IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR

After the irregular "Presence" and hit by their complicated personal situations, Led Zeppelin released "In Through The Out Door" (1979), their eighth and last studio album. A work that in most of its development lacks the indispensable contribution of Jimmy Page, one of the fundamental bases of the band's success, involved along with John Bonham in his battles against addictions, basically ceding the creative control of the album to John Paul Jones.

And beyond Jones' solvency and musical ability to take charge not only of the bass but also of the multiple keyboards, he is not Page (nor does he have to be), and so "In Through The Out Door" has little to do with what one might expect from those who marked the path of hard rock and inspired that of heavy metal. A bit of classic rock in the opening "In the Evening", fragments of the very progressive "Carouselambra" with Jones' keyboard display, and Page's guitar solo in the bluesy half-time of "I'm Gonna Crawl", escape from the ordinary, but neither the versatility of the great drummer that was Bonham in the Latinised and disconcerting "Fool in the Rain", nor Plant's heartfelt tribute to his young son in the poppy "All my Love" help to lift the album off the ground.

Page commented at the time that "In Through The Out Door" had left him (and a large legion of fans) unsatisfied, and that the intention for the next album was to return to Led Zeppelin's more muscular path, but the tragic and unexpected death of Bonham months later and the consequent decision to break up the band permanently cancelled any future projects, and ended the career of one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

2/2.5 stars