Led Zeppelin Presence

[Emilr1971]

For years there have been a debate over how "back to basics" the Presence album was compared to previous albums such as Physical Graffiti and Houses of the holy. Presence was the only album not to feature piano and keyboards of any kind in addition to not feature acoustic guitar in none of the tracks... so pure hard rock and blues rock. I really love that album but i always wondered why Jimmy and company did it that way from start to end...from  Achilles to Tea for one. Any thoughts ?

[woz70]

It was all down to the way the writing process happened after Plant's car crash in Rhodes, and being in tax exile for most of his recovery.

This is a good(ish) article on the album:

https://www.loudersound.com/features/how-led-zeppelin-made-presence

Key section:

....With most of the material finished by the time Jones and Bonham arrived at the end of the month, time originally booked at SIR Studios in Hollywood for writing and rehearsal was used mainly to finesse what Page and Plant had already come up with. Work described by Page as “gruelling” because, he said, “nobody else really came up with song ideas. It was really up to me to come up with all the riffs, which is probably why [the songs were] guitar-heavy. But I don’t blame anybody. We were all kind of down.”

Also...

Everybody says with such authority that Presence features 'no acoustic guitar'... but if you listen - not even particularly carefully - to Candy Store Rock, you can hear an acoustic guitar strumming away in your right ear.

[hummingbird69]

This is evidence of why Jimmy took a back seat approach to ITTOD.  For Presence, he had to do almost everything and it kind of got to him. I can see why he would allow the others to have a more prominent role for the next album.

Also,  Having a tiny bit of acoustic guitar in one song is not the same thing as writing an acoustic track and I think that's more to the point of the OP.

[woz70]

46 minutes ago, hummingbird69 said:

This is evidence of why Jimmy took a back seat approach to ITTOD.  

I think his substance use issues were far more of a compelling reason for the back seat for ITTOD.

Jones says in the article that Jimmy was already running a 'different schedule' to everyone else during the writing/rehearsal for Presence. In '75.

52 minutes ago, hummingbird69 said:

Also,  Having a tiny bit of acoustic guitar in one song is not the same thing as writing an acoustic track and I think that's more to the point of the OP.

There are two guitar tracks in 'Candy Store Rock (other than the solo) - one electric, one acoustic...

That means the acoustic guitar is 20% - one fifth - of the song. 

That's hardly a 'tiny bit'.

[paul carruthers]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought the "back to basics" approach was because they only booked the studio to record Presence for only a few weeks--or something along those lines. I always thought that was the main reason for the limited "range" on the album, not as much time as other records to sit down & try to create a lot of complex arrangements....

[hummingbird69]

2 hours ago, woz70 said:

I think his substance use issues were far more of a compelling reason for the back seat for ITTOD.

Jones says in the article that Jimmy was already running a 'different schedule' to everyone else during the writing/rehearsal for Presence. In '75.

There are two guitar tracks in 'Candy Store Rock (other than the solo) - one electric, one acoustic...

That means the acoustic guitar is 20% - one fifth - of the song. 

That's hardly a 'tiny bit'.

I'm not going to mince words with you over what is and what will never be an acoustic track and as far as Jimmy's issues at the time, Even though none of us could be there I know the story has been run through personal recollections which were overblown and exaggerated beyond the everyday in's and outs because that's what people do.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[woz70]

1 hour ago, hummingbird69 said:

I'm not going to mince words with you over what is and what will never be an acoustic track and as far as Jimmy's issues at the time, Even though none of us could be there I know the story has been run through personal recollections which were overblown and exaggerated beyond the everyday in's and outs because that's what people do.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Who's mincing words?  Here's what the original post says:

6 hours ago, Emilr1971 said:

Presence was the only album not to feature piano and keyboards of any kind in addition to not feature acoustic guitar in none of the tracks... 

It's quite explicit - acoustic guitar.  Not 'an acoustic song'.

Candy Store Rock has a very audible acoustic guitar strumming all the way through.  It's an indisputable fact.
 You say:

5 hours ago, hummingbird69 said:

Having a tiny bit of acoustic guitar in one song is not the same thing as writing an acoustic track and I think that's more to the point of the OP.

but that's clearly not what he's saying - he doesn't mention an acoustic song, just acoustic guitar.
'In Through The Out Door' has no purely acoustic tracks either (but there is an acoustic guitar happily jangling along in 'Fool In The Rain'), but he doesn't say 'Presence is the only other album not to contain acoustic guitar', does he?
I think his meaning is quite clear.

[woz70]

4 hours ago, paul carruthers said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought the "back to basics" approach was because they only booked the studio to record Presence for only a few weeks--or something along those lines. I always thought that was the main reason for the limited "range" on the album, not as much time as other records to sit down & try to create a lot of complex arrangements....

Led Zeppelin never spent extended amounts of time in recording studios.  They're really expensive places to be, and you don't want to be working out arrangements in a recording studio whilst the clock is ticking (especially if you're as thrifty with your cash as Page has been reported to be!  He didn't get called Led Wallet for nothing) - that's what you do in a much cheaper rehearsal studio long before you book recording time.  If you read the article I linked to, you'll see this is exactly what they did for Presence.  I think the whole 'stripped down' approach was just a way of expressing the way the songs, and the band, felt at the time - a bit raw around the edges.
The ideal for going into a recording studio is to be ridiculously prepared, get set up as rapidly as possible (so that band members don't get bored, stoned, drunk etc.).
Then, get recordings of the basic tracks in as few takes as possible (to keep it spontaneous and fresh), move on to another song if one isn't gelling on that day, pick the takes you're going to spend time overdubbing extra parts onto, and get everyone else to go away while you do it (to keep the pressure down).
Presence being recorded and mixed in 18 days isn't terribly unusual (often albums get mixed in different studios, and a while after the sessions, just because the producer/engineer might have a room or studio they really know or like to mix in.  But again, - if you've got the time booked in a studio already, and you've paid for it....)  - it just shows that the band was well prepared when they went into the recordings.

Presence was quite unique for Zep, as it was only the third time the band had recorded an entire albums worth of material in one place (and the second album to be recorded entirely in one studio).  The first was Led Zeppelin I (recorded even more quickly), and the second was the run of shows in MSG that became TSRTS.

Edited September 24, 2022 by woz70

[Ian Smith]

23 hours ago, hummingbird69 said:

I'm not going to mince words with you over what is and what will never be an acoustic track and as far as Jimmy's issues at the time, Even though none of us could be there I know the story has been run through personal recollections which were overblown and exaggerated beyond the everyday in's and outs because that's what people do.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Always respect what you post my friend. The anger and know-it-alls here are hilarious.