ALASTAIR CHORLTON RIP/LZ NEWS/FIVE GLORIOUS NIGHTS VIP VICTORIA RECORD FAIR BOOK LAUNCH/JANUARY 1975 SNAPSHOT/ LUIS REY REVISED TAPE DOCUMENTARY OUT NOW/BLUES MATTERS MAGAZINE /STOP PRESS DAVID CROSBY RIP/DL DIARY BLOG UPDATE
I will be in attendance at the VIP Victoria Record Fair on Saturday January 28 signing copies of my new book Five Glorious Nights Led Zeppelin at Earls Court 1975 at the TBL/Rufus publishing stall.
Here’s all the info:
Led Zep author Dave Lewis will be in attendance at the VIP Victoria Fair launching his new Led Zeppelin book and copies will be on sale on the day.
Full details below:
Five Glorious Nights – Led Zeppelin At Earls Court May 1975
A photographic record compiled by Dave Lewis (Rufus Publishing)
In May 1975, Led Zeppelin performed five momentous concerts at the Earls Court Arena in London to a combined audience of 85,000 fans. This was a band at the peak of their powers slaying the sold out audiences with a nightly marathon three and a half hour presentation of light, sound, power and energy.
There’s no doubt that Led Zeppelin’s Earls Court appearances represented a career high for the band and four decades on, are still held in the highest esteem by the vast following.
Five Glorious Nights –Led Zeppelin at Earls Court May 1975 captures the sheer visual magnificence of the band though the images of some of the finest rock photographers of the era who were right there on the spot to capture rock history.
Compiled by renowned Zep authority Dave Lewis, this new 320-page revised and expanded edition offers a permanent visual record of a band at their absolute zenith – in a setting that truly justified their status as the world’s greatest live attraction. The book features over 250 black and white and colour photos plus over a 100 memorabilia images.
It comes in two versions – the standard edition is a 230mm square hardback format in a printed sleeve with slip case and four prints and is on sale at a bargain £69.
There’s also an exclusive Leather and Metal Edition, measuring a huge 375mm square, bound in recycled burgundy leather and supplied in a hand-made aluminum slipcase with a reproduction show poster. Only 100 of these are available and includes the standard edition.
More details at:
Some feedback from satisfied readers:
This is a magnificent celebration of Led Zeppelin’s stratospheric five evenings at Earls Court in May 1975. The different size format works superbly and takes us on a fantastic journey across nights seldom seen and the additional Adrian Boot photos from 23 May are sensational.
Ian Saikia – UK
Led Zeppelin functioned on a different level in their live performances, that level reached a pinnacle in May 1975 with fibe nights at London’s Earls Court arena. Dave Lewis has put together a beautiful photographic chronicle of those nights. Packed full of rare photographs, memorabilia and more. F Glorious Nights Revised and Expanded perfectly preserves those legendary evenings with Led Zeppelin.
Ed Ortiz – US
Led Zeppelin Five Glorious Nights – Revised & Expanded Edition- is a complete privilege to have received. The book drives me directly into Earl’s Court. A riveting and a compelling account of the legendary Led Zeppelin shows. The images and descriptions create a vision of the prestigious evenings that took place in 1975. “Just a little world to get lost in occasionally” as Robert Plant stated.
Wanda Wooten – US
And the press view…
Noted Zeppelin archivist Dave Lewis has compiled a lavish mostly chronological photographic record of their 1975 shows. Revamped with a host of new photographs. What shouldn’t surprise but actually does, is just how beautiful page and Plant were.
John Azlewood – Classic Rock
LONDON VICTORIA
Horticultural Halls, 80 Vincent Square, Victoria, SW1P 2PB.
London’s very own Vinyl Fest. – the biggest and busiest Record Fair in the
UK
Admission 12 noon £5. Early entry £10 at 10am. Doors close 5pm.
More details and advance ticket info here:
Led Zeppelin News Update:
Led Zeppelin
- Jimmy and Robert Plant paid tribute to Jeff Beck, who died on January 10. “The six stringed Warrior is no longer here for us to admire the spell he could weave around our mortal emotions,” Page wrote on his official Facebook page on January 11, shortly after Beck’s death was announced. “Jeff always appeared timeless, ever evolving. He embraced project after project with limitless energy and enthusiasm,” wrote Plant on his Facebook page the following day.
- Walmart released another collection of exclusive vinyl versions of Led Zeppelin albums. The US retail chain has released its own exclusive versions of Houses Of The Holy, Physical Graffiti and Coda in addition to the band’s other studio albums.
Jimmy Page
- A new photograph of Jimmy Page taken by Mary McCartney during filming for her documentary film “If These Walls Could Sing” was published online by Abbey Road Studios on January 9, Page’s 79th birthday.
Robert Plant
- The first date of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Spring/Summer 2023 US tour has been announced: The pair will perform at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 28. Further tour dates are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
- Robert Plant was photographed with the cast of the Dick Whittington pantomime in Birmingham following his visit in the last week of 2022.
Upcoming events:
2023 – The second Band Of Joy album titled “Band Of Joy Volume 2” will be released, an expanded edition of the Honeydrippers album “The Honeydrippers: Volume One” will be released and the remastered and expanded thirtieth anniversary edition of “Coverdale–Page” may be released.
January – An updated and expanded edition of Luis Rey’s “Led Zeppelin Tape Documentary” book will be published.
February 5 – The 2023 Grammy Awards ceremony will be held. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are nominated for three awards.
Spring/Summer – Robert Plant will tour the US with Alison Krauss.
April 28 – Robert Plant and Alison Krauss will perform at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Many thanks to James Cook
For all the latest Zep and related news check out the Led Zeppelin news website at:
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TBL Archive Special: TBL Led Zep 1975 Snapshot: Number Two
Snapshot Notes:
MONDAY JANUARY 20th, 1975
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
CHICAGO STADIUM
Set: Rock And Roll/Sick Again/Over The Hills And Far Away/When The Levee Breaks/The Song Remains The Same/The Rain Song/Kashmir/The Wanton Song/No Quarter/In My Time Of Dying/Trampled Underfoot/Moby Dick/How Many More Times/Stairway To Heaven/Whole Lotta Love – Black Dog/Communication Breakdown.
Robert ‘s flu is now in full effect and Jimmy is struggling with an injured finger. How Many More Times’ was recalled to the set to allow space for guitar improvisation. As Page told Chris Charlesworth of Melody Maker: “We’ve had to cut ‘Dazed And Confused’ from the set and substitute ‘How Many More Times’ which we haven’t played for four years. I’m still doing the violin bow routine but we’ve had to alter even that and I can’t do it as well as I’d like to. I can tell it’s not as good as it usually is but the audience don’t seem to notice.
In addition to these problems, the sound system was a little defective, ensuring that press reviews were not all entirely favourable.
“Led Zeppelin: malfunctions reduce power,” reported Al Rudis: “Led Zeppelin is alive, but not well. Robert Plant’s ‘flu-ridden voice hurt the British band in its concert Monday. Jimmy Page was nursing a broken finger too. What was worst of all was the old bugaboo of rock and roll: defective sound equipment. In Zeppelin’s case, it’s understandable that the group wouldn’t want to be burdened with maintaining its own sound system if it only tours every year and a half; but they’re the ones who rented the system used Monday night, so they must be held responsible.”
“Kinky Led Zeppelin still king of the funky,” wrote Jack Hafferkamp: “For its part, the band played a new variation on its standard heavy-heavy, super-loud, bare-chested, Victorian decadent, fingernail polish and lipstick, kiss-me-because-I’m-really-funky, cartoon performance. Two hours worth.
“Still there were a few surprises. My companion, for example, noted she owns a blouse just like the one Robert Plant was wearing. John Bonham played what must have been the longest drum solo in the history of mankind. And Plant revealed over, and over, and over again that he has the flu. He said that almost as many times as he mentioned the title of the band’s new record. In fact, I think the final score was New Record 8, Flu 5.”
TUESDAY JANUARY 21st, 1975
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
CHICAGO STADIUM
Set: Rock And Roll/Sick Again/Over The Hills And Far Away/When The Levee Breaks/The Song Remains The Same/The Rain Song/Kashmir/The Wanton Song/No Quarter/In My Time Of Dying/Trampled Underfoot/Moby Dick/How Many More Times/Stairway To Heaven/Whole Lotta Love – Black Dog/Communication Breakdown.
The second night in Chicago was a marked improvement, as Lisa Robinson famously reported: “Fifteen seconds onstage and everyone knows it’s going to be HOT. They’ve been truly depressed and confused all day about the first Chicago show. No matter, tonight they’re playing with that old black Zeppelin magic again, and the audience go wild. It sounds as if The Beatles battled the Stones in a parking lot – and Zeppelin won!”
Snapshot Listen – how it sounded today:
Led Zeppelin Live On The Levee (Silver Rarities)
The January 21st Chicago show is available on various CD releases – It’s actually made up of mainly the 20th night with fourteen minutes from the 21st. I have it on the Silver Rarities purchased from the Victoria Record Fair in the early 90s. The tape is a fairly clear if noisy audience recording but suffers at times with tape drop out and fluctuations.
”I’ve got a touch of flue” admits Robert early on and his vocals are certainly suffering. For his part, Jimmy battles on regardless of the finger problem. Over The Hills is already extending in length with that wonderfully lyrical solo. Jimmy is also well animated for When the Levee Breaks and In My Time of Dying played back to back – instrumentally both are pretty awesome deliveries – what a thrill it must have been to witness this rare double dose of bottleneck bravado live on stage. Levee is particularly menacing.
Kashmir (”Jonesy on mellotron – saves all the bread for the orchestra people”) works well despite Robert struggling at times. The Wanton Song (”from the long awaited album even by us”) is a definite highlight, Page attacking the riff with strong intent. It’s a real shame they did not preserve with this and keep in the set. No Quarter is still in a state of transition before it became something of a marathon, Trampled Underfoot is a fairly standard delivery while Moby Dick is back with usual Bonham aplomb (”One man’s got the flu one man’s fit as a fiddle!”) and then to How Many More Times.
A compact eleven minute delivery that features the bow episode and then switches into the Oh Rosie segment and on to the home straight. Stairway To Heaven is an epic performance and from this point, Robert rallies well vocally. In fact, on any given night in 1975, Stairway was performed with immense dedication. Encores – something of a unique arrangement for Whole Lotta Love with Plant going straight into the ”keep a coolin’ baby, I wanna be your backdoor man” usual closing refrain and then they hit Black Dog head on and boy – after all the physical drawbacks, the power of Led Zeppelin in 1975 is clearly in evidence.
It would be awhile before they were back to 100% fitness on this tour but already there was indication of the onstage embellishments to come.
To be continued…
DL – January 19 ,2023
Saturday January 14:
Saturday is platterday – remembering the late great Jeff Beck today and kicking off with The Yardbirds seminal 1966 album commonly known as Roger the Engineer – this version the exclusive to HMV red blue and white coloured vinyl pressing – Jeff plays amazingly throughout this classic album…
Saturday January 14:
Saturday is platterday – remembering the late great Jeff Beck – on the player the Jeff Beck Truth album and what an album it is…
It was 50 years ago today…
On the player – the 3 LP bootleg box set Led Zeppelin Fab 4 Liverpool as recorded on this day at the Empire Theatre Liverpool – limited edition of 150. The Sgt Pepper sleeve parody is rather impressive.
Sunday January 15:
It was 50 years ago today…
On the player…
Loading up the excellent 2 CD Led Zeppelin soundboard recording Groovin’ In The Garden as recorded on this day at the Trentham Gardens Stoke –this is part of the superb Ascension In The Wane –The January 1973 Soundboards box set…
Sunday January 15:
It was 46 years ago today:
45 years ago today, I was very excited to see this headline in the National Rockstar music paper. This short lived addition to the music papers was actually published at the local Beds County Press. The story revealed that Led Zeppelin had begun rehearsals at the Cabin Studios in Fulham – this was actually the Manticore Studios owned by ELP. They were rehearsing in preparation for a US tour due to start late Feb/early March (it would eventually begin in April due to Robert Plant’s laryngitis problem).
This was very big news indeed for this then 20 year old mad keen more than obsessed Zep fan. I vividly remember calling the Swan Song office the next day and speaking to Unity Mclean – she told me they would be booking an extensive US tour but no UK dates were planned as yet, though they were looking at a big summer outdoor appearance.. By the way, this call was made from a pay phone red call box just around the corner from where I lived – as at the time we had no phone at home.
I did harbour a plan to head up to London and hang out around the Mainticore Studio in the hope of catching a glimpse of them. However, soon after, I contacted Glandular fever and was off work for three weeks. I also was weighing up how I might even get to one of the New York Madison Square Garden gigs. This was the era of Freddie Laker’s budget airline Sky Train. As it turned out, my weekly wage of £22 selling records at WH Smith was not quite in the Sky Train league and it was not to be. I did hatch a more cost effective plan to wave them off at the Heathrow when they flew out. That is another story for another day.
All this potential 1977 Zep activity was fueling my idea to produce a Led Zep fan magazine which would be further inspired by the arrival of the Punk fanzines later that year.
‘’Led Zeppelin back in action’’…that headline all of 45 years ago kick-started a hive of Zep activity that year for me – and the imminent arrival of The Song Remains The Same film to Bedford’s Granada cinema for a week on January 23 was yet more reason to cheerful. More on that ahead…
Sunday January 15:
Seven years ago today and five days after David Bowe’s passing, the good lady Janet and I decided that we really needed to go to London to pay our respects. Like countless others, David Bowie had been the soundtrack to our lives – when we started going out together the first concert Janet and I attended as a couple was his fantastic Serious Moonlight show at the Milton Keynes Bowl on July 3,1983.
So on the morning of Saturday January 15, 2016 we visited the David Bowie mural in Brixton – this was the focus of much of the outpouring of love and respect for the man. Being there was moving, comforting and a beautiful place to be.
Here’s some thoughts I wrote down about our visit on that day.
So this morning Janet and I walked towards the David Bowie mural in Brixton. Peaceful, and tranquil -it felt like the only place for us to be today.
A few sniffles could be heard amongst the assembled – all with quiet dignity. We laid our tribute (”’there will always be a Starman waiting in the sky’’) and I wrote on the wall as many were doing.
Looking across at the faces of those paying their respects was simply heartbreaking. We were lost souls standing there but not a lost generation. Our generation and many others past and present, will always find solace and inspiration from his wondrous music.
But, as we gazed at the flowers, the tributes and heartfelt notes with heavy hearts and a lump in our throats, we all knew what we had lost…
We didn’t really want to leave this place of David Bowie sanction – it felt like we were leaving him behind forever and so much more…
Somewhat reluctantly, we shuffled away towards the Brixton tube station – the gentle familiar words of Life On Mars from a busker drifting over us in the cold Saturday morning January air…
’’Wonder if he’ll ever know he’s in the bestselling show.’’
Looking down on us here today, I’m sure he does…
Tuesday January 17:
Wednesday January 18:
Update here:
Tough times and a very hard start to the year – aside from the high profile passing’s of Jeff Beck and David Crosby – there has been some personal losses here.
My friend Ian Dixon’s (and TBL contributor) Mum passed away a week ago last Monday -they were very close – as mentioned above Alastair Chorlton an integral part of the TBL London record fair crew passed away a week ago Wednesday and my lifelong friend Dave’s wife Julie passed away on Monday – Dave and Julie have both been very supportive of Janet and I in recent times and it’s heartbreaking to hear this awful news.
Unsurprisingly, I am finding it hard to process and navigate through all this sadness – I am at an age where such passing’s occur all too often and I need to be strong to get through these sad time ahead…as the late great Coz poignantly sang ”we have no choice but to carry on”-
Thanks for listening
Until next time…
Dave Lewis – January 19 2023
TBL website updates written and compiled by Dave Lewis
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Just heard the passing of Anthony ‘Top’ Topham, who was the first lead guitarist of The Yardbirds. Hard times for us old timers…
No matter what, let’s keep rockin’, guys!
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