LED ZEPPELIN - CAROUSELAMBRA

'And everything was soon no sooner thought than deed, and no one seemed to question anyway'

An epic muse, the second longest studio track in Zeppelin's arsenal. One of the seeds of renewal on 'In Through The Out Door', a new avenue that was sadly never to be explored fully. Originally rehearsed in May '78 when Led Zeppelin reconvened at Clearwell Castle in the Forest Of Dean to see if Robert had overcome his tragedy to at least some degree and there was a future for Led Zeppelin once again.

The fragmentary recordings from Clearwell show a tentative yet determined positivity, and the new music (including the sadly and strangely unfinished and unreleased 'Fire' from the same sessions) is vibrant and positive. It's an indication of how enthusiastic they are, despite the first of  takes disintegrating after the first section and the other two getting not much further Robert already has skeletal lyrics and an arrangement is taking shape. 

Some 6 months later, after running down the numbers at Ezyhire in October, Led Zeppelin recorded 'Carouselambra' at Abba's Polar Studios. Laid down on November 23rd, the same day as 'I'm Gonna Crawl', it's ambitious and full of energy but ultimately flawed. The mix is, for once, a problem. Strangely muffled, Robert's vocals are buried and it lacks an edge to add to the obvious punch.

There are great moments, Bonzo powering things along as only he can. On careful listening Robert's lyrics are cynical and wistful, wary of the vast machine that is Led Zeppelin he sits at the heart of. Jonesy is having a whale of a time with his 'dream machine', the new Yamaha GX-1 symthesiser, later to go back to Keith Emerson. Jimmy, as with much of 'In Through The Out Door' stays on the periphery and adds colour, texture and drama from the outside, the edge. For the only time in the studio, Jimmy employed his Gibson Twin Neck, adding a shimmering quality to the prog style middle section.

Never performed live, it was rehearsed and thought to be a set certainty for the 1980/81 US Tour. There's also a possibility it was considered for the Over Europe 1980 tour. 

Rehearsals had taken place at London's Rainbow from April 22nd to May 3rd, or at least were booked for those dates but after a week or so press leaks led to  change of venue to the Victoria Apollo. Listening to the Munich show, it could have been added easily to the set but may well have replaced something. 

My guess would be the latter part, possibly ousting either 'Trampled Underfoot' or even 'Achilles Last Stand'. A point of discussion for sure.

There are also the companion disc remixed version of the finished studio take - one or two nuances and a higher vocal and crisper sound - and the remarkable Bonzo only drum outtakes from much of the sessions that shows he still had the power, drive and intuition all the way through his career.

As there were no serious rehearsals on that first (and only) day - September 24th - it's very unlikely it would have been run through. It would certainly have been routined within the next couple of 'serious' rehearsal days, as Zeppelin always did when auditioning challenging songs to add/replace to the set. 

On the 1995 tour the mid section was added to the post solo part of In The Evening, but Carouselambra has never had a full live outing. Even this small insert showed how it could have sounded as a live Zeppelin number in 1980/81 and beyond....