TBL Archive Special:
Seven nights with Led Zeppelin 40 years ago this week in 1977:

Led Zeppelin (on film) at the Granada Bedford January 1977.
The young DL gazes adoringly at the poster outside the Granada Cinema Bedford January 1977 – no prizes for guessing where this poster ended up – you got it – on my bedroom wall!
40 years ago this week  I was enjoying a seven night stint in the company of Led Zeppelin….or to be more specific their film The Song Remains The Same.
The newly released celluloid masterpiece was on general release and …

TBL Issue 42 – Out On The Streets…
TBL 42 mail out update: I counted them all in and I counted them all out…TBL 42 is out on the streets –  as of Wednesday , every subscriber copy and pre order was in transit. The pic  shows the scene at the main Bedford Royal Mail sorting office as the good lady Janet and I dropped the bulk of them off on Saturday afternoon.
TBL 42 is on the way to over 30 counties including England, Scotland, Wales, Republic of Ireland , Ireland, Germany, Italy, …

TBL issue 42 is the house…
I took receipt of the standard issue and the 300 limited collectors Jimmy Page cover edition yesterday.
I am now in the process of fulfilling all the standard issue subscription orders and pre orders for the limited cover. I had forgotten quite what a task this is and I’ve spent the past few days preparing envelopes, sticking on labels and stamps and now matching the magazines into envelopes for the grand mail out to over 30 counties across the globe – some 800 copies will be leaving …

The year ends with yet more sad passings:
George Michael 1963 – 2016: 
George Michael…such a massive talent – he dominated the 1980s, first with the pure pop delight of Wham! and then onto worldwide solo success with total class and credibility …so many memorable songs – Freedom, Faith, Careless Whisper, Everything She Wants, I’m Your Man, I Knew You Were Waiting, Fastlove, Amazing, etc.and Last Christmas…one of the all-time seasonal greats – we all must have heard it countless times in recent days. In my record retail years, George Michael album …

So this is Christmas…
Christmas Eve is nigh on upon us – and it’s that final rush to get everything sorted for the next couple of  days.
As is customary on Christmas Eve here – I’ll be wearing my Led Zeppelin Winterland 1969 tie bought for me by Larry Ratner in 1993 (hi Larry!).
After all the intense work on the forthcoming TBL issue 42 of recent weeks, it will be great to unwind  inthe company of visiting friends and along the way a beer or two may be drunk in one or …

TBL Archive Special:
Led Zeppelin IV – 45 years gone…
November 1971 /Led Zeppelin IV 
45 years ago this month the fourth Led Zeppelin album emerged in a slightly mysterious manner with that enigmatic sleeve. I vividly remember the excitement and anticipation of the album in the music press that month. In fact the November 6 1971 issue of Melody Maker was something of an historic issue because it contained the first UK sighting the four individual symbols that would make up the title of Led Zeppelin’s fourth album. Each symbol was featured …

Record Collector Singles Feature:
The new issue of Record Collector out now has a feature written by yours truly –it focuses on 21 singles issued in the period 1968 to 1971 from rock artists seeking chart success and how they fared – all of which can be picked up for less than a tenner – I had a lot of fun selecting the singles for this feature – quite a few were picked up on the Vinyl Barn over the last few months via Darren Harte. There is of course a Led …

TBL Magazine Update:
Here’s a round up of the current state of paly with the TBL magazine.
A fair few very regular subscribers to the TBL magazine have yet to come back on board. I would say around 100 subscribers who have previously been very loyal to buying the magazine for some years, have yet to sign up for the 2016/17 subscription.
To reiterate:
ALL current subscriptions to the TBL magazine expired with issue 40. If you received issue 40 and have not re subscribed – now is the time.
As ever, I will be doing my utmost to deliver the …

Robert Plant joins Lampedusa Concerts For Refugees Tour:
This via Robert’s official website:
Robert Plant has confirmed that he will join Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, The Milk Carton Kids, and more for select dates (12/10-21/10) on the Lampedusa Concerts For Refugees tour. Lampedusa is an 11-stop concert tour intended to raise awareness of the unprecedented worldwide refugee crisis. Funds raised by Lampedusa will support educational programs for refugees around the world.
“This is a humanitarian issue — it is not a political issue,” says Griffin. “These are real people …

Led Zeppelin – The Complete BBC Sessions …today’s the day…
Today, Friday September 16 marks the official worldwide release date of the Complete BBC Sessions set.
My own fascination with these sessions dates back to the airing of that 1971 In Concert show. I actually taped this on the day it was first aired on Sunday, April 4, 1971 on my Grudig reel to reel tape recorder. My enthusiasm for the Zeppelin BBC sessions was further fuelled by the various BBC session bootlegs that emerged in the mid-Seventies.
During the early days of …