Carouselambra is about as "indirect" and vague as anything Plant has ever written. To even entertain the thought that Page purposefully created a shitty mix in order to bury Plants lyrics cause' it was about him is far fetched and fanciful at best. The difference between Plant on Presence and ITTOD is that #1) Plants son had died and #2) Plant stopped doing blow. Before that, he was happily rolling down the tracks on the party train despite all of his many colds/flu's/laryngitis "episodes" that marred many of his vocal performances and tours. To think that Plant would be now be admonishing Page in his lyrics for his continued 'proclivities' is laughable really, not to mention hypocritical. Maybe Plant was still butt hurt over being forced to record Presence with a fucked up leg, we know he wasn't happy with his vocal performance. I never understood why a fucked up leg would prevent a singer from doing vocal tracks in a studio, what, your on painkillers? That aint nothing new, your already on 'em all the time, might as well make good use of time and make a fucking record. If the drummer has a fucked up throat I would still expect him to lay down drum tracks. Never quite got that one. You got guys now (Axl/Grohl) that go out on 'tour' with a broken fucking leg, sitting in a fucking chair for christ's sake! Sorry for straying off topic, but I find the Robert good/Jimmy bad narrative a little hard to swallow. Either that, or its correct, and it was one of the ingredient's that made them as great as they were. Either way...it was one a hell of a ride.

Page may have been fucked up during this time, but he wasn't fucking around while laying down those solo's, or any of his tracks for that matter. It all sounds really good and done with purpose, nothing on this record was mailed in. The thing that I've noticed is that while the production value on most songs are excellent, ITE & Carouselambra don't have that crispness the others have, they're a bit muddy. As far as the songwriting goes, I think its impressive they could pull off an album as good as this without Jimmy's usual input. I've always felt that he kind of approached this record with a session player mentality in a way.

Good stuff right here:

Can i be honest? Ok, I will. #1) BCC really should not be in the pre/post zeppelin section of forum. That should be reserved for the surviving members of band. #2) Repeat #1. #3) 'Collide' reminds me a lot of Kingdom Come's 'Get It On', but not quite as good....

Burton Cummings has to be the most unheralded rock singer ever. What a fucking voice this man had/and still does...

Kanye West has a face that would line people up for miles in order to take their slaps at it. However, I'd be slapping the Kardashian's somewhere else.

http://starship.jpn.ph/zeppelin/beauty/disp/boot.jsp?R_idx=2457

Vegas is better.

Led Zeppelin went to a party, and it lasted 10 years. Nobody walks away from a party like that unscathed. These were the "do what thou wilt" times, and they did just exactly that. I love this band.

Ever wonder why Plant had so many colds/flu's/laryngitis etc... through out the 70's?

That's right!!! That privilege is reserved for Jimmy Page.

Plant's pennant for dissing other artists has always rubbed me the wrong way, I must admit. I guess he viewed Coverdale as a imitator of himself and had to let it be known, but it was stupid and disrespectful for sure. That being said, I think Paul Rogers was spared Plants dissing because he looked and sounded nothing like him. But, he should have . You want insipid lyrics? See 'The Firm', "flames r gettin' higher n higher" Oops, I forgot. Plant knows he has no business criticizing anyone for insipid lyrics, my bad.

I think they may have blown their wad during the stellar 6 night run at the L.A. Forum. After that, they took 3 weeks off and when they resumed the 3rd leg of the tour they played at Seattle n Arizona, possibly their two worst back to back shows ever. Oakland was better, but definitely lacked the fire and momentum the band had built up and prominently displayed 6 nights in a row at The Forum. Then, off for another extended break before the planned final leg of tour, which of course never happened. I think the mayhem and indulgence of Zep in '77 caught up to them and basically, they ran out of gas. They were not the same band after the L.A. run....ever again.

I'm sure Page has loads of audio reels and film clips in the vault that could be compiled that I would love to hear and see but may be deemed to be unworthy for an official release. I imagine most final dress rehearsals for most tours were documented by audio as well as some film/video for the band to hear and see it coming together before actual showtime. This may include things such as preps for '75, '77, Copenhagen & Knebworth at the very least, IMO. These are the kind of things I'm interested in, but see no widespread marketing value to it unless added on to something thats 'significant to the masses' as bonus tracks n clips for the real Zeppelin fans. For me, at this point, it has to be live Zeppelin, not studio, and not Zeppelin playing without John Bonham...sorry Jason.

My God, this broadcast mix is just fucking pitiful. Vocals too loud, drums too low, for starters. Not at all crazy about the song either. Below I've posted a song from new album that is really impressing me. Long time LC fan here, good to hear a track like this coming from them after all these years.

Man, I'm just giddy over this! What more can u ask for? A spectacular show captured and 40 yrs later displayed in a manner such as this is pure fucking bliss for me and the sole reason I still obsess over Led Zeppelin...it all about the live stuff. There's too many hair raising moments here to count but I'm having a blast cranking the shit out of this beauty and will be for many years to come, no doubt. IMO Jimmy's solo on STH is one of his most inspired ever. There's so many licks and phrases I've never heard him do before or since such as that fast repeating run at 9:08 to 9:25, or the quick pull offs at 9:30 to 9:43. Then, there's Bonham dropping the hammer and pushing Jimmy into unexplored terrain all along the way. Its fucking glorious, any way you look at it. Good times

Anyone who hasn't heard this should give it a whirl. The sound quality is as good as it gets so crank it up! This version of Josie is fucking phenomenal.

I've never just listened to Steely Dan, I studied it, and still do. One word comes to mind where their music is concerned...'immaculate'. These guys were as much chemists as they were musicians together. I think its fair to say that they were musical geniuses, and I don't use that word often where music is concerned.

Listening to WLL from Tampa '73. This could possibly be the silliest thing I've ever heard Plant sing: "57,000 people thats 4,000 more people than was at Shea Stadium...Boogie...Fantastic". Go to 4:50

I love how relaxed/slow they're playing here, it's just so heavy and full of swagger...and a couple quaaludes . Its awesome!