This came out in 1999 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Yes, it’s that John Paul Jones — the Led Zeppelin bassist and keyboardist who has been more or less MIA for nearly two decades.
In fact, the last time we heard from him, he was recording with oddball vocalist Diamanda Galas and producing the even odder Butthole Surfers. Now, he’s back in the solo spotlight with Zooma, released on King Crimson founder Robert Fripp’s label. And funny enough, this nine-song instrumental work hews closer to the Surfers and Adrian Belew-era Crim than classic Zep. Featuring nine instrumental tracks anchored by massive slabs of bass — four-string, 10-string, 12-string and even a freaky lap steel bass — Zooma is an hour of sinewy prog-funk grooves, odd-time polyrhythms and hypnotic experimentalism. Call it a back-to-bassics affair.
