Presence (album)

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Presence is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released by the band's own label Swan Song Records on 31 March 1976 in the United States and on 2 April 1976 in the United Kingdom.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> While the record was commercially successful, reaching the top of both the British and American album charts, and achieving a triple-platinum certification in the United States by the RIAA, it received mixed reviews from critics and is the lowest-selling album by the band, but has received more positive reviews in the years since its release.

The album was written and recorded in the last months of 1975, during a difficult time in the band's history. Singer Robert Plant was recovering from serious injuries he had sustained earlier that year in a car accident; this led to tours being cancelled and the band booking studio time to record Presence instead. The entire album was completed in a few weeks, with guitarist Jimmy Page putting in several long shifts to complete recording and mixing. The title came from the strong presence the group felt as they worked together. The LP's artwork from Hipgnosis featured several photographs focused on a mysterious black object, called "The Object".

Presence is dominated by compositions by Page and Plant, with only one track credited to the entire group; unlike other Zeppelin albums, it features no keyboards and little acoustic guitar. Because Plant was still ill, the band could not tour to promote the release, and only two tracks were ever performed live. However, the album has been re-appraised in retrospective reviews for its hard rock dynamics and simplicity compared to the group's other work.

Background

After touring in support of their previous album, Physical Graffiti, released in early 1975, Led Zeppelin took a brief break from touring that summer, intending to start a major US tour on 23 August. Critics had said they were at the height of their popularity at this time. However, singer Robert Plant sustained serious injuries from a car accident on the Greek island of Rhodes on 4 August,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which forced the band to cancel the tour and reschedule their activities.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Because of their status as tax exiles, Plant was forced to recuperate abroad, initially in Jersey in the Channel Islands, then in Malibu, California, and wrote several sets of lyrics that reflected on his personal situation and wondering about the future. Guitarist Jimmy Page joined him in Malibu in September and the pair began to think about plans to make an album instead.Template:Sfn The two prepared enough material to be able to present to the rest of the band. The other two members, drummer John Bonham and bassist John Paul Jones, joined them at Hollywood's SIR Studio where they rehearsed the material throughout October 1975.Template:Sfn

Recording

Once they had worked out arrangements, the group were eager to record. Page favoured going to Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, which he felt had state-of-the-art recording facilities.Template:Sfn Plant was still recovering from the accident during recording and sang his vocals in a wheelchair, which led to Page assuming most of the responsibilities at the sessions.Template:Sfn The album was recorded and mixed with longtime group associate and engineer Keith Harwood, and completed in eighteen days, with the final mixes finished on 27 November.Template:Sfn This was the fastest recording turnaround time achieved by the band since their debut album.Template:Sfn

The rushed recording sessions were in part a result of Led Zeppelin having booked the studio immediately prior to the Rolling Stones, who were shortly to record songs for their album Black and Blue (released, like Presence, in the spring of 1976). Page negotiated with the Stones to borrow two days from their recording session time, during which he completed all the guitar overdubs in one lengthy session.Template:Sfn Page and Harwood then worked on the mixes virtually non-stop until they fell asleep; whoever woke up first went back to the desk to carry on. Page later stated he worked around 18–20 hours every day during the sessions.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The recording sessions for Presence were also particularly challenging for Plant. The studio was in a basement of an old hotel, and the singer felt claustrophobic. He also experienced physical difficulties as a result of his car accident, and missed his family. He later said he was upset about Page and manager Peter Grant booking the Presence sessions and began to re-evaluate the priorities in his life.Template:Sfn

Because the album was completed one day before the American holiday of Thanksgiving, Plant suggested to the record company the album should be called Thanksgiving. This idea was quickly dropped in favour of a title that was thought would represent the powerful force and presence that the band members felt surrounded the group.Template:Sfn

Songs

Six of the seven songs on the album are Page and Plant compositions; the remaining song, "Royal Orleans", is credited to all four band members. This is because the majority of the songs were formulated at Malibu, where Page (but not Bonham and Jones) had initially joined a recuperating Plant. With Plant at less than full fitness, Page took responsibility for the album's completion, and his playing dominates the album's tracks.Template:Sfn

Both Page and Plant had planned this album's recording session as a return to hard rock, much like their debut album, except at a new level of complexity. It marked a change in the Led Zeppelin sound towards more straightforward, guitar-based jams. Whereas their previous albums up to and including the previous year's Physical Graffiti contain electric hard rock anthems balanced with acoustic ballads and intricate arrangements, Presence was seen to include more simplified riffs, and is Led Zeppelin's only studio album that features no keyboards,Template:Sfn and with the exception of a rhythm track on "Candy Store Rock", no acoustic guitar.Template:Sfn The changed stylistic emphasis on this album was a direct result of the troubled circumstances experienced by the band around the time of its recording. Page later said the music came from this spontaneity.Template:Sfn Plant later described it as "a cry of survival" and speculated the group would not make another album like it.<ref name=RS2006>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The ten-minute opening song, "Achilles Last Stand", was first recorded on 12 November, when the basic backing track was laid down. Jones played an Alembic 8 string bass on the track, giving it a distinctive tone.Template:Sfn Plant wrote the lyrics based on travelling across Africa in mid-1975 with Page.Template:Sfn Page added six guitars in the marathon overdubbing session at the end of the recording period.Template:Sfn

"For Your Life" was developed mostly in the studio. For the recording, Page used a Fender Stratocaster, provided by former Byrds guitarist Gene Parsons.Template:Sfn "Royal Orleans" was written about an incident involving Jones at the Royal Orleans Hotel in New Orleans and includes a reference to soul singer Barry White.Template:Sfn It was the only track on the album credited to the entire band.Template:Sfn

"Nobody's Fault but Mine", was inspired by the Blind Willie Johnson song "It's Nobody's Fault but Mine", first recorded in 1928 and later covered by Nina Simone in 1969. The influence of the old blues song are noticeable in both Page's guitar work in the track, and also in the melody and lyrics.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn "Candy Store Rock" was inspired by 1950s rock 'n' roll. "Hots on for Nowhere" was written about Plant's time in Malibu, while Page played the Stratocaster on the track. The closing number, "Tea For One", was a slow blues written by Plant about the problems he faced being separated from his family, and was an attempt to update their earlier "Since I've Been Loving You" from Led Zeppelin III.Template:Sfn

In contrast to earlier albums that contained several tracks that the band chose to play live at Led Zeppelin concerts, only two tracks from Presence were played in full on stage while the band was active. "Achilles Last Stand" and "Nobody's Fault but Mine" were added to the setlist for the 1977 tour of the United States and stayed on it through the band's final concerts in 1980.Template:Sfn Template:Efn "Tea For One" was performed live on the Page and Plant tour of Japan in 1996, where the main group was backed by an orchestra.Template:Sfn "For Your Life" was played in full by Led Zeppelin for the first (and only) time at the Ahmet Ertegün Tribute Concert on 10 December 2007.Template:Sfn

Packaging and artwork

The cover and inside sleeve, created by Hipgnosis with George Hardie, features images of people interacting with a black obelisk-shaped object. Inside the sleeve, the item is referred to simply as "The Object". It was intended to represent Zeppelin's "force and presence".Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Hipgnosis co-founder Storm Thorgerson wrote that the obelisk represented the power of Led Zeppelin, saying they were "so powerful, they didn't need to be there".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Sfn Both Page and Plant have said that the presence of the object in the photographs made people stop and think about what is real, which reflected the music.Template:Sfn

The background in the cover photograph is an artificial marina, installed in London's Earl's Court arena for the annual Boat Show, in the winter of 1974–75. The band played a series of concerts at this venue in May 1975, a few months after the boat show. The inner sleeve photographs came from various archive stock pictures, and was designed to resemble a feature in National Geographic.Template:Sfn The girl on the back cover photo was Samantha Gates, and she had also appeared (with her brother Stefan) on the cover of Houses of the Holy.Template:Sfn Hipgnosis and Hardie were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album Package in 1977.Template:Sfn

Release and reception

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The album was released on 31 March 1976, having been delayed by the completion of the album sleeve.Template:Sfn In Britain it attained one of the highest ever advance orders, shipping gold on the day of release. It entered at Template:Numero and peaked the following week at Template:Numero on the US Billboard Pop Albums chart.Template:Sfn However, the album was the lowest selling of their career as it was overshadowed by the release of the band's movie and soundtrack The Song Remains the Same.Template:Sfn "Candy Store Rock" was released as a single in the US, but it failed to chart.Template:Sfn

In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, Stephen Davis said Presence established Led Zeppelin as the premier heavy metal act and featured some exceptional rock music, highlighting the "clean and purifying" guitar riffs. In spite of a few dull blues rock songs, the album was "another monster in what by now is a continuing tradition of battles won by this band of survivors", in Davis' opinion.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic in The Village Voice, citing "Hots on for Nowhere" as a "commanding cut" while finding much of the rest consistent but unnecessary in comparison with earlier recordings.<ref name="VV">Template:Cite news</ref>

Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph claimed it was "Zeppelin at their most blunted", awarding it two stars out of five.<ref name="TDT"/> In a retrospective review, a Q critic who gave the album three out of five stars wrote, "Presence sounds as rushed as it was."<ref name="Q"/>

According to Dave Lewis, "The direct, hard-hitting nature of the seven recordings failed to connect with a fan base more accustomed to the diversity and experimental edge of their previous work.Template:Sfn Page later acknowledged that, because the album conveys a sense of urgency resulting from the troubled circumstances in which it was recorded, "it's not an easy album for a lot of people to access ... [I]t's not an easy album for a lot of people to listen to."<ref name=williamson>Template:Cite journal</ref> Lewis nonetheless believed that Presence was underrated, as its music "packs a considerable punch", highlighting Page's playing and the production on the album.Template:Sfn Fellow journalist Mick Wall said it "pulled Led Zeppelin back from the brink of crisis".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

2015 reissue

Template:Music ratings A remastered version of Presence, along with In Through the Out Door and Coda were reissued on 31 July 2015. The reissue comes in six formats, including CD, vinyl and digital download. The deluxe and super deluxe editions feature bonus material containing alternative takes and one previously unreleased instrumental, "10 Ribs & All/Carrot Pod Pod". The reissue was released with an altered colour version of the original album's artwork as the bonus disc's cover.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The reissue received generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 77, based on eight reviews.<ref name="MC"/> Pitchfork wrote, "It might be their weakest album, but Presence is among the most special; none of these songs sound like they could have come from another record."<ref name="PF"/> Uncut said the original album is grand "in lyric form and musical scale", while "the discs of 'companion audio,' often short on revelation, here reveal a moment of sheer anomaly. '10 Ribs & All/Carrot Pod Pod (Pod)' is whatever that title may mean, everything the LP is not: a tender piano piece."<ref name="Uncut"/> PopMatters was less impressed, saying "like the rest of the re-releases, the bonus material leaves too much to be desired", but concluded, "despite its weak second half, Presence is too good of an album to be dismissed."<ref name="PM"/> Template:Clear

Track listing

Original release

Details are taken from the original UK and US Swan Song albums; all tracks are written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, except where noted.<ref name="sleeve notes">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Template:Track listing Template:Track listing

Deluxe edition bonus disc (2015)

Includes five tracks identified as "Reference mixes of works in progress".<ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Template:Track listing

Personnel

Led Zeppelin

John Bonham – drums
John Paul Jones – bass
Jimmy Page – guitars, production
Robert Plant – vocals, harmonica

Production<ref name="sleeve notes"/>

Peter Grant – executive producer
Keith Harwood – engineering, mixing
Reinhold Mack – assistant engineer (uncredited)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Jeremy Gee – tape engineering
George Hardie – sleeve design
Hipgnosis – sleeve design
George Marino – remastered CD release

Charts

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Weekly charts

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Weekly chart performance for *Presence*
Chart (1976)	Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)<ref name=aus>Template:Cite book</ref>	4
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)<ref name="Danish albums chart">Template:Cite web</ref>	13
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)<ref name=FINI>Template:Cite book</ref>	6
Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)<ref>Template:Cite web Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Led Zeppelin".</ref>	15
Japanese Albums (Oricon)<ref name="JPN">Template:Cite book</ref>	2
Spanish Albums Chart<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	7