Forget “Stairway To Heaven” for a minute. When it came to pushing Jimmy Page’s guitar wizardry into completely ridiculous territory, there was another Led Zeppelin monster that presented an even bigger challenge.
And that song was “Achilles Last Stand.”
Released in 1976 as the colossal opening track on Presence, “Achilles Last Stand” clocks in at more than ten minutes and contains some of the most ferocious, intricate and downright bonkers guitar work Page ever committed to tape.
The problem?
Once Jimmy had finished building his enormous army of layered guitars in the studio, somebody eventually had to play the bloody thing live.
That somebody was Jimmy Page.
With one guitar.
Good luck with that, butt. 🤘😂
⚡ STAIRWAY MIGHT BE LEGENDARY — BUT PAGE HAD OTHER FAVOURITES
There aren’t many guitar solos more famous than the closing eruption in “Stairway To Heaven.”
You could probably play the opening notes in a guitar shop in Cardiff and have somebody three aisles away instinctively start singing along.
But Page himself has made it clear that fame doesn’t automatically make “Stairway” his personal pinnacle.
Asked about the iconic solo, Page acknowledged its quality but revealed that there were other solos he preferred. (Guitar World)
And when the conversation turned towards guitar parts that really tested him, one Zeppelin track immediately stood out.
“Achilles Last Stand.”
Page described attempting to reproduce its multiple studio guitar parts live as:
“Testy, to say the least.” (Guitar World)
Coming from Jimmy Page, that’s roughly the equivalent of the rest of us throwing the guitar through the window and taking up the triangle.
🔥 ENTER ‘ACHILLES LAST STAND’
“Achilles Last Stand” opened Led Zeppelin’s seventh studio album, Presence, released in March 1976.
And there’s absolutely no gentle introduction.
No acoustic campfire moment.
No easing yourself into proceedings.
Instead, Zeppelin eventually launch into a relentless galloping assault powered by John Bonham’s thunderous drumming, John Paul Jones’ driving bass, Robert Plant’s soaring vocals and Jimmy Page seemingly attempting to become an entire guitar orchestra by himself.
It’s huge.
It’s hypnotic.
It’s progressive.
It’s heavy as hell.
And even after more than ten minutes, somehow it doesn’t feel like it’s hanging around.
This isn’t a song casually asking for your attention.
It’s kicking the door off the hinges.
🏥 ‘PRESENCE’ WAS CREATED UNDER SERIOUS PRESSURE
The circumstances surrounding Presence weren’t exactly ideal.
Robert Plant was still recovering from the serious car accident he’d suffered in Greece in August 1975, which had left him with significant injuries.
With touring plans disrupted, Led Zeppelin eventually headed into Musicland Studios in Munich to make another record.
There was another slight issue.
They didn’t exactly have unlimited studio time.
The Rolling Stones were due to use Musicland after Zeppelin, putting Page and company under considerable pressure to get the record finished.
Led Zeppelin’s official history describes Presence as being completed during an intense recording period of around 18 days, with Page overseeing extensive overnight overdub sessions alongside engineer Keith Harwood. Plant, still recovering from his injuries, recorded vocals while seated or using a wheelchair. (Led Zeppelin Official)
Page later remembered being completely focused during the sessions, describing Presence as an especially intense and dark Zeppelin record. (Louder)
Then came the guitars.
Ohhhhh, the guitars.
🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
🎸 JIMMY PAGE BUILT A GUITAR ARMY
The basic framework of “Achilles Last Stand” was already formidable.
But Page wasn’t satisfied with simply sticking a solo over the top, turning the amp up and heading to the pub.
He wanted something epic.
Page later explained that the track initially consisted essentially of two sections, and that he wanted to prevent such a long composition from sounding repetitive.
His solution was to orchestrate the guitars.
Page recalled having much of the arrangement already mapped out in his head before embarking on an extraordinary overdubbing session.
And he did those overdubs in one night. (TeachRock)
Reports surrounding the recording commonly identify at least six guitar layers within the arrangement, while Page himself admitted he eventually lost count of how many tracks he’d recorded. (TeachRock)
Imagine looking at a ten-minute Zeppelin epic and thinking:
“Needs more Jimmy.”
😂🤘
But that’s exactly why “Achilles Last Stand” sounds so enormous.
Rather than simply having rhythm guitar on one side and lead guitar on the other, Page constructed overlapping melodies, harmonies, riffs and textures.
Individual guitar lines weave around each other.
Some reinforce the rhythm.
Others soar above it.
Others appear briefly before disappearing back into the storm.
It becomes less like listening to one guitarist and more like standing in the middle of an entire battalion of Jimmy Pages.
Which sounds both brilliant and mildly terrifying.
🥁 AND THEN THERE’S JOHN BONHAM…
We can’t talk about “Achilles Last Stand” without giving Bonzo his flowers.
Because GOOD LORD.
🔥🥁🔥🥁🔥
John Bonham absolutely attacks this thing.
The galloping rhythmic feel gives “Achilles” a sense of constant forward movement, like Zeppelin have strapped an engine to the song and removed the brakes.
John Paul Jones locks into that momentum beautifully, using an eight-string bass on the recording and giving the track even more weight beneath Page’s higher guitar lines. (Wikipedia)
Meanwhile Plant is soaring over everything like he’s trying to communicate with another dimension.
This is Zeppelin operating as a genuinely terrifying four-piece.
Everyone is busy.
Nobody gets in anybody else’s way.
And somehow the whole thing stays together.
Mostly because John Bonham sounds like he could keep a freight train on tempo.
😈 THEN JIMMY HAD TO PLAY THE BLOODY THING LIVE
Here’s where Page’s studio ambition came back to bite him.
Because recording six or more guitar parts is lovely when you’ve got multitrack recording.
Concerts are slightly less accommodating.
Led Zeppelin weren’t travelling around with five spare Jimmy Pages hiding behind the amplifiers.
There was one.
Page therefore had to figure out how to create a convincing live representation of this enormous studio arrangement while physically playing one guitar at a time.
Years later, he admitted that he hadn’t really been worrying about the live consequences while making the record.
He was simply layering whatever he felt the composition required. (Guitar World)
Future Jimmy’s problem.
Classic.
😂
But once “Achilles Last Stand” entered Zeppelin’s live arsenal, Future Jimmy had arrived.
Page described the task as trying to create a kind of average of all those recorded guitar parts, condensing the essential ingredients into something one guitarist could actually perform. (Guitar World)
That’s why he called the challenge:
“Testy, to say the least.”
🎸 ONE GUITAR. SIX GUITARS’ WORTH OF PROBLEMS.
This is where Page’s genius as a live guitarist becomes especially interesting.
He couldn’t recreate the record exactly.
It was physically impossible.
Instead, he had to decide which elements mattered most at any particular moment.
A riff here.
A melody there.
A lead passage.
A rhythmic accent.
A bit of glorious Jimmy Page chaos.
The live version therefore became something slightly different from the studio recording.
And that’s exactly what made Led Zeppelin so exciting.
They weren’t interested in simply pressing play on their records in front of 20,000 people.
The songs breathed.
They stretched.
They changed.
They occasionally threatened to fall off a cliff before somehow landing perfectly on their feet.
“Achilles Last Stand” became one of the ultimate examples.
🤘 EVEN KEITH RICHARDS NOTICED PAGE’S WORKLOAD
Apparently Page’s one-man guitar juggling act wasn’t going unnoticed by his peers either.
Page later recalled that after Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood saw Zeppelin, Richards suggested he ought to get another guitarist because Page was becoming extremely overworked onstage. (Showbiz Cheat Sheet)
You can understand the logic.
Most bands attempting music containing that many guitar layers would probably bring another guitarist.
Maybe two.
Zeppelin?
Nah.
Jimmy’ll sort it.
Chuck him a Les Paul and hope for the best.
😂🎸
But that limitation became part of the excitement.
Page couldn’t hide behind additional musicians reproducing every overdub.
He had to wrestle with the arrangement himself.
And watching him attempt it became part of the spectacle.
🏟️ ‘ACHILLES’ BECOMES A LIVE MONSTER
“Achilles Last Stand” subsequently became a major part of Zeppelin’s later concerts, including their enormous 1977 US tour and their legendary Knebworth performances in 1979.
And the live versions demonstrate precisely what Page was talking about.
You’re not hearing a carbon copy of Presence.
You’re hearing Page effectively remixing the guitar arrangement in real time.
Parts disappear.
Others become more prominent.
The solos stretch.
Bonham attacks the drums.
Jones holds down the bottom end.
Plant rides over the whole glorious racket.
It’s Zeppelin doing what Zeppelin did best:
Taking something already massive and making it feel dangerous.
⚔️ ‘ACHILLES’ VS ‘STAIRWAY’
Comparing “Achilles Last Stand” with “Stairway To Heaven” is almost unfair.
They’re trying to accomplish completely different things.
“Stairway” is about progression.
It begins delicately, gradually builds tension and ultimately explodes into one of rock’s most famous climaxes.
“Achilles” basically arrives carrying a sword.
😂⚔️
There’s very little restraint.
Once that gallop kicks in, you’re strapped to the side of the Zeppelin until the final note.
But from a guitarist’s perspective, “Achilles Last Stand” demonstrates another side of Page’s brilliance.
The genius isn’t simply in the solo.
It’s in the arrangement.
The overlapping guitars.
The textures.
The melodies.
The way different lines appear and disappear.
The ability to make multiple guitars feel like parts of one gigantic musical machine.
That’s Page the guitarist working alongside Page the producer.
And when those two versions of Jimmy joined forces, ridiculous things tended to happen.
🔥 THE RIFF REPORT VERDICT
There will probably never be another Led Zeppelin song with the cultural reach of “Stairway To Heaven.”
It’s too deeply embedded in rock history.
But “Achilles Last Stand” deserves to be mentioned whenever we’re talking about Jimmy Page at the absolute peak of his powers.
It’s ambitious without becoming boring.
Complicated without losing its punch.
Long without feeling bloated.
Heavy without sacrificing melody.
And most importantly…
IT ABSOLUTELY RIFFS.
🤘🔥🤘🔥🤘
Page created such an elaborate guitar arrangement in the studio that he effectively gave himself a nightmare every time Led Zeppelin performed it.
And rather than simplify everything?
He accepted the challenge.
One guitarist trying to recreate an entire wall of Jimmy Pages while Bonham battered seven shades of hell out of the drums behind him.
That’s rock ‘n’ roll, mun.
So yes, “Stairway To Heaven” will forever have its place.
But if you’ve somehow spent your life treating Presence as one of those Zeppelin albums you’ll “get around to eventually”…
Stick on “Achilles Last Stand.”
Turn it up.
Then turn it up again.
And when those guitars start piling on top of each other, remember:
Somewhere in 1976, Jimmy Page was creating an absolute monster…
and leaving his future self to figure out how the hell to play it live. 🎸😈
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. 🤘🏴
The Riff Report Blog — keeping the riffs alive, one ridiculous guitar solo at a time.
