Jump to content

Looking Ahead: the Next Three Releases - Presence ITTOD and Coda


Recommended Posts

Friday is going to be quite a day. For me it's the final chapter of studio album releases 46 years after I bought my first Led Zeppelin album.

The last 3 deluxe box sets due to arrive. Set complete.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't wait to finish work on Friday, I'm planning a weekend in, get a few beers in the fridge, listen to these albums solid until Sunday night.

I fucking love Led Zeppelin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm coming home with the 3 deluxe just purchased in my usual record store

Listening to Presence : nice sound with sharper sound and more stereo separation for all instruments _

the bigger difference with 1990 remaster is imo on Candy store rock

I will next listening the Presence companion cd and then Coda entire set ...keeping ITTOD for week end

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm coming home with the 3 deluxe just purchased in my usual record store

Listening to Presence : nice sound with sharper sound and more stereo separation for all instruments _

the bigger difference with 1990 remaster is imo on Candy store rock

I will next listening the Presence companion cd and then Coda entire set ...keeping ITTOD for week end

How are you listening to it? it doesn't come out until friday

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have all numbered sets from I to Physicall Graffiti .... for each wave of reissue i buy first the deluxe editions

and wait 6 to 8 weeks for the super deluxe at half price.

In France the release date is also 31 July but many retailers put the stuff on the shelves without waiting ... so ... I enjoy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators
Led Zeppelin last reissues feature seven can't-miss tracks
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

ALL GOOD things must come to an end.

Jimmy Page’s yearlong series of releases — which overhaul, and amend, all nine Led Zeppelin studio albums — reaches an exciting finale on Friday.

Like earlier installments, this batch spruces up the sound and adds fascinating unheard tracks — in this case to “Presence,” “In Through the Out Door” and “Coda,” the band’s concluding discs.

In the manner of a good fireworks show, Page saved some of the best effects for last. It’s ironic that the final release in the series, “Coda,” stands out furthest. The original, released in 1982, two years after the band’s end, featured castoff tracks many fans thought scraped the bottom of the barrel.

By contrast, the new “Coda” offers gems like a pair of never officially released songs from 1968 that any true fan must own. It also boasts a pair of obscure recordings from 1972 that give great insight into Zep’s forays into music from around the world.

The latter tracks bring together two members of Zep — Page and Robert Plant — with the Bombay Orchestra. The pair already tipped listeners off to their fascination with Indian music with the chords for their 1971 song “Friends.” But for these sessions, cut at EMI Studios in the city now known as Mumbai, the pair radically rethought “Friends” with actual Indian players. These musicians also appear on a reworking of 1972’s “Four Sticks,” here titled “Four Hands.”

It’s incredible to hear these songs amended by players on the sarangi, shehnai and tambura. The tart sound and blitzkrieg beat of the tabla gives “Friends” new astrigency. Plant’s voice sounds sexier merged with the strings, while Page’s minor chords form a warm bond with the Indian players. The result ends up sounding more third worldly than otherworldly.

For “Four Hands,” the strings take the guitar parts and the tabla lends the track a far lighter edge than the one with two-ton stickman John Bonham. Plant largely stays out of it, letting the flute of the late Vijay Raghav Rao take the lead. Together, the tracks foreshadow the collaborations Page and Plant would form with Egyptian and Moroccan musicians on 1996’s “No Quarter.”

At the other end of the spectrum lie the uber-obscure tracks “Sugar Mama” and “Baby Come On Home.” Both come from the 1968 sessions that birthed the first Zeppelin album. They form a perfect bridge back to Page’s former band, The Yardbirds. (Remember, Zeppelin was first known as “The New Yardbirds.”)

These two songs sound more conventional than anything on Zep’s debut - more like soul-rock-blues tracks from Alabama’s Muscle Shoals studio than anything cut in London. They’re thrilling nonetheless, with Page’s funky guitar rave-ups and vocals from Plant that course with virile threat.

“Coda” also includes an early version of “When The Levee Breaks,” titled “If It Keeps Raining.” This take has a different, defining bass line from John Paul Jones and a subliminal vocal to give it added resonance.

The take on “Poor Tom” axes the vocal, which makes the barreling drums and spidery acoustic guitar even more compelling.

The standout cut on the re-release of 1976’s “Presence” is an instrumental titled “10 Ribs & All Carrot.” It provides a striking contrast to the dominant sound of the band’s least varied album. “Presence” obsessed on hard guitars, allowing no prominent keyboards or acoustic guitars. “10 Ribs” focuses almost entirely on those instruments, offering a sweet reprieve. The alterna-version of “Royal Orleans” features a radically different vocal growl

.

The alternate takes on “In Through the Out Door,” the band’s weakest release, have little to offer. The top change? Different song titles for certain songs. More than ever, the album suffers from Jones’ use of keyboards, which now sound dated.

Diehard fans, rich folks, and those new to the band’s brilliance may want to spring for the full sets. But most can save time and money by downloading the seven tracks detailed above. Together, they bring Zeppelin’s storied history to a winning conclusion.

jfarber@nydailynews.com

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/led-leppelin-re-releases-download-tracks-article-1.2308169

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amazon UK just advised my SDE boxes on their way. Delivered tomorrow.

Hope all numbered as per my previous 6 box sets

Mine are still 'Preparing for dispatch'.

If they don't come tomorrow Amazon are going to be on the business end of one of my diva strops, I can tell you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think there will be very many complaints about the extra tracks with these last 3 albums because they are all great! Jimmy has saved the best stuff for last. The rough mix of Carouselambra is ear candy. Listen on headphones for a totally new and different experience. ALS reference mix is also really cool with some different overdubs that aren't in the album version. I think I like both better than the album versions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bloody Amazon autorip hasn't worked for my Coda deluxe.

I'm also struggling to believe that's Plant singing the Royal Orleans outtake, sounds like Bonham doing a Dr John impression.

St Tristan's Sword and Pod Pod are major highlights of this whole raft of reissues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bloody Amazon autorip hasn't worked for my Coda deluxe.

I'm also struggling to believe that's Plant singing the Royal Orleans outtake, sounds like Bonham doing a Dr John impression.

St Tristan's Sword and Pod Pod are major highlights of this whole raft of reissues.

I'm having the same issue except mine is with Presence. Coda worked, ITTOD worked, but Presence won't for some reason.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 Ribs & All/Carrot Pod Pod (Pod) is truly a major highlight of the reissues IMHO. Truly beautiful. JPJ is a God.

Agreed. Great piece, I personally hear shades of Abbey Road medley during the second half of the song.

Bloody Amazon autorip hasn't worked for my Coda deluxe.

I'm also struggling to believe that's Plant singing the Royal Orleans outtake, sounds like Bonham doing a Dr John impression.

St Tristan's Sword and Pod Pod are major highlights of this whole raft of reissues.

Yep, that's clearly Bonzo on RO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...