When Jimmy Page released Outrider (1988), his first full-length solo album, the former Led Zeppelin titan couldn’t expect great reviews. After all, in his 12 years with the most dominant force in rock of the 70s, he had hardly seen any positive news. (Rolling Stones ratings were particularly / absurdly bad.)
That’s basically how it went with the Outrider. “Jimmy Page’s Failed Alchemy” read the LA Times headline. In Rolling Stone, David Fricke politely gave him two stars. While Page received no negative reviews across the board, one couldn’t help but notice the collective disappointment with his solo debut.
If you listen to Outrider 30+ years later, you can see how it has under-challenged the listeners after so many electric Zep recordings. And you can see why reviewers made the same criticisms so often.
Critics got involved with the weak singers of Jimmy Pages ‘Outrider’.
Jimmy Page performs at Madison Square Garden for Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary Concert in May 1988 Paul Natkin / Getty Images
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In Led Zeppelin, Page did almost everything. After the band was founded, he produced Zeps records; wrote the music for most of his songs; and played guitar with the best of his generation. But he could never be the singer of a band.
Fortunately, he found the perfect man for the job in Robert Plant. But in the years after the Zeppelin, Page was never able to compete with anyone at Plant’s (admittedly high) level. And that came into play at Outrider, where there were some rough vocal excursions from lead singers.
In his Rolling Stone review, Fricke discussed Chris Farlowe, who sang on three of the four tracks on page 2, including a cover of Leon Russell’s “Hummingbird”. “Instead of setting ‘Kolibri’ on fire, Farlowe practically burns it,” Fricke wrote.
Over at Spin, Thor Chirstensen couldn’t agree more. “Farlowe’s exaggerated singing turns the songs into blues parodies,” he wrote. And everyone who reviewed the record called out the weak lyrics by Farlowe and John Miles. (Plant checked in for a track, page 1 is “The Only One”.)
‘Prison Blues’ had some of Outrider’s best and worst
The Firm’s Paul Rodgers and Jimmy Page perform in 1985 Paul Natkin / Getty Images
While critics roused the singers and the generally unpolished feel of Outrider, almost everyone recognized Page’s strong guitar work. Page really got into a couple of tracks and served up layered guitar work reminiscent of his epic material from the 70s. And on “Prison Blues” he gave the people what they wanted: classic blues shredding.
Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to enjoy Page’s monster licks when Farlowe keeps getting in the way. In that regard, “Prison Blues” was both the best and the worst song on the album. But if it was good (see 1:15) it was really good.
Given the way the vocals worked, many Zeppelin fans might find Page used more instrumentals like “Writes of Winter” (which earned Page a Grammy nomination) and “Emerald Eyes,” the Side 2 stunner , has made.
So that nobody forgets, Page originally wrote “The Song Remains the Same” and “Ten Years Gone” as instrumentals. The real tragedy of Outrider – and with it Page’s solo career – was that we never got a full album of his guitar armies in attack mode.
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