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ITTOD - Why is this the most disliked album of Led Zeppelin?


IzzyBlues

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I could be wrong, but I think at least some of the "synth" sounds JPJ get credit and blame for on ITTOD (Carouselambra in particular) are actually Jimmy Page on his Roland Guitar Synth. Page was running his guitar through an early ARP Synthesizer as far back as 1972-73. He was talking up his new Guitars Synths in 1978.. Check out the 3:12 mark of Carouselambra..

Don't get me wrong there's obviously a ton of keyboards.. but I also think there's more Page than it seems.

Which is another of my points in my initial post a page or two back. There is plenty of guitar if you listen. "Fool in the Rain" definitely has Jimmy using his Roland Guitar synth.

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Which is another of my points in my initial post a page or two back. There is plenty of guitar if you listen. "Fool in the Rain" definitely has Jimmy using his Roland Guitar synth.

I think that's a Harmonizer, but point taken.. I agree.

I don't think Page was at his best, but I think he was more involved than most people seem to think..

I will add that I was shocked to see John Paul Jones have more songwriting credits on a Led Zeppelin release than Jimmy Page (6 vs 5). It was even more shocking to see 2 tracks that Jimmy Page didn't credit at all.. unheard of until 1979...

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The intro to In the Evening is Page playing through a Gizmotron. I mean, how often do you hear that? Page was very present on this album, but people need to be able to think their way into the music to understand the many subtle ways that he shaped this album, including the iconic intro to In the Evening. Jimmy was broadening his sound, and that continued as he created the Death Wish 2 soundtrack. He was taking a different approach to his role, but he did not abdicated it. In many ways, John Paul Jones was doing the same thing, as he started to play with new toys in his arsenal, and in this case, his sound moved to the forefront. It was a different emphasis, but they are all there in full force. And besides, there is no room in a three piece band for someone not to show up.

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I agree that Page was a lot more involved in the studio than many people believe. Even Bonham put in the time to do his bits. One of the problems with the Polar Studios recording process, was that unlike previous albums, the 4 members were rarely all there at the same time. Plant and Jones would spend their days there, putting in most of the time. Page and Bonham (not necessarily together), would turn up in the middle of the night. Weekends were a bit of a mish-mash with some insisting on flying home while others stayed. The usual creative dynamic was different, where in the past, the four of them would craft and add enhancements to frameworks of a song during studio time. This time there was not of that bouncing ideas in real time off each other.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I love the album but it is the one that I believe needs to be mastered better ... above all others and I usually don't hear many nuances the way others do but since I first had this on vinyl in 70's snd all the cd releases I have found it to be the poorest sounding so Ironically this is the one cd I really am anxious to hear remastered.

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I love the album but it is the one that I believe needs to be mastered better ... above all others and I usually don't hear many nuances the way others do but since I first had this on vinyl in 70's snd all the cd releases I have found it to be the poorest sounding so Ironically this is the one cd I really am anxious to hear remastered.

Have you heard the Canadian 1st press vinyl or the Classic Records 200g edition? It sounds alot better than the CD along with the US and UK 1st press vinyl.

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Happy 35th Birthday to "In Through the Outdoor"! The last true Led Zeppelin studio album.

35 years ago at this very moment, I was waiting outside the Licorice Pizza Record Store on Van Buren across from the Tyler Mall in Riverside, California. It would be another hour before its doors would open for business and I could be among the first to grab a copy of ITTOD on the day of its release.

I bought two copies on that day...an "A" and a "D". In the ensuing weeks I completed my set by purchasing the "B", "C", and "E" covers.

I still remember the excitement I felt, counting down the minutes to when the doors would open. Peering into the shop to see where the Led Zeppelin display was and if there was any hint to what the album cover looked like beyond the brown paper bag. I was first in line and it took a while before someone else showed up. By the time the shop opened, there were only a few of us waiting in line...less than 10, I think.

I rushed over to the Led Zeppelin ITTOD display, picked out two of the most pristine looking copies of the album, then looked around the "New Releases" aisles for any other album that I was interested in...ended up getting Queen's "Live Killers" and Talking Head's "Fear of Music".

Raced home on my bike and immediately went to my room and, after carefully opening the shrinkwrap and removing the album from the brown bag, put the record on with my headphones cranked up. I got a bowl of water and a sponge to wipe the album sleeve to see what colours the sleeve photo of the ashtray turned into. Like a silly kid, I opened the other one and also wiped the sleeve with the wet sponge...wanted to see if a different colour pattern emerged. Also wanted to check out the differences in the album cover...it was immediately apparent that the album cover represented different angles of the same scene in a bar.

Anyway, as is evident by my posts in this thread, I was one of those who enjoyed ITTOD from the get-go...right from those spooky opening sounds of "In the Evening". It was NEW, that was the important thing...after three long years since "Presence", to finally hear some new Led Zeppelin was of paramount importance to me.

I still enjoy ITTOD to this day, and will give it a couple spins during the day.

It would be another 24 years before I would line up at a record store in advance of a Led Zeppelin release...that would be in May 2003 for the DVD/How the West Was Won double release at midnight.

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I no longer have a turntable but I wish I had I think one reason this is slagged by many is the current sound I love Carouselambra but it is one of the few times with Zep where I had to look up the lyrics to understand every word Hopefully for those of us in cd land the new master will be like what u mention or better I did have all the vinyl but after moving a couple times sold it off and went to cd .... Blasphemy for many on here but can't really afford big system Most of my listening is in the car or on computer now. If I was single I'd think about it but for me re collecting the vinyl would break me and wife not a big LZ fan

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My experience was much the same as Strider's. I anxiously awaited the arrival of this disc and bought it on opening day. I did the same with Coda, except that a bunch of us skipped school to descend upon the first store that had the album unpacked, and ready for purchase on release day. As I have said before, ITTOD was a remarkably relevant and amazing album in its day. I loved it from word one, and I think it is one of the most well rounded and developmental albums they have ever released. I own all 6 LP variant covers, multiple CD's, multiple cassettes, and multiple 8-tracks. I even still have a sealed LP and a sealed 8-track. When I Iisten to I'm Gonna Crawl, the final song of their final album, I feel the melancholy undertones, and I realize that they ended their existence with an amazing corner stone to an amazing career. I have been playing ITTOD all week in celebration of its release on this date in 1979. Love it. Happy Birthday ITTOD.

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I love the album but it is the one that I believe needs to be mastered better ... above all others and I usually don't hear many nuances the way others do but since I first had this on vinyl in 70's snd all the cd releases I have found it to be the poorest sounding so Ironically this is the one cd I really am anxious to hear remastered.

What you are talking about is 're-mixing' not 'remastering'. People often get the two confused. Remastering is merely dusting the shelf. Remixing is rearranging the shelf entirely. No amount of remastering is going to make Robert's vocals clearer. Only a remixed ITTOD will change the sound in any significant way.

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Slightly off here Presence is considered their worst? It is in my top 3. I know remastering can still clarify vocals in some places to some degree but u are right it is probably the mix....still love it and still remember high school the day Bonzo was lost or t least morning after... Just terrible. Personally I think they should have called a "snow" day and sent us home....

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My story is similar to Striders except I worked in a record shop when it came out.We played it in the shop that day but it wasn't until I got home that night that I sat down with a few beers and took it in(and colored in the inner sleeve).Lately I have been playing it to death and despite its faults I love it.I have a strange fascination with playing other bands lesser albums such as Tales from Topograhic Oceans,Locked In,Technical Ecstasy,Who do You Think We Are, etc.I think the stories behind these albums is just as interesting as the big ones.

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My story is similar to Striders except I worked in a record shop when it came out.We played it in the shop that day but it wasn't until I got home that night that I sat down with a few beers and took it in(and colored in the inner sleeve).Lately I have been playing it to death and despite its faults I love it.I have a strange fascination with playing other bands lesser albums such as Tales from Topograhic Oceans,Locked In,Technical Ecstasy,Who do You Think We Are, etc.I think the stories behind these albums is just as interesting as the big ones.

Speaking of Tales Of Topographic Oceans. I tried to like that album so much but Alan White just bored me to death. I can't help thinking how great that record would have been if Bill Bruford had played on it.

By the time I was trying to buy ITTOD you couldn't find all 6 covers in one store any more. You really had to shop around and go to a shit load of different record stores to find them. I never could.

Then one day I found an underground record shop I had never been in before and they had all 6 in near mint condition with the paper sleeves and uncolored inner jacket and I bought them for like 40 bucks. Glad to have them.

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crazy notion, in of itself

but, sorry for anyone who already made this comment: it was a jones-centric album, hence, to me, a slightly (ever so slightly) feel to it.

JPJ, take it away:

Q: But eventually you got to the situation where you [JPJ]wrote more of In Through the Out Door than he [Jimmy] did, because he was scarcely in the studio...

JPJ: "Well, mainly because I had a new toy. I had this big new keyboard. And Robert and I just got to rehearsals early, basically, as I said... actually I'm not sure I'd say that in this interview... With Zeppelin writing, if you came up with good things, and everybody agreed they were good things, they got used. There was no formula for writing. So Robert and I, by the time everyone showed up for rehearsals, we'd written three or four songs. So we started rehearsing those immediately, because they were something to be getting on with."

from Uncut

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crazy notion, in of itself

but, sorry for anyone who already made this comment: it was a jones-centric album, hence, to me, a slightly (ever so slightly) feel to it.

JPJ, take it away:

Q: But eventually you got to the situation where you [JPJ]wrote more of In Through the Out Door than he [Jimmy] did, because he was scarcely in the studio...

JPJ: "Well, mainly because I had a new toy. I had this big new keyboard. And Robert and I just got to rehearsals early, basically, as I said... actually I'm not sure I'd say that in this interview... With Zeppelin writing, if you came up with good things, and everybody agreed they were good things, they got used. There was no formula for writing. So Robert and I, by the time everyone showed up for rehearsals, we'd written three or four songs. So we started rehearsing those immediately, because they were something to be getting on with."

from Uncut

To me it doesn't matter that it was jones-centric It still sounds and feels like Led Zeppelin all the way, it doesn't matter who had more creative input over another that's why they were the best band ever.

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To me it doesn't matter that it was jones-centric It still sounds and feels like Led Zeppelin all the way, it doesn't matter who had more creative input over another that's why they were the best band ever.

Agreed. The fact that ITTOD was Jones-centric made it better. It was time to spice up the recipe, and the approach absolutely had to change in order for the evolution to continue. It probably happened by accident, but the Jones factor helped them accomplish something new and exciting, yet true to the core values.

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^^^^^^ ITTOD is an ok album, For me it's my least liked LZ album. If someone put a gun to my head and said I had to give them one Zeppelin album or else....ITTOD would be the album I would give up. Don't get me wrong I don't dislike it, for a long time before I was married when I lived on my own (80 to 82) my final piece of music before I went to bed was 'I'm Gonna Crawl' playing that one track before bed almost became a ritual.

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agreed.

which is why I think that the whole idea of 'most disliked album' is a crazy, ridiculous notion on its face. Most disliked???? Whaaa?

That's been my contention all along.

^^^^^^ ITTOD is an ok album, For me it's my least liked LZ album. If someone put a gun to my head and said I had to give them one Zeppelin album or else....ITTOD would be the album I would give up. Don't get me wrong I don't dislike it, for a long time before I was married when I lived on my own (80 to 82) my final piece of music before I went to bed was 'I'm Gonna Crawl' playing that one track before bed almost became a ritual.

I would give up "Coda" or Led Zeppelin II before ITTOD.

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This is a Sophie's Choice situation. If any of their albums had to be placed at the bottom, it has to be Coda. It wasn't an album made under the typical formula of let's-go-into-the-studio-and-make-an-album. It was put together under the worst of circumstances of left-overs. I still love it.

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