IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR

A nice, mellow end to a roller-coaster of a career. 'ITTOD' is nothing special by any means. But it's warm (in places) and sees a lighter, more poppy approach from the band; the result of some song-writing sessions from the odd partnership of JONES and Plant. Page was, by this point, all drugged out.

Before the hard-rockers criticise the piano pop, take a look at track 1. 'In the Evening' is a sizable dose of classic Zeppelin, so no problems there. 'Saurez' and 'All My Love' have been compared to Elton John. They are fine tunes but not really appropiate for this band (thumbs up to that synth solo though!). The same goes for 'Fool in the Rain' although I'm not sure about the latin insert. It seems a little out of place if you ask me ('Houses...' was the opportunity for diversity, this attempt is late). 'Hot Dog' is harmless country-rock and apparently it went down very well at the Knebworth farewell concert (my Dad thought so anyway). 'Carouselambra' is a respectable 10 minutes of prog, but I struggle to find any depth or feeling in it. Very one-dimensional. And the failed attempt at blues 'I'm Gonna Crawl' is PAST depressing; it ought to be on Pink Floyd's 'The Final Cut'.

So 'ITTOD' really is a mixed bag in terms of quality, making it very very average overall. This isn't surprising, as Led Zep were essentially a two-man band by this point.

Sad to see Bonham go because I think the future Zeppelin may have been more productive.