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Why the hate toward In Through The Out Door?


leandar

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I'm a Zeppelin fan of almost thirty years' standing, and I have never, ever understood why so many fans don't like In Through The Out Door? I loved that album! I know, everyone's opinion is different, but I've seen arguments that the music just wasn't like the other albums (I've always countered that by saying Led Zeppelin III was totally different too) and so it just didn't seem right, or words to that effect. I listened to the remastered album for a few days in my car going back and forth to work, and while I found the companion disc to be VERY underwhelming, this reissue reminded me of why I love this album so much! Maybe it's because I play the piano some, so I go more for keyboard music? I dunno. Any thoughts on the album?

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I'm sure this has been covered here, many times. The album, overall, for them - seems weak. If Huey Lewis and the News had put it out - then it would have been a masterpiece, for them.

I Want a New Hot Dog???

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No hatred but it was just too weak. I appreciate the album now but not particularly at the tme. You've got to remember that their last album prior to that was "Presence" (not counting "The Song Remains The Same") and probably anything they would have released after that would have been considered "soft"! Also between 1976 and 1979 the music world was bombarded by disco and most of us rockers were dying to hear some hard rock, especially LZ! I'm glad we had AC/DC (Highway to Hell, and the Eagles (The Long Run") but we waited 3 long years (seemd like and eternity) for some Zeppelin! So then the long anticipaed ITTOD came out and we were treated to the likes of "Hot Dog" (an embarresment in my opinion) and "All of My Love". It was kind of a dissapointment. In my personall opinion I think if they included "Wearing and Tearing" and dropped "Hot Dog" and "Southbound Saurez" (if they needed room) the album wouldn't have been so 'hated' by some hardcore fans.

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I was already into Zep when the album was released and although me and friends still liked the album, there was no doubt this was

Zep's weakest and least intense release. Among my group nobody hated it. You must realize the album had semi-Steely Dan

production style, which was cool for hearing every detail but was too slick for Zep. And my no.1 killer; lack of rock'n'roll. Even Page

said the next album would have much more hard rock, although he himself can be blamed for the content of ITTOD. Serious heroin

addiction has been known to turn serious musicians into musical dabblers, even unaware of any decline.

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I'm shure the ones who like it the least, have some bad things to say about III too!? Why do you like Stairway then!? It has a solo like Tangerine and All my love! So !?

Keyboard songs, that don't have a Jimmy Page riff!? Sometimes it seems, that's almost the only reason for some! The keyboard passages are great and some of the songs shure are too! Weak vocals?! I think they are mostly weaker on Presence and less melody there!

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^ Hey, Samo - most of us know that you, like Plant, possess a great set of pipes, and we're not going to put anything over on either of you! But we didn't single out the vocals as being weak - and of course, both JPJ and Plant put a lot of heart into this effort. But you have to admit, there are no silly whistles going off on Zep III?

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I'm a Zeppelin fan of almost thirty years' standing, and I have never, ever understood why so many fans don't like In Through The Out Door? I loved that album! I know, everyone's opinion is different, but I've seen arguments that the music just wasn't like the other albums (I've always countered that by saying Led Zeppelin III was totally different too) and so it just didn't seem right, or words to that effect. I listened to the remastered album for a few days in my car going back and forth to work, and while I found the companion disc to be VERY underwhelming, this reissue reminded me of why I love this album so much! Maybe it's because I play the piano some, so I go more for keyboard music? I dunno. Any thoughts on the album?

Good heavens, man, there is a search function here. There are plenty of other threads on ITTOD...the best and most engaging being this one started by IzzyBlues.

http://forums.ledzeppelin.com/index.php?/topic/21184-ittod-why-is-this-the-most-disliked-album-of-led-zeppelin/page-1

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I feel that the keyboard sounds have dated the album more than their other records, the songwriting isn't quite as strong & clearly Jimmy Page wasn't the protagonist on this occasion. John Bonham sounds great but on tracks like Carouselambra & In The Evening he's not his usual inventive self for whatever reason.

Having said all that, I really like a lot of the album & have only began to appreciate it in the last couple of years (20 years after I first bought it), the new remastering sounds a bit clearer & I seriously doubt any Zeppelin fans actually 'hate' it.

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The album has been dubbed by some wags over the years as In Through the Outhouse which is somewhat unfair, it's a solid album overall from beginning to end with moments of brilliance - namely 'Carouselambra' - it really is the spiritual successor to the equally eclectic Houses of the Holy (another LZ album that gets mixed reviews to this day), and which clearly felt transitory in nature, an album that was a stepping stone to the next one, like III led to the brilliance of IV and Houses of the Holy led to the monumental Physical Graffiti... the fact we never did get the next album unfortunately left ITTOD as the swan song of the band and one that never was followed through on and thus people never got the chance to see and hear where it was leading.

For a band that had gone through so much at the time, the fact we even GOT a new Zeppelin album (and live shows) in 1979 is something to treasure in itself, it could have ended so sadly in 1977 (and very nearly did by all accounts), but we got another couple years of the mighty Zep before it did end sadly... and I consider ITTOD as essential an album as any of the others, it's all part of the canon and it's all good at the end of the day.

Plus, the new remastered ITTOD is nothing short of a revelation... nice one James.

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No hatred but it was just too weak. I appreciate the album now but not particularly at the tme. You've got to remember that their last album prior to that was "Presence" (not counting "The Song Remains The Same") and probably anything they would have released after that would have been considered "soft"! Also between 1976 and 1979 the music world was bombarded by disco and most of us rockers were dying to hear some hard rock, especially LZ! I'm glad we had AC/DC (Highway to Hell, and the Eagles (The Long Run") but we waited 3 long years (seemd like and eternity) for some Zeppelin! So then the long anticipaed ITTOD came out and we were treated to the likes of "Hot Dog" (an embarresment in my opinion) and "All of My Love". It was kind of a dissapointment. In my personall opinion I think if they included "Wearing and Tearing" and dropped "Hot Dog" and "Southbound Saurez" (if they needed room) the album wouldn't have been so 'hated' by some hardcore fans.

The Eagles??? The Long Run is considered their worst album by the Eagles themselves and is anything but rock (Teenage Jail excepted due to awesome riff and solo). So Hot Dog is an embarrassment yet The Greeks Don't Want no Freaks is good?

TBH I see a LOT of similarities between The Long Run & ITTOD except I feel Zep did it much, much better. I would rather hear AML any day over that horrid I Can't Tell You Why. I Believe the only tune in the history of rock worse than that tripe is REO Speedwagons ode to the pussification of rock, I Can't Fight This Feeling. ARGH!!!

I love ITTOD and I would rather hear this album over Zep I anytime. Just my preference but outside of some cheesy keys on Carouselambra the album is both diverse and well balanced. I wee bit of everything and done exceptionally well.

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Bottom line, it was not the standard full-on 4-piece collaborative creative effort. Jones got too busy with his new keyboards in places where Page should have played. No disrespect to Jones. He simply had to come up with solutions due to Jimmy's inconsistent studio appearances. Not just Page's guitar absences, but Page was not sitting with the engineer the whole time like he normally did.

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Bottom line, it was not the standard full-on 4-piece collaborative creative effort. Jones got too busy with his new keyboards in places where Page should have played. No disrespect to Jones. He simply had to come up with solutions due to Jimmy's inconsistent studio appearances. Not just Page's guitar absences, but Page was not sitting with the engineer the whole time like he normally did.

Indeed, as much as I love and respect Jimmy, the man is either completely delusional or in serious denial over the 1976 - 1983 period of his life in regards to what his addictions did in regard to his live playing and contributions overall.

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Indeed, as much as I love and respect Jimmy, the man is either completely delusional or in serious denial over the 1976 - 1983 period of his life in regards to what his addictions did in regard to his live playing and contributions overall.

I would go as far as to say ITTOD was the one album where his Producer credit was undeserved.

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I like many feel that Zep's worst is only the worst for them, as many have pointed out. I would venture that even the so-called "filler tracks"

are barely filler. I have never been with a Zep fan etc. who was listening to the radio and HD or SBS came on and there was immediate

disgust. There may have been, well this isn't their best material, but no rush to the dial to change the station immediately. The Stones,

Eagles, Elton John,Deep Purple,ELP, blah, blah, have all released even great albums with total momentum killers amongst the

shining stars. Certainly Zep had some mild valleys, but no steep cliff dives, not even on ITTOD.

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I've seen it written more than one time that John Paul Jones was much more in control of not only this album, but also the 1980 European tour than Page was. It seems to me he was probably more a producer in this case. I imagine Page probably was the contacted producer of all Zeppelin material. That was a horrible time in Page's life, indeed all their lives, and I suspect he's remembering it like he chooses, which, while I might not agree with it, it is his right.

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