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LED ZEPPELIN REISSUES BBC PREVIEW -THE GLOBAL PHENOMENON/TBL 37 -IT’S A WRAP/ RAMBLE ON RADIO/DL DIARY UPDATE/

25 April 2014 7,826 views 8 Comments

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Led Zeppelin  Reissues – The Global Phenomenon:

Once again the longevity of the Led Zeppelin legacy has been well and truly demonstrated with the phenomenal reaction to the BBC’s exclusive interviews with Jimmy and Robert and airing of extracts from Keys To the Highway /Trouble In Mind and the Whole Lotta Love rough mix.

The clips and sequences were aired throughout the day on Wednesday across the whole BBC network…and let us consider this then: Led Zeppelin performed their last gig together with John Bonham nearly 34 years ago. All these years on their legacy  continues to grow – the  reaction to the Reissue previews has been astonishing…and as I often say, Led Zeppelin remains ever in the present tense – they are indeed not just a band….but more a way of life. April 23rd 2014, was yet another day to be very proud to be a Led Zeppelin fan….

Media and press reaction ensured and as can be seen above, has reached out across the world – the above is a headline from a Brazilian newspaper on sale in Rio and seen by TBL contributor Krys Jantzen.

Inevitably some of that coverage has centred on Robert Plant’s curt ‘’Zero’’ response to being asked what chances there was of a Led Zeppelin reunion.

Like countless other fans, I would love to see one last blast but realistically it has become a difficult proposition – as Jimmy himself noted, it’s seven years on from the 02 reunion and that is a long period of time – to do it justice as they did so successfully in 2007, it would take a lot of rehearsal time and clearly Robert is not up for that.

The 02 therefore remains a glorious goodbye and we should accept that fact.

We should also perhaps view this reissue programme as a reunion in itself –because it is going to put so much fantastic music right back in focus – as made by the four incredible musicians responsible for it all those years ago. The airing of Keys To The Highway/Trouble In Mind and Whole Lotta Love are a tantalizing glimpse of the delights ahead.

As Jimmy put it when asked by Rebecca Jones if he felt old listened to all this material:

Did it make me feel old? ..No it didn’t make me feel old it made me feel even more young at heart…”

I think we can expect be feeling the same…

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TBL 37 – it’s a wrap….

editor tbl 37 wrap

Here’s a relieved and slightly fatigued TBL editor at Studio Mix yesterday after the signing off of TBL 37. Once again Mick Lowe has done a fantastic job on bringing it all alive with another superb design.

Here’s a bit of a ‘making of TBL 37’ background story to the construction of this forthcoming new issue.

We began working on it all in January with the laying in of the Jimmy at 70 Poll Results and Nick Anderson’s Collectors Column. We also mocked up the first go at a cover – a tremendous colour shot from October 1969 that I had been looking to use for a while.. From there on in, there have been many twists and turns as in between various other projects, we pieced it all together.

Andy Croft’s tape analysis of February 1975 was another initial piece completed along with Roger Berlin’s Magazine Museum focus.

In early February, Gary and I met with ex Zep guitar tech and performer in his own right, Joe Jammer to conduct what always going to be a fascinating TBL interview. Subsequently this was transcribed and edited into a three page spread.

In early March we began laying out Mike Tremaglio’s expansive coverage of the first Led Zeppelin US tour. This is an incredible detailed ten page feature and boy did we work hard in liaison with Mike to present this as effectively as possible. It underwent a few revisions before we completed it all.

During March, the official news of the release of the first three reissues came through  – this made for a fair few challenges as we moved various things around, to ensure we could give this significant news the coverage it demanded. There’s some key insight and background info to what is in store which I think will set readers up very nicely for the delights to come.

From there, it was time to add in the latest Robert Plant and John Paul Jones news summaries and then another addition – at short notice the opportunity came up to interview Glenn Hughes about his new band California Breed with Jason Bonham. It was a delight to be in Glenn’s company again as he relayed how impressive Jason’s contribution is to the new album. With that copy in the bag, we were now on the home straight. However there was another late revision. On April 15th, I ventured over to the Stables in Milton Keynes to interview  Deborah Bonham. It was great to hear her talking about her current projects and the legacy of brother John in the light of the forthcoming re issues.  Somehow we squeezed all that in on the news pages and we were nearly there. There then followed an intensive round of last minute checks and proofing via some invaluable skype sessions with Mike T.

Finally – yesterday Mick and I went though the whole thing again and signed it all off. Job done.

So it’s a big relief that it is now at the printers and should be ready to distribute in a couple of weeks.

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TBL 2013 subscribers will receive the magazine as the completion of their subscription.

For a limited period only, the forthcoming new issue of the Tight But Loose magazine issue 37 will be available at a special bargain price of just £3.00 plus postage –that’s nearly half the cost of the standard cover price!

With the expectancy of the Led Zeppelin reissues reaching fever pitch across the globe, there has never been a better time to come aboard the world of Tight But Loose.

The forthcoming TBL magazine is the perfect companion to get you right in the zone as the first three Led Zeppelin reissues are released…

And this issue is an exceptional one… pre order here now!

http://www.tightbutloose.co.uk/?page_id=24093

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DL Diary Update:

Well it’s proved to be some week here. The breaking of the BBC news early on Wednesday moved everything into overdrive. I was in full on mode here to relay the news via the TBL website/facebook/twitter  etc. Watching the reaction unfold was most exciting – they were even on the BBC News at One! There were also constant airings of the interviews and previews on various BBC radio stations. At short notice I was asked to do a piece for BBC Radio Five Live – my comments airing on the  on the Paul Williams show on BBC Radio Five Live around 11.20pm.

The programme can be heard on IPlayer, even for those abroad. The Zep segment is from 56 minutes in.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0418mlk

Before all that unfolded, last Saturday we made the early start to get in the queue at the Rough Trade store in Portobello Road to snap up the limited edition goodies on offer for Record Store Day. Dec, Tom, Phil and I had a fantastic time searching out the vinyl and toasting our respective finds in the pub afterwards.

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I was well pleased to snap up the two Yardbirds LP’s plus the Idle Race and July albums, the Creedence Clearwater Revival and Davy Graham/ Bert Jansch ten inchers,  and singles from Elmer Gantry ,Marian Faithful ,Fleetwood Mac and Ronnie Lane. Top stuff…

The Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes Live At The Greek Record Store Day pressing was a US release so I am on the look out for that one – overall though we all did very well in getting our hands on some very in demand limited items.

 

Here’s some final RSD reflections: Firstly many thanks to Nigel and his staff at the amazing Rough Trade store in Portobello Road – offering sandwiches and coffee to the early morning enthusiasts and processing the many customer requests with efficiency and a smile –it’s a great place to be and I will certainly be back to the store on a regular basis. As for the day itself – I know there are criticisms to be levelled at aspects of the Record Store Day ethics – but it was still just amazing to see how much passion there is for buying music on vinyl – from all ages and for all genres – great too to see such loyalty to Adam Ant (he performed outside the store) , a great comeback story if ever there was one. Life sounded better to music yesterday and it will do today and ongoing and for me, Record Store Day remains a celebration of that fact…

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On the playlist…well Led Zeppelin II inspired by the obvious…and Nick Drake –notably the Five Leaves left album –the melancholy feel perfect to get me through what has been an intensive week. I really need to have a good look at my RSD purchases and some other recent acquisitions including the Barry and Paul Ryan compilation Barry Ryan sings the songs of Paul Ryan 1968/69 –chronicling the work of the class late 60s pop output of the pair.

The past week’s workload has also included a fast turnaround of a freelance Zep piece, and much discussion about another project ahead –more on that soon. There’s another freelance piece to sort early next week, then it will be down to the collation of orders/admin, and the sticking of stamps on envelopes for the impending TBL 37 distribution ahead. He writes them, he packs them and he sends them. Two out of three task to go then…

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Ramble On Radio: the thoughts of DL:

Yesterday afternoon I did a whole lotta ramblin’ on for Brian Gardiner’s excellent Ramble On Radio podcast series.

Brian called me in the afternoon and despite my voice giving out a bit (I’ve been doing a lot of Zeptalk this week!), it was something of a cathartic process to wax lyrical on the Led Zeppelin Reissues, Robert’s comments on the reunion subject, my Zep books and the Tight But Loose magazine. Many thanks to Brian for giving me the opportunity to do so. Here’s the link to the complete interview as aired on Ramble On Radio –it’s a bit long and rambling but stick with it – it’s the thoughts of DL during yet another memorable time to be a Led Zeppelin fan/editor/author/publisher…

http://zeppeled.blogspot.ca/2014/04/the-led-zeppelin-podcast-56.html

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And finally…here’s a youtube clip of the BBC TV Interview – Rebecca Jones with Matt Everitt listening to the Led Zeppelin Excerpts:

 

And absolutely finallythe excitement mounts…

 

Until next time…Keep listening, keep reading… Dave Lewis/Gary Foy – April 25th, 2014.

Have a great weekend

If you are reading this and have yet to link with the Tight But Loose Facebook page be sure to request/add us.

The TBL Facebook is another key part of the TBL set up with updated stories/additional pics etc to keep you on top of the world of TBL.

To view additional photos and TBL info be sure to hook up with the Tight But Loose Facebook page (add us as a friend) at http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1611296783

Also follow Dave Lewis/TBL on Twitter – LedzeppelinTBL

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8 Comments »

  • andrew R said:

    Ref Arctic Monkeys top SSS,they are the better,
    more popular band.Check out the new AM album
    its outstanding!

  • andrew R said:

    Forget the live question,just acknowledging his back catalogue and discussing
    how it was recorded in depth and with the same respect as Page, without either
    a) his tongue permanently in his cheek
    b) thinking that he has had a better solo career than the 12 years
    he spent in the best Rock band ever.(some would leave the word Rock out)

  • Chris said:

    Hello Dave 🙂

    Just thought you might be interested in this…

    #LedZep6Music: A Led Zeppelin-inspired playlist

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0421f0f

    Chris

  • Mark Williams said:

    Can’t believe that the Artic Monkeys top SSS at both Japanese gigs this summer. Come on Robert,it does’nt need to be this way !

  • Mark Harrison said:

    I have LOVED and literally followed this band for 44 years now but I think I go against the grain in NOT wanting them to perform live again. I don’t want them to become a parody of themselves, they are so much better than that. I wasn’t able to attend the O2 being too ill. If Robert doesn’t want to do it, that’s his choice surely. He’s given us everything already hasn’t he? He owes no one anything. Only my opinion!
    Thanks Dave and Gary as always!
    Mark Harrison

  • Rick Willis said:

    I am sooooooo sorry that Robert cannot see the spiritual/physical demand for just one last cahnce at seeing the magic once more. Why does it have to be this way!?

  • Roger Berlin said:

    I wanted this article, Dave.
    Super work, thank you.
    Roger

  • Paul Humbley said:

    Hi Dave

    Just reading your news update.

    With regard the Paul & Barry Ryan purchase. The first single I ever owned was ‘Eloise’ by Barry Ryan, with its yellow MGM label. About 4 years ago I picked up a vinyl copy of the album it was taken from ‘Barry Sings Paul Ryan’. A really long lost classic album. That in turn lead to a bargain purchase on Amazon of the Revola compilation of both Barry’s solo albums from the same period. I can assure you that you wont be disappointed when you get time to listen.

    Regards
    Paul

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