PROG RELATED

Devoid of big production and frills (no keyboards, no acoustic elements), and focused on the most basic rock principles, 'Presence' travels an uneven path combining the brilliance of 'Achilles Last Stand' and its mythological references to the Trojan Achilles in a great guitar demonstration by Page, the best track by far on the album, the dense and choppy melodies of 'For Your Life' and 'Nobody's Fault but Mine', and the bluesy 'Tea for One', a heartfelt reflection by Plant with obvious similarities to 'Since I've Been Loving You' from 'Led Zeppelin III' sustained by Bonham's great percussive work in slow motion mode, with lesser tracks such as the insipid Funky airs of the burlesque 'Royal Orleans' and the nostalgic 'Hots On for Nowhere', or the monotonous and dull rockabilly of 'Candy Store Rock'.

It tasted like so little for such a great band, so little that one of the elements that attracted more attention than the music was the strange black object on the album cover and on the internal graphic packaging... The band's decline was giving its first warning sign.

2.5/3 stars

"The Miracle" is the thirteenth studio album of Queen and that was released in 1989. It was recorded when the band was recovering from Brian May's marital problems and Freddie Mercury's AIDS diagnosis. The album was originally to be called "The Invisible Man", but three weeks before its release, they decided to change the name to "The Miracle". The striking cover art utilized the Quantel Painbox, a computer graphics workstation for composition of broadcast television video and graphics, which state of the art image manipulation technology, to combine photographs of the familiar faces of the four band members into one morphed image. The back cover of the album went a step further with a seamless of the bands' eyes. This album was considered their most energetic and interesting release of the 80's since "The Game".

"The Miracle" has ten tracks. The first track "Party" written by Freddie Mercury, Brian May and John Deacon is a song built around disharmonic vocals and drum beat from the drumming machine. I really think that we are in presence of a very weak song, without any kind of creativity and imagination. In my humble opinion, this is one of the worst openings for a Queen's album, only superseded by "Staying Power", the song that opens their album "Hot Space". The second track "Khashoggi's Ship" written by Queen is another rock song like the previous one. Unfortunately, it has more in common with that song that it should have. So, despite be a little bit better than "Party" is, it's a very repetitive song also without any kind of creativity and imagination. The third track is the title track "The Miracle", which was written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon. It was the fifth and the last song to be chosen as a single from this Queen's album. It was released six months after the album. This is a very good and interesting song that represents, for me, one of the highlights on the album. It's a very creative song with some very complex musical arrangements. If such thing existed, we could call to it a true great progressive pop song. The fourth track "I Want It All" written by Brian May was the song chosen to be the lead single of the album. This is a great rock song, with full of mood changes and some nice guitar solos. It's a kind of a classic Queen's hard rock song that satisfies almost all rock fans and represents the second highlight on the album, really. The fifth track "The Invisible Man" written by Roger Taylor was the song released as the third single of the album. This is clearly a pop song with a synthesizer bass driven. It's a very fast song and very repetitive too, so typical for that pop era. Sincerely, I don't like particularly of this song and, as happened with "Party" and "Khashoggi's Ship", it represents, for me, another weak point on the album. The sixth track "Breakthru" written by Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor was the song chosen to be released as the second single of the album. This is a good rock song with a nice gospel vocal overture, which rocks very fast, indeed. Despite I prefer other songs on the album, this one represents one of the best musical moments on the all album. The seventh track "Rain Must Fall" written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon represents, without any doubt, one of the weakest musical moments on the album, despite it has some great guitar work. Sincerely, I don't like of this song. It has the power to annoy me a little bit and it makes me a bit nervous, really. The eighth track "Scandal" written by Brian May was the song released as the fourth single from the album. The song is about the attention that Brian May and Freddie Mercury received of the press, involving Brian May's divorce and Freddie Mercury's health problems. It's a great and brilliant dark song with some great musical moments. This is, for me, another highlight on the album. The ninth track "My Baby Does Me" written by Freddie Mercury and John Deacon is almost the same of "Rain Must Fall" and represents, therefore, another weak musical moment on the album. Both songs represent, without any doubt, the worst tracks on the album. But, "Don't Try Suicide" from "The Game" is much worse. The tenth and last track "What Is All Worth It" written by Freddie Mercury is, fortunately an excellent track. But, unfortunately, this is the best and only truly progressive song on the album. It's a song with great musical moments that reminds the good old Queen, which closes the album perfectly and beautifully.

Conclusion: I can't agree with many of my colleagues here that consider "The Miracle" the best Queen's album of the 80's. By one hand, I'm absolutely convinced that Queen hasn't released any great studio album in the 80's. By the other hand I'm also absolutely convinced that "The Works" is their best musical studio work from that musical era. In my humble opinion, "The Miracle" is a non balanced album that oscillates between some very good songs and some very weak songs. "The Miracle", "I Want It All", "Breakthru", "Scandal" and especially "Was It All Worth It" are the only real good songs on the album. The other songs are average or even bad songs, really. Besides, on the subject of merely of progressive rock music, I can't see anything really progressive on it. In my humble opinion, after the 70's, the only great studio album from Queen is "Innuendo". However, "Made In Heaven" deserves also to be mentioned as an album with some great musical moments. So, this is another poor Queen's album that doesn't deserve more than 3 stars, really.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

And it is in this context that the Englishmen sustain their unmistakable hard rock imprint with the undeniable blues influences in songs like the erotic 'Custer Pie' and its incisive guitar riffs, or the extensive 'In my Time of Dying' with Page using a 'bottleneck' to achieve that dense and slippery sound seconded by John Bonham's boxed percussion and Robert Plant's very successful singing, but above all with the hypnotizing and mysterious 'Kashmir' and its orientalized orchestrated melody, one of the best of the album.

The band also reaffirms their folksy leanings with Page's beautiful acoustic arpeggios on the instrumental 'Bron-Yr-Aur' (original from 1970) or the fractured 'Black Country Woman' (dropped from Houses of the Holy) with Plant and excellent harmonica playing, and they retain that laudable exploratory spirit with the progressive chords of John Paul Jones' hypnotic synthesizer and Page's bowing effect on the intriguing 'In the Light', the funky chords of 'Trampled Under Foot', Jones' electric piano on the melodic 'Down by the Seaside' and the refreshing 'Boogie with Stu' with the bluesy piano of esteemed sessionist Ian Stewart (both tracks recovered from 1971), before closing with the glam airs of 'Sick Again', a mention of Led Zeppelin's innumerable groupies.

Despite the enormous wear and tear caused by the self-demanding nature of the band on their way to the top, which left some after-effects in terms of the intensity of the proposal, 'Physical Graffiti' is a very good work and surely the last great album by Page and company.

3.5/4 stars

This is a rare album and band that I didn't know about back then or believe me they would be included in that list of bands I just gave, and this the debut from 1971 is my favourite from them. Heavy bare bones Blues based music fuelled lyrically by out of control testosterone levels I'm sure. AC/DC had to have heard of this band. A trio with a setup RUSH would later employ of a singing bassist with a high pitched voice along with drums and guitar. These guys can play, and they were uncompromising as a band when it came to their music, gigs, record deals etc. They would never sell out. You like us or you don't. Whatever. Rodger Bain BLACK SABBATH's first producer took them under his wing and was a huge help. Rodger would discover JUDAS PREIST as well who opened for BUDGIE back in those early days.

I love this album. We get two lighter tracks that almost act like buffers for us, a relief from the onslaught. The thing is these two songs total just over 2 1/2 minutes(haha). The rest is gravy and then some. Six killer tracks that have been very influential bringing many bands to mind who would come upon the scene later on. I mean they should have got royalties for "Radar Love" as the bass line and even vocal style at times screams "Nude Disintegrating Parachutist Woman". What a song though. Burke the bassist and singer cries out the lyrics and he is awesome. And how about him playing bass in that Jazz style on this one at times and elsewhere on here. The man can play.

That closer "Homicidal Suicidal" is one I can even imagine belting out the chorus with Burke if I had knew this back in the day. Some inventive lyrics on this one and I like the way they repeat themes, just so good. The opener "Guts" gets the juices flowing and when the vocals step aside the guitarist lets it rip. Love "The Author" the way it starts slow then around 2 minutes in they hit the "on" button it seems like. The other two tracks "Rape Of The Locks" where the guitarist shows his stuff and he has plenty of stuff, including an intense instrumental section with jazzy bass along with "All Night Petrol" with that nice heavy groove. Bass is killer here.

My music right here.

"Coda" is the ninth and last studio album or a compilation album, as you wish, of Led Zeppelin, released in 1982. It's a collection of unused tracks taken from various sessions during Led Zeppelin's musical career, and so, it could be heard as a quasi compilation album of unreleased tracks in the same tradition of other albums such as "Odds And Sods" of The Who and "Basement Tapes" of Bob Dylan. It was released two years after Led Zeppelin had officially disbanded following the death of their drummer John Bonham. The word "coda", meaning a passage that ends a musical piece following the main body, was therefore chosen as a title. So, it represents the end of the musical career of a great band.

"Coda" has eight tracks. The first track "We're Gonna Groove" was a song co-written by Ben E. King and James A. Bethea with the original title "Groovin". It's a live track recorded on 9 January 1970 in London and was edited with guitar overdubs. This track was originally stated for inclusion on "Led Zeppelin II" and kicks off the compilation album with the heavy, funky blues so common on the early band's works. Lyrically, it's a song with a high energy and an excellent musicianship, being just a plain of a pure Rock'n'Roll song. The second track "Poor Tom" was written by Page and Plant and is an outtake from "Led Zeppelin III". It tells us the story of the eponymous railroad worker whose clairvoyance leads to the knowledge of his wife's affairs. Musically, it opens with a solid drum riff and with Plant dinging softly. The drums are the predominant instrument through the early musical stages of the group and this song isn't an exception. However, it's very curious and extremely rare for the highlight on an acoustic song to be the drums. The third track "I Can't Quit You Baby" was written by Willie Dixon and recorded by Otis Rush in 1965. It was included on Led Zeppelin's debut studio album in 1969. It's an edited live track recorded on 9 January 1970 at the Royal Albert Hall, in London. It's a song heavily influenced by the blues riffs and the slow bass drumming. This live version is better than the original with nice guitar solo and the sound just seems tighter than on the original studio take. It's a nice flashback into the early days of the group. The fourth track "Walter's Walk" was written by Page and Plant and is an outake from "Houses Of The Holy", possibly with later overdubs. It's perhaps Led Zeppelin's rawest song on the album. It opens strong with the guitar followed by a solid drumming. Plant's vocals, although strong, sound like they are in the background. The musicianship is very strong and despite being a good song is probably one of the weakest tracks on the album. The fifth track "Ozone Baby" was written by Page and Plant and is an outtake from "In Through The Out Door". It opens very promisingly, and musically it continues all over the song. Plant's vocals are very good, as always. He sings very well in tune with the music, and its upbeat guitar riffs and fills with a nice solo too. It makes of this song as one of the best tracks on the entire compilation. I probably would have liked to have seen it on "In Through The Out Door". The sixth track "Darlene" was written by Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham, it's also an outtake from "In Through The Out Door". This is another good song with a great beat and where Jones makes a great piano job, once again. Plant's vocals are once more great and the way that it put his vocals back up Page's interesting guitar line, make this song being catchy and nice to hear. The seventh track "Bonzo's Montreux" was written by Bonham and was recorded in 1976 at Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland. It's a four minute drum solo taken from one of Bonham's sound checks at Royal Albert Hall. It can be compared to "Moby Dick" in that they are both drum solos, although, aside from that, they are slightly different. It doesn't open and close with Page taking the centre stage and Page added some electronic effects over the solo in the studio. This is a great track and shows for the last time, just how great Bonham was, really. The eighth and last track "Wearing And Tearing" was written by Page and Plant, is another outtake from "In Through The Out Door". This is a musical effort to mirror the growing popularity of the punk movement at the time, and it imitates its style. The chaotic musical atmosphere of the track provides an excellent background for Plant's stylishly sung vocals. However, I've never was a great fan of punk, really. But, it's a fresh song, for the time, and I don't dislike it.

Conclusion: As a true album, "Coda" isn't definitely, to anyone, one of the favourite albums of Led Zeppelin. It was composed of the left over stuff from the band, even if Led Zeppelin's throwaways are better than most groups usually make at their best. This is definitely an album that would be labelled only for hard core fans, even thought that the world is full of them. It's one that every Led Zeppelin's fan should save in the last. It's an album that only a real Led Zeppelin's fan would or could really enjoy, if your musical collection of pre "Coda" isn't complete yet, I wouldn't recommend this album to anyone. Concluding, "Coda" is definitely not the Led Zeppelin's best musical work. It's not a bad album, but not a good start off to listening to Led Zeppelin's music. Fans of the band, like me, will probably enjoy it to an end, as I do. It's non-essential, but as a posthumous work for Bonham's, it's a very emotional album for the group and fans too.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Distanced from the dense guitar riffs and thick instrumental walls of the previous album, Led Zeppelin presents a collage of styles from the very beginning of the album, with Jimmy Page's clean guitars close to progressive sonorities in the hyperactive "The Song Remains the Same", the acoustic folk overflown by the invaluable contribution of John Paul Jones' evocative mellotron in the beautiful ballad "Rain Song", and the Celtic reminiscences of JJR Tolkien's work in the boisterous "Over The Hills And Far Away", a piece sustained by Page's rhythmic acoustic riffs and John Bonham's mastery on percussion.

But the styles that are furthest away from the band's recognisable frontiers come with the American Funky of "The Crunge", a piece that doesn't quite manage to take off, the jubilant and persistent Groove of "Dancing Days", and the unsuspected "rock" reggae of "D'yer Ma'ker", in a clear demonstration of the exploratory concerns of Page and company.

The musical mosaic reserves for its final stretch the experimental progressive exercise that the vaporous and aquatic tension of "No Quarter" proposes with a stupendous work on Jones' atmospheric synthesizers, Robert Plant's voice loaded with effects and Page's saturated riffs in one of the best passages of the album, and "The Ocean", the track that comes closest to the band's hard rock roots.

"Houses of the Holy" is another of Led Zeppelin's great albums, and like "Led Zeppelin III", it has achieved widespread recognition over the years.

3.5/4 stars

ELP never ends at last. In 1983, Asia makes a Budokan Show with Greg Lake on vocals singing Only Time Will Tell (a most famous Song for Asia around the world) at side of Carl Palmer. In 1985, ELP haved a plans to return, but Palmer was have a long gigs (or shows) with Asia because your third album. In Palmer's place, Cozy Powell, a Heavy Metal drummer, take a drums and a percussion. This project makes born the Emerson, Lake & Powell and your first and unique album from 1986.

This album do a relative sucess with Touch and Go single. In 88, a 3 band bring back Palmer to drums, but Greg Lake stayed occuped with a mysterious work.

In Greg place, Robert Barry take a vocals of this line-up. Still in 88, Greg reunites with a Yes keysman, Geoff Downes, and produced this album.

The sound of this work is a oriented for a Hard Rock in a plus with synthetizers, while constructs a true Power Rock. Three of this songs are a revisited from ELP in 1990. Money Talks turns into a Paper Blood, a Country Prog song from Black Moon, in 1992. Meanwhile, Affairs of The Heart, gained a definitive and better version in Black Moon too. The great modification is for Street War. The new arrangments are a so diffrent for your early version. In the In Hot Seat album, this song is most accelerated.

The other songs have a great energy, but continues with a pop feelings from 80's (particulary, i'm like a 1980 sonority). This album it's was a produced in 1987 to 1988, but, i don't known the labels holding this at to 2015, one year before Greg Lake's pass.

Well, in 1980, Greg Lake take a distance from Prog, and navigate in a 80's Power Rock (at last i feel King Crimson in Someone in your first album, Greg Lake (1981)). Any Prog references are so shift here, but is a certanily a good register. 3 stars.

The first part of the album is outstanding and there is nothing to be wasted, with pieces with the necessary ingredients to make up timeless anthems of the genre: Page's dense riffs in the lusty "Black Dog" and the incendiary "Rock and Roll", Celtic reminiscences in "The Battle of Evermore" with the contribution of Page on mandolin and English singer Sandy Denny, and the perfect electro-acoustic combination of the immortal "Stairway to Heaven" with the growing instrumental wall built by John Paul Jones and John Bonham and crowned by Page's portentous guitar solo and Plant's heartbreaking phrasing, one of the band's and the genre's flagship songs.

Although in the second half the rushed "Mystic Mountain Hop" marked by Jones' electric piano and the orientalised "Four Sticks" lag a little behind the rest of the pieces, "Going to California", a beautiful acoustic tribute to the Canadian singer Joni Mitchell, and the infallible blues of the parsimonious "When the Levee Breaks" (an adaptation taken from the American singer Memphis Minnie) interpreted in the way that only the British can do, maintain a superlative level and bring the work to a close.

The album of the portrait of the mysterious peasant hunched over with a bundle of branches on his back hanging on a peeling wall, would become one of the cornerstones of the genre and would raise the band to the top of the rock scene.

Excellent

4/4.5 stars

The first segment approaches (with the exception of "Friends") the hard rock sound of the band, as with Page's guitar riffs, John Bonham's intense percussion and Robert Plant's demonic screams in the combative "Immigrant Song", with the dark ezquizophrenia of "Celebration Day" and the anxious riffs of the lively "Out of the Tiles" and, on the other hand, the deep blues influences of the band, the deep blues influences are also present in the plaintive "Since I've Been Loving You", a very solid instrumental progression (courtesy of the Jones/Bonham duo) that supports Page's masterful guitar ramblings and solos and Plant's heartbroken singing giving his life in every verse, in one of the best moments, if not the best, of the album.

The second segment, nevertheless, shows a significant turnaround, no more thunderous and saturated walls of sound, and the Englishmen's undeniable taste for acoustic nuances takes over: the folk arrangement of "Gallows Pole", a traditional song of probable 18th century Anglo-Saxon origin, the beautiful and melancholic grey tone of "Tangerine", the reflective "That's The Way", attributable to the Page/Plant duo's inspirational sojourn in rural Snowdia (Wales), a place that also lent its name to the percussive agility of the also folk "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp", all tracks that make for an unexpected and unbeatable unplugged set. The haunting "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper", which borrows elements from legendary American blues representatives like Bukka White and Fred Mc Dowell, closes the album with a nod to the band's singer/songwriter friend Roy Harper.

Despite the initial feelings of bewilderment and suspicion generated by the unpredictable drop in revolutions, "Led Zeppelin III" is a great album (including its psychedelic cover art), and with hindsight it has achieved the recognition it deserved.

Very good.

4 stars