• The film really isn’t meant for guys like us who are extreme fans (which I anticipated). There isn’t much new to learn, and I was  bit disappointed that the same stories were told even using some of the exact same phrasing and language as we’ve heard for years. But…the story is the story, and that’s how those four guys became Led Zeppelin, so I understand why it was handled in that way. In spite of this, I think that at the story moves and is told in a compelling way that builds interest.
• I was also a bit disappointed that there wasn’t more new, unearthed audio or video that has not been seen before. This is really unfair, though, as you can’t have what simply doesn’t exist, and my hopes and expectations were simply beyond reality.
• As a film, I think it succeeds. If you are a new fan, casual fan, or “normal” fan, I think that this film will be a revelation and will probably introduce the majority of the audience to what we’ve been freaking out over for decades.
• I also think that the pacing and tone are solid for the target goal…not to dip into the sensational, but to focus on the people and the process. I had feared that the band’s involvement would be heavy-handed, but while the tone is far from the sensational, it stays focused on the music. For this presentation of the story, that works well and is appropriate.
• Seeing the film in an IMAX theater is definitely the only way to see it, in my opinion….for the accuracy of the stereo imaging and  for the sonic fidelity delivered by the sound system and the acoustic treatment of the room.
• I thought that the mix of selected studio works, live works, bootleg audio and assorted pro shot and bootleg video was a huge success, making the best of what they have available and in the quality available (even if the footage used and the edits weren’t always 100% accurate…no demerits here for me).
• A personal highlight for me was finally seeing video (and extremely clear video) of the Texas International Pop Festival. I had hoped that this would be a full feature in the film (or would be a dedicated release at some point), so I was really pleased to finally see how much great looking video was able to be used.
• The real highlight of the film for me was the overall storytelling, the pace, and the build of the story from start to finish, with the live performance interludes (featuring some of my favorite bits from the early days, which is also the material that I gravitate to the most in my personal listening).
• Lastly, the overall highlight of the film were the vignettes where Jimmy, Robert and John Paul are either watching video that they may not be familiar with and are reacting to it, or….more significantly….listening to John Bonham’s voice and reaction to that. Watching the facial reactions and emotions of the three remaining guys listening to John talk about the band of the individual members was highly impactful to watch and made the entire film, as far as I’m concerned.

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Here’s the view of Robert Godwin the renowned Led Zep authority  and author of the first Led Zeppelin bootleg guide… 

Here’s the view of former Melody Maker journalist Chris Charlesworth who had a long association with Zep during the 1970s…

The promotional material for this film covering the first 14 months of Led Zeppelin’s stellar career suggests that their success was achieved “against all the odds” and that it is the “first officially sanctioned” film about the group. Neither statement is true. The second falsehood is easily rebutted by drawing attention to their 1976 movie The Song Remains The Same, their 2003 five-hour plus career retrospective 2-DVD package, and Celebration Day, the concert movie of their final appearance, when the reformed trio of Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones performed with Jason Bonham, son of John, on drums, at London’s 02 in 2007. All three films were authorised by the group. The first falsehood is more nuanced but I would argue that the odds on achieving success were pretty short for a quartet that included two of the most experienced musicians on the 1960s London session circuit, one of whom had a keen eye for prevailing trends in rock music, and was managed by a Herculean, no-nonsense strongman who’d operated at the sharp end of the rock’n’roll trade for about seven years.

Quite why Page, Plant and Jones feel the need to tell these fibs is a bit of a mystery but mystery was always an essential commodity in Led Zeppelin’s bag of tricks. Let in too much light and you’re just another band, keep people guessing and you’re special, seems to have been mastermind Page’s mantra from day one; and, in his wisdom, which has never been in short supply, Page has prudently given the nod to a film that explains how they got where they did, but not what they did when they got there.

Becoming Led Zeppelin lets in a bit of that light in making clear that once the starting pistol sounded, Led Zeppelin set off at a furious pace, leaving little to chance. Realising at their first rehearsal in August 1968 that his group had something pretty special when they played together, and that this was their strongest card, Page established a rigorous work ethic from the outset and the others were happy to follow his lead. They made the road their home and recorded their first two LPs in the space of eight months, much of the second while on tour in America. Page and manager Peter Grant were quick to recognise that the kind of music they performed was more likely to find a receptive audience in America, which just happened to be where the biggest returns could be made, not that anyone mentions this.

But before all this happens Becoming Led Zeppelin takes us back to the childhoods of the four boys. Baby boomers all, all bar Plant were raised in families that encouraged their musical ambitions and Jones’ family, the Baldwins, were professional musicians themselves. It was a black and white world but all the families were sufficiently affluent to own cameras and the kiddie pictures offer a sentimental touch not generally associated with Led Zeppelin; even the hardest of rockers were infants once. It would have been nice to include Grant, a virtual fifth member, in this anecdotal dip into the past but he’s ignored, as he is during almost all of what follows.

Next, we move on to influences, with each member allotted a few minutes to say how they were inspired by Lonnie Donegan (Page), Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Richard (Plant), bass players in general (Jones) and James Brown and Gene Krupa (Bonham). That old footage of 13-year-old Page skiffling away on a guitar twice his size on TV in 1957 is still presciently charming, and I enjoyed the footage of their heroes, so a nod here to whoever researched the old clips.

The preparatory years are also fun: Page and Jones as dapper young professionals on the studio circuit – they both played on Shirley Bassey’s 007 theme ‘Goldfinger’, arranged by Jones, amongst many other notable records – before the former is invited to join The Yardbirds and express himself at last; Plant in and out of various experimental outfits in the Midlands, one of which includes Bonham who is torn between drumming and the family building business.

When the four find one another they really were special. Much of the footage of early Led Zeppelin in the film has been seen before but there’s some new stuff and even familiar material has been enhanced. Here we have Page, his long black hair obscuring his features, conjuring up shards of jagged chords on the rather shabby looking, custom-painted Telecaster gifted to him by his pal Jeff Beck; a maestro on lightning fast solos, slides and the scraping of the violin. We see Jones running on the spot as he feverishly plucks the strings of the Fender Jazz Bass he used for years, its long neck swaying dangerously close to Plant on stages much smaller than those we grew accustomed to seeing Zep play on later in their career. The young Plant, at 20, is much thinner than he is today, a shaman in the making, trading vocal shrieks with Page’s bent notes, his curly hair bouncing, forever on the move. And at the back there’s Bonham, tumbling into his drums, grinning as he maintains a steady rhythm with Jones yet always looking to accentuate whatever Page is playing or Plant singing with a roll or a crash or an explosion everywhere. “I fell in love with his right foot,” says Jones at one point.

Led Zeppelin were truly fantastic, full of energy, in the early days but the suggestion that they toured America before the UK because they were ignored at home is open to question. The press in the UK didn’t ignore them – the earliest ever feature appeared in Melody Maker, written by Chris Welch after Page visited the office without prior warning, and I even wrote about them in the Bradford Telegraph & Argus before I joined MM. They chose to tour the US first simply because Page and Grant saw greater opportunities there and it was therefore advantageous to do so. Rolling Stone in the US may have been dismissive but that was really an exception. By and large, they were loved wherever they went, as the rapturous fans in their audiences – many of them female – seen in the film testify.

The present day interviews are candid and occasionally revealing with screen time shared impartially. His silver hair held back in a ponytail, Page looks dignified and, as ever, is the most enthused, contented and diplomatic, his pride in Led Zeppelin undimmed. Jones, traditionally the most reticent member of the group, looks the youngest, his hair trim, his features eager. He has plenty to say, which is refreshing, and he comes across as very likeable, modest too, almost as if 12 years in Led Zeppelin was just another session date in his work sheet. “Led Zeppelin? A silly name,” he says. “But we were stuck with it.” Plant, craggy, his golden hair turned to bronze and tumbling everywhere, is the most droll, the slight grin and twinkle in his eye suggesting there may have been times when he’s looked upon Led Zeppelin as a youthful folly. “My family wanted me to be a chartered accountant,” he says, tongue firmly in cheek. Of his first plane flight to the US he expresses astonishment at being served a meal on a plate with real cutlery that in different circumstances he might consider stealing. Bonham is represented by a hitherto unheard interview he did around 1970 that acts as a voice over, and he too seems to be in a state of perpetual wonder at all that happened to Led Zeppelin in such a short space of time. His wife Pat warned him on more than one occasion not to get mixed up with “that Planty”.

The emphasis, though, is on the music, and Becoming Led Zeppelin features heaps of terrific footage from America and the UK, some hitherto unseen, at last by me, though at just over two hours, it is pretty long and could have been trimmed, especially during the final half hour. If its intention is to find new fans in the 21st Century, it’ll probably succeed, especially as it stops long before Led Zeppelin reached their apogee two or three years later and dutifully ignores the stairway to indulgence and subsequent mischief that led indirectly to their demise.

With the 49th anniversary of Led Zeppelin’s activities in 1975 upon us -I will be celebrating this era with a series of TBL Led Zep 1975   Snapshots – these will take the form of postings covering specific gigs and events from the era, with particular spotlight on the period January to May 1975.

This is designed to track the progress of the year as it unfolded. I will also be listening to the relevant bootleg of the chosen gig on the day to add a perspective of how it sounds 49 years on.

This is where things really get going…

TBL Led Zep 1975 Snapshot: Number 5

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 12th, 1975

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN 

Set: Rock And Roll/Sick Again/Over The Hills And Far Away/In My Time Of Dying/The Song Remains The Same/The Rain Song/Kashmir/No Quarter/Trampled Underfoot/Moby Dick/Dazed And Confused (inc. San Francisco)/Stairway To Heaven/Whole Lotta Love – Black Dog/Heartbreaker (inc. That’s Alright Mama).

Background Details:

Whilst in New York, for recreation, Jimmy went to see Linda Ronstadt in New Jersey with ex-James Gang member Joe Walsh.

Writer and future film director Cameron Crowe is travelling with the band with a view to arranging a cover story for Rolling Stone magazine. Crowe builds up a good rapport with the group (he later contributes the sleeve notes to The Song Remains The Same soundtrack album) and interviews all four members, finally capturing Page at the Plaza Hotel during their Madison Square stint. Page, though none too happy with the paper’s previous coverage of the group, reluctantly agrees to a group photo session after much persuasion.

Cameron Crowe remembers: “Time was running out but I got Ben Fong Torres at the magazine’s office to hold the cover. Photographer Neal Preston reserved a room at the Plaza and set up a backdrop. It was the band’s day off (February 11). The members were informed of the afternoon shoot but mysteriously that morning Page disappeared from the hotel. Plant was first to arrive at 4PM, his shirt ‘accidentally’ open, his hair ‘accidentally’ perfect, then Jones and Bonham. Joe Walsh was there with his then manager Irving Azoff to help their friend Jimmy through this most tender ordeal. Page was still nowhere to be seen.

“Finally, Page arrived. In his arms were two bouquets of dead roses – his defiant statement for the cover of Rolling Stone. He explained his delay: ‘I was looking for black roses. They exist you know!’ He looked around the room. ‘Let’s do this quickly!’

“The session began. Three of the four members of Led Zeppelin struck a conciliatory pose, but the fourth Jimmy Page – held roses and stared through the camera. It was his chilling look that made the photo. The film was rushed to the lab and I flew home to San Francisco to write up the story. I had decided it would be a question and answer feature – that’s how good the interviews were.

“The call came early next day. There had been an equipment malfunction. The film was unusable; barely exposed was a dark silhouette of what might have been a Rolling Stone cover to rival the best. The cover was hastily switched to a tinted live Preston shot. That turned out nicely – and the issue with Zeppelin on the cover was a huge seller. It’s just a shame Page’s defiant stance was never seen.”

Snapshot Listen:- How it sounded today:

I’ve had this show for some years on the audience recording Can’t Take Your Evil Ways (Diagrams Of Led Zeppelin). In 2001 it then surfaced on the Empress Valley label as Flying Circus as a very well balanced soundboard recording. This was a revelation at the time and I recall a very excited Mark Harrison ringing me to tell me how good it was. And it is good -very good indeed and playing it today the whole thing sounded great. This is the point where the US tour really began to take off.

Robert is quick to comment on the snow that was surrounding the city at the time: “We came four blocks in the snow to get here… you realise that? People were calling me on the telephone today and saying ‘Is it gonna be on?’ For a minute I was wondering about my anatomy, then I realised there was some discrepancy about the weather. Isn’t it good though that it snows? Doesn’t it change the vibe of the city? I think it’s great!”

No Quarter expands with a lovely electric piano sequence and a wah wah fest from Page that has the feel of the electric fusion Miles Davis pioneered on the likes of Bitches Brew. Trampled Underfoot has a particularly expressive solo from Page.  Dazed And Confused continues to extend with the San Francisco sequence sounding very spaced out and brief section from Walter’s Walk which would eventually surface on Coda. The outro features those West Side Story licks.

Thee final encore of Heartbreaker is preceded by some lines from You Shook Me- during the solo they move into an impromptu version of That’s Alright Mama’ A perfect end to a perfect party. Plant: “Ladies and gentlemen of New York… you’re too much… and we ain’t so bad ourselves!”

Indeed they were not….

TBL Led Zep 1975 Snapshot: Number 6:

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 13th, 1975

UNIONDALE , NEW YORK

NASSAU  VETERANS MEMORIAL COLISEUM

Set: Rock And Roll/Sick Again/Over The Hills And Far Away/In My Time Of Dying/The Song Remains The Same/The Rain Song/Kashmir/No Quarter/Trampled Underfoot/Moby Dick/Dazed And Confused (inc. San Francisco)/Stairway To Heaven/Whole Lotta Love – Black Dog/Roll Over Beethoven/Communication Breakdown.

Snapshot Listen:- How it sounded today:

I have this on the Throwing The Wild Seeds box set. Another fine performance. Dazed And Confused contains much improvisation. Page’s injured finger is causing less problems now. Whole Lotta Love tonight includes the theremin for the first time on the tour during a funky interlude prior to leading into ‘Black Dog’.

Ronnie Wood then on tour with The Faces, comes on for the final encore of ‘Communication Breakdown’. Robert sings a few lines of Chuck Berry’s Roll Over Beethoven while the guitars are being sorted out. Communication Breakdown itself is greatly extended and clocks in at over nine minutes with both guitarists taking solos. One of the all time great Zep jams.

 TBL Led Zep 1975 Snapshot: Number 6:

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 14 1975

UNIONDALE, NEW YORK

NASSAU VETERANS MEMORIAL COLISEUM

Set: Rock And Roll/Sick Again/Over The Hills And Far Away/In My Time Of Dying/Since I’ve Been Loving You/The Song Remains The Same/The Rain Song/Kashmir/No Quarter/Trampled Underfoot/Moby Dick/Dazed And Confused (inc. San Francisco)/Stairway To Heaven/Whole Lotta Love – Black Dog/Heartbreaker.

Background Info: Mike Tremaglio recalled: One of my friends saw this show from the 14th row.Unfortunately he could not score tickets for my brother and I – not that I held it against him as I got him tickets for the June 7 1977 New York show. We asked him to log down all the details of the Nassau show  and we  did get a blow by blow account of the new songs from Physical Graffiti a full two weeks before it was released in the U.S. His recall was tremendous and I can remember him describing  In My Time of Dying and Kashmir in real detail.

……………………..

Snapshot Listen:- How it sounds now:

I have this on the Nassau 1975 (TheDiagrams Of Led Zeppelin) audience version. I’ve been listening to this show today via the soundboard recording that surfaced a few years back as released on the Scorpio label and as part of the Godfather Throwing The Wild Seeds box set .

It’s one of my favourite performances of the 1975 US tour.

Plant is just about regaining his vocals strength after the problems of the past weeks. He is also on his spieling best form developing one of those band to audience rapports he was so good at.

Witness his opening statements:

“Today is one of the last of the pagan traditions that is carried on into the 20th Century. It’s the day for throwing the wild seeds. In fact, now they call it St. Valentine’s Day… so, happy St. Valentine’s Day! I think we should dedicate this whole show to St. Valentine.”

“Tonight, we intend to take a knife and cut right through the glorious ice cream of Led Zeppelin. You get a little bit of vanilla, a little bit of chocolate, a little bit of colour and a little bit of everything”

And more..

“We came here in a state of ah, Jimmy managed to get to sleep at three o’clock this afternoon, and he was up again at four thirty. So we didn’t really know whether we had the strength to walk on the stage, but we have, and it’s feeling good. We were, we spent a few hours with St. Valentine last night, you see?”

The playing throughout is wonderfully loose and informal and there’s another great moment as Plant is introducing No Quarter” Page plays the opening notes to Train Kept A-Rollin.  “We’re going through our whole live history here, just flashing on different numbers” Plant adds.

The set list is notable for the inclusion of Since I’ve Been Loving played live for the first time since the 1973 US tour. Plant: “Who knows what it’s gonna sound like, but it’s something we really used to dig playing”. There’s a masterful ad-lib during the song where he sings the ‘I’m about to lose my worried mind” refrian and adds ”I seem to remember I used to say for five minutes”

”This is one that regulars that come here know quite well…but you’ve still yet to hear the recorded version…this is a track about another of life’s journeys that never end..this time in Kashmir”

Kashmir was a number that they were obviously itching to play live and with Plant’s voice suitably recovered they turned in a majestic Valentines’ Day performance in Nassau. Page strumming down relentlessly on the Gibson behind Bonham’s castinet like drumming.

Plant showing renewed confidence to throw in the echoed vocal nuances that became such an Earls Court trademark. Listening to this delivery re emphasis my opinion that the best live versions of Kashmir  were all played in the year it was released on record.

No Quarter features John Paul Jones at his best tonight and his improvisation takes the number to 20 minutes in duration.

Dazed And Confused is a marathon 30 minute plus excursion and the encore delivery of Heartbreaker leads into an impromptu version of Elvis’ Mess Of Blues

Tangerine was of course a surprise inclusion at the Earls Court shows performed as a four part harmony. However perhaps they were already toying with the idea of bringing it back during the American tour. For on this night prior to Stairway To Heaven Plant let out a few lines from the long deleted Zep III stage fave. ”Measuring a summers day”…adding ”I’ve forgotten the words”. It was a brief teaser for a song that would again light up those memorable May days to come.

The prelude to Earls Court was on – and the prospect was a very favourable one …

Dave Lewis –February 9 2025

To be continued…

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More Valentine’s Day:

February 14th has been the date of a fair few Zep related happenings over the years, not least for it being the second night of the aforementioned and rightly acclaimed Nassau Coliseum gigs in 1975. This show has been released as a soundboard recording, notably on Godfatherecords recent box set Throwing The Wild Seeds. The 6 CD box set also has the previous night’s recording when they were joined on stage by Ronnie Wood for an encore performance of Communication Breakdown

Exactly a year previously in 1974 Jimmy took to the stage to join Roy Harper. I did consider going to this but was slow on the tickets and had to make do with the consolation of Roy’s very fine album Valentine which I purchased the day it came out ( I need to sort that one out and play it today) – Here’s the gen from this one:

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14 1974 – LONDON RAINBOW THEATRE

Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Bonham are all in attendance for Roy Harper’s St. Valentine’s Day concert. Jimmy, resplendent in a Chinese jacket decorated with hummingbirds, joins Roy’s all star band comprising Keith Moon (drums), Ronnie Lane (bass) and Max Middleton (keyboards) for numbers including ‘Same Old Rock’ (playing a Martin acoustic), ‘Male Chauvinist Pig Blues’ and ‘Home’ (playing the Gibson Les Paul) and ‘Too Many Movies’. ‘Home’ includes a cameo appearance from John Bonham who comes on strumming an acoustic guitar, dressed in a red jacket and black tights and sporting a pork pie hat. Finally, Robert Plant strolls on at the end to act as MC to declare to the crowd: “Ladies and Gentlemen – Roy Harper!!”

Some of this set was later issued on Roy’s ‘Flashes From The Archives Of Oblivion’ double album. Harper dubbed this one-off line-up as The Intergalactic Elephant Band.

Jimmy Page: “We maybe played a few wrong notes here and there, but what the hell -the spirit of the thing was great.”

……………

Fast forward to Valentine’s Day 2007. On that day Robert Plant regrouped The Honeydrippers for a special charity and birthday performance for long time soundman the late great Roy Williams. Staged at the JB’s club in Dudley, it was a memorable night which I was lucky enough to attend. This piece is dedicated to Roy who sadly passed away in 2020.

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 14TH 2007. RETURN OF THE HONEYDRIPPERS –JB’S DUDLEY

Set List:

Mess Of Blues, Little Sister, She Little Sheila, Gonna Work Out Fine, Black Magic Woman, I’ve Been Loving You, Put A Spell On You, Big Log, Down In The Bottom,Can’t Be Satisfied, Rattlesnake Shake, Crossroads, Big Hunk Of Love, Daddy Rolling Stone, Encores: Stormy Monday/ I Can’t Quit You Babe, I’m Comin’ Home, What I’d Say.

Here’s the DL diary entry from the day after:

Honeydrippers Rockola and surprise Beckola in the Midlands:

Just back from a whirlwind stop over in Dudley to catch The Return Of The Honeydrippers charity show at JB’s Club. And quite a night it was. Mike Sanchez and The Big Town Playboys got the evening off to a suitably rocking start with an hour long set of pure roughshod rock’n’roll aided by Ricky Cool and Andy Silvester. Before the main event there was a real surprise. Jeff Beck strolled on the stage, white Statocaster in hand to perform three instrumental jams supported by a two man rhythm section with the Playboys Ian Jennings on bass. Looking for all the world like he’d stepped off the set of that famous Yardbirds club appearance in the Blow Up film, he proceeded to deliver those familiar guitar histrionics that has carved his legend. The total surprise element in viewing one of the pioneering guitarists of all time, right there just a few feet away was absolutely startling. Scrubbing the axe for all it’s worth, finger picking up the fret – this was a masterclass of electric guitar playing. This man still has it … In droves.

Then followed the return of The Honeydrippers. Witnessing the singer back among friends, effortlessly guiding the enthusiastic audience through the backwaters of his record collection was a total joy. Highlights: The back to back Elvis Mess of Blues/Little Sister opening, Robert taking a backing vocal role to Mo Birch’s lead on Gonna Work Out Fine, a beautifully laid back Black Magic Woman, a nostalgic Big Log with Robbie Blunt recreating the spirit of ’83, Muddy’s Just Can’t Be Satisfied with Robert on harp and a vibrant Daddy Rolling Stone with great back up vocals from Mo and Nadia Pearson. In the encores they even did a version of Delaney And Bonnie’s Comin’ Home, one of my all time faves and a single I brought when it first came out back in 1970.

Forget The Police and anyone else rumoured to be reforming … 26 years to the day of their first gig, The Honeydrippers made this the only reunion worth talking about around these parts … and provided a memorable 60th birthday for sound engineer Roy Williams.

DL – February 15th 2007.

The latter statement was a bit of a long shot because at the time there were no rumours of what was to follow come December. Little did I realise the extraordinary events that would unfold in the coming months – with all roads eventually leading to the 02 Arena and that night of nights..…

More feedback of the gig via these original TBL website tour watch posts:

This review by Colin Martin Rumors were flying all day as who would be performing alongside Robert on the 26th anniversary of the first Honeydrippers concert. Jimmy Page? Jeff Beck? Inside JB’s watching people mingling around. I soon spotted Bernie Mardsen and then Bev Bevan. After asking Bev was he performing he said no and Bernie said maybe. Soon The Big Town Playboys and MIke Sanchez (featuring Clive Deamer on drums) were blazing away through their own brand of rock and roll songs when Jeff Beck was spotted walking up the stairs alongside the stage. After agreat set by the Playboys the MC announces a special guest slot. On walks Jeff Beck along with bassist and drummer and precedes to play some storming guitar work. Its amazing to see the speed of his fingers over the strings.

In no time at all his short set was over and finished. And then the headliner strolls on to stage. Looking relaxed and slimmer that at Kidderminster. Soon talking to the crowd about the various songs and the association Robert has to them. Same musicians as at Kidderminster, however, it was featuring more front line vocals from Mo Birch. Robert and Mo had to switch microphones at one stage as she still had Robert’s mic after her lead. Again highlight of the evening was the interaction between Robert and Robbie Blunt on Big Log. Before the band kicked off again with the encores Robert wished soundman Roy Williams a happy birthday. The only question left was who would play on the encores and the answer was only a guest drummer, an unannounced youngster. And then it was all over until next time. See expressandstar.com for photos and film of the show. In the report it states Clive Deamer played with Jeff Beck. This is incorrect. Drummer was unannounced.

This review by Trevor Wilkinson Good to see you at JB’s and what a great show! Mike Sanchez at his usual greatness rocking the house and then a fantastic surprise as Jeff Beck appeared and blew the audience away. RP was very relaxed and obviously enjoying himself performing music from his roots, he also looked fitter and somewhat leaner than he’s been for a while so maybe he’s been taking advantage of the mild spells over the last couple of months and playing a bit of tennis in Stourbridge. Big Log and a few musical Zep references were well received by the capacity audience. After show party was nice and laid back with some tasty crisps and munchies as well as plenty of Midlands musos and the Strange Sensation lads in attendance. Hope there’s gonna be some more real soon.

……………………………

 And yet more Valentine’s Day:

Valentine’s Day TBL Playlist… 

I  have a playlist that that randomly sequences the more wistful and romantic  side of Zep, Page & Plant moments – it includes

Tangerine, Moonlight In Samosa, Wonderful One, The Greatest Gift, That’s The Way, When I Was A Child, Like I’ve Never Been Gone, Ten Years Gone, Come Into My Life, Down By The Seaside, Stick With Me Baby, Blue Train, I’m Gonna Crawl, Heart In Your Hand, Thank You, The Rain Song, Song To The Siren, Going To California, In The Light, I Believe, Ship of Fools, Sea Of Love, Please Read The Letter, Our Song, All My Love, Thank You etc – you get the idea.

Aside from Zep, I’d list Frank Sinatra’s In The Wee Small Hours, Burt Bacharach’s Hitmaker, Otis Redding Otis Blue, Dusty Springfield In Memphis and David Bowie’s Young Americans as definitive Valentine’s Day play.

In the light of all that here’s the DL Valentine’s playlist –  some of the most romantic and deeply touching love songs ever written in the view of your TBL editor:

Ten Years Gone – Led Zeppelin

True Love Ways -Buddy Holly

Can’t Help Falling In Love – Elvis Presley

Full Moon –Sandy Denny

Lay Lady Lay – Bob Dylan

Northern Sky –Nick Drake

Oh My Love –John Lennon

Come In To My Life – Robert Plant

Cupid – Sam Cooke

Our House – Crosby Stills Nash & Young

Tangerine –Led Zeppelin

I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing – Aerosmith

If I Can’t Have You -Yvonne Elliman

You Make Loving Fun – Fleetwood Mac

Kate Bush – The Man With The Child In His Eyes

And I Love Her – The Beatles

Let’s Stay Together – Al Green

Have I Told You Lately That I Love You – Rod Stewart

If Not For You – Bob Dylan

God Only Knows – The Beach Boys

Do What You Gotta Do – The Four Tops

Loving You is Sweeter Than Ever -Bryan Ferry

You Are Everything – Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye

Baby I Love Your Way – Peter Frampton

Nobody Loves You Like I Do – Greg Lake

Ship Of Fools – Robert Plant

The Rain Song – Led Zeppelin

Here, There And Everywhere – The Beatles

Angie – The Rolling Stones

I’m Gonna Crawl – Led Zeppelin

Word On A Wing – David Bowie

The Greatest Gift – Robert Plant

Something – The Beatles

Wonderful One – Jimmy Page & Robert Plant

I’d Have  You Anytime – George Harrison

Maybe I’m Amazed – Paul McCartney

No More Lonely Nights – Paul McCartney

Head Start To Happiness – The Style Council

You’re The Best Thing – The Style Council

Tiny Dancer – Elton John

Thank You – Led Zeppelin

Little Wing – Jimi Hendrix

Forever Young – Bob Dylan

Winter – The Rolling Stones

If You Really Want To Be My Friend – The Rolling Stones

We’ve Only Just Begun – The Carpenters

I’ve Been Loving You Too Long – Otis Redding

Let’s Get It On -Marvin Gaye

Still In Love With You – Thin Lizzy

Loving You – Minnie Riperton

Help Me – Joni Mitchell

Love Song – Lesley Duncan

Loving And Free – Kiki Dee

One For My Baby –Frank Sinatra

The Look of Love – Dusty Springfield

The Faces  – Love Lived Here

Your Song – Elton John

Say a Little Prayer – Aretha Franklin

Can You Hear Me? – David Bowie

I’ll Be There – Bobby Darin

You Do Something To Me -Paul Weller

All My Love – Led Zeppelin