After paving the path to heavy metal with their late 1960s releases, Led Zeppelin showed the full breadth of their instrumental dexterity as a leading force in the so-called prog-rock wave. Maintaining a heavy edge, primarily thanks to John Bonham’s thunderous percussion, the band separated itself from rivals through virtuosity in all four corners.
An early pinnacle of Led Zeppelin’s compositional extravagance and complexity arrived in 1971 with their untitled fourth album, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV. Home to Bonham’s most difficult drumming track, ‘Four Sticks’ and the band’s enduring epic ‘Stairway to Heaven’, the LP set the bar exceedingly high for peers and future Led Zeppelin albums.
Whether Led Zeppelin ever topped 1971’s Led Zeppelin IV is up to each individual fan to decide, but few can argue that they didn’t come close in 1976’s Presence. The penultimate album isn’t regarded as one of the band’s greatest all-rounders, but its ten-minute opener, ‘Achilles Last Stand’, heard the band back at its best.
‘Achilles Last Stand’ is a psychedelic odyssey that relied on the virtuosity of all four band members. Above the compositional mastery, Robert Plant delivered immersive lyrics teeming with mythological references. Jimmy Page was especially proud of the band’s efforts on the recording after spending hours perfecting the guitar parts with meticulous overdubs.
Heeding Plant’s thematic concept, Page planned to create an “epic quality” so it wouldn’t simply sound like two lengthy “sections repeated”. Speaking to Dave Schulps in 1977, the guitarist added, “It was to give the piece a totally new identity by orchestrating the guitars, which is something I’ve been into for quite some time.”
Page remembered composing the song during a lengthy studio session under the sceptically folded arms of his bandmates, especially those of his bassist. “John Paul Jones didn’t think I could succeed in what I was attempting to do,” Page remembered. “He said I couldn’t do a scale over a certain section, that it just wouldn’t work. But it did.”
Discussing the song as one of his proudest achievements in a 2007 interview with Rolling Stone, Page elaborated, suggesting all three of his bandmates were dubious of his guitar work. “To be honest with you, the other guys didn’t know: ‘Has he gone mad? Does he know what he’s doing?’” he said. “But at the end of it, the picture became clear. It was like a little vignette every time something comes around.”
Led Zeppelin recorded Presence just after Plant’s horrific car accident in 1975, which incidentally inspired ‘Achilles Last Stand’. Speaking to Guitar Player in 1977, Page recalled the album as an “anxious” but ultimately prosperous moment for the band. “It was just good for everything really, even though it was a very anxious point, and the anxiety shows, group-wise – ‘Is Robert going to walk again from his auto accident in Greece?’ and all this sort of thing.”
Fortunately, Plant made a full recovery, but Led Zeppelin entered into a strained period subsequently, marked by the uneven swansong In Through the Out Door and bookended by Bonham’s tragic death in 1980.
As far as Page was concerned, ‘Achilles Last Stand’ was a “last stand” of sorts, the last glimmer of Led Zeppelin’s heyday. “I guess the solo in ‘Achilles Last Stand’ on Presence is in the same tradition as the solo from ‘Stairway to Heaven’ on the fourth LP,” Page said in 1977. “It is on that level to me.”
Listen to Led Zeppelin’s masterful epic ‘Achilles Last Stand’ below.