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Led Zeppelin takes one more step - backwards (Presence review)


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By Dave Marsh

LED ZEPPELIN: "Presence"

(Swan Song SS 8416).

"Presence," Led Zeppelin's

seventh album, represents

another step backwards

from the promise of

the group's fourth and untitled

album. That album,

which contained the monumental

'Stairway to Heaven,'

and has sold somewhere

between 4 and 6

million copies (depending

upon who you ask), was

chock full of arresting melodies,

imaginative riffs

and, surprisingly, even

some emotional content, a

real first in heavy English

guitar rock.

But since then Led Zeppelin

has reneged on its

promise over and again.

The immediate follow-up,

"Houses of the Holy," was

a straight reprise of the

fourth album, without its

imagination. Last year's

"Physical Graffiti," a two record

set, was simply

deadening, too many songs

that went on too long and

too aimlessly. "Presence"

now seems like just another

factor in the formula.

The formula itself is not

altogether uninteresting.

Jimmy Page remains one

of the most interesting riffers

in the guitar game and

Robert Plant can occasionally

reach for some surprising

belting vocally. At their

best, as on this album's

'Nobody's Fault But Mine,'

Zeppelin are reminiscent of

the Yardbirds' empty excursions

into the outer

reaches of electric guitar

possibility, with the added

advantage of a good vocalist.

But Zeppelin has one insurmountable

flaw and it

mars this album as it has

every one they've made.

Drummer John Bonham is

something like clinically incompetent.

When he and

Page riff together, in their

a-rhythmic fashion, the results

can be effective, if

never truly riveting. When

Page steps away from him,

everything fails apart. Part

of the problem is the lifeless

way that Bonham's drums

are recorded, but a bigger

difficulty is that he just

can't keep time. They call

him Moby Dick, and. like

the great white whale, he's

dragging a potentially fantastic

vessel to the bottom

with him. Cut the line, I

say.

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I do not even know where to begin. I never hold much stock in critics opinions, but if this is for real the guys is a total idiot. I know presence did not do as well as some others I really like it. Bonzo dragging the band down? What the hell was this goof thinking? Oh well to each his own.

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I thought Dave Marsh was an authority on Zeppelin and wrote a few books?

Dave has written several books but none concerning Led Zeppelin. He has written other articles concerning Led Zeppelin but his comments here concerning John Bonham render

further observations moot.

"He made whatever Page & I wrote, basically, work" -- Plant on Bonham

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"Drummer John Bonham is something like clinically incompetent."

One of the more ridiculous things ever uttered in human history. Right up there with "Mission Accomplished".

The mission to overthrow the Iraqi regime was accomplished but the war continues.

Back to Zeppelin...

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if the review was new and posted on this forum , it would be labeled baiting. to me it sounds like he's trying to jab at zep or their fans to get a rise. bet he was denied a press pass or something.

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The mission to overthrow the Iraqi regime was accomplished but the war continues.

Back to Zeppelin...

That's like saying that someone who dies on the summit of Everest has successfully climbed the mountain. When you overthrow a regime, and have absolutely no plan for how you're going to secure the country afterward or fail to plan for any post-war inevitabilities, then the mission is not successful.

But like you said, back to Zeppelin.

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You know, part of the reason this pisses me off (besides the fact that it's a piece of shit review after listening to this album once, let alone a million times)......It's that I forget how young they were in their heyday and how much this stuff potentially hurt them. Bear with me for a sec: I remember hearing that at one point Karen Carpenter was voted favorite drummer (over Bonham) in some stupid magazine poll. At the time I heard about it, I laughed my ass off, and assumed the band must have, too. But then I read some interview with him (in this forum) where he seemed genuinely hurt by that, and I couldn't believe it. Then I remembered how young he was, and I really felt for him. Call me a sappy mommy, because I am, but that really touched me. Someone that amazing having to deal with that crap at such a young age just sucks.

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Dave has written several books but none concerning Led Zeppelin. He has written other articles concerning Led Zeppelin but his comments here concerning John Bonham render

further observations moot.

"He made whatever Page & I wrote, basically, work" -- Plant on Bonham

marsh is a reknown townshend asslick (i mean that in the nicest way possible). he held the pen whilst ole pete pushed for the tome "before i get old". he lacks the imagination of a lester bangs (who went back and forth over zep) or a cameron crowe. almost all his reviews in RS have been historically incompetent and so off the mark that occasionally even bob dylan wanted him dead (marsh loved nashville skyline, hated blood on the tracks-initially).

when keith moon died, marsh moved on to bruce.....springsteen.

he's still there.

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if the review was new and posted on this forum , it would be labeled baiting. to me it sounds like he's trying to jab at zep or their fans to get a rise. bet he was denied a press pass or something.

He was a writer for Rolling Stone magazine and that rag never appreciated Led Zeppelin

or covered them favorably in the '70s, with the one exception of Cameron Crowe in 1975 and I think Cameron's piece was freelance work anyway.

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You know, part of the reason this pisses me off (besides the fact that it's a piece of shit review after listening to this album once, let alone a million times)......It's that I forget how young they were in their heyday and how much this stuff potentially hurt them. Bear with me for a sec: I remember hearing that at one point Karen Carpenter was voted favorite drummer (over Bonham) in some stupid magazine poll. At the time I heard about it, I laughed my ass off, and assumed the band must have, too. But then I read some interview with him (in this forum) where he seemed genuinely hurt by that, and I couldn't believe it. Then I remembered how young he was, and I really felt for him. Call me a sappy mommy, because I am, but that really touched me. Someone that amazing having to deal with that crap at such a young age just sucks.

John Bonham clearly was the greatest drummer in rock but he was also very humble and unassuming in regards to it.

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When you overthrow a regime, and have absolutely no plan for how you're going to secure the country afterward or fail to plan for any post-war inevitabilities, then the mission is not successful.

Military and political objectives must be met to achieve those aims. We can continue to provide our military support but political progress and internal security is ultimately the responsibility of the host nation. In lieu of such progress, the war continues.

Back to Zeppelin! :)

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Dave Marsh is the same asshole who runs the Rock & Roll HOF selection process. He has written four book about how great Bruce Springsteen takes a piss, in which his wife is the manager of Springsteen.

:hysterical: God, that's sad.

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Dave Marsh is the same asshole who runs the Rock & Roll HOF selection process.

Oh yes, it should be mentioned R n R HOF is a privately run entertainment enterprise and

as such is no more credible on rock music than Disneyland or the local amusement park.

It's in Cleveland for God's sake!

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