By the time 1969 rolled around, Jimmy Page’s time in the limelight was well overdue.
He had done his graft, spent time at the coalface of London’s blues scene, tirelessly toiling away at stardom when it finally presented itself to him in the form of Led Zeppelin.
To those initiated in the heady London blues scene, Page had proved he could pretty much do it all. Whatever band he was in, he carried the melodic weight on his shoulders, pulling out master riff after master riff. Of course, being a session musician for The Yardbirds meant he wasn’t exactly surrounded by musical slouches, but it was clear he hadn’t yet found his purpose.
When they disbanded and Page was left to fulfil the band’s touring obligations, fate put Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones in his lap, finally delivering him the band that would go on to change musical history forever. But from the very first note of their rehearsal, it was clear to Page that these guys weren’t here to support him; no, they all possessed their own sense of musical greatness that would make this a band of brilliant equals.
Nevertheless, Page was a relentless creative and was never short of a riff that would lead the band into rock greatness. By 1976, Zeppelin had released six albums that had ultimately granted them occupation of the rock throne, and they were, in essence, untouchable. So much so that Page took the recording of ‘Achilles Last Stand’ into his own hands, without the help of his bandmates, fully confident that it wouldn’t jeopardise their sound.
“It was done in one evening, the whole of the arrangement. To be honest with you, the other guys didn’t know: ‘Has he gone mad? Does he know what he’s doing?’ But at the end of it, the picture became clear. It was like a little vignette, every time something comes around.”
Page’s personal approach to the track makes it one of his favourites to this day. His independent and thorough approach was somewhat driven by a car accident Robert Plant had earlier that year, which ultimately put his contribution to music on the back burner. And so ‘Achilles Last Stand’ proved to Page that when the chips are down, he can still lead the band to music immortality.
He told Guitar Player Magazine in 1977: “Presence and my control over all the contributing factors to that LP – the fact that it was done in three weeks, and all the rest of it – is so good for me. It was just good for everything really, even though it was a very anxious point, and the anxiety shows, group-wise – you know, ‘Is Robert going to walk again from his auto accident in Greece?’ and all this sort of thing”.
Adding: “But 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. It is on that level to me.”
It’s a song that was a mainstay in the setlist thereafter, for it represented the sprawling and indulgent brand of rock that the band mastered. It was arguably one of the last great moments from the band, which slowly fizzled out before disbanding at the end of the decade. But it was yet another chapter in the book of Page’s undeniable legacy.