IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR

One of the most progressive Led Zeppelin's efforts, but unfortunately not one of the best. Possibly the weakest one. Actually, there are no (very) bad tracks on the album, but the overall picture is not so good. It's hard to say why, the ideas were not developed (or implemented) badly, but that certain magic is missing. Yamaha GX7 synthesizer is omnipresent on the album, making lush pad and atmospheres not so usual for Led Zeppelin's tunes. The songs are not sharp as they used to be, "Hot Dog" is, for example, terrible, commercial country-rock song, and you can't avoid comparison with the similar-named "Black Dog", which is far better. "All Of My Love" is catchy and radio friendly, "I'm Gonna Crawl" is just scary. It sounds like a grotesque waltz, while someone is dancing with the cloaked death. That's just my impression, but this song is certainly not helping me to get into the good mood. "In The Evening" and "Carouselambra" are perhaps two best tracks, "Carouselambra" being undoubtedly progressive, ten minutes long (but not epic), with different parts, full of impressive guitar parts. However, this guitar sound strangely chorused, not bright and fuzzy, what was Jimmy Page's trademark It's just cold. Perhaps that's the main problem of this album: it so cold. Occasional calypso steel drums (another experiment that didn't hit the bull's eye) didn't help much. Brrr.

It's worth having it in your collection if you are a Led Zeppelin fan. If you are not, try somewhere else. Two and a half stars, rounded to three.