To celebrate Robert Plant’s forthcoming London Forum gig, over the next few days it’s Robert Plant week on TBL with daily archive postings. Today we look back to his first post Zep solo album Pictures At Eleven.
Pictures at Eleven – Still vivid at  30
Robert Plant’s first solo album was a personal  career watershed to rival Led Zep 1 
For the former singer in the biggest band in the world, the post Zeppelin career rebuilding process can be traced along the highways and the byways of the North of England in …

To celebrate Robert Plant’s forthcoming London Forum gig, over the next few days it’s Robert Plant week on TBL with daily archive postings. Today we look back to his first post Zep appearances in the Midlands based pick up band The Honeydrippers.
Honeydrippers ‘81 Revisited
Two months ago Led Zeppelin announced they could not continue as they were. For Robert Plant this decision signalled a period of self-evaluation that resulted in a complete change of musical status, from being the seminal rock demi-god to being, well, just the singer in a band. …

As mentioned previously, Robert Plant & the Band of Joy: Live from the Artists Den is released on July  10th on DVD and Blue Ray and features the complete Band Of Joy gig at the Nashville’s historic War Memorial Auditorium from February 2011. The performance – including Zeppelin numbers, solo material, traditional songs and new originals – was later broadcast in part on public television’s Live from the Artists Den series.
“Some years back I was propelled by chance, with little planning or expectation into an American way . . . with a …

32 years ago tomorrow, Led Zeppelin performed at the Festhalle in Frankfurt on their final tour. This tour is extensively chronicled in the book Feather In The Wind Led Zeppelin Over Europe 1980. By way of a re-launch for the book and to mark the anniversary, this  TBL Archive Special presents the introduction chapter text to the book and an interview with Dave Lewis on the writing of the book.
Flashback to the Frankfurt Festhalle, Germany – on the evening of June 30th, 1980 around 8pm:
I am in the confines of the …

The Artist Den/Universal Music Group will be releasing the Robert Plant & The Band Of Joy  – Live At The Artist Den DVD and Blue Ray next month.
Here’s the info:
THE ARTISTS DEN AND UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP TO RELEASE LIVE ROBERT PLANT & THE BAND OF JOY DVD
GLOBALLY ON JULY 9 (INTL) & JULY 10 (US)
New York, NY (June 25, 2012) — Artists Den Entertainment and Universal Music Group will release Robert Plant & the Band of Joy: Live from the Artists Den on 5.1 BluRay and DVD in the US on …

On Tuesday June 19th, Robert Plant was amongst the guests at the launch of the Mr Fantasy -The Lryics of Jim Capaldi, a new limited edition Genesis Books publication which celebrates the work of  the late Traffic  drummer and songwriter.  The launch, staged at the BBC Madia Vale Studios in London, was attended by friends and family gathered including Robert, Steve Winwood and Bob Harris. Saint Jude, Steve Balsamo and Rosalie Deighton provided musical entertainment..
Classic Rock’s Kylie Olsson conducted an interview with Robert in which he talked of his memories of …

One year ago today, Howard Mylett, the legendary Led Zeppelin collector and original author sadly passed way.
I would like to take the opportunity to pay tribute to Howard by reproducing the text of a review I wrote of the Page & Plant concert in Paris that occurred on June 6th 1995.  Howard was at this show with his wife Anita and we travelled back with them on the overnight coach and ferry back to England.
I have real affectionate memories of this trip because Howard’s wit and wisdom made that journey fly by. …

The following concert has been announced:
Minibus Pimps (John Paul Jones & Helge Sten) + Steve Noble / Sebastian Lexer duo
Cafe OTO
18 – 22 Ashwin street
Dalston
London
E8 3DL
Friday July 13 2012
Door Times : 8pm
Tickets : £10 adv / £12 on the door
The first event in a new series at Cafe OTO co-curated by Norway’s Ny Musikk organisation and OTO projects. This will be the UK debut of the new collaborative project between legendary UK musician John Paul Jones and prolific Norwegian producer/musician Helge Sten – perhaps better known as Deathprod and a founding …

Robert Plant appears on two tracks on Lil Band O’Golds  “Plays Fats” album – a tribute to Fats Domino. The “swamp rock” traditional Cajun style group from Louisiana first hooked up with Robert a few years ago, performing a couple of gigs in New Orleans and recorded a couple Fats Domino songs for the rebuilding of New Orleans.
Sme of their work together was documented in the Lil’ Band O’ Gold movie ‘Promised Land: A Swamp Pop Journey’.
On ‘Plays Fats’, Plant sings lead vocal on the tracks ‘It Keeps Raining’ and ‘I’ve Been …

The new issue of the TBL magazine TBL 32 is now out and on the streets.
The stock was delivered on Tuesday and I spent the day packing them into the envelopes that I’d spent the weekend sticking stamps on. The good lady Janet and myself then took a bulk of the packed magazines down to the main Royal Mail sorting office. So I counted them all in….I counted them all out.
All subscribers copies have now been dispatched – UK subscribers should have their copy by the weekend with Europe and …