IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR

Most people absolutely detest this album, and were almost in denial to believe that this was an actual Led Zeppelin album when it came out and not just a joke. Then there are other that embraced the changes that Led Zeppelin were making to their sounds, and I believe that they were using this album as their 70's sendoff and were going to steer into a new, more progressive sound in the 80's. Unfortunately, that was never allowed to happen (R.I.P. John Bonham), but this is still a killer album to have as a grand-finale, even if it was unexpected.

The album is kicked off with "In the Evening", the track that most early Zeppelin die- hards find to be the saving grace of this record. It's a very heavy rocker, similar to their first few outputs. "South Bound Saurez" can be considered John Paul Jones' baby, as most of this album is his work. A hugely piano-oriented song with excellent vocals from Robert Plant as usual, but a shocking lack of Jimmy Page, scratch for the high- pitched soloing. "Fool In The Rain" is another John Paul Jones penned tune, and one of Zeppelin's poppiest songs ever released. Although they were starting to make their music more commercially acceptable on this record, they still did it in a way that left some integrity in their songs. This, to me, is one of the finest songs on this album. Also, the message behind it is rather amusing. "Hot Dog" is undoubtedly filler, but it is a fine track from an album-filler standpoint. Very upbeat, almost bluegrass styled and some nice vocal harmonies. But that's about it fro redeeming qualities.

"Carouselambra", the track that receives all of the bashing for being either "too long, too repetitive or too boring", is in fact one of Led Zeppelin's greatest achievements. They managed to fuse the organ, guitars and voice together in harmony to form a 10+ minute epic, their second longest song ever released. The organ sets the tone early on and builds up the excitement until Plant ends the fun and cuts into the action, turning it into a somber vocal performance, which is one of his best off the last 4 albums. The ending becomes upbeat, once again, with some very innovative organ stylings and some hypnotic tones. Also, Jimmy Page finally starts to come alive on the album. Next up, the song everybody and their mother has heard on the radio, "All My Love". It sounds almost nothing like any other Led Zeppelin song, most people hated it, but it was probably the most important song Robert Plant has ever written. not a love song as many believe it to be, it was actually written in memory of Plant's recently (at the time) deceased son. Very slow, organ drive again with some absolutely powerful vocals. "I'm Gonna Crawl" was the last real Zeppelin song. Very dark and somber, this is the perfect mood to send off one of the greatest rock n' roll bands of all time.

All in all, I think this album was much too advanced for Led Zeppelin's original fanbase. Undoubtedly their most progressive attempt, and it is a real shame that Zepheads have to loathe their last album together. This, to me, is one of their greatest musical achievements because they finally, after all of these years, managed to fuse together their individual sounds and make real musical harmony. Their missing link all of those years that is present on this album? John Paul Jones' leadership.

4 stars

R.I.P. John Bonham, Karac Plant, Led Zeppelin.

Share this LED ZEPPELIN review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Chris H
• Report this review (#127027)
• Buy LED ZEPPELIN music online with PA partners
• Show all LED ZEPPELIN MP3/Stream
• Go to LED ZEPPELIN page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to In Through the Out Door page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for LED ZEPPELIN related discussions