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Extract from the book Led Zeppelin Feather In The Wind – Over Europe 1980 by Dave Lewis.

 Book ordering Details – ORDER AT THIS LINK:  

http://www.tightbutloose.co.uk/books-t-shirts/led-zeppelin-feather-in-the-wind-over-europe-1980-book/

BOOK BUNDLE DETAILS: 

The Feather In the Wind book is also available as a bundle offer with the Then As It Was At Kenworth book for just £18 plus postage – order at the link below

http://www.tightbutloose.co.uk/books-t-shirts/then-as-it-was-at-knebworth-1979-and-feather-in-the-wind-over-europe-1980-book-bundle-offer-buy-both-books-for-just-20-plus-postage/

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BP Fallon Interview:

A great interview here with BP Fallon and Robert Plant on the Sunday with Miriam radio show:

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/sunday-with-miriam/#2522914

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Led Zeppelin News Update:
In conjunction with the Led Zep news site, each week I will be re- producing highlights from their weekly email update news summary. This goes out every Sunday. Sign up details are below. Many thanks to James Cook.

Led Zeppelin

• We published some previously unseen photographs of Led Zeppelin on and off stage in Germany that were taken by photographer Ulrich Handl. The photographs show the band on stage in 1970, and there are also candid photographs of the band in a German bar.

• Previously unseen photographs of Led Zeppelin filming the fantasy sequences for “The Song Remains The Same” were also published online this week. The photographs show Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Peter Grant filming extra content for the film.

Robert Plant

Robert Plant photographed with Rich Hall on June 23 (Facebook/Rob Childs)

• Robert Plant was asked during a radio interview that was broadcast on Sunday whether Led Zeppelin will reunite. “As far as I know, I’m opening the tea room at a garden centre very shortly.” Plant replied.

• Plant was photographed with comedian Rich Hall outside his show on June 23. Plant also attended a performance by Hall on May 19.

• The BBC has published a video clip of Plant being interviewed for BBC Radio 5 live earlier this month.

John Paul Jones

John Paul Jones performing in Norway on June 24 (YouTube/OllieOllie55)

• John Paul Jones spent most of this week in the small Norwegian town of Vadsø, where he performed as part of the Sun Station Vadsø music festival. Jones performed on four days, including a show in a library, with a new musical project called “Snoweye,” and a performance with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck. Jones also gave interviews to a Norwegian television station and a local publication.

Upcoming events:

Mid-September – The new Black Country Communion album, which will feature Jason Bonham, is due to be released.
October – Andrew O’Hagan claimed that Robert Plant’s new album will be released this month.

Many thanks to James Cook.

The complete Led Zeppelin News email goes out every weekend. To receive it each week sign up here:http://tinyletter.com/LedZepNews

Led Zeppelin News Website: Check out the Led Zeppelin news website at

http://ledzepnews.com/

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TBL ARCHIVE SPECIAL  – THE LED ZEPPELIN 2003 DVD AND HOW THE WEST WAS WON RELEASES –  14 YEARS GONE:

It’s now some  14 years ago that Jimmy Page unlocked the Led Zeppelin film archive to present the five hour double DVD set simply titled DVD. Also released simultaneously was the triple live album How The West Was Won.

Looking back, it was in incredibly exciting outpouring of material.

Here’s the final TBL Archive feature from that period. This is a feedback report from Dave Linwood and myself after attending an exclusive playback of the How The West Was Won album at the London office of Warner Music in Kensington. Along with a handful of other journalist from the likes of Time Out and Guitar Player, we were afforded a complete run through of the album in a fairly sparse office. It was quite a low key playback – a few bottles of beer were supplied and we all sat around a table.

There was one memorable and humorous moment…

The Warner Music exec hosting the event made an opening speech how the album had been kept under strict security with no pre release leaks – I think we had to sign an embargo not to write about it until an agreed date. As this rather grand speech was being made, I looked across to Dave who was trying not to laugh…the reason was that both he and I had been supplied a leaked copy by those in the know about two weeks prior to that. As Dave said afterwards -he had been listening to it on the way to work that morning!

We managed to keep a dignified silence and no one was the wiser!

I will add that there was much shuffling of feet and exits to the loo amongst the less dedicated journalists amongst us as Moby Dick powered through its 14 plus minutes! Dave and I of course loved it!

Eventually we were given the all clear to write a preview for the TBL website and this is how it lined up:

TBL Exclusive Preview Warner Music Press Playback, London April 30 2003:

Dave Lewis comments:

BRING IT ON HOME…. At long last we have an official, real live document that exposes Zeppelin’s onstage prowess in all its glory. The band were just outstanding during that summer of 31 years ago. How The West Was Won offers a complete in concert performance cleverly edited from the Los Angeles and Long Beach shows and is something of a throwback to the many live double vinyl albums of the ’70’s. There’s an intensity and drive running right through the entire set and it’s all been superbly captured by Jimmy and engineer Kevin Shirley. There are many revelations from Robert’s crystal clear vocal through to Bonzo’s relentless drumming – well up in the mix and yet more evidence of why he remains simply irreplaceable. ”Something has really clicked on this tour. The spirit of the band is fantastic” Plant told the late journalist Roy Hollingworth after one of the 1972 US dates.”They’d never believe how good it is here back home.They’d just never believe what happened here tonight…” All these years later, the imminant arrivial of How The West Was Won offers the opportunity to touch the electricity of two of those nights and bring it right on home. Be assured that hearing is believing all over again… Dave Lewis May 2 2003

Further dissection by Dave Linwood:

The sound! The sound! Crystal clear drums, every single string bend. Its all there folks! Yes and Includes the odd bum note too. The source tapes have been polished – not policed. The additional detail is superb. Jonesey’s efforts can be clearly discerned – at times his playing is almost Jazz like! Bonzo sounds great – many tracks are made by his playing. Plant’s vocals are superb – and he has great range. Page’s fingers race across the fretboard. Its all there!. The overall sound “feel” is similar in some ways to the BBC release. There are few Plant introductions. Some may find the sound somewhat sterile given the lack of audience atmosphere in places. Don’t expect “WOO-HOO”! Expect polite applause.

The Sound-stage is good: Page is on the right as expected, the drums move across the soundstage.

The track running order is pretty faithful to a typical US 72 show. With the exception of: Tangerine, Communication Breakdown, Thank You and some of the Whole Lotta Love medley the set-list follows the LA 72 show.

Disk 1 “LA Drone” …Its not a drone. It’s a melodic chord! Immigrant Song/Heartbreaker/Black Dog: Played back to back. These three are almost a medley Heartbreaker includes a great guitar solo near the end when the band kicks in. Its superb! The Black Dog workout is pretty standard (if there is such a thing). OTH&FA (introduced by Plant) would have been a new one to the audience. The guitar sounded like it had been fattened up (or maybe it was just the system we heard it on). Plant has got the vocal high range so we get vocals similar to the studio effort. Since I’ve Been Loving You – Put simply, a wonderful version. Both Plant & Page excel on this. There are many call-answer phrases between the pair. Some subtle keyboards are almost buried. I wanted our hosts to play and replay this song again and again. There’ so much going on.

Stairway To Heaven: ‘Thank you. This is called Stairway To Heaven” says Plant. This is a similar arrangement to MSG-73. There are differences which probably would have occurred on a nightly basis. The guitar solo? More dexterous, and nicely phrased. The ending is better than the Song Remains version too!

Acoustic Set. We hear Jones Stage Left, Plant in the centre with Page on the right. Going To California. Has crystal clear mandolin and guitar. A faint resonance adds to the whole effect. Plant makes a reference to Joni(Mitchell ?) during the ‘plays guitar & sings’ vocal.

That’s the Way. Great! A simple song and one of my faves.

Bron-y-aur stomp. You can hear all the harmonies. In tune!

Disk 2 Dazed & Confused. No spoken intro – just straight in. I think it sounds more coherent than MSG 73 “collage”. (The are inevitably going to be comparisons to the 73 stuff all the way through the album). First listen I thought is a more piece than 73. There is some fantastic Page work in the middle – a 3 minute segment which is totally electrifying. We get the Crunge but no vocals alas.

What Is & What Should Never Be Again,no vocal introduction. Probably one of the more interesting numbers for comparing Page’s studio re-mastering efforts as we have “Studio Daze” to compare it to”. Whilst it definitely Long Beach, the firecrackers vocal reference has gone and there are definitely times when you think “No, its LA?”.

Dancing Days Introduced as one from the new album. Whenever l hear the Zep versions I always find myself adding in the Arabic strings from the PP95 tour!

Moby Dick. Plant,s voice sounded odd introducing this – see what you think. As for the solo,difficult to comment really. The remaining members had to include a tribute to Bonzo. It will depend on your tastes/preferences for drum solos as to whether you consider this to be it.

Disk 3 Whole Lotta Love I thought this was a bit disappointing to start with in that the format seems to be very similar to MSG-73. Later on we get different medleys, I noted down Lets have a party, Hello Mary Lou, Going Down Slow (which has a long studied solo from Page – parts of which are superb), The Shape I’m In. Compared to the MSG-73, Plant is more playful on the vocals with more ad-libs.

Rock n Roll – lovely gutsy guitar sound with Plant signing in a higher tone. Different guitar solo too – which slightly loses its way at the end. At times you would consider it was a different guitarist.

“Here’s one off the new album:. It’s called the Ocean” says Plant. And its a good version. Early days so the “wolf whistle” guitar solo is not there yet.

Bring It On Home. With audience clapping, Plant leads the way with Harmonica. The guitar & band intro is well captured – it does not-disappoint. This is one song where the audience plays its part. The song just goes on & on! And is a Wonderful ending to the whole experience.

Highlights for me. Dazed & Confused. Since I’ve Been Loving You, Bring It On Home.

Do How The West Was Won deliver? Definitely. Its a great album, beautifully put together that will please hard-core fans and casuals alike.

So there it all was -the events of 14 years ago as we revelled in over five hours of official footage on DVD and a double live album on CD. What with the Mothershop release, the 02  reunion and the Celebration Days film, it’s a post Remasters period that often gets overlooked. It’s been an absolute  joy to re investigate both the DVD and the How The West Was Won live set in the past couple of weeks.  

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TBL 1977 Retro Archive: A week for Badgeholders – 40 years gone – June 1977: Part 2

To commemorate those epic six Los Angeles Forum shows of June 1977 of 40 years ago this week, here is the second part of a lengthy overview of the 1977 tour that first appeared in TBL issue 9. The pre-amble sets the scene on the state of play inside Led Zeppelin at the time and leads on to a summary of three of those June performances as heard via the legendary Listen To This Eddie bootleg plus the two Last LA Forum sets issued back in the mid 90s.

Thanks to the late Mike Millard’s superb audience tapes, we can hear lasting evidence of the sheer excitement of the 1977 Led Zeppelin, capturing a week where the sense of on the road fun was never more evident. Read this…and get those 1977 CD remnants on your player…..

TBL 1977 Retro Archive:

….But the LA story doesn’t end there. By the wonder of more silver rarities, this time via two double packages on the Badge holder/Great Dane Italian label, we can continue the progress of the tour and enjoy two more nights at the Inglewood California venue. Allegedly taped by the same guys that did the opening night, ‘The Last LA Forum 2 Days’ contains similar quality audience tapes of the complete performance on June 25 and 74 minutes of the last ever LA Forum show on June 27 – spread over a pair of double disc sets with similar grey graphics, reproducing the No Split In Zepp’ November ’77 NME Jimmy Page interview headline.

So once again we can imagine we’re front row centre as Page stalks the stage in white dragon suit, firing out the chords that will become ‘The Song Remains The Same’. Fresh from a day off and having survived a Keith Moon encore three days previously, the whole band sound on a crest of a touring wave. In general, this fourth night at the Forum is every bit as exciting as the ‘Eddie’ set and the fact that this particular gig contains three additional songs not performed on the opening night is the veritable icing on the cake. So by the time they have romped through the urgent ‘Song Remains’ and a muscular ‘Sick Again’ and Plant has observed that “It’s Saturday night” . . and driven the band through a tough and cooking ‘Nobody’s Fault But Mine’ (and, yes, Bonzo is still all there . . .) we can enjoy the first of the set alternatives. In place of ‘Over The Hills’ the boys opt for ‘In My Time Of Dying’. Not that this is any old version of ‘In My Time Of Dying’. It opens perfunctorily enough but it’s soon clear that, as Luis Rey observed in his log, Page is definitely on! So much so that when Plant reaches the “Oh My Jesus” refrain and begins a completely spontaneous version of ‘Rip It Up’ (“Well it’s Saturday night and I just got paid” . . .) Page is immediately with him backed by Bonzo and Jonesy as they skit around this 50s fun for a few seconds before returning to the original theme. Then Robert throws in lines from both ‘You Shook Me’ and Let That Boy Boogie’ (“So many roads”) at the finale. Yes, it’s one of those nights.

“Tonight is the annual general meeting of the LA Badge holders”, Plant tells the audience, sustaining the in-joke theme of the famous ‘For Badge holders Only’ June 23 LA concert. This was a sketch whereby Robert referred to the tour entourage as being privileged badge holders – no doubt equipped with Led Zeppelin United States of America 1977′ tour laminates and passes. Following a no-nonsense delivery of ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’, Robert introduces John Paul Jones. “This features a man who has a badge holder in the wings who we haven’t quite got the spotlight trained on yet . . . for John Paul Jones’ badge holder – ‘No Quarter’.” Following that particular opus, Jimmy can be heard tuning the Telecaster in preparation for Ten Years Gone’ which is duly delivered tight but loose with the man pulling out some undeniably beautiful lyrical guitar phrases. This performance of the song reinforces my opinion that the decision to play this most difficult of on-stage arrangements made for one of the most ambitious and ultimately moving parts of their post ’75 concerts.

The acoustic set unfolds and tonight Plant enigmatically follows the “They say she plays guitar and cries and sings” line in ‘Going To California1 with the comment “And I saw her last night”. Another LA set bonus occurs with the inclusion of Trampled Underfoot’ (previously employed as an encore number on the first leg of the ’77 tour), which is slotted in after ‘Kashmir, a space reserved for ‘Heartbreaker’ on the opening LA night. Robert precedes it by enlightening the audience on the song’s source of reference – namely Robert Johnson’s ‘Terraplane Blues’. “Anybody heard of Robert Johnson? Does anybody remember laughter? Well, Robert Johnson was one of the first guys to liken the automobile to the actual physical side of love making and he recorded a track called Terraplane Blues’. This is a sort of 1975 version equivalent . . . it’s called ‘Trampled Underfoot’.”

Moby Dick/Over The Top’ is graced with the usual cryptic intro though not as extensive as the epic opening night’s lengthy sketch. “As the atmosphere builds in this building I think it’s only right that we should introduce the main stay ot the whole driving force behind sleeping with Led Zeppelin . . . John Bonham Over The Toppppppp!”

And finally to a very reverent Stairway’, complete with typically reverent Plant speech. “So amidst the confusion that surrounds all of us in our lives … as life takes its course (people adjust snare drums and bass drums), yes, it’s all the same . . . having a nervous breakdown . . . who knows? Here’s a song that has the opposite effect of ‘Communication Breakdown’.” Enter Page s opening chords accompanied by an exploding firecracker. The reference to ‘Communication Breakdown’ is not without substance, as, come the encore, instead of the ‘Whole Lotta Love/Rock And Roll’ customary medley, they instead come out of ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and blitz into a short punchy rare ’77 version of ‘Communication Breakdown’ with Robert putting all that Manticore rehearsing with the harmoniser to good effect. “Thank you very much LA. Good Night!”

Just another night on the road? Hardly.

But then it never was just another anything when Led Zeppelin hit Los Angeles. As can be seen by their insistence to throw in the odd set variation, the four experienced a spontaneous rapport with their Califoiamian audience that ensured a high energy performance every time.

From there we move to the final night of the LA stint with disc 2 of the second The Last LA Forum 2 Days’ containing 74 minutes of highlights from another high energy performance.

The action commences with yet another quite awesome Over The Hills And Far Away’. It’s preceded by a tantalising warm up from Jimmy before he embarks on the revolving intro (guaranteed to send shivers down my spine every time). The solo is just out of this world. A series of staggered ripples from the Gibson that swoop and dive across the speakers. It brings to mind that story from the beginning of the ’75 tour when Jimmy informed Robert he was tired at one of the shows and to expect short solos – only to extend Over The Hill to eight minutes – a direct response to the surge of energy created between the band and its audience. In fact ‘Over The Hills’ is nigh on nine minutes on this final LA night. A fitting Swan song.

‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ is next up (dedicated to JJ Jackson, the US DJ), with Bonzo providing another colossal climax. Then it’s to the acoustic set. And not just any old acoustic set. A skit through ‘I Just Can’t Be Satisfied’ sets the scene for the unorthodox nature of the proceedings. “Here’s a song that’s very reminiscent of somewhere we’re going to be in about 24 hours time, it’s a place called England” Plant tells the audience before “The Battle Of Evermore”. Following a delicate ‘Going To California’ (complete with supporting bird whistle from the crowd – “Who’s got that fucking whistle – I think we’ve had enough of that now thanks”, says Plant), we hear one of the most remarkable moments of the tour. The medley of ‘Black Country Woman’/’Bron Y Aur Stomp’ is extended to some 14 minutes to take in a lengthy acoustic solo that develops into ‘Dancing Days’. Yep ‘Dancing Days’ a long deleted live chestnut from the 72/73 era. This version has Bonzo beefing up Jimmy’s acoustic lead and Plant merging the lines of the opening verses to create a spontaneous delivery unique to but a handful of dates on this tour. “How about that. We ain’t done ‘Dancing Days’ for five years. I don’t think we will again” he jokes.

An edited Achilles’ (inspiring visions of that great ’77 cine film excerpt of the track), and a tremendous ‘Stairway To Heaven’ closes the main proceedings. Before that Plant offers up a closing speech. “It’s most peculiar to walk away from the microphone one minute and come back and find it covered in honey. Obviously it’s the last night of the tour! It’s been great. 6 days, 6 nights in LA. It’s been a mindbender”. This particular version of ‘Stairway’ reminds me of the majesty the piece carried back then. The whole Rolf Harris syndrome has rendered the song into laughable parody these days … In 1977 it really did still mean something with Robert’s impassioned delivery (“Bonzo’s got some good news”), and Jimmy performing a meandering solo to match.

We then experience all the craziness of the LA wind up as the band return amidst firecrackers and chaos for one final surge – and Robert gets in another speech. “Before we continue we’d like to thank you for being a great audience. Sincerely, no bullshit. Bunch of geriatrics like us. It’s really hard work, yer know. We’d like to thank all the members of the full supporting cast … the sound and light crew, Showco, a very good sound system as you know. Every night the acoustic set’s no good but the rest has been great. Benji Lefevre, the man from England, for all the funny noises, Ray Thomas from Scotland who can’t tune guitars, Mick Hinton who was a bus conductor in Cambridge and can’t tune the drums, Brian, who’s covered in 7-Up and all the people in the wings who’ve been making rude gestures for 6 days. And most of all the badge holders of California!” Cue ‘Whole Lotta Love’ in to ‘Rock And Roll1 and it’s all over.

And just as they usher themselves offstage and into the limos, there’s one final telling and now poignant comment from Robert to the LA faithful. “Thank you very very much. Never thought we’d come back but we did. And we shall come back again … I think . . . we should all know you all by first names by now but we don’t. . . maybe next time.” Then it was off into the limos into the night and a return to the English sanity. Nobody knew it at the time, of course, but Led Zeppelin’s 8 year old love affair with Los Angeles was at an end.

Reliving the 1977 live experience courtesy of these very enjoyable CD sets, demonstrates how inventive and exciting the band could still be, despite the madness of the touring charade that surrounded their status as the biggest draw in the world.

The plan of course was to hit the major US stadiums in the late summer, culminating in an appearance in front of 95,000 at the JKF Stadium in Philadelphia (ironically the scene of the first public Plant/Page/Jones reunion some 8 years later at Live Aid). Unfortunately they never got that far. In late July at the Oakland Stadium, violent off-stage Incidents would vastly overshadow the on-stage action and those events in turn were rendered almost inconsequential when the tour was promptly halted with the news ot Robert’s family tragedy.

Musically, there can be little doubt that had the tour continued on the wave of optimism that surrounded the June dates, new peaks of creativity would have been scaled that would have led to an equally creative bout of recording for the next studio album (tentatively titled Tight But Loose’), which was scheduled for the end of the year. There was every indication following the cancellation of the tour that the final chapter in the Led Zeppelin story had been written. Despite Page’s autumn round of interviews to dispel the split stories, for a long period Robert had confided to close friends that he would not perform with the group again. Slowly a period of rehabilitation did take place. Initially, they got together at Clearwell in May 1978 and from there it was to Sweden’s Polar Studios, and on into the grand comeback at Knebworth and the rejuvenation attempt in Europe in 1980 before the ultimate tragedy would dictate the final end.

And that’s exactly the reason the music preserved on these LA CD’s is so vital. Along with soon to be issued June 23 ‘Badge holders Only’ set, ‘Listen To This Eddie’ and ‘LA Forum The Last 2 Days’ offer an invaluable record of a series of concerts that alongside the early Fillmore stands and the Earls Court season, rank as some of the most outstanding of the band’s entire career. They really do document, to paraphrase an old Yardbirds’ bootleg, the last hurrah. An era when Led Zeppelin, like the gods of antiquity, still seemed so utterly immortal.

1977 and all that. . . and evenings with Led Zeppelin. Relive them at your earliest convenience.

Dave Lewis 1993. First published in TBL issue 9

Dedicated to all who used to frequent the Saturday Camden and Victoria Record Fairs in London during the early 1990s (Hi Julian, Eddie, Gary, Dave Linwood , Nigel, Andy ,Simon, Tony, Keith, Mark Phil T, etc) where we used to eagerly snap up the latest Zep CD’s in abundance and then swap stories, compare recordings, read Phil T’s excellent Led Boots guide and drink a beer or two in the nearby pub. Great days

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Tom Petty/Stevie Nicks Hyde Park gig July 9:

If anyone requires tickets for the above I know of 2 going spare for £30 each – email me at davelewis.tbl1@ntlworld.com and I can put you in touch with the seller.

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DL Diary Blog Update:

Friday treats at the Vinyl Barn –some great stuff at the rather brilliant Vinyl Barn last week. I invested in The Rolling Stones Aftermath mono Decca pressing, Free Highway ,Mahavishnu Orchestra Birds of Fire, Creedence Clearwater Revival Cosmos Factory and Jethro Tull Passion Play – that’s a mighty fine crop! Thanks Darren!

Thoroughly enjoyed the TV coverage of Glastonbury. The Foo Fighters gave a typically energetic performance -the version of Queen’s Under Pressure was a very neat touch. It was good to see Liam Gallagher back up on stage and the rendering of (What’s The Story) Morning Glory took me back to the halcyon days of Oasis – boy did we sell a truck load of their CDs back in the Our Price music retail era. His delivery of Don’t Look back In Anger was very moving.

On Sunday, Barry Gibb’s performance in the Legends slot was an absolute triumph. As was Nile Rodgers’ Chic set that followed – disco ruled and those wonderful tunes such as Stayin’ Alive and Freak Out etc sounded as invigorating as ever.

Ed Sheeran’s closing set was a bit workmanlike – he is a fine songwriter but one man and his guitar for me began wearing after half and hour. Overall though a very good Glastonbury -we will miss it next year when it has a fallow year but it’s back for 2019.

On the playlist – some recent DL vinyl acquisitions as follows:

The Who – BBC Sessions

Moody Blues – This is The Moody Blues

Tribute To Burt Bacharach by A and M artists

Peddlers – The Fantastic Peddlers

Anita Baker – Rapture

Joan Baez – The Best Of

The Yardbirds – The Single Hits – ten inch pressing on Charly Records

Jackson Browne – For Everyman

Free Tons of Sobs –Island gatefold sleeve

There’s been further work on the Evenings With LZ book project and TBL 43 – Paul Sheppard has come in with a great feature on the 1972 Bombay Sessions while Andy Crofts’ tape analysis of  the 1977 US tour has been a timely backdrop to wading though the L A Forum bootleg CDs. Both pieces will be undoubted highlights of this forthcoming edition, due later in the year. The pic here was taken last week at StudioMix as Mick Lowe and I worked on the Andy Crofts US tour 1977 feature

Our Sam is due back from Australia on Monday for a seven day visit before returning for another six months – it will be fantastic to see her again for the first time since January 2.

Dave Lewis – June 28, 2017.