Not about to start singing himself, Jimmy used Outrider as an opportunity to work with a hand-picked group of revolving musicians. Young Jason Bonham was one of those, and subsequently signed on for the tour. Of the vocalists, Robert Plant sang and co-wrote the best track, a rave-up called “The Only One”. But to get there, one must endure two songs howled by one John Miles (who also joined the tour). “Wasting My Time” has a decent riff, but the sound is tired by the time “Wanna Make Love” comes in. A pair of instrumentals, “Writes Of Winter” and “Liquid Mercury” bookend the Plant tune, wherein Jimmy shows his aptitude around time signatures.
Side two features the overblown vocal stylings of Page favorite Chris Farlowe. His “technique” takes most of the enjoyment out of Leon Russell’s “Hummingbird”, and “Prison Blues” is about as clichéd as you can get, making Jimmy’s fingered responses even more desperate. “Blues Anthem (If I Cannot Have Your Love…)” is more restrained, but colored by bad fake strings. Thankfully, the instrumental “Emerald Eyes” is nicely balanced between Page’s acoustic and electric strumming.
As with much of 1988, much of Outrider sounds bombastic and hurried, and while Jimmy’s timing was astute, his statement was inevitably overshadowed by Plant’s effort earlier that year. It was especially disappointing to hear that Jimmy’s original tapes, supposedly filled with two records’ worth of acoustic and blues tunes, went missing, leaving only what remained. Supposedly. As time goes on, it’s clear just how lost Jimmy was without Zeppelin, and without Robert, who’d joined that band as a novice, but would hold the keys after it was all done.
Jimmy Page Outrider (1988)—2
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