Reviews

In 1975 when Led Zeppelin released the double Physical Graffiti album they were kings of the world. As they lined up yet another world tour for later in the year vocalist Robert Plant was in a near fatal car accident, meaning all touring was on hold indefinitely. Much like other bands of their ilk (The Rolling Stones is great example) the band was also exiled from mother England due to massive (and unreasonable) tax bills, leaving them somewhat fractured and unclear of their next steps. All this pain and uncertainty seeped into the core of their next album, taking the material to somewhere very different than the band had been before, both in style and sound. During Pant's recovery guitarist Jimmy Page spent a lot of time with him at his home, so the majority of the songs were written by the two of them with little input from the other members. This meant that the album was very guitar-focused and surprisingly the entire album does not feature a single ballad of any type, something the band was always known for. Add to this the dry production and it has a very confronting and stark feel about it. 'Achilles Last Stand' is one of the great Zeppelin epics, and opens the album like an out of control freight train. The guitars are muti-layered and massive sounding, but Plant's vocals are immediately lacking in some of the power he previously sang with. Whilst this is possibly due to him recording a lot of his vocals from a wheelchair, there is something else at play, almost as if some of his confidence was lost in his accident. This carries throughout the album, giving it a feeling of tension like a rubber band about to snap back into place. 'For Your Life' drops the force back to a slow groove, that is incredibly catchy in its charm, almost feeling unfinished in its looseness at the time of recording. 'Royal Orleans' follows with a rollicking guitar and vocal line that really lifts the album. 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' (carefully borrowed from Blind Willie Johnson) opens side two and is the perfect centrepiece of the album. It is infectious and heavy, and Plant gives his best vocal performance of the album. Add to that he delivers a brilliant harmonica solo after the instrument was absent from any recent Zeppelin albums, and it all add up to being an essential track in the catalogue. 'Candy Store Rock' and 'Hots On For Nowhere' follow and unlike their predecessor neither of them are particularly necessary songs. They both have great hooks, but feel like they were always going to be filler. The album closes with 'Hats On For Nowhere', a return to the heavy blues of the band's early days. The songs could have soared like 'Since I've Been Loving You', but instead it plods to a close with only a couple of interesting moments, and listening closely it could be said that it is not only the weakest song on the album, but one of the weakest of their catalogue. On the first listens the album has a distinct amount of underwhelming material, and whilst repeat listens does mine a little gold, for the most part the album falls very short of previous releases. It is oddly void of any form of keyboard / piano and is totally guitar focused (something that would be the opposite on the following album), yet again making it sound quite unique in the band's recordings. The upside to this is that like many great bands, even the 'not so good' songs by Led Zeppelin are usually better than the best by others. Regardless, this album still feels like the beginning of the end.

10 songs and 38 minutes of classic Oz rock. I could very easily end review at that point. But the boys deserve so much more than that. Show me an Aussie that doesn't know 'Down Under' and I will show you millions more that do. It is entrenched in the true Aussie fabric of living in the 80's and beyond. In someways it defined the Aussie sprit and laidback approach to life and all its challenges it has to present. Now I am not meaning to degrade the other 9 songs on the record. As a 7 year old when it came out I didn't really appreciate the entire album when Dad bought it. It was many years later when Colin Hay, one of the greatest singer/songwriters you will see, was putting out his solo albums, that drew me back to this release. It bought back some great memories. Some of the songs had a short stint on radio but listening through the whole album, it's just a 'comfortable' listen. From the rolling bass line behind Hay's singing in 'Underground', to Ham and his classic flute playing in 'Down Under' (ignoring the posers that took the band for money over plagiarism). In fact his Sax interludes in many of the songs were spot on (R.I.P my friend). Overall, it just worked. 'Be Good Johnny' was also a big hit at the time. The story telling is what drags the listener in, once again. You can pick up the words easily and can't help singing along when you hear it. Which is the beauty of Hay's songwriting. I've really enjoyed reconnecting with this release more than most as part of the TheBigBlackMachine AoTW publications.