March 31, 1976. Led Zeppelin releases their seventh studio album on the heels of a year marked with a car crash and a cancelled tour.
So think of it like this: if Robert Plant hadn't gotten banged up in that car crash in early 1975, the band wouldn't have cancelled their tours that year. And since they cancelled their tours that year, Zeppelin had the time to work on songs, get into the studio, and record them. So no car crash means no Presence, right? Right.
Another interesting fact: the band wasn't able to put together a proper tour around the album, as Plant was still recuperating from his injuries. When they finally did get back on the road, only two of the album's seven songs made it onto the live playlist: 'Achilles Last Stand" and "Nobody's Fault But Mine." I found a couple of killer live versions of both--each from 1977--to celebrate 45 years of the Led Zeppelin album that almost never was.
