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What are your opinions on Walking into Clarksdale?


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I for one think it's crap. I think the new stuff from No Quarter was very good and has a very Led Zeppelin sound but Walking into Clarksdale sounds awful. I think it was a mistake to have Steve Albini produce it. Page should always produce his material. Page's guitar playing is not prominent enough. There's no riff or musical arrangement that I can groove to like there is with every Led Zeppelin song. Also Plant's singing and the lyrics are kind of blah, like the worst of his solo career.

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The tunes sounded much better live, somehow the mix doesn't do it justice.

An album to get into after a few times listening so to say

I agree! Listen to Most High from the Bizzare Festival 1998, it sounded great to me.

And it's funny how the original post was started, doesn't have a Zeppelin sound? Hello? It was NOT meant to be a Zeppelin record!

Yeah, it sounds a bit "raw" or "incompleted" in the production, but it's utterly unfair to judge an album to "awful" just because it doesn't sound Led Zeppelin. Jimmy's playing is very beautiful and elegant on Blue Train and Heart In Your Hand, and I like most of Robert's lyrics.

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I definately don't think Albini was the right guy for job, even though I liked his work with PJ Harvey & The Pixies. It worked for those two bands but with Nirvana & Page&Plant his techniques stifled those records. Sometimes it's just not a good mix no matter the amount of talent involved between parties. "Please Read The Letter" is a perfect example. It's a nice song & it worked much better when Plant re-did it with Krauss. The songwriting stands.

But I do think the album is uneven. I would have preferred if they continued with more of the Eastern vibe of "Unledded". The songs they performed in concert sounded much better live than in the studio, I particularly liked the title track live. I think I would have liked the album more if it had a bit more variation. Not a bad effort but I believe everyone was expecting a bit more but it's also unfair to compare it to Zeppelin.

I'd much rather hear "Crackback" from JPJ's "Scream From Help" which Page co-wrote & played on. That's the best original composition by 2 former Zep members collaborating together. Page stood by the wrong guy in the 90's in my opinion.

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I don't know. My first impressions weren't that great, but man on repeated listenings it just gets better and better. Blue Train is a great song, excellent performance. I think there was some great writing, songs like When I Was a Child, When the World Was Young, Shining in the Light, Most High, even House of Love are really outstanding. For me the mix on Plant's vocals was much too dry, but listening to live performances of the same songs, its just incredible. The 98 performance of When the World Was Young in Paris is just fantastic.

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When I first heard it I said to myself. What is this shit??? I expected it to be much heavier, which of course is not the case.

After repeated listenings it grew, and grew, and grew. Now I consider it one of my favorite albums. When the World Was Young and Blue Train being my favorite "slower" tunes and I just love the title track.

When I look back at '98 I think to myself that this is the album that mellowed me out. Now I can even listen to Plant/Krauss which years ago I would have just thrown in the garbage.

Please Read the Letter is an oustanding arrangement but why keep singing the same damned thing over and over and over. Some great one-liners, but way too much chorus.

Most High - how cool is that tune? It's mesmerizing, especially live. Saw the tour six times and wished it was more. The fist leg they didn't do When the World Was Young live and when I saw they added it to the setlist I decided to go to number six in Las Vegas at the MGM. I was way in the back but it was an awesome show. At the time the furthest I've gone for a show.

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And it's funny how the original post was started, doesn't have a Zeppelin sound? Hello? It was NOT meant to be a Zeppelin record!

it's utterly unfair to judge an album to "awful" just because it doesn't sound Led Zeppelin.

On it's own, I can see that categorization. However, the show I saw of the 1998 tour had 3 songs from it and THE REST were ALL Zeppelin songs. So in THAT context, and seeing as how that WAS the current album by these guys, the music IS going to be compared and lumped together with LZ material.

So in reality the tour WAS a nostalgic trip into past Zeppelin music and to separate these songs (as not sounding Led Zeppelin-like) from 80% of the setlist seems out of place.

I don't really care for "Walking into Clarksdale" and thought the 3 songs were the weakest of the night, back in 1998.

Edited by dogtired
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Ok, I see and can understand what you are saying.

May I ask how do you think of the 3 songs now?

I'm still of the mind that I dislike the songs and the album. I'm about 50/50 on the post-Zeppelin material that's been put out by the 3 remaining members.

I wasn't too keen on the other new material on No Quarter either, but loved the new arrangements of the old songs they did.

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I still say Blue Train is the best track on the album. The first half, in general, is pretty consistent and solid. The second half has alot of "filler," if there was a time to use that term.

I do agree, on first listen, its not what you'd expect from a Page/Plant collaberation. I've heard people refer to it as "Led Zeppelin lite." From what I've heard or have seen from the 98 tour, I'd have to agree the live performances did the songs better justice than the studio versions.

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Doesn't have a Zeppelin sound? Who said that? Back in the days when these guys were putting out Zeppelin albums do you think they asked if it had a "Zeppelin sound"? Many fans were disappointed when Zeppelin 3 came out because "it didn't have a Zeppelin sound". That's not what these guys are about.

That said, I too was disappointed a bit by Walking into Clarksdale. I was expecting something else from Jimmy. But after listening to it for awhile a few of the songs really grew on me. It doesn't have the ooomph for real commercial success but as one poster noted some of Plants lyrics and feel have a poignant touch to them.

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I like most of it. I think WE ALL were expecting something much more majestic, or timeless. Those days will never return, mainly because of Bonham's passing ...

BEST SONGS: Most High, Upon a Golden Horse, Burning Up, House of Love, Walking Into Clarksdale

OKAY SONGS: Blue Train (could have been shortened up), Shining In The Light, Please Read the Letter, Sons of Freedom

WEAK SONGS: When the World Was Young, Heart in Your Hand, When I Was a Child

But, that's like, just my opinion, maaaan.

Edited by dpat
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I read a review, I forget where, commenting on how Plant's voice sounded fantastic on Fate of Nations and No Quarter and sounded weak and dry on WIC. I don't agree completely but there's something to it. I really thought his vocals on Upon a Golden Horse in particular just didn't sound strong.

Having said that, I did like it overall but of course if you were expecting Zeppelin you were going to be disappointed. And as John Paul Jones said in one interview when he was asked about WIC, ""Where's Jimmy?" Jimmy sounds good but it doesn't really sound like the album he would have made in my opinion.

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And as John Paul Jones said in one interview when he was asked about WIC, ""Where's Jimmy?" Jimmy sounds good but it doesn't really sound like the album he would have made in my opinion.

Yeah, that's how I felt when I first listened to it. I was a little disappointed that there weren't more guitar solos. The only song that really stands out for me is Most High. I like to think of it as sort of a Kashmir part 2 because it has a really great mid-eastern/Indian riff and it's really hypnotizing. All in all, I think the first half of the album is good, but the second half is just okay.

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I read a review, I forget where, commenting on how Plant's voice sounded fantastic on Fate of Nations and No Quarter and sounded weak and dry on WIC.

I'll agree Plant sounded very good on Fate of Nations, probably the best he had since Presence. As for NQ, I've always thought his voice sounded very different for whatever reason, more so than any other time in his career. It returns to familiar posture on WIC.

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