Why the hate toward In Through The Out Door?

[The Dark Lord]

Delete

[Sandey]

It's Zep's art-rock album, and as an album it works really well. It doesn't have the definitive killer tracks that other Zep albums have, but again, as a whole it works.

In some ways ITTOD was cutting edge at the time. What I can think of is there were bands like The Cars and Blondie with a pop/rock aesthetic and a bit of keys thrown in. Then there was Roxy Music, whose Flesh and Blood album (1980) is laden with synth sounds.

I think ITTOD was a decent band effort, and Page's diminished contribution is blown out of proportion IMO. How was Page not contributing enough to the album? Yes, he didn't supply loads of riffs and great song ideas. But how many artists are really consistently productive (at a high level) every single album over a decade or more? Did Page not play guitar on every track? Did he not work on the production of the album?

[tglynn]

I think that this album for me is the one which has grown on me more and more over time - absolutely love Carouselambra!

[The Dark Lord]

It's Zep's art-rock album, and as an album it works really well. It doesn't have the definitive killer tracks that other Zep albums have, but again, as a whole it works.

In some ways ITTOD was cutting edge at the time. What I can think of is there were bands like The Cars and Blondie with a pop/rock aesthetic and a bit of keys thrown in. Then there was Roxy Music, whose Flesh and Blood album (1980) is laden with synth sounds.

I think ITTOD was a decent band effort, and Page's diminished contribution is blown out of proportion IMO. How was Page not contributing enough to the album? Yes, he didn't supply loads of riffs and great song ideas. But how many artists are really consistently productive (at a high level) every single album over a decade or more? Did Page not play guitar on every track? Did he not work on the production of the album?

 

I think that this album for me is the one which has grown on me more and more over time - absolutely love Carouselambra!

Yes. I agree fully with both of you. Page's guitar efforts on this album are absolutely sizzling, including the amazing Hot Dog. His solo on I'm Gonna Crawl rivals his best ever, and his tasteful acoustic work on Fool in the Rain and All My Love is sublime. Page's condition in 1978 is vastly over stated these days, as are most of the revisionist comments about ITTOD. He was a mess, but far from checked out.