AUSTRALIA 1972 – IT WAS 45 YEARS AGO/MORE GRAFFITI 42 YEARS GONE/ LZ NEWS/ JIMMY AND A HARD DAYS NIGHT/ALAN ALDRIDGE R.I.P./DJ BRIAN MATTHEW SIGNS OFF/DL DIARY BLOG UPDATE
TBL ARCHIVE 1: AUSTRALIA 1972: IT WAS 45 YEARS AGO…
To celebrate the 45th anniversary of Led Zeppelin’s Australian tour, here is a gig to gig round up compiled by Mike Tremaglio for TBL …
Wednesday February 16th, 1972 Subiaco Oval, Perth, Australia
Led Zeppelin performed their first ever concert in Australia at the Subiaco Oval in Perth. The concert was reviewed by John Bryant of “The West Australian” in a piece titled “Heavy Rock – With Discipline.”
Here are some key excerpts from Bryant’s review of the band’s first show in the “land down under”:
“The pelting rhythm and distinctive brackets of the group… were different that any rock group that ha appeared in Perth. And the 8,000 people who went enjoyed every minute of the two and a half hour performance.”
“The Led Zeppelin represents a rock music expression whose main contribution is originality… it can produce a domineering, pulsating sound in which the heavy rhythm section is the only distinguishable feature. Alternatively, Page’s electric and acoustic guitar, with Jones on bass or organ and Plant’s powerful voice can produce a dominant form.”
It has been rumoured for many years that a soundboard recording of the Perth show exists but is being hoarded. No evidence of that has ever surfaced.
The band did record a series of interviews and promo trailers for the 3XY radio station in Melbourne on February 16. Segments of these interviews and unbroadcast off-cuts have circulated on various unofficial Interview discs notable the Ramble series.
Saturday February 19th, 1972 Memorial Drive, Adelaide, Australia
Setlist (from 96 minute audience recording):
Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Stairway to Heaven, Going to California, That’s the Way, Tangerine, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, Dazed and Confused, Moby Dick, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Boogie Chillun’, Hello Mary Lou, Let’s Have a Party, That’s All Right, Mama, Going Down Slow)
“Led Zeppelin Show Off Until Tonight” exclaimed the Adelaide Advertiser on February 19th, the day after their scheduled performance at Memorial Drive had been postponed. The one-day postponement was caused by rain which dampened the band’s electrical equipment and buckled the stage.
Richard Mitchell of the Adelaide Advertiser reviewed the gig in an article titled “Led Zeppelin Shattering Rock Experience”:
“The Led Zeppelin concert at Memorial Drive on Saturday was a shattering experience of some of the world’s heaviest, wildest rock. The controlled violence with which the UK group produced many of its sounds, hurled out of two giant banks of speakers at the 8000-strong crowd, has never been seen here.”
“From the start, all eyes were on brilliant lead guitarist Jimmy Page. He used six and twelve-string acoustic guitars with the ease that many had flocked to see. His electric guitar work was extraordinary. At one stage using a bow, he smashed out a string of piercing notes only to end with a run of delicate sitar-sounding music. Thunderous applause followed all his work.”
“Drummer John Bonham’s steady beat that at times sounded like a hammer striking steel included many feats that other drummers would find impossible. A magnificent solo in which he used his fists as well as sticks topped his performance.”
Sunday February 20th, 1972 Kooyong Stadium, Melbourne, Australia
Setlist (from 93, 66, 57, & 51 minute audience recordings):
Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker (incl. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)), Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Stairway to Heaven, Going to California, That’s the Way, Tangerine, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, Dazed and Confused, Rock and Roll, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Sing a Simple Song, Boogie Chillun’, Let’s Have a Party)
The Sunday afternoon Melbourne show at Kooyong Stadium was covered fairly extensively by the press. Once again, the familiar theme amongst the reviewers was the overwhelming decibels of the band’s sound system. The concert was performed before 12,000-plus fans at the stadium usually reserved for tennis tournaments. The cover of the first edition of “The Concert File” by TBL’s own Dave Lewis with Simon Pallett has an incredible behind-the-stage panoramic shot of the group on the Melbourne stage (the photo had originally been published in Go-Set magazine – March 4th).
The show was reviewed in The Sun (Feb. 21st) in an article titled “The sounds of a Zeppelin.” The reviewer mentioned that the group had “gotten off to a disappointing start,” but said they improved as the concert progressed and by the end of the show “the audience was clapping and screaming for more.”
Sally Aurisch of Go-Set magazine (March 4th) concurred with The Sun’s reviewer in her piece titled “Melbourne A Slow Start But a Wild Finish.” She wrote that initially “the acoustics of the stadium were against them,” but “towards the end of their acoustic set Zeppelin had the sound licked, and from then there was nothing but build-up.”
Aurisch’s review also included the following highlights:
“Page’s guitar work became faultless, as he strutted and walked around the stage, and for some reason, reminded me of Chuck Berry, when he used to goose walk across the stage, with his guitar slung low.”
“John Bonham and John Paul Jones must also rate mentions as far as the music goes, because they were an integral part of the sound. Page and Plant, however, dominate the visual thing, so it’s these two you remember when you leave.”
“By halfway through the two hours the group played, the audience was hooked, and by the end of the concert when you looked around all you saw was a moving sea of bodies, and bodies jumping up and down against the sky.”
“The last two numbers after the (ten-minute rain) break were probably the best of the day, with the wind coming up adding another aspect to Zeppelin’s driving music, and to Plant’s antics in his skin-tight jeans. A great concert that ended with the crowd going wild.”
Friday February 25th, 1972 Western Springs Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand
Setlist (from 113 & 86 minute audience recordings):
Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker, Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Celebration Day (incl. Black Mountain Rag), Stairway to Heaven, Going to California, That’s the Way, Tangerine, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, Dazed and Confused (incl. The Song Remains the Same Instrumental), What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Rock and Roll, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Sing a Simple Song, ?, Boogie Chillun’, Hello Mary Lou, Let’s Have a Party, Going Down Slow), Communication Breakdown
In the midst of their Australian tour, the band took a quick trip over to Auckland, New Zealand to perform their one and only concert there. The next day’s New Zealand Herald says it all: “Bombardment by Led Zeppelin.” The reviewer said “Led Zeppelin were a success,” but took exception to the decibel level, stating that “living on a flightpath during the Berlin airlift would have been something like it,” “or standing next to a rocket launch.” Despite the “noise and tons of it,” the band “left about 40,000 eardrums ringing and 20,000 people happy” in a two hour plus show.
Groove magazine (April 1972) published two reviews, both highly favorable. The first was titled “Led Zeppelin Concert a Mindblower” by Lynne Barber, while the second was titled “An Incredible Group” by a “special correspondent.”
Barber’s review also commented about how loud the show was, saying “imagine sitting on a small toilet with seven stereos all on full tilt” and “ear drums were assaulted from every angle.” She stated that the stunned crowd “couldn’t believe it was really happening” after waiting three hours for the show to start.
It’s noteworthy to mention that Jimmy Page played a half-minute instrumental version of The Song Remains The Same during Dazed and Confused (the one and only time the song would be reference until its debut performance in Tokyo on October 2nd, 1972). And on a “fashion” note, Jimmy must have decided that it was finally time to shave his beard for good; this was his first performance without facial hair since April 1970.
Sunday February 27th, 1972 Showground, Sydney, Australia
Setlist (from 130 & 45 minute audience recordings):
Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Stairway to Heaven, Going to California, That’s the Way, Tangerine, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, Dazed and Confused, What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Rock and Roll, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Sing a Simple Song, Boogie Chillun’, Hello Mary Lou, The Rover (Instrumental), Let’s Have a Party, Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Going Down Slow), Communication Breakdown (incl. It’s Your Thing), Organ Solo, Thank You
Sydney Morning Herald journalist David D. McNicholl in his December 19th, 1971 column titled “It’s a Happening World – Glitter Scene questioned whether Zeppelin would be coming soon to Sydney in late Februrary or early March since that was the “strongest rumour in the music business.” In the following week’s column, McNicholl was more than happy to announce that his “prediction” was right with a headline that read: “I Told You So: Zeppelin Will Soon Be Here.” The article went on to say that Zeppelin’s tour would start on February 16 and play in Sydney on the 27th.
Go-Set magazine (March 11th, 1972) covered the Sydney concert in an article by Stephen Maclean titled “Thanks for the Fantasy, Zeppelin.” Maclean was very impressed with the band’s showmanship and offered up the following:
“At Sydney’s showgrounds, halfway during Led Zeppelin’s final (ed. note: second to last) Australian concert, Robert Plant looked across the massive audience and announced ‘There are twenty-six thousand of us now. Wow… twenty six thousand of us.’ The ‘us’ implied that Zeppelin were at one with the audience, but the satisfying truth is that they were not. They were completely apart from the earth-bound crowd, living out their rock and roll dreams to a point where they, the creators, actually became their image. Imagery and talent permit Robert Plant to become whatever the music makes him. He didn’t perform his songs at Sydney showground – he lived them. When he said there were ‘twenty-six thousand of us’ he was completely wrong. Robert Plant was completely different from anyone in that audience, which is why we at last had a concert genuinely worth the four bucks admission.”
“Led Zeppelin move in an aura that Creedence Clearwater, visitors of some weeks back, just couldn’t hope to touch upon. Whereas Creedence are famous musicians, Zeppelin are real live rock stars. They kept bobbing up all over Sydney during their stay, leaving a trail of excitement and show-biz type gossip in their path.”
One of the surprises of the band’s performance was the inclusion of an instrumental 50-second version of The Rover – this was subsequently recorded in the spring of 1972 but would not be released until it appeared on Physical Graffiti three years later (and other than being used as a short intro to Sick Again in 1977, it was never performed live again).
Thank You was performed as a final encore – the one and only time it was performed on this tour.
On the band’s 2003 official DVD release, disc two starts off with a powerful cine colour film of the band performing in Sydney (synched to the audio of Immigrant Song from Long Beach Arena, June 27th, 1972). This cine film was shot from the side of the stage by members of the Zep road crew. Cine footage from the same source also exists of the empty arena and the fans arriving.
The 2003 DVD release also includes black & white clips of the band performing Rock and Roll in full and a few short interviews. This pro-shot footage had originally been broadcast in 1972 on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Sunday Night programme, Get To Know. The very ending of Whole Lotta Love, Let’s Have a Party, and additional interviews were also included as part of the original broadcast but were edited out of the official DVD.
The interviews were filmed at a press reception held in Sydney by the local record company. The complete unedited footage shows a young Germaine Greer mingling with Plant and Jones. Plant talks in a very broad black country accent about the Perth police raid. JPJ discusses George Harrison’s recent Bangla Desh benefit shows and asked if they would consider making a film themselves, he tellingly replies ”Undoubtedly we will get around to it”. John Bonham comes over as very articulate when seen commenting on the changes on their music.
Tuesday February 29th, 1972 Festival Hall, Brisbane, Australia
Setlist (from 143 & 106 minute audience recordings):
Immigrant Song, Heartbreaker (incl. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)), Out on the Tiles (Intro)/ Black Dog, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Celebration Day, Stairway to Heaven, Going to California, That’s the Way, Tangerine, Bron-Y-Aur Stomp, Dazed and Confused, What is and What Should Never Be, Moby Dick, Rock and Roll, Whole Lotta Love Medley (incl. Sing a Simple Song, Just a Little Bit, Boogie Chillun’, Cocaine Blues, Bottle Up and Go, The Wanderer, Hello Mary Lou, Let’s Have a Party, Going Down Slow)
Zeppelin performed their last ever gig in Australia, and for the first time on the tour they played a non-stadium, indoor show. The audience was quite rowdy as Plant continually tried to quell the crowd, telling them before Dazed and Confused: “You must realize that the people you meet in the street tomorrow are the people who have been shouting and making this a bit of a nauseating time.”
During the Whole Lotta Love medley the band surprised the audience with their rendition of Dion and the Belmonts’ The Wanderer – the one and only time they ever performed the song.
Despite the rough start to the tour beginning with the futile drug raid the morning after their first show in Perth, the Australian tour was a resounding success. Once again, the band had conquered new territories, playing to thousands of people in sold out stadiums across the continent. One only needs to view the Australian segment of the band’s 2003 official DVD release to get a feel for the magnitude of the shows and audience response. The live tapes of the tour captured the band consistently turning in high level performances before wild, rock-starved fans. Fortunately, between the illicit recordings, pro-shot video, press coverage, interviews, and countless photographs of the concerts, the 1972 Led Zeppelin Australian tour is still being enjoyed 40 years later. It remains one of the most memorable tours ever undertaken in Australia by a visiting rock band.
Written and Compiled by Mike Tremaglio – first published in TBL issue 32.
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TBL ARCHIVE 2: FAST FOREWARD TO FEBRUARY 1975…
Physical Graffiti Covers City! New Led Zeppelin album released!
TBL ’75 Snapshot Retro Review:
Jaan Uhelszki, Creem, 1975
ROCK’S BIGGEST bruisers, Led Zeppelin, have got another album. In rock chronology this is an Event, since the defending champions of the world’s biggest rock ‘n’ roll draw have released only six albums in the past seven years. In fact, we’ve spent eighteen excruciating months between products, pacifying ourselves with heavy rock’s second prizes – Deep Purple, Blue Oyster Cult, and BTO. And these heavy metal hitmen couldn’t begin to plug up the leaks Led Zep left when they took on an extended, self-imposed exile to some musicians’ netherworld.
Now, just as cold turkey has begun to lose its chill. Zep are back with a package deal: a double album and an American tour. The announcement provoked unchecked carnage in the under-eighteen age group, primarily directed at long black limousines, uniformed adults, and popcorn sellers. Throngs of potential ticket-buyers foamed with anticipation, their palms growing sweaty, their eyes glassy.
Days passed without the appearance of Physical Graffiti. Then the first shipment arrived late one Thursday. The fans descended on Marty’s Records downstairs from CREEM like dragonflies, clustered around the cash register, furtively clutching the album to their heaving bosoms, slobbering and drooling down the shrinkwrap. Worried parents contemplated a vaccine, but once Physical Graffiti touched the turntables the mysterious malady subsided. The stricken nodules were lulled into a state of tympanic euphoria.
Physical Graffiti can stand on its own historically without the support of Zep’s five other million sellers, but inevitably the cuts on this album will be scrutinized with Nancy Drew-like precision in search of a successor to ‘Stairway’ or an equal to ‘Rock and Roll.’ Graffiti is, in fact, a better album than the other five offerings, the band being more confident, more arrogant in fact, and more consistent. The choice of material is varied, giving the audience a chance to see all sides of the band. Equal time is given to the cosmic and the terrestrial, the subtle and the passionate.
The exotic and musky ‘Kashmir’ is intriguing in its otherworldliness. Jimmy Page’s grinding, staccato guitar work sounds like a cosmic travelog to spiritual regeneration, swelling around the lyrics, which are heavily laden with mystical allusions and Hessean imagery. Although ‘Kashmir’ is certainly the best cut on the album, it could be trimmed without losing any of its mesmeric effect, because at some point the incense grows a little murky, and the slow burning guitar degenerates into opulent cliches, causing the instrumental interludes to echo an Exodus soundtrack.
Not all of the cuts are exercises in advanced audial basketweaving, but trace a musical cycle running from Page’s grandiose productions to basic drunken boogie. ‘Trampled Underfoot’ is seemingly effortless funk that is rescued from mediocrity by the elaborate punctuation of Page’s guitar. His fingers traverse the neck of his instrument with a velocity so violent that only a machine could improve upon it. Each batch of notes he pulls from his guitar is uniquely his own, personal as a thumbprint. Just as unique are Plant’s laments and his sexual heaves and sighs that turn the lyrics of a simplistic rocker like ‘Wanton Song’ into an introspective, personal statement. ‘Custard Pie’ and ‘Boogie With Stu’ are macho masterpieces in the tradition of the strutting, swaggering English flash blues formula pioneered on Zeppelin’s early albums. ‘Night Flight’, ‘Sick Again’ and ‘Ten Years Gone’ smack of pop picaresque, much in the manner of Rod Stewart’s ‘Every Picture Tells a Story’ – vignettes and transient insights, slices of a popstar’s life.
Led Zeppelin moves in strange ways. Sure they’re gutsy, ballsy, and flamboyantly aggressive, always spiked with a lot of eroticism, but they’re also cerebral…by way of the glands. They have this unique ability to wind you up and prime you for a full-throttled tilt. You rocked, you rolled, and oh mama those juices flowed – but you also listened to the words.
Surprisingly, in an era where disposable bands and itinerant musicians constantly play a game of musical chairs, Led Zeppelin is a unit – the same four members for the past seven years. Their longevity is due to a kind of magnetism, magic if you will. That rare chemistry was evident even at their first rehearsal, where they fit together like jigsaw pieces, transcending their common R&B backgrounds to achieve a gut-wrenching new synthesis. Lisa Robinson describes it as a case in which “the Beatles battled the Stones in a parking lot and Led Zeppelin won.” Zeppelin make more noise, has more guitar gimmickry, more sexuality, more flash, and generates more violence than any of their competitors, so that they are more than mere musicians, simple superstars. They have become the longest-lasting model for those culturally bankrupt ‘trendies’ to follow. Underage masses walk, talk, dress and dope like Zep. They have become a necessary trapping for the terminally hip, as well as providing the audial backdrop for any social gathering.
A Led Zeppelin album is like a select invitation to a key club of rock ‘n’ roll, where the kohl eyed gypsy Jimmy Page is finally accessible through his smoky guitar solos. Robert Plant preens and moans, lusts and longs for lost memories…and takes you along. Like a sonic vortex, Zeppelin draws you into their private caprice, spiraling, coaxing your willing psyche into a suprasensory haven where you can taste and savor this dream stuff that superstars thrive on. This is not pop music, but a harder stuff, more heady and potent, like a round of whiskeys and coke. Zeppelin are avatars in a cultural vacuum.
© Jaan Uhelszki, 1975
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TBL Led Zep ’75 Snapshot:
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 27 1975
HOUSTON, TEXAS
SAM HOUSTON 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. Woodstock)/Stairway To Heaven/Whole Lotta Love – The Crunge – Black Dog.
This one from our TBL friend and associate Mark Bowman – he also took the pics here from that night.
Background Details; After Robert and Jimmy spent a holiday in Dominica for 10 days, while Jonesy and Bonzo flew home to their families, a well rested Led Zeppelin, Peter Grant and the crew reconvened in Houston, Texas to start the second leg of the 1975 USA tour on February 27th, 1975.
This night was special as it was the first live show after the US release of the eagerly anticipated double LP, Physical Graffiti. By all accounts, they played a ferocious show that night that clocked in at nearly 3 hours and 45 minutes. Reporters mentioned in the newspaper the next day that the “kids went crazy”, and the crowd definitely spurred the band to greater heights that night… One concertgoer mentioned – “This was the FIRST concert I have ever been to where the live sound in the arena was equal to greater than the sound on the Led Zeppelin studio recordings that were recorded so well…”
Robert mentioned to the crowd that “we were off for a few days, but we’re back, well rested and in our glory.!” Very prophetic, looking back 40 years later…. Unfortunately, no bootleg recordings have ever surfaced of this particular show to document the power they were playing with that night, so it just will remain a very special evening for the ones who were there….
First Hand View from Mark Bowman:
The beauty of this show – there was none of the violence and aggression from the fans that had marred some of the earlier dates in the Eastern US gigs on the 1st leg. Robert specifically commented about how the crowd had a “very happy and a good feeling vibe” that night for the band, which kept them focused on the task at hand….which was to rip the roof off the arena that evening. I only had a little Kodak 110 Instamatic camera with me at the time, so all my photos are grainy and low resolution. You still get the general idea by looking at them – but what I would have given to have my 35mm with me that night to truly capture this incredible evening. It turns out to be the only time I ever saw the mighty Led Zeppelin perform live… As fantastic as it was to attend the reunion O2 show in London in 2007, this gig was the COMPLETE package…. It is burned into my memory banks for life. Mark Bowman
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LZ News:
Led Zeppelin News Update:
In conjunction with the Led Zep news site, each week I will be re- producing highlights from their weekly email update news summary. This goes out every Sunday. Sign up details are below. Many thanks to James Cook.
Led Zeppelin
- There’s a rumour going around that a new recording of Led Zeppelin performing in Houston on February 27, 1975 has been unearthed. It’s understood to be an audience recording, not a soundboard recording.
Jimmy Page
Jimmy Page photographed on holiday in India last month (Twitter/CGH_Earth)
- Photographer Ross Halfin posted a photograph of Jimmy Page in London with Iggy Pop. The photograph hadn’t been published before, but it’s not clear when it was taken. You can see the photo here.
- A 1965 newspaper article about Jimmy Page was unearthed by author Andy Neill at the British Library. The article, published in 1965 in Northern Dispatch, includes a photograph of a young Jimmy Page in a recording studio holding a guitar. Tight But Loose reports that the guitar Page is holding is a Cromwell G-4 Archtop. Page can also be seen holding that guitar in a photograph taken of him at his Pangbourne home. See photos of the unearthed article over on the Tight But Loose website.
- A new photograph of Jimmy Page on holiday in India last month has been published by the resort he stayed at. The resort also published a note left by Page and his girlfriend Scarlett Sabet. View the full image here.
Robert Plant
- Robert Plant’s October 8 Festival of Disruption performance will be shown on AXS TV on March 5. Find out more about the showing here.
Upcoming events:
March 5 – Robert Plant’s October 8 Festival of Disruption performance will be shown on AXS TV.
March 10 – “Song To Song,” the Terrence Malick film which may feature Robert Plant, will have its world premiere at SXSW in Austin, Texas. Also, the new Fairport Convention album 50:50@50, which features a 2014 performance by Robert Plant, is released.
March 14 – Robert Plant will perform with violinist Nigel Kennedy at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
March 17 – “Song To Song,” the Terrence Malick film which may feature Robert Plant, is scheduled to be released in the US.
April 5 – John Paul Jones’ band Tres Coyotes will have their debut performance in Helsinki, Finland.
April 16 – John Paul Jones will perform at the PRÉSENCES électronique music festival in Paris as one half of the band Minibus Pimps.
May – The rumoured new 1975 Led Zeppelin soundboard bootleg “Deus Ex Machina” is rumoured to be released this month.
May 27 – Unrestored footage of Led Zeppelin performing at the Royal Albert Hall in 1970 will be screened there as part of an event about the director Peter Whitehead.
June 23 – John Paul Jones will perform at the Sun Station Vadsø festival in Norway.
June 24 – John Paul Jones will perform at the Sun Station Vadsø festival in Norway.
Many thanks to James Cook.
The complete Led Zeppelin News email goes out every weekend. To receive it each week sign up here: http://tinyletter.com/LedZepNews
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Jimmy Page, The Beatles and A Hard Days Night:
Here’s an interesting story via the Something Else Review website:
The Beatles first film A Hard Day’s Night is today considered a classic. Drawn from their real-life experiences, this fictionalized peek into their world feels real, as if we were getting an intimate glimpse into the personalities within the group, and the interaction between each other and with the outside world.
Of course, it was no accident that A Hard Day’s Night was an artistic success. Although the Beatles and their music were obviously major factors for that accomplishment, the crew and cast members deserve much deserved praise for elevating the film from the exploitation quickie that would have been fine for the powers behind United Artists: They wanted the film to be released quickly before the Beatles “fad” had faded, so the studio could benefit from both the film’s box office receipts and the music rights for the songs in the film.
The talents best known for their contributions include director Richard Lester, screenwriter Alun Owen, musical score director (and Beatles producer) George Martin, and actor Victor Spinetti. There are other participants who not only also contributed their talents to the film, but other projects they handled in their career make for some very interesting – and sometimes unlikely – links to the Beatles’ first film.
One of those individuals was Jimmy Page. Before gaining worldwide fame as the guitarist, writer, and producer for Led Zeppelin, Page was a popular session player throughout the 1960s, contributing to hits by rock icons including the Who, Donovan, the Kinks, and Joe Cocker, to name a very few. Jimmy Page never contributed to any songs recorded by the Beatles: The only other players on Beatles’ sessions were generally those who either played instruments that were beyond their own talents (e.g. the piccolo trumpet on “Penny Lane”), producer George Martin, or “special guests” (Eric Clapton, Billy Preston).
But Page did participate on one major Beatles-related session right after the explosion that was Beatlemania. Per an article by Tony Barrell, Jimmy Page would usually show up for a session without any knowledge of what he would be doing or the identity of the client. In early 1964, he arrived at EMI studios to find this particular job was being led by Beatles producer George Martin, and upon checking out the music he immediately realized that the project was the score for A Hard Day’s Night.
In Barrell’s article, Page revealed he ended up performing background guitar on one of the key pieces written (but not performed) by the Beatles themselves: “Ringo’s Theme,” the instrumental rendition of “That Boy” that accompanies the scene where Ringo is in “disguise” in various vignettes as he travelled along a river, snapping photos while accompanied by a young “deserter.”
Jimmy Page can also be heard prominently (if fleetingly) earlier in the film, in the scene that takes place in the train compartment: Ringo turns on a transistor radio and, as the Beatles start rocking out to the raucous music, it is swiftly turned off by the stodgy businessman who had just joined them (and who was portrayed by veteran British actor Richard Vernon, whose numerous credits include Goldfinger and The Duchess of Duke Street).
Studio Daily posted a comprehensive look at the restoration of A Hard Day’s Night for the 2014 Blu-ray/DVD release, including details about the incidental music used in the film. In that article, drummer Clem Cattini recalls that Page (and “Big Jim” Sullivan”) performed on this track.
See full story and clips at :
http://somethingelsereviews.com/2017/02/21/a-hard-days-night-with-jimmy-page/
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Alan Aldridge 1938 – 2017 RIP
It was sad to hear of the recent passing of artist/designer illustrator Alan Aldridge aged 78. Alan worked closely with The Beatles producing the memorable Beatles Lyric Books Vol 1 and 2 which I bought at the time –he also designed The Who’s A Quick one sleeve and Elton John’s Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy sleeve – RIP.
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Veteran DJ Brian Matthew signs off from Radio 2’s Sound of the 60s…
I’ve been listening to DJ Brian Matthew since I was aged 7 in 1964 when he hosted Saturday Club on the old Light programme. He made his last appearance on the Radio 2 Sounds of the 60 show last Saturday morning aged 88.
The brilliant veteran radio DJ Brian Mathew signed off with Billy Fury’s Last Night Was Made For Love on his last appearance on Radio 2’s Sounds of the 60s. In the 60s, The Yardbirds often appeared on his Saturday Club show and Jimmy Page was interviewed by Brian in 1969… an absolute broadcasting legend.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08fw43f
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DL Diary Blog Update:
Friday treats at the Vinyl Barn – last Friday’s acquisitions, some very nice picture sleeve Paul McCartney/Wings singles, The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour UK pressing with booklet and a Let It Be French pressing on Apple –lovely stuff and I brought along my own Physical Graffiti promo bag to put them in as it was released 42 years ago Thanks Darren Harte
it was nice to find The Beatles Let It Be album I got today from the Vinyl Barn is a bit of a rarity – according to my resident Beatles expert Paul Humbley – this is a Let It B release pressed in France but with a UK catalogue number and sleeve – this was a period in the early 70s when EMI sourced pressings from France…a very nice find indeed!
At the Vinyl Barn last week morning it was great to bump into Robert Owen Jones – I worked with Rob when he was my assistant manager at the Our Price record shop in Bedford circa 1997 – 99. Here we are reminiscing about the glory record shop days right in front of where the store was (and a pic of the way it was back in the 90s) … it’s now a phone shop..thankfully Darren Harte’s Vinyl Barn is still keeping the record retailing flag flying every Friday morning…
The pic here is at StudioMix on Saturday working on the Evenings With LZ book design with Mick Lowe – it was the April 1969 tour dates to get our ahead around expertly pieced together by my co- author Mike Tremaglio…
March is upon us and there’s a lot to do with more work on the above project and various other things to get moving.
On the player:
Aside from The Beatles albums mentioned above:
David Crosby & Graham Nash – Another Stoney Evening (more on that next week).
Buffalo Springfield – Expecting To Fly.
Love – Revisited – awesome compilation.
Taste – Live Taste (remembering the great Rory ahead of his birthday tomorrow).
Rory Gallagher – The Best Years (see above).
The Everly Brothers – Stories We Could Tell – great 1972 album with input from Graham Nash, John Sebastian, Delaney and Bonnie etc.
Paul Williams -The Best Of Paul Williams – US singer songwriter who co wrote many of the Carpenters hits – such as We’ve Only Just Begun,Rainy Days and Monday Mornings, I Wont Last A Day Without You – excellent album.
Joni Mitchell – Shadows And Light – superb 1980 live album.
plus – Led Zeppelin – Berkeley Daze the 2nd Night – the new double album presentation of the Berkeley Community Theatre September 14 1971 show previously immortalised on the Going To California TMQ bootleg album – I’v e been working on a review of this new set which has stretched to 2,000 word -I’ll have that ready to go next week…
Dave Lewis – March 1, 2017
Until next time – have a great weekend…
TBL Website updates compiled by Dave Lewis
with thanks to Gary Foy and James Cook
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YouTube Clips:
Australia 1972 Clip 1:
Oh to have been this close when this footage was being shot!
Australia 1972 Clip 2:
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword – Official Trailer [HD] Film Out May 12 – The soundtrack is rather familiar…
I agree, Chris. No one grooved like Led Zeppelin. There will never be giants like them walking the earth.
And no other band will ever be so powerful, captivating, amusing, exciting and so beautiful.
Great overview there Chris
The One – PG 42 years later (39 for me)….
Back in the day, around 1978 or so, Physical Graffiti was one of the 1st few LP’s I ever purchased. Physical Graffiti is The One for me, not only because Led Zeppelin soon became my band, but in all my subsequent years of digging bins and listening, after exploring dozens of genres and making 25,000-plus subsequent purchases, I have never been able to find a rock record that has ever equaled this LP’s breadth of scope, healing power, transportative quality, and sheer unadulterated groove. Physical Graffiti forms a jumping off point to many lands, many rich musical veins to be mined for wisdom and gold. Led Zeppelin are the last of the great hippie bands of the 60’s and the prime example of a band that is greater than the sum of its parts. No one grooved like Led Zeppelin. There will never again be giants like them walking the earth.
Within those grooves, you will find a dab of Eastern mysticism, a smidge of James Brown, a pinch of space dust, the muddy water of the Mississippi Delta, the misty mountains of Olde England, the fantasy of JRR Tolkien, the decadence of the 70’s groupie scene, etc… But those influences, distilled through those 4 parts, all sound so distinctly Zeppelin. That distinctive quality is missing in most of the tripe that is peddled today. The trance of In the Light, tales of loves left behind in Ten Years Gone, the heavy funk of Trampled Underfoot, seriously heavy blues of In My Time of Dying, and then…..there’s Kashmir. Whenever I’m in debate about the greatest bands, I cite this LP. Many bands from the 70’s had the capability to write one or 2 of each of these songs, but only Zeppelin had the talent to have written them all. NONE of them however, could have ever written Kashmir.
One of the best things about music is it has the ability to not only elevate or take you away from the present but also bring you back to times and places when that music first made a connection with you. For music lovers, the music becomes a part of us. So, in a way, Physical Graffiti has only grown in stature for me over the years as it’s accompanied me through life and my journeys. It’s become an old friend.
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