Achilles Last Stand

Just today, I was feeling bored while taking a long trip to town in a public bus. So I plugged into my Discman, and played one of my all-time favourite cds: Led Zeppelin’s Presence. As the introductions to the first song Achilles Last Stand delivered through the miniature earpieces, several thoughts came into my mind. Although this was not the first time I felt this way, for some reason or another, this time, I felt the need to put down my thoughts into words:

Achilles Last Stand, is in my opinion, the archetypical rock song. It combines layers of magnificent guitar-playing, evocative lyrics, together with hard-hitting vocals and a rock-solid rhythm track. From the incandescent siren-like guitar solo, filled with Spanish-styled arpeggios, accompanied by subtle (yet brutal) harmonics and octaves… to the extraordinary paramilitary drumming - enhanced by the pounding bass line… to the haunting echo-filled vocals… It was the first real hard rock song I heard, the first song that really got me into the music of Led Zeppelin, and the first song that truly blew my mind.

The album Presence, was written and recorded over an incredibly short period of 18 days due to studio deadlines. It was produced during one of the lowest points of the band’s career: due to a car accident in 1975, singer Robert Plant was rendered wheelchair-bound for over a year. Matters were made worse when the band members were forced into tax-exile, due to the excessive taxes of the day. To produce a song as breathtaking as Achilles Last Stand during that period of anxiety, it would have been impossible under the hands of lesser musicians.

Achilles Last Stand was most likely conceived in the mind of guitarist Jimmy Page during Led Zeppelin’s liveconcert performances of Dazed and Confused, their concert showpiece for most of the early part of their career. The ascending scales that replicate in the guitar tracks of the song, date back to the Woodstock/San Francisco sections of the onstage showcase, starting from the early 70s right up to its swansong in Earls Court London 1975.

Achilles Last Stand stands as a true testament to Page’s compositional genius. It is a genuine demonstration of the incredible vision he must have had in order to write a song of this scale. If one were to imagine the song stripped down in the recording studios, sans the guitar overdubs, just plain rhythm tracks being laid down, it seems almost inconceivable how the song could have evolved into one of such epic proportions.

Page’s vision was to build a guitar-orchestrated song based entirely on scales. And although keyboardist/bassist John Paul Jones thought it impossible to accomplish such a feat, the song was fully realized under the hands of Page. The song, in addition, displays the incredible chemistry the band members had between them. It seems implausible how an earth-shattering rhythm track — possibly the late drummer John “Bonzo” Bonham’s most brilliant drum showcase — could have been recorded without a full overview of the song..

Page once said that the band’s motto was “ever onward”. Although by a cruel twist of fate, the band could not last, the music, however, endures. Achilles Last Stand remains and will remain as one of my favourite songs of all time.

Subjects: Music 音楽

Mood: Raves and Rants

Tags: Achilles Last Stand, CD, guitar, hard rock, Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin, Presence