The same thing happened to us with this album as with the “Technical Ecstasy” of Black Sabbath, apparently, they both mark the end of a glorious era (due to the “bad reviews” from the critics), something incomprehensible to fans.
In “Presence,” the Led Zeppelin are always perceived, with excellent songs and returning to their origins rather than moving in a new direction.
One of the necessary attributes for a band is knowing when to split … Led Zeppelin was a great band, but perhaps they would be as remembered as the Beatles if they had split just before this album. You can find it hard to understand how “Physical Graffiti” can be transferred to this album in one year. “Presence” is full of “empty” songs, without interesting melodies, without interesting performances, and without the atmosphere that Led Zeppelin knew how to recreate on previous albums. But well, that is according to the critics.
Of course, there are still 5 reasons why you should listen to “Presence” again:
- What is clear is that the epic “Achilles Last Stand” is the group’s last absolute classic, a progressive adventure in which everything is perfection, from the remarkable riffs and multiple guitars of Page to the inspired work of Jones and Bonham, in addition to an unusual vocalization by Plant, memorable conjunction that could dispute a place among the 5 best songs of the group.
- Nobody’s Fault But Mine is a more “difficult” listening song, somewhat stylistically complex but spectacular overall, from any point of view.
- The drums in this album are simply fabulous, probably Bonzo’s best performance ever. Splendid the central solo to “break” the song, which on the whole is simply a masterpiece of rock.
- Little loved by critics, Presence is apparently a “minor” album compared to the previous ones. However, Presence is an equally important album of great charm and beauty.
- Purely and entirely Hard Rock, it opens with a masterpiece of hardness, Achilles Last Stand, certainly the best track of the album and in general of the last three.
But yet again, the album is just probably a simple reminder from the band, to not do too many drugs early in your career.
You can listen to the full album: