31 years ago this week was another golden period to be a Led Zeppelin fan.
For this then 20 year old it was an incredibly exciting time. On the afternoon of Thursday October 21 1976, I anxiously tore open the box marked Warner/ Elektra/ Atlantic Records at the WH Smith record shop where I worked to reveal for the first time the gatefold sleeve of, as the label spine gloriously put it ‘’The Soundtrack To The Film The Song Remains The Same‘’. All that and the prospect of attending the premier …

A rare piece of TV footage of Led Zeppelin performing Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, recorded around the end of March in 1969 at the Radio Bremen TV Studios in Bremen, Germany has turned up on the youtube website. Shot in black and white, the band mime there way though the number. The presence of a microphone in front of Page hints of a performance of Communication Breakdown also being taped but nothing else has surfaced…yet! Follow this link for Babe I’m Gonna Leave You

As we exclusively revealed back in August, the whole of the Led Zeppelin catalogue will be available to download from all online music retailers. From November 13th the band’s original albums including Led Zeppelin (1969), Led Zeppelin II (1969), Led Zeppelin III (1970), Untitled fourth album (1971), Houses Of The Holy (1973), Physical Graffiti (1975), Presence (1976), The Song Remains The Same (1976; recently reworked for reissue on November 19), In Through The Out Door (1979), Coda (1982), How The West Was Won (2003), and Mothership (available November 13). 
In a …

Robert and Alison recorded a TV special for CMTCrossroads last Thursday (Oct 18th) in The Mill, Lebanon, Tennessee. As well as featuring tracks from the forthcoming Raising Sand CD, the duo also performed When The Levee Breaks and Black Dog. The backing band consisted of band leader T-Bone Burnett, guitar player Buddy Miller, guitarist Marc Ribot, drummer Jay Bellerose and bassist Dennis Crouch. No air date for the Krauss-Plant Crossroads episode, has not been announced yet.
Further TV appearances are expected with an appearance lined up on Wednesday for the Today …

Last Thursday there was a rare Lewis night out and for once not in the name of rock’n’roll.
Instead it was a night of quality stand up comedy with the good lady and myself in attendance at Frank Skinner’s appearance at the Bedford Corn Exchange. The same venue I’d been enjoying some right old real ales at the Bedford Beer festival exactly a week before.
Frank is another of my men of the midlands – always ready to reflect on his working class roots which I can well relate to. I once …

In amongst all the craziness of the past couple of weeks, much needed calm arrived via the new album by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.
Raising Sand is a melancholy delight. Much more than a mere collaboration, this is two artists at the top of their game applying their unique vocal talents with masterful subtlety .This is the complete antidote to the familiar Plant histrionics of yore. You don’t have to be a bluegrass or country fan to appreciate the depth of beauty contained in performances such as Killing The Blues, …

With the new Tight But Loose out on the streets and reunion rumours abounding, it’s been a hectic couple of weeks here. A trend that looks likely to continue as we move it to what will be a very interesting few months. Before I get down to the task of gathering text for the next issue – there’s time for quiet reflection and a look back at my 50th year. Forgive the indulgence as I round up the traditional birthday listing.
DL 51 at 51:
On the occasion of my 51st birthday….
The …

In between my daughter Samantha doing some work experience at the Times Educational Supplement (another budding Lewis scribe in the making!), the Lewis hols have consisted of some enjoyable days out including a trip to Brighton last Saturday where at last it was a case of sea,sand and shopping – the highlight of the shopping was the visit to Borderline Records a very fine outlet where I picked up the CD reissue of Sandie Shaw’s 1969 album Reviewing The Situation which is notable for the inclusion of her version of …

Plant & The Strange Sensations

There are certain dates in my calendar year that instantly inspire a host of memories and August 4 is unsurprisingly one of them. The fact that this year the date occurs on a Saturday adds yet more poignancy. For it was all of 28 years ago today that I awoke from a couple of hours sleep in a vast field just outside Stevenage knowing that before the day was out I would see Led Zeppelin performing live in front of my very eyes.
Me and over 100,00 others.
I’m sure I wont …