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GLENN HUGHES TBL INTERVIEW PREVIEW/MINIBUS PIMPS STREAMED/MICHAEL EAVIS COMMENTS/ROBERT FOR GLASTONBURY/BBC IN CONCERT AT 43/PRESENCE AT 38/ROBERT PROMO CLIPS/DL DIARY UPDATE

4 April 2014 11,308 views 6 Comments

glenn dl april 2

Glenn Hughes TBL Interview Preview: 

In an interview for the forthcoming TBL magazine in London on Wednesday, Glenn Hughes talked lucidly to me on a number of subjects. Revealing details of the upcoming California Breed album (due out May 19th), he was quick to acknowledge Jason Bonham’s performance:

”Jason Bonham can now really put his hat next to his father’s – this is the greatest drumming he’s ever done on record by far.”

Other comments:

On his work with members of the Stone Temple Pilots:

”I did start an album with the guys from Stone Temple Pilots a while back. They went back to do some touring and I formed California Breed – I may well  complete that album with them when the time is appropriate for me do so – but right now my focus is this new band which I’m very excited about.”

On the Black Country Communion split:

”It wasn’t a shock for me really but it was for the fans. They thought there was no way that Joe wasn’t going to tour. I have no resentment towards Joe. I love Joe, he’s a talented uniquely gifted gentlemen but he was never available. Was I angry? No. Was I sad? Of course I was sad when the band broke up.”

On the addition of young guitarist Andrew Watt to the California Breed line up:

”I haven’t played with a guitar player in that vein since Mel Galley. Andrew was born in 1991 but he sounds like he’s from the psychedelic era. He is not really a 70s or 80s guy – his main influence runs from 1968 and then leaps into 1994 with Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. That said he was raised on Zeppelin and you can hear some Jimmy Page in him. Andrew was a little nervous at first but he has that New York swagger and he’s ambitious. I’m a lot older than him but that’s no problem aside from the fact you’ve got to deal with him being on his cell phone texting and stuff all the time!”

On the California Breed album:

”One of our favourite tracks is Days They Come. The chorus ‘’going, down, down down” was actually a guitar line but I thought it was a good catch phrase. The production is amazing and the way our producer Dave Cobb uses the delay on my voice is just amazing. It doesn’t feel like a 62 year old singing that song and it was all done live. Midnight Oil is another one that really kicks along and Jason’s solo at the end…we told him to over play and it works so well. Because it’s the single, I think someone said ‘’do you want to edit the drum solo?’’ so I said ‘’are you gonna tell Jason!’’  This is not some top 40 shit and we don’t go out of our way to make top 40 songs, just as Zeppelin didn’t. We just make music – we don’t look at a format…”

On touring plans ahead:

”Jason’s got stuff going on this summer and I’m doing some things with Kings Of Chaos and maybe some acoustic shows. Andrew is also finishing off a project he’s involved with. So everything is clear from mid September – so then well get together in LA and rehearse and then we will come over to Europe. The tour is being booked by the end of April so we will know when we are starting out. I think this year will just be Europe, though there might be some dates in Japan as well.”

And finally on tonight’s appearance at the Celebrating Jon Lord concert at the Royal Albert Hall:

”I could not commit to it until about eight weeks ago but I am so looking forward to it. I’m singing a couple of numbers with Bruce Dickenson and I’m doing something with the orchestra which will be spectacular. I think the fans are going to be very excited by it all.”

The full interview with Glenn Hughes will appear in the forthcoming TBL magazine.

The California Breed video for Midnight Oil is available next week.

Many thanks to Peter Noble.

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MiniBus Pimps track streamed:

Minibus Pimps – the duo consisting of John Paul Jones and Norwegian experimentalist Helge Sten – have streamed the track Superbolt which is from their recently album Cloud To Ground

More details at

http://www.progrockmag.com/stream/minibus-pimps-featuring-john-paul-jones-stream-first-track/

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Here’s one that will run and run…

This via NME.com

Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis: ‘I’m sure Led Zeppelin will play one day’

Glastonbury boss Michael Eavis has said he is “sure” that Led Zeppelin will reform in the future.

In an interview with Ireland AM, Eavis said he was convinced they would share a stage once more and that he had always wanted them to play at Worthy Farm. Asked if the group would ever reform, he replied: “That will happen one day – I’m sure of it. They will do it.”

http://www.nme.com/news/glastonbury/76513#1eIo2iPG4cWmB7qA.99

And talking of Glastonbury…

Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters now confirmed for the main festival line up

robert glsto

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TBL Archive Special:

BBC 1971 In Concert at 43:

43 years ago today, I first heard the music of Led Zeppelin performed live and the effect was pretty shattering to the ears of a young 14 year old.

The occasion was the Radio One broadcast of an hours worth of live Zep for John Peel’s In Concert programme.

Recorded three days earlier at the Paris Theatre on the back of the band’s ‘Back to the clubs tour’, at the time this was a very big deal.

Zeppelin had not appeared on a BBC radio session since August of 1969 –their return to the UK airwaves was therefore much anticipated. Especially by me, tuning in a at home on our portable radio eager to hear how they sounded on stage.

Beforehand I carefully put the jack plug from my reel to reel tape recorder into the radio to capture this historic moment. Then the dulcet tones of John Peel spoke forth: ‘’This is something we’ve waited a long time for on the Sunday repeated on Wednesday show and I know it’s all going to be worth the wait.Would you welcome please Led Zeppelin.”

Oh yes we would welcome them Mr Peel. Blam! The battering ram riff of Immigrant Song reeled from the radio and I was in seventh heaven.

This was Led Zeppelin live – and a riveting experience to behold.

I was already in love with their three studio albums, I had missed out on their 1969 broadcasts, so finally hearing them live was absolute confirmation that all my enthusiasm was justified. On record they were fantastic -but their songs performed live took all into another stratosphere.

No more so than the next track that was aired. As I was later to discover via the bootlegs, this hour long presentation was edited down from a full set. On this Sunday evening broadcast Immigrant Song therefore did not segue into Heartbreaker as was the custom of their then live act.

Instead we heard Dazed And Confused.

All nigh on 18 minutes of it…

This was my baptism into the free form improvisational world of live Led. It was then I realised that the studio versions were just the starting point. Dazed And Confused live went off into all sorts of tangents – the drama of the slowed down intro, the violin bow episode, the call and response sequence through to the lengthy outro – it was all there.

Within the space of 18 minutes my estimation and appreciation of Led Zeppelin shot up 100%.

That trend continued as they performed a dreamy What Is And What Should Never Be, Stairway To Heaven and Going To California from their yet to be released fourth album,That’s The Way and the Whole Lotta Love marathon that had a rock’n’roll medley that included That’s Alright Mama and Mess Of Blues.

Phew…

My trusty reel to reel captured all this action blow by blow. Unfortunately due to the poor reception of the then 247 metres radio band of BBC Radio One –much of it was played out alongside the strains of several foreign radio stations drifting amongst the airwaves. I therefore ended up unwittingly with some rather unique versions of these BBC recordings.

No matter –I had an hours worth of live Led Zeppelin on tap…and life was very good indeed.

bbczep_f

Subsequently this BBC performance would emerge first on a series of bootleg LP’s – (I had the BBC Broadcast LP with that great Will Stout pig cover on Trade Mark Of Quality a year later) and then on a variety of CD bootleg sets and then officially on the BBC Sessions album in 1997.

I wish I still had that reel to reel tape version but it’s long disappeared along with the reel to reel tape recorder. I do still have the original BBC Broadcast album and some fantastic CD versions (thanks to E. E. for one of the best) and I’ll be blasting those out this week in celebration of the 43rd anniversary of this iconic recording.

So thank you John Peel for persuading Led Zeppelin to perform on Radio One again back in the spring of 1971.I have countless hours of live Led Zeppelin at my disposal…but it’s that very first hour that still resonates as much as any, as it unlocked the (up until then) secret world of Led Zeppelin in concert. It ultimately led to a fascination for me to hear as many of their live performances as possible. 43 years on that desire is as strong as ever.

Presence at 38:

… As does Presence which came out 38 years ago this week . I’ve often told the story of how Alan Freeman aired the whole album on his show non stop on the Saturday afternoon of April 3rd. That first hearing of Achilles Last Stand remains one of my all time thrilling aural experiences and of course it still sounds brilliant.

I have a fair few copies of this album including one that retains the shrink wrap –and another that has an inscription by Aubrey Powell the co-designer of the sleeve –this says ‘’What’s that obilisk exactly?’’ –a reference to the mysterious sleeve. This was signed for me when he came here to film some memorabilia for a Robert Plant
video in 2005. As for the album – no boogies with Stu, no hat’s off to Harper’s. No funk or reggae parodies –no mellotrons or synths. Just full on full power Led Zep. The basic bass/drums/guitar/vocal approach gives the record a very live feel – leading to my conclusion that Presence is the nearest they got to capturing over a complete studio album, the unpredictable edge and power of their on-stage performances. It’s also stock full of Jimmy Page’s genius guitar rages. Achilles Last Stand, For Your Life and Nobody’s Fault But Mine are all as good as anything he has ever applied himself to.

pres

 

There were some mixed reviews of Presence at the time but overall it received a favourable response. Jonh Ingram’s review in Sounds was a five star rave that I still love reading. ‘’ In the Presence of pure rock’n’roll’’ it proclaimed quite rightly. Given the circumstances it was recorded under, this seventh Led Zeppelin album was an amazing achievement – pull it out over this weekend and revel again in an album that reflects the real heart and soul of Led Zeppelin.

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Radio Verulam Interview:

Here’s an interview I did for the Herts community radio station Radio Verulam – my piece is at 30.00 –it’s slightly edited in places. The link is live until Sunday.

http://listenagain.radioverulam.com/taxonomy/term/256

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Dave Lewis Diary Update:

Another busy week here.  In between various goings on, the good lady Janet and I had a lovely day celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary on Monday. A nostalgic and quite moving return to the church where we were married proceeded a most enjoyable visit to the open mic night at one of locals The White Horse.  Sincere thanks for all the amazing comments and good wishes we received on the TBL Facebook. Last Saturday  here was also a visit to Hitchin market where a bit of vinyl therapy was much needed.

Yesterday we brought Janet’s mum Betty back from hospital after her stay there –we are now hoping she can regain some strength now she is back home.

Got to say the old hay fever has been at it’s worst these past few days – my eyes have been very sore leaving me well groggy. They were particularly bad when I was watching the Liverpool v Spurs game although that proved to be a blessing in disguise as I wasn’t too keen on seeing clearly all those Liverpool goals go in…

On the TBL front – more work on TBL 37 and a bit of a whirlwind visit to London on Wednesday primarily to interview Glenn Hughes. As ever he was great company and his support for my work and TBL is just so inspirational…it was also great to bump into Mark Blake who reviewed my Knebworth book very favourably for Mojo and Joel Mclver editor of Bass Guitar magazine and author of  many rock/metal books – he also assisted Glenn on his photo book  a couple of years back. Glenn was slightly miffed that Wolves could only draw with Stevenage the night before (a match attended by Robert Plant), but was hopeful they would finish at the top of the division.

While in London I took some TBL 36 into the Sister Ray record shop in Berwick Street – so if you need to purchase when you are in London that is the place to go. I made a few more vinyl purchase at Reckless Records then a quick beer to toast my good friend Dec’s birthday.

On the player: BBC In Concert 1971 and Presence naturally at this time of year (see above) – the superb Bobby Whitlock Where There’s a Will There’s a Way compilation on CD (one of my vinyl purchases this week was his 1976 solo album Rock Your Sox Off –so that will be on soon) and on LP , The Beach Boys Holland album and Family’s Anyway as purchased at Hitchin Market – see vinyl therapy pic below!

anyway lp

April is upon us and there is a lot to get sorted this month with Record Store day ahead and the TBL magazine to wrap. Mike Tremaglio has been checking the text with me on a couple of Skype sessions recently –  notably the Joe Jammer interview which is another highlight of what I think will be a packed and exceptional issue. More on all this next time around…

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And finally… Robert Plant European tour promo clips

Here are three brief  humorous promo clips of Robert Plant talking up his forthcoming European tour dates…

Norway:


Spain:

France:

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Until next time…Keep listening, keep reading…

Have a great weekend…

Dave Lewis/Gary Foy – April 4th, 2014.

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6 Comments »

  • Ed-Washington DC said:

    Dave I think I mentioned to you before about hearing Presence for the first time, seated in traffic near Andrew’s Air Force base outside of DC, and 98Rock radio from Baltimore ran “Nobody’s Fault” as the new Zeppelin track.

    My initial reaction stays with me to this day: I thought the F-18s were taking off from the runway at Andrew’s, when in fact it was Jimmy Page who was taking off.

    Presence will always have a special place in my Zeppelin canon. Great time in life for it to come along, and spectacularly urgent in its presentation. Coming as it did on the heels of Graffiti, it occurs to me now that at that moment in time we were as deeply embedded in the Zeppelin era as we would ever be.

  • Marcel Vallen said:

    Hey Dave,

    Just wondering like every other Plant fan I suppose when details will finally emerge of Robert’s new SSS album? How many tracks, tracklisting, title of the album and release date?? On his Facebook page there is a photo caption of 14 February 2014 that says listening to playback at Electric Lady Studios New York. Any info would be most welcome. I hope he’ll be doing some new stuff at the Pinkpop and Cologne shows which I will attend.

    greetings,

    Marcel fron Venlo-Blerick, Holland.

  • Chris said:

    Yes the Minibus Pimps album is cool from what I’ve heard already (not the whole thing I must admit). The end result is interesting to me, to say the least, regardless of the process that was used to create it. It reminded me of stuff by Ben Frost and/or Tim Hecker.

    If I was at Glasto I would still make a beeline for RP and the SSS, and Tinarwien for sure.

  • MARK WILLIAMS said:

    As a die-hard Plant (solo) fan of almost 32 years now, I’m sad to say I’m more interested in seeing Tinariwen and Jack White’s band rather than SSS.

    More importantly, genuine respect to Jon Lord on this, a special night for his friends & family.

  • MIchael Brazee said:

    I love the Minibus Pimps album.
    I realize many people won’t like it or ‘get it’.
    But not everyone liked or got Zeppelin either.

  • Hiroshi said:

    Dave, the Anyway album you are holding looks like a cut-out copy — is it a US version released from United Artists? If so, side B is different from the UK Reprise version — it starts with an additional track, In My Own Time (their biggest hit single in the UK). Instead, the fourth track, Normans, is edited shorter and segued from the title track, Anyway, which the UK version isn’t.

    Anyway is my favorite Family album — the opener, Good News Bad News (recorded live at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon, July 26, 1970) always reminds me of Led Zeppelin at their best, in its light and shade delivery, reminiscent of Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You in particular, among others. Truly one of a kind they were.

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