Zooma
WhileJimmy PageandRobert Plantcarried on theZeptorch with hit-and-miss projects such as theFirm, the Honeydrippers,Coverdale/Page, andPage/Plant, John Paul Jones got his hands artistically dirty, producing the Butthole Surfers'Independent Worm Saloon, working on film soundtracks, and collaborating with radical punk divaDiamanda Galas. Not surprisingly, several of the tracks on Jones's gutsy first solo album,Zooma, breathe post-punk fire: the pile-driving title track, wrapped in a gurgling sound collage, pummels a JPJ bass riff with a "sick guitar solo" by the Surfers' Paul Leary. Jones reclaims Zeppelin as his own even as he transcends it."Snake Eyes," an eerie blues epic arranged with orchestral strings around Jones's superb organ playing, suggests "When the Levee Breaks" filtered through Igor Stravinsky orBernard Herrmann; and you can't miss the echoes of "Trampled Under Foot" in the bass figures of "B. Fingers." The instrumentalZoomareinforces Jones's integral role in Zeppelin, his influential and still vital bass playing, and his...well,balls.--James Rotondi