John Paul Jones: Zooma : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Legend has it that John Paul Jones was the only member of Led Zeppelin to not sign over his eternal soul to Beelzebub. But on his first solo album, the instrumental Zooma, one of rock's great bassists plows through some downright hellbent grooves. On tracks like "Zooma" (featuring Paul Leary on guitar) and "Tidal," Jones creates thunderous, King Crimson-like, brainiac rock with a battery of four-, ten- and twelve-string basses. "Bass 'n' Drums" echoes the bluesy fills of Zep classics like "The Lemon Song"; "The Smile of Your Shadow," with its glacial prettiness, could give New Age music a good name. It took him nearly twenty years, but with Zooma, Jones has outpaced his more flamboyant former band mates in the adventurousness department. Maybe now Page and Plant will ask to join his band. (RS 822)

ROB KEMP