Bonzo's Presence Ludwig kit...

[Dirigible]

As far as I'm concerned, Bonzoghost, you've presented evidence that would stand up in a court of law. You've proven to me beyond all reasonable doubt that the Polar studios photo you posted is where John Henry played his parts on the New Yardbirds' final studio recording. The reason I visit this forum is to glean minutiae like that; I celebrate it, revel in it.

Since this thread is about the drums of PRESENCE I should mention the album at least, but want to comment on IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR first.

IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR took me years to appreciate the deepest depths and chiaroscuro musical layers, to finally 'hear' the collection of songs with a proper frame of reference. Zeppelin had, for the eighth time, advanced their music beyond where it had been before, higher up the mountain, if you will. I could appreciate the immediacy of 'In The Evening,' 'Hot Dog,' and 'Carouselambra' and immediately dismissed the obligatory blues track 'I'm Gonna Crawl,' but the other compositions took some time, 'Fool in the Rain' to name just one. The album disappointed me until I absorbed it over a two or three year period, then it made sense. From first listen I assigned the blame on John Paul Jones' synthesizer-heavy compositions. One review of the album nailed it by observing Jones functioned better behind Page instead of in front of him.

I immediately loved PRESENCE however the first time I heard it, something that hadn't happened for me since their fourth album. It's a deliberate rock and roll record whereas IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR is something removed from that. PRESENCE showcases the band's hardest edged studio music in a leaner back-to-basics format. PRESENCE has its own turgid blues on it too, but the rest of it rocks: 'Nobody's Fault But Mine,' 'Hots on for Nowhere,' 'Royal Orleans,' etc. Bonzo's aggressive syncopated approach is the main reason it rocks as hard as it does, he's got more sonic space. Why? PRESENCE is sans keyboards. Great rock bassists like John Paul Jones [and Geddy Lee] should stick to their knitting and veer far far away from keyboards, synthesized ones especially.

[Bonzoghost]

"Tea For One" - turgid blues!?!?!? It's their best, most authentic blues number!!

[Bonzoghost]

By the way Dirigible, you can thank Huw, not me for unearthing the pic.

[Dirigible]

Thanks, huw! Exhibit A.

Vis-à-vis Led Zeppelin and the blues, I prefer their rock music. As a musician I suppose I’m prejudiced in viewing blues as a tired cliché and steer clear of playing or listening to much of it. It’s fairly easy for musicians to throw a blues tune together on the spur of the moment; and musicians the caliber of Bonzo, Pagey and Jones with a vocalist like Plant can play a pretty damned mean blues when the spirit moves them. Their Willie Dixon stuff, ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ and ‘In My Time of Dying’ never fail to move me, but otherwise . . . no apologies.

From a songwriting/compositional perspective to me it smacks of: “One more track finishes the album, lads, then it’s down the pub.” And ten minutes later beer is flowing and the band’s patting itself on the back.

[Bonzoghost]

TOTALLY disagree with that! I think Tea For One perfectly reflects both lyrically and musically the turmoil the band was suffering at that point. It's Zeppelins most original blues number. Does that guitar solo not "reach out" to you?

Half of Zep 3 was a product of the Welsh mountains, Tea For One was a product of hotel rooms, uncertainty, wheelchairs, smack and loneliness. SIBLY is a love song by comparison! And the "blues" on the first album is just "typical" blues...

I love them all, but T41 is PROPER Zep Blues!

[bub72ck]

As far as I'm concerned, Bonzoghost, you've presented evidence that would stand up in a court of law. You've proven to me beyond all reasonable doubt that the Polar studios photo you posted is where John Henry played his parts on the New Yardbirds' final studio recording. The reason I visit this forum is to glean minutiae like that; I celebrate it, revel in it.

Since this thread is about the drums of PRESENCE I should mention the album at least, but want to comment on IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR first.

IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR took me years to appreciate the deepest depths and chiaroscuro musical layers, to finally 'hear' the collection of songs with a proper frame of reference. Zeppelin had, for the eighth time, advanced their music beyond where it had been before, higher up the mountain, if you will. I could appreciate the immediacy of 'In The Evening,' 'Hot Dog,' and 'Carouselambra' and immediately dismissed the obligatory blues track 'I'm Gonna Crawl,' but the other compositions took some time, 'Fool in the Rain' to name just one. The album disappointed me until I absorbed it over a two or three year period, then it made sense. From first listen I assigned the blame on John Paul Jones' synthesizer-heavy compositions. One review of the album nailed it by observing Jones functioned better behind Page instead of in front of him.

I immediately loved PRESENCE however the first time I heard it, something that hadn't happened for me since their fourth album. It's a deliberate rock and roll record whereas IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR is something removed from that. PRESENCE showcases the band's hardest edged studio music in a leaner back-to-basics format. PRESENCE has its own turgid blues on it too, but the rest of it rocks: 'Nobody's Fault But Mine,' 'Hots on for Nowhere,' 'Royal Orleans,' etc. Bonzo's aggressive syncopated approach is the main reason it rocks as hard as it does, he's got more sonic space. Why? PRESENCE is sans keyboards. Great rock bassists like John Paul Jones [and Geddy Lee] should stick to their knitting and veer far far away from keyboards, synthesized ones especially.

I have been listening to Presence a lot lately and have really grown to like the entire album. I think the circumstances surrounding the writing and recording of the songs shows LZ in raw form. There was no time to play with effects or try something new or think about deeper meaning of a lot of lyrics. They put something together on a whim, recorded basically 24 hours a day until completion and produced on h*ll of an amazing album. To me it may be the best album from start to finish. Tea for One gets downplayed as a poor man's SIBLY but to me it gives a very different feel and tone. I'm immediately taken to a dimly lit smoky bar with a band in the corner drinking scotch and playing to the same 10 people night after night. I don't get that with SIBLY. If you look at LZ songs on the surface a lot of them sound similar but none of them are even close in the minute details.

[SummerOfMySmiles]

SIBLY and Tea for One are terrific songs, but I find SIBLY is more like teenage angst blues and Tea For One grown up man blues

[lcondo123]

According to Paul Allen, friend of Mick Hinton and a person who was present at the studio in Munich during the recording fro Presence, Bonham indeed used his GREEN SPARKLE kit for these sessions. This video interview with Paul is available on YouTube at:

Hate to bust your balls but this video is a joke. I'm a drummer too and Bonzoleum is one of my favorite people to watch when I wanna learn something on the drums, and this guy, Terry, has a really dry sense of humor and made this as a joke. Just watch til the end and you'll realize that he's pullin your leg!

As for the drums he used during ITTOD sessions, he used both his green sparkle and stainless steel, like the postcard picture. ITTOD sessions was the first time Bonzo recorded his drums without a reso head (front head) on his kick. This is not for all songs, but he did record some tracks minus a reso head. Also, JPJ said in an interview that Bonzo used to stick shredded up bits of newspaper in his kick in the studio to absorb a bit of the boom. If you used really good headphones and listen to the drum tracks from ITTOD, you can hear a bit of the thump being absorbed by something. My theory here, but I think that's the newspaper. Instead of the kick just sounding like a round THUMP, it's got a bit of (for a lack of better words) THUMPpsshh, like the newspapers absorbing that impact. Hope that makes sense

[IpMan]

Hate to bust your balls but this video is a joke. I'm a drummer too and Bonzoleum is one of my favorite people to watch when I wanna learn something on the drums, and this guy, Terry, has a really dry sense of humor and made this as a joke. Just watch til the end and you'll realize that he's pullin your leg!

As for the drums he used during ITTOD sessions, he used both his green sparkle and stainless steel, like the postcard picture. ITTOD sessions was the first time Bonzo recorded his drums without a reso head (front head) on his kick. This is not for all songs, but he did record some tracks minus a reso head. Also, JPJ said in an interview that Bonzo used to stick shredded up bits of newspaper in his kick in the studio to absorb a bit of the boom. If you used really good headphones and listen to the drum tracks from ITTOD, you can hear a bit of the thump being absorbed by something. My theory here, but I think that's the newspaper. Instead of the kick just sounding like a round THUMP, it's got a bit of (for a lack of better words) THUMPpsshh, like the newspapers absorbing that impact. Hope that makes sense

Of course the video is a joke but the fact about his using the green sparkle in Munich is not. The question presented was "what kit did Bonzo use for the Presence sessions" which has not only been answered in this video but in several other sources as well. Green Sparkle.

[lcondo123]

Of course the video is a joke but the fact about his using the green sparkle in Munich is not. The question presented was "what kit did Bonzo use for the Presence sessions" which has not only been answered in this video but in several other sources as well. Green Sparkle.

I gotcha!