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In The Light


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Is there a more forboding  beginning to a Zeppelin song than In The Light? What a brilliant song! The start just creeps up on you. You can feel the tension here. Love how it speeds up at the 3 minute mark. Now listen! JPJ shows his chops here. Everybody needs the light! Miller Lite tonight. Page's guitar in the back of the mix is cool. Certain songs have  a feel  to them. In The Light was other-worldly. And it flows right into Bron-Yr-Aur, Zep's most beautiful song. This could have been called Four Guitars. If there ever was a song I could play on guitar, it would be this one.

 

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I wondered if they tried to rehearse it for the 02? With today's technology it would have been much easier for Jonesy to recreate the intro. Maybe it was one epic too many for the setlist. It would have been really atmospheric with the huge screens and visuals. I would have rather seen that performed than MMH, for instance.

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Truly an epic song, showcasing JPJ's bagpipe sounding synth. A great riff from Jimmy, with an underlying Sabbath feel to it, and of course, Bonzo is off the charts. Robert's delivery is great here too. A very evocative tune that leaves me envisioning a desolate Loch Ness on a cloudy day. 

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Agreed, definitely one of their best songs.  The developmental versions on Alternate Graffiti (or the reissues, if you prefer) are great as well.

Yes, the Everybody Makes It Through is just beautiful. I prefer the harpsichord intro to the drone but both are good, too bad Jones never used the harpsichord either live or on record outside of this proto-In The Light as it is so damn atmospheric. The real shame is if Jones would have used the harpsichord for a live version Zeppelin may have been able to pull it off. They wanted to do this tune live but was impossible to reproduce due to technical limitations at the time, however a stripped down version with harpsichord would have worked great live.

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In my honest opinion, "In the Light" is Led Zeppelin's greatest musical achievement.  I realize that most people would say there a many other Led Zeppelin songs that deserve this distinction, however, this is the Ultimate song in the Led Zeppelin canon. 

If this does not convince anyone, nothing will:

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Strong case king.. But Kashmir still gets the #1 nod for me. ITL WTLB and IMTOD are a tossup for numero dos.   

The 1974 8 song PG sessions were by far Zeppelin's most powerful IMO. 

Custard Pie

The Wanton Song

Trampled Underfoot

Kashmir

Ten Years Gone

In The Light 

In My Time Of Dying

Sick Again

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Yes, the Everybody Makes It Through is just beautiful. I prefer the harpsichord intro to the drone but both are good, too bad Jones never used the harpsichord either live or on record outside of this proto-In The Light as it is so damn atmospheric. The real shame is if Jones would have used the harpsichord for a live version Zeppelin may have been able to pull it off. They wanted to do this tune live but was impossible to reproduce due to technical limitations at the time, however a stripped down version with harpsichord would have worked great live.

I put together a version where the harpsichord sound and drone keys are mixed together.  It works quite well I think.  The basis is the alt take of EMiT.

It's here (to DL)...  http://www.mediafire.com/download/sq69wjckckwp2ht/Everybody_Makes_It_In_The_Light.flac

I may have to try it the other way, with the album version as the basic track.    

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Technically speaking, If Floyd managed to do Shine on you crazy diamond live in the mid '70s. Surely Zep could have done ITL. 

It might have come down to Zep's reluctance to have more personnel on keyboards. But surely Jonesy's tech could have "played" the deep drone section off stage, which would have freed up jonesy to do the melody and other musical stuff.

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I thought John Paul Jones didn't want to have to lug another keyboard, a huge synthesizer on tour... which with all due respect to him is kind of ridiculous.. That's why they had roadies and techs...I know Robert wanted to play ITL live and it would have been epic and perhaps not as overlooked by some today.  Maybe Jones and Page felt there were enough keyboards showcased between NQ and the Rain Song..  The beginning drone is synth and bowed guitar and could have been incredible live.... Still a shame.  

I saw Robert play it on the Dreamland tour and it was good but it came off a little odd.

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^ it could have been done by Led Zeppelin live.. I don't think it would have been impossible to pull off a great live version with just the 4 of them either.  They chose not to which is a different thing altogether.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 31 December 2015 at 5:28 AM, IpMan said:

Yes, the Everybody Makes It Through is just beautiful. I prefer the harpsichord intro to the drone but both are good, too bad Jones never used the harpsichord either live or on record outside of this proto-In The Light as it is so damn atmospheric....  .....a stripped down version with harpsichord would have worked great live.

Just to be a pedant, but it's not a harpsichord, it's a clavinet. The same keyboard used on Trampled Underfoot and Custard Pie. JPJ seems to almost get a new keyboard for each album, Hammond M103 without a Leslie for the first lp, he got a Leslie for the second, a B3 (or C3) and a EMS synth for III, a Hohner electra piano for IV, a Mellotron for Houses, a Clavinet for PG, the Yamaha CP-80 electric grand for Presence although it only turned up on Pod and the Yamaha GX-1 for ITTOD.

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On 12/31/2015 at 0:24 AM, Flares said:

I wondered if they tried to rehearse it for the 02? With today's technology it would have been much easier for Jonesy to recreate the intro. Maybe it was one epic too many for the setlist. It would have been really atmospheric with the huge screens and visuals. I would have rather seen that performed than MMH, for instance.

I agree that it would have been a lovely addition to the setlist.  The problem was, however, so would many other of their songs.  I'm sure it's non-inclusion was just a case of figuring out the 2+ hour setlist.  Maybe Robert might have said no due to some high notes.

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9 hours ago, babysquid said:

Just to be a pedant, but it's not a harpsichord, it's a clavinet. The same keyboard used on Trampled Underfoot and Custard Pie. JPJ seems to almost get a new keyboard for each album, Hammond M103 without a Leslie for the first lp, he got a Leslie for the second, a B3 (or C3) and a EMS synth for III, a Hohner electra piano for IV, a Mellotron for Houses, a Clavinet for PG, the Yamaha CP-80 electric grand for Presence although it only turned up on Pod and the Yamaha GX-1 for ITTOD.

Hey, I did not know that it was a clavinet, sounded like a harpsichord to me. Thanks for that.

 

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12 hours ago, IpMan said:

Hey, I did not know that it was a clavinet, sounded like a harpsichord to me. Thanks for that.

 

A Clavinet is basically an electric version of a clavichord which is a relative of the harpsichord but mostly used as a practice instrument (it was to quiet for performance.) The clavinet also has quite a few pick up configurations so it's easy to get lots of different sounds.

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On 1/3/2016 at 5:38 PM, the chase said:

^ it could have been done by Led Zeppelin live.. I don't think it would have been impossible to pull off a great live version with just the 4 of them either.  They chose not to which is a different thing altogether.

Who knows what they tried, but maybe the efforts were exasperating and if all weren't on board, then it wasn't a go. That said, I agree, if 'Kashmir' and 'No Quarter' were able to be played, it's hard to fathom why 'In the Light' couldn't be. Seems more like 'wouldn't'. That they didn't play it at the O2 is a great missed opportunity to showcase it's full power and majesty. I don't think it had to do with Robert's vocal range ('Kashmir' high notes, for instance, indicate as much), but again, if all weren't on board, it wasn't done. Such a shame. Instead of MMH, and however they would've had to alter the song order, it would have been so memorable and moving to hear it. 

I get that from all the marvellous songs Zep has that paring it down to the ones they did was a next to impossible task, and no one set list would have pleased everyone. But there seems to be a consensus longing for "in the Light' and it's not simply for the sake of wanting what you didn't get. This is a truly transcendent song, one of those that points to something beyond itself, and a way to get there....

When I first heard Jonesy play 'When the Levee Breaks' on his bass lap steel I nearly had a conniption. That perfect moment of favourite song played by member of favourite band in a surprising reshaping that worked so well in a new context still quickens my pulse thinking about it. 

Wouldn't it be wonderful to get to hear 'In the Light' live in some manifestation from one of the Zep lads?

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4 hours ago, Patrycja said:

Who knows what they tried, but maybe the efforts were exasperating and if all weren't on board, then it wasn't a go. That said, I agree, if 'Kashmir' and 'No Quarter' were able to be played, it's hard to fathom why 'In the Light' couldn't be. Seems more like 'wouldn't'. That they didn't play it at the O2 is a great missed opportunity to showcase it's full power and majesty. I don't think it had to do with Robert's vocal range ('Kashmir' high notes, for instance, indicate as much), but again, if all weren't on board, it wasn't done. Such a shame. Instead of MMH, and however they would've had to alter the song order, it would have been so memorable and moving to hear it. 

I get that from all the marvellous songs Zep has that paring it down to the ones they did was a next to impossible task, and no one set list would have pleased everyone. But there seems to be a consensus longing for "in the Light' and it's not simply for the sake of wanting what you didn't get. This is a truly transcendent song, one of those that points to something beyond itself, and a way to get there....

When I first heard Jonesy play 'When the Levee Breaks' on his bass lap steel I nearly had a conniption. That perfect moment of favourite song played by member of favourite band in a surprising reshaping that worked so well in a new context still quickens my pulse thinking about it. 

Wouldn't it be wonderful to get to hear 'In the Light' live in some manifestation from one of the Zep lads?

True. JPJ made it sound like Robert really wanted to play In The Light, but Jones didn't want to have to deal with the needed synthesizer on stage. They certainly could have tried it at rehearsals. 

I also loved JPJ's lap steel renditions of WTLB NFBM Black Dog etc. I like his reshaping of Zeppelin material much more than some of Robert's. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've read that Plant was very eager to perform the song but Jone's wasn't able to get the sound he wanted live.  I've never looked further into that story, but I assume it is referring to the 1975 tour since that was the first one they did post-Physical Graffiti.  Anyway, live performance technology developed a lot during the late 70s and I'm sure Jones could have got the sound he was looking for by 1980.

Had I been on the management end of things, I would have pushed for In The Light to be their new "epic" piece after they had kicked out No Quarter and Dazed and Confused.  It's pretty easy to imagine the band stretching their legs and taking the song on a 15-20 minute ride, and that's just the sort of thing the 1980 tour needed.

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