The year ends with yet more sad passings:
George Michael 1963 – 2016: 
George Michael…such a massive talent – he dominated the 1980s, first with the pure pop delight of Wham! and then onto worldwide solo success with total class and credibility …so many memorable songs – Freedom, Faith, Careless Whisper, Everything She Wants, I’m Your Man, I Knew You Were Waiting, Fastlove, Amazing, etc.and Last Christmas…one of the all-time seasonal greats – we all must have heard it countless times in recent days. In my record retail years, George Michael album …

So this is Christmas…
Christmas Eve is nigh on upon us – and it’s that final rush to get everything sorted for the next couple of  days.
As is customary on Christmas Eve here – I’ll be wearing my Led Zeppelin Winterland 1969 tie bought for me by Larry Ratner in 1993 (hi Larry!).
After all the intense work on the forthcoming TBL issue 42 of recent weeks, it will be great to unwind  inthe company of visiting friends and along the way a beer or two may be drunk in one or …

TBL 42 Announcement:
TBL issue 42 due early 2017 – including a Limited Edition Jimmy Page Collectors Cover Edition!
The new issue of the long running Led Zeppelin magazine is due out early in 2017. It’s another packed edition with some 40,000 words of news, views and features. All subscribers will receive the standard edition with a great Robert Plant photo by Robert Ellis from the Led Zeppelin Royal Albert Hall performance on June 29, 1969.
I am also making available a special collectors limited edition featuring a superb photo of …

The 02 Reunion – Nine Years Gone: Photo by Dave Linwood

Nine years ago on December 10, 2007 , I awoke with the prospect of Led Zeppelin retuning to the stage just a matter of hours away. The previous night I’d spent the evening in the Pilot Inn toasting that fact with fans from all corners of the world. It would be a similar scene a few hours later.
The day itself went by in something of a blur – walking on that cold concourse leading to the O2 complex, conducting various interviews, …

TBL ISSUE 42 PREVIEW: 
TBL issue 42 – what’s in store…
TBL issue 42 is nearing completion – it’s another packed edition and here is what is in store …
News round up:
Jimmy at Classic Rock Awards/Stairway Court case wrap/JPJ latest/ Detective Reissues
Robert Plant at Bill Wyman’s 80th Birthday gig:
On the spot report by Kryz Jantzen
TBL Photo Special: Lost & Found – Led Zeppelin Sound checking at the Subiaco Oval, Perth 1972:
Nick Shaw recounts the story of how he came to shoot some remarkable photos of Led Zeppelin sound checking for their appearance at …

TBL CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS:
Fed up with receiving the same old tired gifts for Christmas each year? Why not give your loved ones a nudge in the direction of the TBL ordering page and get them to invest on your behalf –let them really know what you want for Christmas or you may well end up with novelty socks and boxers yet again. Alternatively just treat yourself!
Here is a round up of TBL Product on offer this Christmas –all orders will be processed and dispatched as received.
TBL CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA 1:
Led Zeppelin …

ELECTRIC MAGIC 45 YEARS GONE:
November 21st is always a bit of a special date in my calander year – as it was on this day back in 1971 that I was lucky enough to witness Led Zeppelin live at the Empire Pool Wembley –and as you will read, nothing was ever the same in our house after that. Over the next few days  I’ll be wading through the Empire Strikes Back Tarantura CD box set to recall the night the Wembley Empire Pool was, as the Melody Maker headline ran  ‘Zapped …

TBL Archive Special:
Led Zeppelin IV – 45 years gone…
November 1971 /Led Zeppelin IV 
45 years ago this month the fourth Led Zeppelin album emerged in a slightly mysterious manner with that enigmatic sleeve. I vividly remember the excitement and anticipation of the album in the music press that month. In fact the November 6 1971 issue of Melody Maker was something of an historic issue because it contained the first UK sighting the four individual symbols that would make up the title of Led Zeppelin’s fourth album. Each symbol was featured …

Bill Wyman 80th Birthday Gig – this from Krys Jantzen for TBL :
Last Friday I was lucky enough to catch Robert Plant make a special guest appearance at Bill Wyman’s 80th birthday celebration at The O2 Indigo in London.
Robert arrived on stage to huge applause and fondly told a story of Bill from the early Sixties which created much laughter from the crowd once Bill revealed the true motive of his bass playing technique! Robert then guested for three songs and sang ‘I Feel So Bad’, ‘Let The Boogie Woogie Roll’ …

Led Zeppelin II at 47…TBL Archive Special
On the occasion of its 47th Birthday…
A Kind Of Rock…. Still Flying
In the same way Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue defined the jazz genre, the second Zep album well and truly encapsulated rock music as we know it.
Here’s a re appraisal of Led Zeppelin II on the occasion of its 47th anniversary.
In reappraising the second Led Zeppelin album forty seven years on, it occurred to me that a parallel with the jazz giant Miles Davis is evident.
In the same way that Miles Davis …