‘Prescence’: The album Robert Plant called painful to make
Making an album from scratch is usually a minor miracle for any group to pull off. Even if someone has made masterpieces in the past, the art of returning to the studio and working that same magic again is an impossible task for anyone to measure up to, which normally explains why so many artists take their time before releasing something they’re proud of. While Led Zeppelin could have easily called it quits after Physical Graffiti and have had one of the best discographies in rock history, Robert Plant thought that the recording of Presence was a far more painful experience than he realised.
Because, really, how the hell do you hope to follow up an album like Physical Graffiti? Each Led Zeppelin record before their mammoth double album seemed like it was building to something, and with two discs’ worth of material, the group had taken everything that made them a force of nature and turned it into magic, going back to blues standards, making strange acoustic ditties like ‘Bron-Yr-Aur’, and epics that defied any explanation like ‘Ten Years Gone’ and ‘Kashmir’.
And let’s not forget every other group that had come out in their wake. There had still been bluesy acts making a name for themselves, like Humble Pie, but by the time acts like Grand Funk Railroad and Rush started making their first records, it did look like they started off riding the coattails of Zeppelin and trying their best to get people to notice them just because the riff sounded a bit like Jimmy Page.
Before they even got the raw recording down, though, Plant was already struggling with injuries sustained during a car accident. No matter how many times ‘Percy’ seemed to wow audiences whenever he went for a high note, there was no way he would get the same power having to sit down or walk with a cane during the first few months of production.
That didn’t mean that there weren’t still some great tunes on the project. ‘Nobody’s Fault But Mine’ is in the conversation of Zeppelin’s best deep cuts, and anyone who claims that the group never did anything worthwhile after their double album usually has to eat their words the minute that they listen to ‘Achilles’ Last Stand’.
Still, even if the album spoke for itself, that didn’t mean Plant necessarily liked the sessions, telling The Guardian, “The whole of that album, Presence, is absolutely wracked with pain. Plus, the fraternity of the band at the time was stretched to breaking point.” And listening to Plant’s vocal tracks, it’s easy to see why he has a few problems looking back on it.
Regardless of how great Page’s riffs are, the mixing of the album didn’t do justice to what Plant could do, especially with his vocals mixed so low. That may have just been a way to cover up some of his weaker moments, but after hearing ‘Kashmir’ one album before, it seems like a bit of a letdown watching the same group having their singer take a back seat for the rest of the project.
But that doesn’t mean that Presence should be considered any lesser than any of Zeppelin’s mainline albums. There are pieces that don’t hold up as well as others, but looking through their discography, they didn’t have to worry about a thing when an album like this was seen as a ‘lowlight’.
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