Presence

Review

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Presence scales back the size of Physical Graffiti to a single album, but it retains the grandiose scope of that double record. If anything, Presence has more majestic epics than its predecessor, opening with the surging, ten-minute "Achilles Last Stand" and closing with the meandering, nearly ten-minute "Tea for One." In between, Led Zeppelin add the lumbering blues workout "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and the terse, menacing "For Your Life," which is the best song on the album. These four tracks take up the bulk of the album, leaving three lighthearted throwaways to alleviate the foreboding atmosphere -- and pretensions -- of the epics. If all of the throwaways were as focused and funny as those on Physical Graffiti or Houses of the Holy, Zeppelin would have had another classic on their hands.

Tracks

				Title	Composer	Time
		1		Achilles Last Stand	Page, Plant	10:25
		2		For Your Life	Page, Plant	6:24
		3		Royal Orleans	Bonham, Jones, Page, Plant	2:59
		4		Nobody's Fault But Mine	Page, Plant	6:16
		5		Candy Store Rock	Page, Plant	4:11
		6		Hots on for Nowhere	Page, Plant	4:44
		7		Tea for One	Page, Plant	9:27

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