Presence
	Produced by Jimmy Page
	Released on March 1976
	UK CHART POSITION #1 . . . US CHART POSITION #1 . . . PLATINUM RECORD (4/12/76), 2x PLATINUM (12/11/90)
	Find it at GEMM
SS 8416 cover [high resolution photo]

I f you’re going to make a case for Led Zeppelin as the greatest rock band of all time, you might as well start with Presence. No, I don’t mean it that way. The truly great ones are the consistent ones, like The Beatles or The Police. Like them or not, it’s hard to find a weak link in their chain of studio releases. Cite The Rolling Stones and some smartass’ll bring up Their Satanic Majesties Request. Rush, Yes, King Crimson, Steely Dan, Pink Floyd? Brilliant bands, but all blemished by at least one mediocre release. Presence is widely regarded as the weakest of the Zeppelin studio releases (it always comes down to this and In Through The Out Door), and it may still be a great album. Of course it pales in comparison to the double-elpee Physical Graffiti, which found Led Zeppelin playing the best music of their lives and upping the ante with old gems from the vaults. Any album that followed would seem meager by comparison, including Presence. Yet the fact remains that some will find in this music a diminished presence, a sapping of the vital energy that fueled earlier efforts. “Achilles Last Stand” and “Tea For One” sound haggard. As if to counter that, “Royal Orleans” and “Candy Store Rock” have a put-upon giddiness that seems almost cartoonish by comparison (although I love cartoons and I’m not complaining). But Led Zeppelin in the middle gear still comes up with some real winners: “For Your Life,” “Nobody’s Fault But Mine.” These tracks would have felt right at home on Physical Graffiti. I’ve tried to hear this album without Zeppelin’s mythology sitting on my shoulder and I haven’t been successful. I suspect if this music had been released under another name, history would have branded it a half-inflated counterfeit. At the end of the day, any greatness that Presence can lay claim to may lie in the great demand for Zeppelin’s music and the magnitude of their achievement as a musical entity. After all, when you can have a serious discussion over whether an album that topped the charts in the US and UK is a band’s worst, well then, damn, maybe you are talking about the greatest rock band of all time.

SS 8416 inner gatefold	SS 8416 back cover	SS 8416 picture sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. ACHILLES LAST STAND    10:26
2. FOR YOUR LIFE    6:21
3. ROYAL ORLEANS    (John Bonham/John Paul Jones/Jimmy Page/Robert Plant)    2:58
4. NOBODY'S FAULT BUT MINE    6:15
5. CANDY STORE ROCK    4:10
6. HOTS ON FOR NOWHERE    4:42
7. TEA FOR ONE    9:27
   
   All titles written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant unless noted

CREDITS

JOHN BONHAM --
JOHN PAUL JONES --
JIMMY PAGE --
ROBERT PLANT --
Peter Grant -- executive producer
Keith Harwood -- engineer, mixing
Jeremy Gee -- tape engineer
Hipgnosis and Hardie -- sleeve

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