"ZOOMA" review
from Irish Times (ireland.com)
Sept. 10, 1999
by Kevin Courtney
Badaaam blam blam blam! With an explosion of bazooka basslines, the former Led Zeppelin bassist loudly announces the rather overdue arrival of his first solo album. "ZOOMA" consists of nine instrumental tracks, and though there are no lyrics in evidence, the album does manage to say something which sounds uncannily like, "Hey, Jimmy and Robert, let's get the band back together again!" It sounds just like a Led Zep album, minus the screaming vocals of Robert Plant or the supersonic guitars of Jimmy Page. JPJ handles the stringed instruments rather well, laying down competent guitar lines and backing them up with a battery of Bonham-esque drums and a phalanx of swooping string arrangements, but without any songs to guide it, "ZOOMA" is just an aimless army of rock'n'roll riffs in search of a leader.