Why In Through The Out Door is a GREAT album

[TheTraveller]

All My Love is one of Zeppelin’s finest and most true moments the band recorded. It is a very moving and powerful song which brings emotion to otherwise emotionless men. Speaking for myself, the moments of Zeppelin I like best are from the albums Houses to Back Door.

Nicely put, Charles, respect for your words.

It certainly is to be admired that Robert at least attempted to convey a new level of sensitivity in All My Love, and I think that spirit of experimentation is what characterises ITTOD. Kudos to them, by all means.

I guess what it boils down to for me personally is that I just think it could have been a better album considering the other material they had at the time. But they made their choice and it stands.

Edited January 15, 2013 by TheTraveller

[LedZebedee]

The problem is that for any other band, ITTOD would be a fantastic album - its just that Zeppelin set the bar so freaking high! But to their credit they rarely felt the need to top themselves.

So for me, ITTOD ends up sounding inferior in many ways. I am one of those that loves Hot Dog now, its just brilliant, funny, warm and smiling all the way through. But SBS and IGC I can do without, sorry I just don't 'get' Crawl, and like Tea for One of Presence, it will for me always be a poor comparison to the mighty Since I've Been Loving You. Controversial, but hey that's the way I feel about it.

I did a review of ITTOD that not all of you will like, but hey at least its a starting point for discussion. I wouldn't call it a great album, but I certainly wouldnt say that others who think so are "deluded", its all personal taste. The problem will always be comparisons to their earlier works for those of us weaned on their first four albums.

Just read your review of ITTOD - spot on apart from Hot Dog which i will hate for the rest of time!

I remember reading a review of the album in Sounds magazine by Geoff Barton a respected journalist in the UK and only giving it a 2 star (poor) rating. The title of the review was "Close the door, put out the light" which was sadly apt after hearing it and conceding he was right!

Never realised the lyrics of Carouselambra were directed at Page - interesting! I thought Fool in the Rain was about his smack habit!

I have like you burnt my own version of the album using the vastly superor Coda out-takes - why they were missed off is beyond belief! Superior production, cranked up guitars, feel good vibe and no synths!!!!

Here is my improved version of ITTOD with running order and edits

Side 1.

1. In the Evening
   
2. Darlene
   
3. Fool in the Rain (minus the awful samba section!)
   
4. Ozone Baby
   

Side 2.

1. Carouselambra (edited down to 5 mins and minus the horrendous disco euro-beat synths after the bridge!)
   
2. All My Love (rubbish trumpet synth solo replaced by monster Page solo - he sounds asleep in this song!)
   
3. Walters Walk (Stargroves '72 out-take included in this release)
   
4. Wearing and Tearing
   

South Bound Saurez, Hot Dog and I'm Gonna Crawl to be dropped on the grounds of being not worthy of the Zep mantle!

Now we might be talking about a great album!

Edited January 15, 2013 by LedZebedee

[Dallas Knebs]

I am constantly amazed at the care and effort the people on this forum put forth creatively and share. 'tis a beautiful thing. I listened to my ITTOD LP last night while cleaning out the truck (a new year's resolution) and I kept going back to the sleeve and packaging. What a unique release. I have to admit I replayed the intro to ITE several times.

Here is my improved version of ITTOD with running order and edits

Side 1.

1. In the Evening
   
2. Darlene
   
3. Fool in the Rain (minus the awful samba section!)
   
4. Ozone Baby
   

Side 2.

1. Carouselambra (edited down to 5 mins and minus the horrendous disco euro-beat synths after the bridge!)
   
2. All My Love (rubbish trumpet synth solo replaced by monster Page solo - he sounds asleep in this song!)
   
3. Walters Walk (Stargroves '72 out-take included in this release)
   
4. Wearing and Tearing
   

South Bound Saurez, Hot Dog and I'm Gonna Crawl to be dropped on the grounds of being not worthy of the Zep mantle! Now we might be talking about a great album!

[Zepphile]

Carouselambra is lyrically beautiful prose! Some of Robert's best even. And I've always enjoyed the piece immensely, It sounds like Led-Zeppelin forging it's way into the '80's with their signature sound still intact, while introducing even more versatility. As genuine fans, we should be very thankful to have ITTOD, what would you have had them do in 1979? Keep trying to recreate WLL over and over? If you wanted heavy metal, there was Priest. (That's my 2p anyways)

[morsiani]

- Carouselambra is so exciting, and mesmerizing. It really laid a new exciting artistic path for future Zeppelin songs and Carouselambra was a gem in the Zeppelin catalogue

- All My Love was the most heartfelt lyric and musical idea the band has done

- In The Evening is one of those all time great epics, a song for the ages

- Hot Dog clearly showed that Zeppelin could play country just as well as the blues, funk, folk, arab, and metal and still make country something that is Zeppelin

- Fool In The Rain is one of the most warm and fun songs the band has done

One day I realized that ITTOD is my fav Zep album, beside IV. IMO, simply there's no weak / filler songs.

Following very close by LZIII.

So yeah, ITTOD brings me joy.

[redirtuo]

I became obsessed with Zeppelin shortly after Presence was released. I was 16 years old and salivating like pavlov's dog waiting for ittod to be released. I mowed some lawns, grabbed the cash and cranked up that first track thinking OMFG...it's here spinning on my turntable finally. That impending opening of "promised" greatness oozing from my speakers...oh this is gonna be so fucking good. Fuck you eddie van halen, my Lords are Back!

By the end of the record I was like...wtf? where is black dog 2.0, For More Life, and The Deeper Ocean?? Depression actually set in for a few weeks. Started playing Sabotage a lot to spite them.

About ten years later I started thinking Fool In The Rain was really damn good in fact. Amazing actually. The middle of Carouselambra was like soaring through clouds in a dream.

Twenty years later I'm Gonna Crawl(which originally made my 16 yr old self cringe) I finally came to realize was a perfect ending to one of the most amazing decade long collections of sounds ever produced by humans.

I still suspect they scribbled Hot Dog as the Starship flew over texas in 1977

[dalsh327]

I'd like to see ITTOD have a remix done to it along the lines of "Let It Be Naked", would love "Carouselambra" to bring up Plant's voice.

As far as the drum sound on "Fool In The Rain", was Bonham listening to a lot of Steely Dan "Aja"? Same drum beat on "Home At Last", except he added his own little signature to it.

I wonder if Page feels about this album the way Jagger felt about "Exile on Main Street".

[Charles J. White]

When I die, I have a series of songs which are to be played at my funeral, which me wife knows because we discussed it. All of My Love is one of the songs which will be played at the ski party.

[mckjuana]

I've tried again and again to enjoy this album, but I just can't find a way in.

I've been trying again all last week, because I've been having a celebration day fuelled Zepp bonanza at the moment!

The production is bad, and the sound is flat, which is in stark contrast to their debut 11 years before, which sounds incredible and still very contemporary.

But the songwriting too is just not up to par. There's moments of utter brilliance, but not enough consistency or cohesion to bind it together, so it just falls flat - to me. I completely understand that they were a different band at this stage, dealing with all manner of conflict, alliances, emotions etc, but the album simply doesn't gel together.

I also don't buy the "they set the bar so high with their previous work, but its still a great album". Unfortunately, I just don't see it.

I can barely count on one hand any albums by anyone else (ever) that trump Zeppelins first 6. But I can probably list 100 that top ITTOD without racking my brains.

For those of you who love it, I'm truly envious, and its not through lack of trying either.

But I'm not calling it quits. I'll try again after the remastered-remastered-remasters

[Dallas Knebs]

I'll try again after the remastered-remastered-remasters

I have an affectionate appreciation for ITTOD remastered for iTunes, if you haven't tried them it could alleviate some of the estoeric obstacles to enjoying the lp. I am super picky and found it much more pleasing.

If these are down sampled from the boxsets that will be released, we are in for a treat.

[mckjuana]

I have an affectionate appreciation for ITTOD remastered for iTunes, if you haven't tried them it could alleviate some of the estoeric obstacles to enjoying the lp. I am super picky and found it much more pleasing.

I thought about that, but I concluded that I'd wait for the definitive versions instead of re-buying in the interim. I will certainly check out the 90 second samples though.

Unfortunately my window of ITTOD acceptance has nigh on closed again for now. It would just take one more twangy hillbilly encore of hot dog to slam it shut

Edited February 19, 2013 by mckjuana

[BlackDog71]

I am still not 100% sure how I feel about the album. Mick Wall wrote less than nice things in his book about it. I know several others have as well, but I enjoy the album for the most part. Is it my favorite from Zeppelin? No. But it has a lot of bright spots. ITTOD is a weird album to try and define. But like Led Zeppelin themselves, it's not something that can be defined.

[Charles J. White]

I am still not 100% sure how I feel about the album. Mick Wall wrote less than nice things in his book about it. I know several others have as well, but I enjoy the album for the most part. Is it my favorite from Zeppelin? No. But it has a lot of bright spots. ITTOD is a weird album to try and define. But like Led Zeppelin themselves, it's not something that can be defined.

ITTOD is my fav album tied with Physical Graffiti

[ksgemini]

I love Hot Dog...nice to hear LZ lighten things a little bit and Plant's 50's kind of voice...not a defining song but in the face of punk/new wave at the time kind of amusing....

[Amstel]

All things considering, Page's heroin addiction, Bonham's heroin & alcohol use, and Plant losing his son, Karac, In Through The Outdoor was pretty good, all things considered.

What other band could have made something like Carouselambra under these circumstances?

In Through The Outdoor could be their most versatile album. No two songs resemble each other.

I find myself defending Led Zeppelin when others I know thrash this album. I remind them of all the bad things that were surrounding this band at the time.

If Bonham & Page could have kicked their habits, this record may have been a springboard for great work into the 80's.

Carouselambra, I'm Gonna Crawl, and In The Evening are solid pieces of work.

[ScarletMacaw]

I basically agree with the critiques by Amstel and Mckjuana...ITTOD is my least favorite of the albums, but, I do own it and listen to it from time to time...I have to be in the mood for it..."All My Love" is possibly the only Zeppelin song I don't like (well maybe I don't like "The Crunge" either--too abrasive for me)...I think I never liked "All My Love" because it sounded too much like the pop songs I was hearing on the radio at the time, in 1979...and then it was a hit, and I was hearing it over and over on the radio, which did not increase its appeal...

[Disco Duck]

I basically agree with the critiques by Amstel and Mckjuana...ITTOD is my least favorite of the albums, but, I do own it and listen to it from time to time...I have to be in the mood for it..."All My Love" is possibly the only Zeppelin song I don't like (well maybe I don't like "The Crunge" either--too abrasive for me)...I think I never liked "All My Love" because it sounded too much like the pop songs I was hearing on the radio at the time, in 1979...and then it was a hit, and I was hearing it over and over on the radio, which did not increase its appeal...

You know, you have a point about "All My Love". I actually liked it but then I generally liked pop music. More important, it gave us a preview of where Plant would go early in his solo career.

[mckjuana]

You know, you have a point about "All My Love". I actually liked it but then I generally liked pop music. More important, it gave us a preview of where Plant would go early in his solo career.

The keyboard solo ruined all my love completely.

The extended solo-less version on the old Studio Daze bootleg, is infinitely better.

And how many of us pull out Plant's early solo career stuff anymore? I can't because the production of some has dated horribly, and the quality of some was just awful...or I should say is now awful from a contemporary stance.

[Melcórë]

I can't speak for anyone else (well, maybe for publicenemy3) by my appreciation of InThrough the Out Door increased dramatically after I purchased and listened to the "Mastered for iTunes" version of that album. It still isn't my favourite, but I would most definitely say that I now derive great enjoyment from the album, and, more importantly, that I finally "get" it.

Edited February 25, 2013 by Melcórë

[nirvana]

If "Wearing and Tearing" was included on ITTOD instead of "Hot Dog" or "Fool in the Rain" it would have been a killer album.

Still, "In the Evening" is such a standout along with the entire side 2 that it makes ITTOD a very good listen.

Edited February 25, 2013 by nirvana

[ksgemini]

The keyboard solo ruined all my love completely.

The extended solo-less version on the old Studio Daze bootleg, is infinitely better.

And how many of us pull out Plant's early solo career stuff anymore? I can't because the production of some has dated horribly, and the quality of some was just awful...or I should say is now awful from a contemporary stance.

I run Through Robert's catalog every couple of months Shaken n Stirred and his first one are the only ones I don;t enjoy all that much Principle of Moments, fate of Nations, Dreamland, Mighty Rearranger, Raising Sand and Band of Joy are among my favorite albums of all time

[JohnnyGuitar]

Carouselambra is magnificent in it's power. Light and Shade at it's finest! It would have been a killer track to open a Zep concert. (It still would be. HINT, HINT!)

[Amstel]

I love Hot Dog...nice to hear LZ lighten things a little bit and Plant's 50's kind of voice...not a defining song but in the face of punk/new wave at the time kind of amusing....

Led Zeppelin did that when they made "The Crunge", "Candy Store Rock" and to a lesser extent "Hat's Off To (Roy) Harper"

Edited March 2, 2013 by Amstel

[Michael Waugh]

Led Zeppelin released " In Through The Out Door" with 6 different album covers. I bought all 6 on the day off its issue. Never met anyone else who did the same. Anyone know anybody how did?

[BUK]

I purchased 8 of them to get the six different ones (remember they were in plain brown wrappers... I was too stupid to look for serial numbers). If you put all the albums, each on a chair encircling you, and spin on a swivel chair in the center you feel like you are in the bar. That's my memory, maybe I was stoned..... YA THINK!