Presence [Deluxe Edition]

Led Zeppelin Presence Deluxe Edition 2 CD Box Set with Amazon AutoRip released Friday 31st July 2015. Jimmy Page has achieved great clarity in his deluxe re-mastering. The sound is dynamic and breathes. Presence is a 7-song hard-driving rock album of electric guitars, with the exception of the blues song Tea For One, which is similar in style to Since I’ve Been Loving You. The album has an urgency, because Led Zep considered that it may be their last. The album is both a triumph, and testament to, the will-power of Jimmy Page. Jimmy’s guitar-playing had never been better. The album title of Presence, was suggested to Led Zep, because they were considered to have an “Aura/Presence” about them. The album commences with the epic Achilles’ Last Stand. The galloping bass-line of John Paul suggests urgency. It has brilliant arrangements, and orchestration. Jimmy employees his guitar-army, Robert’s singing is sensational, and all is held together by the out-standing drumming of John. The 10.22 minutes make it an epic, and one in which the listener can immerse themself in, but it is all over before you know it, and it leaves you wanting more! The lyrics are autobiographical, and reference the broken ankle of Robert Plant (Achilles’ heel), the yearning of Robert and Jimmy to travel to the East, with the hope that the West (Albion) would return to its origins, and that the album may be their last-ever, that is, Led Zeppelin’s last-stand. The beginning and end are the same, which gives Alpha and Omega, but the end overdub suggests a cycle, that is, moving forward, rather than circling. Jimmy plays the Fender Stratocaster, so that, the bass-drum of John Bonham can clearly be heard, this also allowed the bass of John Paul Jones to shine through. The band are firing on all cylinders, and Robert’s vocals are exceptional. Achilles is my personal all-time favourite Led Zep composition (my others are Stairway To Heaven, and, Kashmir). For Your Life is funky with dance-qualities, with great guitar, and is a good-time track. The guitar-tones are awesome, and the drumming is great. Royal Orleans is funky, with dance-qualities, and pairs-well with For Your Life. Royal Orleans offers the advice of: “If you take your pick – careful how you use it”. Nobody’s Fault But Mine is hard-blues and hard blues-rock, which is used as a confessional. It is funky, with great arrangements, great orchestration, with both an harmonica, and, a guitar solo. Candy Store Rock is funky blues, with hints of rock’n’roll. It is a fun-track, with a skipping and bopping-beat. Hots On For Nowhere is funky, and Jimmy hints at The Faces (he had been jamming with Ron Wood) , and is another fun track, with great guitar and drumming. Tea For One reminds one of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac in its use of beautiful blues guitar-tones from the Gibson Les Paul. Robert is in autobiographical mood once again, and the lyrics are both plaintive and reflective. It ends with a beautiful minor 9th chord (suggests both blues and jazz). It is a totally electric album, with no acoustic instruments, except for the harmonica, which is used once, and also has no keyboards. Jimmy had never played with such feeling, such emotion, such maturity, such majesty, and excelled himself with the light and shade. Jimmy makes great use of the B-Bender on the Fender Telecaster. Jimmy Page honours Peter Grant, by giving him credit as Executive Producer. The Swan-Song Records logo is of Apollo (The Sun, The Truth, Music, and, Healing). The Companion Disc has five tracks: 1) Two Ones Are Won (Achilles Last Stand) (Reference Mix), 2) For Your Life (Reference Mix), 3) 10 Ribs & All/Carrot Pod Pod (Pod) (Reference Mix), 4) Royal Orleans (Reference Mix), 5) Hots On For Nowhere (Reference Mix). The accompanying 16-page booklet is also excellent, with lots of photographs in both colour, and, black-and-white. Presence was recorded and mixed in the November and December of 1975 at Musicland Studios, Munich, Germany, and originally released on the 23rd March 1976. Presence is my personal favourite Led Zeppelin album. Award 5 Stars!

The seventh album by Led Zeppelin, 'Presence' tends to suffer from being the one straight after the masterpiece that was 'Physical Graffiti'. While it doesn't match up to that album it is still an essential listen. Known to be the favourite of Jimmy Page, it's important to recognize the circumstances in which it was made. Recorded during a particularly difficult time for the band, and for Robert Plant especially, it is for this reason that Page in particular regards this album as a triumph against adversity. The production is deliberately hard and loud and is Zeppelin going back to basics. No keyboards or orchestras on the final track listing, just guitar, bass and drums played by musicians at the top of their game. The new deluxe edition continues the good work done by Jimmy Page and John Davis, with the welcome return of the longer mix of 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' that appeared in 1990 and was then ditched for all subsequent re-issues which reverted the track back to it's original vinyl length. Note also a longer fade out on the monumental opener 'Achilles Last Stand'. As for the bonus disc, it must be said that for an album with so little outtake material there is actually some essential stuff here. Zeppelin forums are already full of discussion about the alternate mix of 'Royal Orleans', containing as it does a bizarre vocal that appears to be John Bonham (Jimmy Page has said it's Plant but that can't be the case) and the mysterious '10 Ribs & All/Carrot Pod Pod (Pod). This latter track is a huge surprise - A beautiful, piano-led instrumental that sounds like it belongs on the end credits of a movie (If it isn't used soon I'd be very surprised) it's worth the price of the deluxe edition alone. The other alternate mixes are interesting but not radically different. Still great to have though. As pointed out earlier, some Zeppelin fans find 'Presence' a tough listen and tend to dismiss it rather too easily. It deserves better. Certainly, John Bonham drums superbly throughout, John Paul Jones uses his newly-acquired 8 string bass to great effect and Jimmy Page gives possibly his best ever solo's in 'Achilles Last Stand' and 'Tea For One'. Of course, Robert Plants' vocals are rather strained at times but then again he was confined to a wheelchair for the sessions and his anger and unhappiness are clearly evident - Emotional on 'Tea For One', railing against the whole LA drug/groupie scene in 'For Your Life' and having a pop at some of his fellow band members and management in 'Hots On For Nowhere'. ("Now I got friends who will give me their shoulder/ When I should happen to fall/ With time and his bride growing older/ I got friends who will give me f*** all"). The only expletive ever used in the whole of the bands recorded output, it shows just how low he had sunk. Of course, further tragedy and trouble would strike Plant personally and he continued his diatribe on the groups final album 'In Through The Out Door'. (the track 'Carouselambra' is widely believed to be a bitter attack on Jimmy Page). That's not to say there isn't some lighter moments here. 'Candy Store Rock' features Page pulling out as many rockabilly licks as he can muster, complete with 50's style slapback echo and although the track doesn't really go anywhere it's not that bad. Elsewhere, 'Royal Orleans' is a short and snappy groove that's said to be about a true-life incident involving the normally reticent John Paul Jones and a 'female' conquest who wasn't all 'she' appeared to be! To sum up, I regard this album as a fantastic statement and the companion disc and improved sound are the icing on the cake. Don't leave this out of your Zeppelin library.

THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE 2 CD DELUXE EDITION RELESED IN 2015. There has been much written about this penultimate Led Zeppelin album so the review is concentrating on ther sound quality. This is an album I first bought back in 1980 and had always been blown away with the sheer energy and dynamism contained I’m very pleased to say there ain’t a single bad track on the album. Anyway, this was of course available on vinyl back in 1976, I had a so-so version in 1980 from WH Smith’s . Then of course it was released on CD with little consideration to the finished sound making it a near sonic disaster. Jimmy Page was not impressed and back in the 1990s it was remastered by the man himself with a huge jump in sound quality and a lot of the more subtle sound audible on the vinyl release being restored. Still, technology marched on and there’s been some exceptional audiophile vinyl releases including a 45rpm Super Analogue Master which I’ve been informed is the ultimate version. However many of us mere mortals won’t have a 2 grand turntable based hifi system. Nor will we have days to track down this version with hundreds of pounds to spend on it. so we have to rely on a Cd. But what a CD though. This has easily got to be the ultimate remaster ever obtained via Mr Page or anyone else for that matter. The level of detail presentedis simply a quantum leap over and above anything available. I’ve listened to lots of different versions of various Led Zeppelin albums on CD, first CD’s ,remasteres, Japanese CD, Japanese SHM-CD and this version trumps the lot. If you want to hear Led Zeppelin at their very best on the CD format look no further. Utterly recommended !

'Presence' was Zeppelin's 7th studio album, recorded in Munich in just two weeks in November 1975 and released on 31 March 1976. Initial sales were slow (for a Zeppelin album) and it's less well known than their earlier releases but nevertheless contains some outstanding music spiced with a couple of Zeppelin all-time classics. This was fundamentally Jimmy Page's project, and it shows. The band had to cancel a major tour in August 1975 because Robert Plant suffered a serious car crash whilst on holiday with his family on the Greek island of Rhodes and was still wheelchair-bound at the time of recording in November. Page's compositional work dominates the action with multiply over-tracked, high-energy guitar patterns leading the action on many of the songs. Two or three tracks stand out from the rest. The high-energy opener `Achilles last Stand' is acknowledged by just about everyone as the album's high-point and for some fans is their all-time favourite Zeppelin track. Here the band is on top form with a fast, syncopated rhythm anchoring the frenzied interweaving guitar patterns, Plant's vocal line sitting on top of the action to produce an effect almost other-worldly and transformational. No other rock song has ever sounded quite like this: if you've never heard it, play it loud on a quality sound system and you'll be left awe-struck and breathless. Other highlights are the delightful `Nobody's Fault but Mine' (wherein Plant returns to harmonica playing) and the closer, a long laconic blues number titled `Tea for One' which captures the life of loneliness Plant always felt on the road away from his family and has some of the most restrained and inventive blues guitar lines Page ever laid down. There are no acoustic/folk numbers among the album's 7 tracks, but nevertheless the overall result feels finely balanced and `just right.' Page originally thought to title the album `Thanksgiving' but decided instead on `Presence' because it expressed something the band felt attended them; that despite difficult times, they were an unbreakable unit and could still weave musical magic together. The artwork, though original in that quirky archaic style so characteristic of Zeppelin, has never been a hit with fans - though like the music, it's like nothing else created before or since. In summary: perhaps not Zeppelin's `greatest' or `best' album but pretty good overall, with a couple of outstanding tracks and probably the most imaginative and creative guitar work Jimmy Page ever recorded.

Received early and is in excellent condition

It's Zeppelin - the yardstick against which ALL bands are measured! Achilles Last Stand is one of the most complete pieces of "Rock Music" one will ever hear - listen to all the individual contributions: JPJ's relentless driving bass line, John Bonham's sublime fills & runs, Robert Plant's soaring vocals culminating in lyrical howls which send a shiver down the spine, and the whole lot laid out on a guitar tapestry created by Jimmy God Page. I want to die listening to this track! Tea for One is a "modernised" Since I've Been Loving You and captures a blues feeling I have physically experienced myself - and brings it all back! (Good job I'm over it now, I can listen to this track and smile.) I pick those two tracks as they bookend a wonderful and thoroughly recommended album. (Yes, I am that old I still call them albums!)

Having been there at the start, and buying every album up to Physical Graffiti, for some reason I stopped there. Doh! This one is real down home basic Zeppelin through and through. If you listen to the progression of their work from the first album (originally raved over but much over-rated in my view) through II (for me the first real uniquely Zeppelin album), through III, IV, HOTH and Phys Graf you can clearly see the development, ever more Zeppelin and confident. This one seems to be the culmination of that progression - no need to pose or strut or stray into experimental territory - they just know what it is they do well, and they just get on and do it. Short punchy catchy and head banging riffs, huge sound scenes, Robert Plant's voice still right on song (excuse the pun), all three instrumentalists hanging together perfectly If you've ever liked any Zeppelin but don't have this - just get it. If you've never bought any Zeppelin, definitely start here

Presence is my favourite Zep album containing four of the best tracks they ever recorded. Achilles Last Stand, For Your Life, Royal Orleans and Nobody's Fault But Mine. It's the album that celebrates Page and Bonham coming of age. I don't think I have ever heard John Bonham perform any better than he does on Presence and he is particularly outstanding on Achilles Last Stand and Nobody's Fault But Mine. This is Zep's best produced album, all credit to Jimmy Page, which wasn't as noticeable on the original vinyl 31 years ago but the sound quality on this remastered CD is absolutely stunning. I sometimes wish that Tea For One was the last track on their last album. Representing a symbolic return to their early blues days following a long journey of discovery and re invention. If you are new to Led Zeppelin try this first. It's a rock n roll masterclass. A no frills; guitar, drums and bass classic and you can pick it up on Amazon for less than a fiver.

Presentación y sonido de 10, si ya lo tienes recomiendo comorar esta edición y notarás una diferencia enorme, se escucha brutal!!

Excelente! não pode faltar na discografia de quem é fã do Led Zeppelin.

Led Zeppelin's another masterpiece. Their 7th studio album. Beautiful gatefold cover by Hipgnosis with the famous 'object'. Wonderful sounding 180 gm vinyl remastered. With songs like 'Achilles Last Stand', 'Nobody's Fault But Mine', 'For Your Life', this isn't to be missed.

I wouldn't call this one of their best but has quality Zeppelin sound

Este junto con el 1 el 2 el 4 para mi los mejores.