Welcome to another edition of From My Collection. Today, we go back in time exactly 45 years to March 31, 1976. Led Zeppelin’s seventh studio album, Presence, has hit record store shelves. Diehard fans flock to pick it up, in hopes of a “return” to the band’s early savage sound. While more hard rocking than previous affairs, Presence is still a far cry from the Zeppelin of just 5 years earlier. Their sleaze ridden riffs, hypersexualized lyrics, and cries of “Baby, baby, baby!” have been co-opted by a new crop of bands, spearheaded by Aerosmith. Instead, Zeppelin opted for a more mature take on hard rock. This week’s essay explains why.
Growing up, I “didn’t get” Presence. As a young rocker with an appetite for the fast paced rock n’ roll of “Communication Breakdown”, “Heartbreaker/Livin’ Lovin’ Maid”, and, well, “Rock and Roll”, Presence just seemed to limp along. But the older I get, the more sense Presence makes, especially considering the natural evolution of the band. The first two Zeppelin albums were bona fide bluesy hard rock records. III was the foray into folk. IV merged folk and hard rock. With their previous two efforts, Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti, Zeppelin went for the Beatles circa 1968 “we can play any damn style we want” approach. This left Zeppelin with a choice: Do they attempt to expand their creative horizons even further at the risk of alienating their fanbase? Or do they go back to basics? Zeppelin went for the latter, though with a twist.
There are several important details to take into consideration when examining the development of Presence. The first is the circumstances in which the album was written and recorded. On August 4, 1975, Robert Plant was severely injured in a car accident. Being bound to a wheelchair, this wiped the slate clean for any remaining touring behind Physical Graffiti. Jimmy Page joined his infirmed bandmate to conjure ideas for what would become their seventh studio album. Having mastered the art of the long form epic, Plant wanted to scale back for this release. The primary focus of Presence would be the riffs, but not without one last epic hurrah.
Presence opens with the 10 minute and 26 second “Achilles Last Stand”. I can’t help but laugh when people call “Stairway to Heaven” the greatest song Zeppelin ever wrote. Clearly these people aren’t aware of “Achilles Last Stand” and they can be forgiven for such a blunder. For whatever reason or another, the only song on Presence classic rock radio seems to be aware of is “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”, and even that doesn’t get played as much as it used to. But back to “Achilles Last Stand”. This song doesn’t get nearly the credit it deserves in the development of heavy metal. If Rainbow’s “Stargazer” and “A Light in the Black”, released in the same year, were early milestones for power metal, “Achilles Last Stand” was an early milestone for epic metal. Plant used Greek mythological imagery to describe the vacation that led to his tragic accident. The lyrics are set to an elaborate tapestry of truly epic riffs. The musical characteristics of this song would become commonplace in the 80s with the arrival of Manilla Road and Cirith Ungol. In 1976, it was unheard of.
The following track, “For Your Life”, is a complete 180 from this well structured masterpiece. It has much more in common with the vision Plant had for the album and sets the tone for the remainder of such. While Presence can be labelled a “hard rock” album, there are some stark differences from the hard rock heard on here and the hard rock associated with Zeppelin. Whereas the hard rock of Zeppelin’s first couple albums was rooted in rewrites of old blues standards, or semi-original compositions in the vein thereof, Presence has a much more loose, casual, anything goes vibe. The jamming that became synonymous with their live performances took as much precedent as Page’s riffs themselves, giving the listener a “fly on the wall” peak into Zeppelin’s studio. Side A closes with the brief funkalicious bounce of “Royal Orleans”. It is the only song on the album written by all four members.
As we flip over to side B, we’re greeted by “Nobody’s Fault but Mine”. This raucous rocker is the closest thing to “old school Zeppelin” we get on the record. With its vocal/guitar interplay, blues driven shuffle, and a harmonica solo, it’s no wonder Robert Plant had it out for David Coverdale, who would capitalize on this style come the following decade. “Candy Store Rock” is another rocking track, though rooted in the 50s style of rock n roll that the members of Zeppelin grew up with. This tinge of nostalgia would become a major focal point on their final studio album, In Through the Out Door. “Hots on for Nowhere” is another stripped down rock tune, similar to side A’s “For Your Life”. Closing it all out is the melancholic “Tea for One”. I’ve always considered this song to be a distant cousin of “Since I’ve Been Loving You”. The lyrical content and structure is just too similar for me to believe otherwise.
At 22 years old, not only do I “get” Presence, but the album grows closer to my heart with each subsequent listen. I’m at a point now where I’ll listen to it over Physical Graffiti. 13 year old me would never believe such a day would come. The truth is, while Physical Graffiti has its moments of brilliance, it’s just too drawn out at times, overblown even by 70s album rock standards. Feel free to berate me in the comments for that hot take. But before doing so, I strongly recommend you revisit Presence first and let cooler heads prevail.