{"id":17343,"date":"2019-10-02T05:30:53","date_gmt":"2019-10-02T09:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=17343"},"modified":"2023-06-20T07:52:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T11:52:05","slug":"unmarked-exit-led-zeppelins-in-through-the-out-door-at-40-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/02\/unmarked-exit-led-zeppelins-in-through-the-out-door-at-40-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Unmarked Exit: Led Zeppelin’s ‘In Through the Out Door’ at 40 (Part One)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Led Zeppelin’s seventh studio album, Presence<\/i>, was released at the end of March 1976. In contrast with the near-unanimous critical acclaim that greeted the band’s previous release, 1975’s double-LP Physical Graffiti<\/i>, Presence<\/i> received a relatively tepid reception. The keyboard experimentation that the band had employed so successfully on the previous few albums was absent, and while Zeppelin had never been a singles-oriented outfit, Presence<\/i> somehow seemed less radio-friendly as well. Everything about the album seemed rushed; even the enigmatic artwork came off as a poor man’s Hipgnosis, the kind of thing Pink Floyd might have considered and then rejected. (As it happens, though, the cover art really was<\/i> a Hipgnosis project!)<\/p>\n

In the wake of multiple personal issues \u2013 vocalist Robert Plant’s car crash and (allegedly, at least) guitarist Jimmy Page’s serious drug use, there would be no tour in support of Presence<\/i>. In fact the four members \u2013 Page, Plant, drummer John Bonham and bassist\/multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones \u2013 essentially went to ground after (or perhaps even before) the album’s release. The group did<\/i> tour in ’77, but the death of Plant’s son meant that the tour was cut short. It wasn’t clear that Led Zeppelin would continue.<\/p>\n

But they did. Nearly three and a half years after the release of Presence<\/i>, the band returned with In Through the Out Door<\/i>. A varied release, the August 1979 album was remarkable: it was both musically adventurous \u2013 in some ways, more of a piece with Houses of the Holy<\/i> from 1973 \u2013 and<\/i> perhaps the most unabashedly commercial collection of songs the band had ever put together. Maybe musical fashions had caught up with the band; whatever the reasons, In Through the Out Door<\/i> was both well-received in the marketplace and praised in comparison to its predecessor.<\/p>\n

The album opens to foreboding, vaguely Middle Eastern tones, sonic textures that suggest a churning cauldron. After more than 50 seconds of those atmospherics, Plant’s voice \u2013 altered with an electronic effect \u2013 introduces the song’s title: \u201cIn the Evening.\u201d The rest of the band comes stomping in. Page plays a hypnotic guitar figure, and Jones doubles that line on synthesizer. In fact, the synth is mixed quite a bit louder; the guitar is \u2013 by Zeppelin standards \u2013 buried in the mix. Bonham lays down a simple yet thundering drum pattern that swings, just a little. On the first chorus, Plant seems to be struggling just a bit for the high notes; he’s the tiniest bit flat. But rather than sounding jarring, the effect is humanizing: maybe these guys are mere mortals, after all. The arrangement is among the most repetitive thing the band would ever commit to tape, but it’s appealing nonetheless. Page’s solo \u2013 some four minutes in \u2013 is on the sloppy side, but his skill at conjuring interesting tones remains unparalleled. The dreamy bridge of the song is its best quality; here, Page’s lead guitar is the sonic equivalent of a searchlight in thick fog. Still, at nearly seven minutes, \u201cIn the Evening\u201d threatens to wear out its welcome; a memorable riff repeated hundreds of times doesn’t itself make for a great song.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Bound Saurez\u201d seems expressly designed to give keyboardist Jones a case of carpal tunnel syndrome; his insistent, sixteen-to-the-bar piano pounding is among the most prominent characteristics of this bluesy tune. With a title that possibly features a misspelling (the place name \u201cSuarez\u201d seems more likely), the tune hearkens in some ways back to \u201cRock and Roll\u201d from the band’s fourth, untitled LP. There’s nothing wrong with the tune, but it’s a relatively undistinguished entry in the Led Zeppelin catalog. Bonham’s drum breakdowns are as impressive as ever, and when John Paul Jones breaks out of the repetitive piano parts into some bluesy runs, he shines.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Three tracks in, though, the bands hits its stride. \u201cFool in the Rain\u201d would be an extremely popular FM radio hit, and for good reason. It’s full of Led Zeppelin’s best qualities: the beat is constantly shifting, with the instrumental melodies playing against Plant’s vocal line. The song’s arrangement leaves plenty of space for inventive guitar runs from Page and wonderfully splashy and expressive percussion work from John Bonham. Moreover, the band seems to be having a really good time. After a whistle blows, the song heads in a completely different direction, one filled with marimbas; it’s as close to a party song as the band would ever make. And when Jimmy Page lays down a call-and-response solo \u2013 sparring with Bonham \u2013 his wonderfully buzzing, distorted lead is a treat. It’s difficult to tell if he’s using an octave divider to double the lead melody an octave lower; perhaps it’s Jones playing along on overdubbed bass. Maybe it’s both; whatever it is, the instrumental break is a highlight of the entire record. Like \u201cIn the Evening\u201d before it, \u201cFool in the Rain\u201d makes a virtue of repetition, using that hypnotic over-and-over as a basis upon which musical exploration can be laid.<\/p>\n

If they were having a good time cutting \u201cFool in the Rain,\u201d the band is positively giddy on \u201cHot Dog.\u201d Over the years, this tune has often got a bad rap from Led Zeppelin fans who consider it a throwaway romp. And while it is<\/i> a romp, the tune has virtues of its own. With a sound that draws from all over the American musical landscape, \u201cHot Dog\u201d distills the influences of Elvis, country and western and steely hard rock into something that \u2013 if not new \u2013 is nonetheless a great deal of fun. It’s not difficult to imagine American country guitarist Junior Brown \u2013 who would have been around 27 when In Through the Out Door<\/i> was released \u2013 hearing \u201cHot Dog\u201d and deciding that its mix of country music values and high-energy guitar riffage might be a direction worth exploring. John Paul Jones is showcased here, with wonderful barrelhouse piano and a stomping bass line. Bonham plays things straight, though his impossibly hard-hitting approach to the drums adds heft. Plant is clearly enjoying harmonizing with himself. And humor \u2013 a characteristic that doesn’t manifest itself in a lot of Led Zeppelin’s material \u2013 crops up in \u201cHot Dog.\u201d The couplet \u201cI took her love at seventeen \/ a little late these days, it seems\u201d is more than a bit on-the-nose in light of Page’s frequent dalliances with, let’s just say, younger ladies. Guitar-wise, Page is simply on fire; he fumbles over some of the speedy lead runs on his guitar, but those mistakes only add to the song’s charm.<\/p>\n

Click to continue to Side Two<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Led Zeppelin’s seventh studio album, Presence, was released at the end of March 1976. In contrast with the near-unanimous critical acclaim that greeted the band’s previous release, 1975’s double-LP Physical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,65],"tags":[3956,1299],"class_list":["post-17343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rawk","category-review","tag-in-through-the-out-door","tag-led-zeppelin","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17343"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25506,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17343\/revisions\/25506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}