John Cougar Mellencamp
Lonesome
4/10
The Replacements
Let it be
5/10
Oasis
The Masterplan
7/10
Kate Bush
Before the dawn
Reluctant abstain
New Score
Led Zeppelin
Physical Graffiti
The sublime and the filler
I feel that I generally start these reviews in a relatively repetitive fashion - I once again find myself conflicted in where this lands.
As has already been observed, Side A (apologies folks I'm too sprightly to know this in vinal terms ;-) ) is incredibly strong, top riffs, eardrum bursting well drums*, a brilliant base section and terrific vocals (when he's not making those shit sex noises). They hold their own as a four piece with pretty much anything else in rock I think it's fair to say.
If you take the first side and massage in In the light and Ten years gone and possibly drop Houses of the holy, you have potentially got the strongest album that has ever been released (granted not sure how viable this would be again on the old record system).
I don't even care what they are singing about, the music is that good.
What would beat it? Very very little and even then I think everyone would need to be talked round on it.
As has been eluded to, this is potentially where someone outside of the band refining what they were wanting to sling onto the album would have helped them (granted their were probably very few people who thought they could question them at this point, but that's their own failing).
So here we are, the first side is so strong it now makes absolute mincemeat of the second. So is that a positive or a negative? It shouldn't be but it is a negative because they could have massaged those stronger songs out or just shortened the album. Stick Kashmir at the end of the album and end on a high ffs!!!!!!! Yes, that is harsh but this is what we are on the thread for isn't it?
Due to the filler on the second side, it screams 7.5 at me referring to my previous scores, but to be honest the good on the album makes me so happy it gets the 8.
Highest fucking score I've given this far (and now I'm fucked for other albums that have sheer brilliance but a fair amount of filler.
*** (Spoiler don't worry, I'm a brilliant hypocrite on music when it suits) ***
* I love Bonham, even in a band that is this talented he still stands out as brilliant (saying that, so does JPJ, he's absolutely sublime). He is pretty much everything you want in a drummer, I don't know whether it is even more of his brilliance but the way his kits are mic'd up and then displayed on their music is brilliant ( I imagine more Page and / or technicians), it's always absolutely cock on.
Sell your soul BlueMooners, the output is worth it.
Devil, take me now...............!!!!
Edit: As much as I eulogise of Bonham, I absolutely love watching this versionof Kashmir with his son Jason playing - absolutely sublime.
What a player he is!
I tried to touch on that but yeh I get that.
However, it does dilute the overall album because the second half isn't remotely as good as the first.
To be fair though the bar was set high.......
Nice one. I only know of his big hoose in St James Wood. The one he was in conflict with Robbie Williams about.I used to know someone who is very pally with Page: Ross Halfin, the rock photographer. In fact I think the last time I encountered Ross was 1985 at a Robert Plant gig. He would have got me backstage access after the gig but I couldn't hang around.
A few years ago I was walking through a rammed Oracle shopping centre in Reading on Boxing Day with one of my daughters in search of a book about One Direction (!) and hurrying in the opposite direction was a little grey haired familiar looking old guy in a long balck overcoat obviously trying to keep up with his young grand-daughter, who was also on some sort of shopping mission. Yup, it was Jimmy Page braving the sales with the rest of us mere mortals.
At one point, Page owned a property in Pangbourne just outside Reading (may still own it).
Must be something on the horizon Fog that tickles his ivories hope its something obscure.Ha ha — too true, @Onholiday(somemightsay) is the toughest grader here I bet if we went back and looked at average scores.
In the most part yes, but they have given us 2 sides to compare as opposed to blending them for the lesser (if that makes any sense?)..........Yeah but I'd rather have Zep's fillers than most other bands' best work...
Do we know why not?Another gig that is very high on the list onf ones I wish I'd been at.
Jason did an outstanding job. I've seen him two or three times in other bands and he is a fine drummer in his own right.
Still grieves me Plant wouldn't tour with that line-up (the other three were up for it). It could have been the "biggest" tour ever.
You're going to be very disappointed............. :-(Must be something on the horizon Fog that tickles his ivories hope its something obscure.
Can't wait for your second pick Fog , I am sure you have another masterstroke waiting in the wings but lets be fair and patient and see how the others go.
To date a reasonable mix and selection but Super Groups and Artists aside your pick is the stand out for me so far.
I might be biased but if you haven't listened to Paul's solo work you are missing out on something of course I may be preaching to the converted but its a buzz that someone from Minnesota can pump out early punk which for me it is but you might see it as alternative or even something else.
I was a sucker for the Box Tops so I guess it followed that the Replacements were going to form a big part of my music catalogue.
Honestly don't really mean to be, but you've got to have room to go (especially in a top 1000 list).Ha ha — too true, @Onholiday(somemightsay) is the toughest grader here I bet if we went back and looked at average scores.
We all have different ears mate - definitely something in the timing of some bands I would say (doesn't really apply to me in this instance as I was minus 11 when this came out)........;-)Seems I'm very much in the minority here, but Led Zep have never appealed to me much, maybe it's an age/ generational thing, let's have a think.
This was released in 75, when I was 8 years old. By the time I reached my mid to late teens, they were often portrayed (wrongly, looking back) as rock dinosaurs, old hat, something your dad listened to.
With all the music, trends and fashions available to a young impressionable lad, they never had a look in, not a chance. Only hippies and old rockers listened to Zep, not cool teenagers like me lol. I was more interested in punk and new wave back then.
Put it this way, if you had a girl in your room and played her some Zep, there's no way you'd be getting past first base.
As I got into my 20's and my music tastes expanded, I tried many times to get acquainted with them, to try and understand what all the fuss was about, but to no avail I'm afraid. There was much more exciting rock available at the time, no need to visit the past, everything I thought I wanted/ needed was happening there and then. Add the fact I was too young to really appreciate musical artistry and song writing, and it's easy to see how they (and many other groups from this era) passed me by.
Since then I've tried a few more times, always thinking I'm missing out, but here I am, much older,
but no wiser when it comes to Zep.
I must be honest here and say I'm not even that keen on the "hits" (for want of a better word) stairway, whole lotta love etc, don't really do it for me, so the rest of their not inconsiderable back catalogue isn't gonna cut it either...
They divide opinion probably more than any other band, in my experience anyway. Those that like them do so in an almost cult like manner, those that don't, REALLY don't, and can be quite vocal about it. Not sure why.
Maybe the haters can't admit, or can't hear the talent.
I can do both, but that doesn't do enough for me to enjoy their work. In the same way I can appreciate a painting, without wanting to hang it on my wall.
I'm no where near qualified to critique such a legendary band (so I wont), and to add to that it's hard to quantify why I don't like them, mainly because, on paper anyway, I should feel the opposite.
The best I can come up with is that the vocals seem a little distant, like they turned him down a bit, and here's the main one, the riffs, while excellent, are often just repeated all the way through the song, sometimes to a point where the riff becomes the song in itself, and kind of becomes lost as an impact, if that makes sense.
Yep, that's all I've got, pretty pathetic reasoning I know, but it's hard to find fault when a band is so talented, I just can't find the words to describe why I find the sum of the parts a bit underwhelming.
I do hope this sounded fresh, new and innovative back then, and in a way I wish I'd of been at the right age when it came out, it's great to carry an album through life, and I fully understand why this might be one that many would pick for such a journey, and who am I to question that?
I thoroughly enjoyed Mr Ob's intro, this is obviously an album dear to his heart, unfortunately for me, it's not one I can embrace with the same enthusiasm.
For the legacy, the obvious talent, and the joy they bring to others, it's a respectful 5/10 from me, I'm genuinely sorry I'm not able to give it more, but I have to be honest, even if I can't find the logic to explain it.