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Hots on for Nowhere


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14 minutes ago, Boleskinner said:

Good point on PG melodic stuff being from previous sessions. I agree that Ribs would have been a nice melancholic breather on Presence. 

It might have been interesting to segue from the chiming guitar at the end of Achilles into Ribs somehow. The calm after the storm. Could have made for an epic epic.

Personally for me it would make a great closer to an album side, maybe replace Royal Orleans which in turn could replace Candy Store Rock.

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As tribute to this album and possibly the "true" fans of LZ, recall that they played For Your Life at the O2 concert.  I don't think this was by accident, most certainly by design. and it was the first time they played it live, which wasn't really surprising to me.

As one person posted online, I repeat the essence of his quote here as I'm not going to look it up; basically that there was nothing that weeds out the diehard fans in the audience than playing For Your Life.  The only song that might be more obscure would be one of the fillers on CODA.

For the record, I was one of the millions who put his name in the hat to be on the list for tickets to that show.  Alas, no dice.

One final point, as stated above, yes, it is a clean album, very little overdubs and Page still brings some memorable playing.  There just isn't alot of hooks, and Plant in particular didn't seem to have his heart into the album.  I think most of us would agree, there was a difference between Post PH and before.  Sort of the  beginning of the slide of the unsustainable meteoric rise that caught the music world by storm, that dividing fissure in their careers.  

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I suspect For Your Life also got an airing at the reunion as its the most successful of Zep's  tracks that sounds a bit more modern, OTTOD material for many wasn't entirely successful but FYL has both the Zep swagger and a stripped down paranoid vibe.

For me Royal Orleans and Candy Store Rock aren't just less effective tracks but also tracks that don't fit into the vibe of the album. The rest of the album builds a tense caustic atmosphere but they seem more like attempts to return to good times rock and makes the album easier to dismiss as a less effective retred of their earlier years rather than a quite honest reflection of where they were at the time. That's why I think 10 Ribs/Pod would have been much more effective, very soulful down to earth and would have made a nice relief from the tension the rest of the album builds up.

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1 hour ago, greenman said:

I suspect For Your Life also got an airing at the reunion as its the most successful of Zep's  tracks that sounds a bit more modern, OTTOD material for many wasn't entirely successful but FYL has both the Zep swagger and a stripped down paranoid vibe.

For me Royal Orleans and Candy Store Rock aren't just less effective tracks but also tracks that don't fit into the vibe of the album. The rest of the album builds a tense caustic atmosphere but they seem more like attempts to return to good times rock and makes the album easier to dismiss as a less effective retred of their earlier years rather than a quite honest reflection of where they were at the time. That's why I think 10 Ribs/Pod would have been much more effective, very soulful down to earth and would have made a nice relief from the tension the rest of the album builds up.

I don't much care for Candy Store Rock on the album, just does not fit though I like the song. Royal Orleans on the other hand is excellent, a great song, very interesting with a nice hook. Even though it is upbeat, somewhat jazzy in a major chord the vocals, though humorous, are also cautionary in nature which continues the themes of the proceeding songs. If you look at the themes of all the songs (except CSR), Presence is almost a concept album of sorts, the main theme being, fame is dangerous, be careful or you just may get what you want. Quite ironic in light of this is the time period Jimmy started to move toward addiction, looks like Jimmy should have heeded the advice of the album he was producing.

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1 hour ago, IpMan said:

I don't much care for Candy Store Rock on the album, just does not fit though I like the song. Royal Orleans on the other hand is excellent, a great song, very interesting with a nice hook. Even though it is upbeat, somewhat jazzy in a major chord the vocals, though humorous, are also cautionary in nature which continues the themes of the proceeding songs. If you look at the themes of all the songs (except CSR), Presence is almost a concept album of sorts, the main theme being, fame is dangerous, be careful or you just may get what you want. Quite ironic in light of this is the time period Jimmy started to move toward addiction, looks like Jimmy should have heeded the advice of the album he was producing.

Royal Orleans is the better(and somewhat more in tune with the album) of the two I'd agree although I think it still clearly pales in comparison to Hots On For Nowhere that manages to be both a really catchy and caustic. Again I think its a shame as most of Presense is an album that is responding to the bands position and the time period in general not just re-treading the same path less effectively minus Achilles, 10 Ribs/Pod whilst maybe not very "punk" would have been a good signal of a shift in direction.

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Would love to hear JPJ's memories about writing Ribs and how it was rehearsed by the band, and if it was ever seriously considered for Presence.

One of the drawbacks of the companion discs junkets was that it was only Page doing interviews.

It's easier getting information out of North Korea.

IMO, the song sounds a bit like Wings to me and maybe they thought it was a bit too soft pop-rocky.

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To me 10 Ribs very clearly seems to be an attempt to record something along the lines of the improvised middle sections to No Quarter they were playing latter in the 75 tour, 21/5/75 at Earls Court especially has a very similar atmosphere. It obviously moves more away from the direct NQ influence but I think the end result ends up being kind of halfway between the 75 live versions and the 77 versions, you can hear a bit more of a bluesy side coming though.

I did always think JPJ should have had a go at recording a solo piano improv album ala Keith Jarrett(who I'd imagine was an influence on the direction NQ took with the the koln concert LP coming out in Jan 75), maybe get Bonzo and Page to play a bit.

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  • 1 month later...

I love "Hots On For Nowhere" and other songs from "Presence" because the songs never get played on radio! I've never had the opportunity to get sick of the lesser known LZ songs, so I tend to really dig them. If I am in my car and "Stairway" or "Whole Lotta Love" comes on, I generally change the channel because it's just too overcooked. I still like listening to those songs, but only in the context of the albums they came from.

 

I think the popularity of "Presence" was really damaged by the fact that the band never really toured behind it. Touring was essential to selling records back in those times. The one year time gap between the release of Presence and the 1977 tour was too long of a gap for the record to gain any sort of momentum. It never would have become one of LZ's more popular records, but it's a record that is much better than its "bargain bin" status.

 

"Presence" is actually my 2nd favorite LZ album. Partly because, again, it's songs don't get played on radio. I also love it because I am a guitar player, and that record represents just about everything you can do with an electric guitar in the studio. Jimmy's guitar orchestration on the album is utterly amazing. The album also gets helped by the fact that "Achilles Last Stand" is my all time favorite LZ song. I actually prefer "Tea For One" these days to any other LZ blues track because it totally captures the feelings of sadness that Robert felt at the time due to being away from his family in Malibu after the horrible auto accident. Jimmy's solo is so understated and full of melancholy.

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4 hours ago, corduroyg said:

i think hots of for nowhere is the #1 most underrated led zeppelin song. love everything about it. and the drumming in the 2nd half of the song is incredible. 

Cannot make my mind up about which is the no 1 under-rated track. I am going to have to really think about that one. I have used that description for loads of them. Even the very, very well known tracks.

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I've been thinking lately that if Presence and In Through the Out Door had been released together as one double album, with the songs intermingled, it may have been held in much higher regard than they both were separately. Presence has some great rock songs, but lacks the stylistic variety people had come to expect from Zeppelin, whereas ITTOD has plenty of stylistic variety but is lacking in the hard rock songs, outside of In the Evening. Shuffle those two together and it might have been another Physical Graffiti.

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54 minutes ago, Balthazor said:

I've been thinking lately that if Presence and In Through the Out Door had been released together as one double album, with the songs intermingled, it may have been held in much higher regard than they both were separately. Presence has some great rock songs, but lacks the stylistic variety people had come to expect from Zeppelin, whereas ITTOD has plenty of stylistic variety but is lacking in the hard rock songs, outside of In the Evening. Shuffle those two together and it might have been another Physical Graffiti.

Both albums are pretty remarkable considering the conditions they were recorded under.  

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5 hours ago, the chase said:

Both albums are pretty remarkable considering the conditions they were recorded under.  

They are also both albums that give an honest picture of where the band were at for each Lp, which was in very different places.

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presence has really grown on me recently. for your life and royal orleans were songs i never really got that into but i really enjoy them now. ive always loved achilles nobodys fault and hots on. still not crazy about candy store rock and especially tea for one, that will always be my least fav zep song. 

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I distinctly remember the only time I ever heard HOFN on the radio was in 1977. My first semester of college. A friend "with benefits" and I were headed to the airport to pick up her older roommate who had met some dude in a Birmingham nightclub and he had flown her to Ohio or Pennsylvania for a two day tryst. Along our journey the song popped up on the radio. I'll never forget... Fantastic song, high ranks.

 

On to "Candy Store Rock". Hell, that song drips with sexual imagery. I love it! I picture Plant concocting the salacious lyrics in the palm of his hand in 20 minutes, maybe reflecting on a past "romance".
Jimmy's solo, bending the strings adds to the artful "sleaziness" (maybe the wrong word) to make the song a fantastic work. Subject matter reminds me of earlier Zeppelin, but Plant understates his vocal talents to me, for sublime effect.
The lyrics provide a story of which I've held a mental picture since I was 16 or 17.

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