and more sophisticated, it seems like. I love the way Plant sings this one, it's very heartfelt. The song is a great closer for the album too. 5 out of 5.
So yeah, most of the album is great. Sure its not as good as the untitled album or Physical Graffiti. The album is small, often times feels empty (no keyboards found in the album at all), but Presence seems to have a style of its own. Presence is a good 4 out of 5 in my book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Achilles Last Stand
Comment: Immediately I would like to say that I am giving this album 5 stars only and ONLY for one song Achilles Last stand, which is one of the greatest songs definitely Led Zeppelin has ever written... it's just brilliant, defintely listen to it by all means... it stands near these masterpieces as Kashmir and Stairway To Heaven... the rest of the album though is honestly not worth listening... probably Candy Store Rock and Tea for One are presenting something worth your attention... but the rest is just boring, though probably it's necessary to listen for those people who have never heard of the album, so they could decide for themselves whether it is worth spending time on the rest of the album... I bought Presence only for Achilles Last Stand... not for its whole content!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Don't Forget Presence!
Comment: An oft forgotten album, Led Zeppelin's Presence is, perhaps, their most straight ahead rock n' roll effort, and especially so when compared to its predecessor, the enormous Physical Graffiti, which featured many and varied styles.
And in that vein, Presence is a success. The songs are interesting, if not so towering as those in previous efforts, the instrumental and vocal work is generally well done, and it makes for a good album. The problem lies in that fact that, with Zeppelin, "good" is the exception to the rule of "great." In that respect, it may be among Zeppelin's weaker albums (though certainly better than the misguided, synth infused In Through the Out Door). But a weak Zeppelin album is still better than most other bands' work. This clearly is. From the epic "Achilles Last Stand," to the slow, guitar driven blues of "Tea for One," there aren't any bad songs on Presence. Rather, it's lack of greatness is derivative of the fact that, unlike all previous Zep albums, it lacks the sheer volume of "hits" that we have come to expect.
But hits do not make an album. The songs between those hits have to be strong, as well, and the songs here are just that. It's less experimental, for sure. Straight blues, bluegrass, folk, and any of the other styles with which Zeppelin experimented aren't in ready supply, here. But if you want high quality, blues driven rock, then this is a worthwhile album and, in my opinion, would have made a much stronger career ender than In Through the Out Door.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hi, I'm Robert Plant, and I phoned in this album.
Comment: Presence is commonly known as Zeppelin's worst album. This, however, is truth, and not up for debate. What's worse is that this album is one of the worst albums of the 70's, a mess of laziness and lack of preparation. Despite being stripped down, it somehow remains overrun with pretense, which I think would be a better name for the album, actually. This is one of the few albums I have in my collection that I truly regret owning, but it came with the box set, so what are you gonna do?
Leading off the album is "Achilles Last Stand", supposedly Jimmy Page's favorite Zep song, apparently a fan-favorite, and, without a doubt, my least favorite song that Zeppelin ever released. I really have trouble with the appeal for this song. If Robert Plant's cat wails don't put you off within the first 5 minutes, I guess you have a decent song on your hands, but for people who like songs that don't sound like they were thrown together 3 minutes before they started recording, this is an awful song. Plant seems like he's making up the words as he goes along, and I can't imagine anyone thinking his vocalizations were a good idea. A song that could have been better if it was 5 minutes shorter and an instrumental.
Now that a quarter of the album is over, they launch into six more throwaway tracks, none of them interesting or meaningful in any way. Nobody's Fault But Mine is still played on the radio, but it's not particularly good. Once again, Plant ruins the song with his wordless moaning.
I'm really at a loss in reviewing this album. Led Zeppelin is easily one of the greatest bands of the 70's (or any other decade, for that matter), but this album either should have spent another year in the oven, or it should have just been trashed all together. Some people say In Through the Out Door was when they sold out, but I'm guessing they wished they could sell out with this album but the songs weren't good enough. Compared to this album, In Through the Out Door is a masterpiece. Sure, it was washed with synths, but at least it had some redeeming songs worth going back to. Presence has nothing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Zepplin's Second best (and most under-rated) album 4 1/2 Stars
Comment: When it comes to Led Zepplin, and you are either a causal or die hard fan, its really hard to come up with an album that was horrid. The only album that I really didnt care for was Coda, but that was just a bunch of un-released material, so that really doesnt count. I happen to be a huge Zepplin fan, yet when it comes to rating their albums, I ask myself, which ones have I grown tired of, and which ones can I still listen to on a daily basis. My first favoite "Physical Graffti" is one of the best double albums ever made. It's hard to compare anything to that, but "Presence" is sure close. Sure, The first four Zepplin albums are all good, but I have grown tired of them. Maybe it because those are the albums that seem to get the most FM radio play, and between listeing to get the led out on most classic rock stations, & listening to CD's, its easy to get tired of songs (of course I speak for myself) When it comes to "Physical Graffti" "Presence" and "In through the Out door", they seem to get the least airplay. Why? I have no idea, even though "In Through the Out Door" gets "All of my Love" played to Death, I hardly hear the other songs. You ask, maybe "In through the out door" isnt that good. Well that is part of it, but with "Physical Graffti" and "Presence" I have no idea. "Presence" is a treat and I believe it is vastly under-rated. Even though the songs lack a bit of what is on Physical, once again, its hard to compare anything to that, because first, its a double album with lots of songs, and second, it is their best (in my opinion) The one thing that Presence does do, is give us more heavy Zepplin. Yes, those blues-rock songs are still there, but Zepplin finally gives us some progressive rock with my all time favorite Zep tune, "Achilles Last Stand" Its blistering guitar work and savage drumming scream heavy metal, along with the fact that it just seems so out of the ordinary for Zepplin for write progessive rock tunes (the last one I heard if we go in Chrnological order would be "No Quarter" from 1973's "Houses of the Holy" The rest of the cuts on this album are all pretty much solid to fantastic (I could do without Candy Store rock, thats why only 4 1/2 stars) and I suggest if you are new to the band and just getting into them, please add this to your collection quickly. Its a shame that Zep couldnt build on this some more, as 1979's "In through the Out door" expands a bit on this, but has some bad filler on it, and even the big hit from the album "All of my love" I could do without. Enjoy Presence, and you might be surprised of the type of Zep you are going to get here. Lilke I said, its a bit diffrent, still some blues type rock, but some of the progressive rock thrown in here is a treat.
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Editorial Reviews:
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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 10-minute-plus "Achilles Last Stand" (a crashing, galloping epic with John Bonham sounding like he's replaced his drumsticks with tree trunks) and "Nobody's Fault but Mine," a Blind Willie Johnson blues regenerated with a 3,000-watt boost by Jimmy Page. --David Stubbs
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