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Late Summer / Unledded / TBL 24 Soon

28 August 2009 2,925 views 8 Comments

Dave LewisLate August and the summer is nearly over. Seems a second ago it started. Always something of a wistful reflective time around these parts – the good lady Janet’s birthday is Monday (31st)then it’s mine the following Saturday (5ht). It’s back to school for Adam in a few days, and then in a couple of weeks it’s back to University for Sam. Usually September 1st would indicate the beginning of the retail Christmas period and it’s already feeling a bit weird being out of that particular loop for the first time in 35 years.

Thinking of late summer this week, my mind wandered back to this same period of 15 years ago. August 24th and 25th are another pair of dates ingrained on my brain for it was back in 1994 (15 years – blimey where’s that gone?) over those two nights that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant performed the MTV Unledded shows at the London TV Studios. Two very memorable occasions. Had a wade through the Unledded CD and the live cuts in the main still hold up. Thank You is a rousing affair- how I remember us willing Jimmy on through the solo, then there’s Battle Of Evermore with the gracious Najma, the still wonderful Wonderful One (I love the line ‘’So throw it down, Cleveland rain, the queen of love has flown again to seek her daughter’’), and the finale of Kashmir – a spirited recreation that promised great things ahead. And ahead lay the equally memorable 1995/6 tour. It’s a little strange how we never hold the post Zep days in anything like the high esteem of the ‘68-‘80 years – but fact is the pair put on some great shows in that era which many of us were lucky to witness. I’d hope I’m not alone in thinking that the Page Plant era is ripe for re-investigation and that’s something I’ll be addressing over the next year.

Late summer playlist highlights: plenty of good stuff on the player here: The aforementioned Page & Plant Unledded, Zep In Through The Out Door (the latest round of Beatles Remasters out next month highlights again the need for a proper Zep re issue series with extra tracks etc – one or two suggestions of how that album could look in a revamped version came in last week), Zep Hot August Night CD (great US Fort Worth ‘71 live set with Page sizzling), Miles Davis Kind Of Blue (the epitome of wistful), Crosby & Nash Another Stoney Evening CD (thank you John P),Rod Stewart Atlantic Crossing remastered CD, The Beatles Capitol Albums Vol 1 CD set (if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em, the Fabs will be all over the media in the next month and these quaint early US albums are well enjoyable. Book wise polished off Black Dogs (thank you Bill McCue), Jason Buhrmester’s pleasingly whimsical fictional account of the 1973 Zep Drake Hotel robbery.

Sam is bound for the Reading Festival tomorrow (Friday), and I’ve told her to keep an eye out for a certain new three piece band with a dapper elder statesman on bass and keyboards, should they appear. Think I’ll play her the 02 version of For Your Life tonight so she can recognise the rumbling sound of an Andy Manson bass guitar from a field away.

Elsewhere Spurs amazing start to the season has been a joy to behold (and now I’ve said that let’s hope they don’t slip up against Birmingham this weekend), there’s been some continued encouraging reaction to the Knebworth book (limited edition selling fast so order now!), and attention now turns full on to the completion of the new Tight But Loose magazine – this should be available by mid September.

Martyn is just completing the lay out and design and there’s a some great stuff in there including an extensive Summer of ’69 Zep festival low down. So get ready for more Zep inspired reading as the autumn arrives.

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8 Comments »

  • Th.Stahlhacke said:

    From Germany:

    I think in the same way like Paul Boyce. John Paul Jones is in the moment the most productive former member of Led Zeppelin with Them crooked vultures, and on this site you can find only so little. You can feel the enthusiasm in the whole internet and you can see in many videos that Them crooked vultures really rocks, and John Paul Jones too. You can see on some videos of some songs the influence of Led Zeppelin. That you can’t find these infos from the new group TCV on this site is for me a great shame too! John Paul Jones stood not in the front of Led Zeppelin, but he was the musical genius in the background.

  • Dave Linwood said:

    TCV have just announced approx 10 dates in the US. Fingers crossed for Europe (and Spurs!).

  • Paul Boyce said:

    Yes, I got the Reading reference, first time I read it, alright… Not exactly great coverage there, though, or anywhere else on this site. I do read up on Led Zep-related goings on on Google – best place to catch up on what’s new.

    I stand by my original comments. I remember the amount of attention Coverdale Page, Page/Plant, Strange Sensations etc were given in the press by the chap who runs this site, in the days before the Internet, and the Crooked Vultures seem to be falling under the radar somewhat, by comparison.

    Anyway, I’m not meaning to be nasty, just constructively critical. Tight but Loose is a good site – don’t get me wrong. It’s just that if you read the enormous amount of enthusiasm and content there is on the internet for Them Crooked Vultures, it’s quite underwhelming to come here and find so little. Get more coverage of them here and I reckon you’ll attract new people to this site.

  • Tim Davies said:

    re- Unledded…
    I think it worked really well. I was lucky to be able to go to the second day’s filming and like every one present, was absolutely knocked out by Jimmy’s fantastic playing on “Since I’ve Been Lovin’ You” , and the “Rain Song” !!
    I think on the cd release there are some amazing tracks..especially the acoustic “No Quarter”, “Wonderful One”, and “Thank You”.
    I think some of the North African/ Morroccan tracks have an unfinished feel about them, especially “Wah Wah” and “City Don’t Cry”…you can see what Robert was trying to do, but they sound as if they needed a bit more work …..but as sketches folded into the filmed sequences in Morrocco or links between songs they work OK.
    I think “Yallah”, or, with its amended title, “The Truth Unfolds”..had the potential to be another “In the Evening”…maybe with a bit more work on it…but that incredible riff could move (the Atlas) Mountains…maybe it WAS the Mighty Arms of Atlas !!!!!!, or the Mighty Guitar Army of Atlas !! Who knows !!
    Shame John Paul Jones was not in from the start…that would have given the project that extra dimension.

  • Jez Firth said:

    Paul Boyce, check out the DL JPJ interview in a recent TBL. DL’s commitment to all things Zep and related/connected is without reproach.

  • Mike Perry said:

    Yes I agree Matthew . Dave is clearly talking about Crooked Vultures with the reference to Reading. Pauls comments are not justified. This site is by far and away the best Led Zep site going and I think Daves commitment to all the members of the great Led Zep dead or alive cannot be questioned.

  • Matthew Adams said:

    Paul Boyce: Ermm… That’s who he’s talking about in the paragraph about the Reading festival…

    Early happy birthday to you both! And I hope your next 12 months are more “up” and less “up-and-down” than the last 12.

  • Paul Boyce said:

    No mention of the Crooked Vultures? Barely any interest shown for listing their goings on in your news section? I suspect you think of Mr Jones as not worthy of the attention you lavish on Page and Plant. Shameful.

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