Welcome to the 8th installment of my Led Zeppelin studio album reviews! These are tandem reviews with my amazing wife, Sarah who is posting her own over at Caught Me Gaming. So be sure to check out her write up on In Through The Out Door right here!
As for me, I can sum up In Through The Out Door like this:
John Paul Jones is back, baby!
As a Led Zeppelin Album: 4/5
Compared to the Rest: 4.5/5
Yeah, JPJ took command of the heavy blimp for this one. He is listed with the top writing credit on 6 of its 7 tracks. Hot Dog is the only Page/Plant contribution, which features Plant channeling his inner Elvis. It is a little fun but filler. So, bonus for John Paul.
In The Evening, Fool In The Rain, and All My Love became FM radio staples. Honestly, for me, In The Evening feels a little like a weaker track that you would find on Physical Graffiti. It’s not bad, but I have never found its hook all that interesting.
I like how different Fool in the Rain is. The bass and piano are on a 6-beat (both played by John Paul) while the drummer John Bonham is on a 4-beat. The samba-style breakdown with John Paul hammering it on the piano is out there too.

All My Love is a synth driven easy rocker. Page strums clean bar chords like it is a Motown song, then the synth and guitar go at it with solos. Good stuff.
South Bound Saurez is a bit of a straight up rocker, but not too heavy. A little forgettable, but still a good time. Page’s roaring solo is a throw back to the band’s earlier albums.
The hidden gem on this one is the opener for side 2, Carouselambra. It might not be for everyone as it reminds me of a deep cut from a Phil Collins Genesis album… and it is 10-plus minutes long! But I enjoy following John Paul’s sexy swingin’ bass and his funk on the keys. The bridge, the break down, it is all aces in my book. I’d have this one on the radio all of the time.
For the 2nd album in a row, Zep wraps it up with a slow bluesy number. I like I’m Gonna Crawl much better than Presence‘s rote Tea For One. This is as close in sound as Zep gets to their early selves with Page ripping another stand out solo and the synth being the only give away.
After their first two albums, Zep never stopped experimenting and In Through The Out Door is their least conventional album. And I find it to be their most interesting. I would have loved to see where they went from here.
I always liked the sound of this album as it was Zep headed straight into the 80s. Too my ears you can really hear how much of a stamp Robbo had in shaping these songs as some of them sound like his solo stuff from the 80s as well.
Great writeup and nice score.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is true. Meanwhile, JPJ didn’t really do too much after this. Them Crooked Vultures might be the only non-Zep thing I have from him.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Didn’t JPJ do some stuff for Heart? I’m thinking behind the scenes stuff.
Page keeps busy remastering the remaster of the original master to remaster the Zep catalog! lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just looked it up on Wikipedia and he produced a live acoustic album for them in the ’90s.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like this one too. It is cool to see how far they had come from the debut. I still need to get one with the paper bag cover.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The paper bag makes no difference and all of the difference at the same time.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I know what you mean!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice one. I forget the number of albums they cranked out while active.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It seems like every band in the ’70s was cranking them out every year. Now we wait five years between releases.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a bone dry copy still in the paper bag. It became a grail quest album ever since I saw my buddy Sean’s copy at school all those years ago.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice! The previous owner had added the water. I’m not sure if I would have.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is the album that Page went missing for me. He was more of a support cast member. That’s not a bad thing when it comes to Led Zep as it gave Plant and Jones to shine a little bit more.
All My Love and Fools In The Rain are my favourites.
Nice write up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, man! Those are great tunes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m with you on Fool in the Rain – I’m not sure if it’s a favourite for me, but I too like how different it is.
And that breakdown is indeed something else!
LikeLike
As I said to Sarca, This is the Zep album I listen to the least but I still like it.
LikeLike
Just what I said on Sarah’s review. It makes me weep, knowing we’d never see the next step in Zep’s evolution.
I love In The Evening. It was familiar to me already, I must have heard it on the radio. The vocals are buried and they are as mushy as Fly On the Wall, but I love that song. When I hear it I just want to release the hounds.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, its good stuff. At least they went out on a high note.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The highest of high notes for any rock band.
LikeLiked by 1 person