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STOP PRESS: DAVID LETTERMAN LATE SHOW INTERVIEW APPEARANCE CONFIRMED/LED ZEPPELIN TO RECEIVE KENNEDY CENTER HONOURS THIS WEEKEND/CODA 30 YEARS GONE/JOY OF THE SINGLE/DL DIARY UPDATE

30 November 2012 2,386 views 12 Comments

STOP PRESS: NEWS UPDATE – LED ZEPPELIN TO BE INTERVIEWED ON THE DAVID LETTERMAN LATE SHOW:

News Update: Following their Kennedy Honours Gala, Jimmy Page,  Robert Plant and John Paul Jones will appear  on the David Letterman Late Show which is aired at 11.35pm on Monday on CBS.

See details at

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2012/11/led-zeppelin-gives-rare-interview-to-david-letterman.html

Thanks Terry Stephenson for link info.

LED ZEPPELIN TO RECEIVE KENNEDY CENTER HONOURS THIS WEEKEND

This weekend Led Zeppelin along with Bluesman Buddy Guy, actor Dustin Hoffman, comedian and television host David Letterman, ballerina Natalia Makarova will be honoured by Washington’s John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts for their contribution to American culture through the arts at  the the 35th Annual Kennedy Center Honours. Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones will be in attendance.

The Kennedy Center Honours medallions will be presented on Saturday, December 1, the night before the main gala, at a State Department dinner hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. On Sunday December 2nd On Sunday, December 2, in a star-studded celebration on the Kennedy Center Opera House stage, produced by George Stevens Jr. and Michael Stevens, the 2012 Honorees will be saluted by great performers from New York, Hollywood, and the arts capitals of the world. Seated with the President of the United States and Mrs. Obama, the Honorees will accept the thanks of their peers and through performances and heartfelt tributes. More on all this to follow.

CODA 30 YEARS GONE:

One more date of anniversary note in the last few days: November 22nd 1982 – that was the day Coda emerged into our lives on a grey November morning . As mentioned last week, for me personally it was also just around the time the good lady Janet and I first got together – oh yes couple fell in love to the plaintive strains of We’re Gonna Groove. It may not have been quite like that but when I invested in every conceivable format of said album (LP, cassette, US LP, white label promo) I think the good lady had an indication of how things might be ahead when it came to such matters!

Above – the finished sleeve with the mock up version.

I’d already been privileged to see the cover mock up a while back having been lucky enough to be involved in the process of selecting photos for the inner cover. On Robert’s request ( he phoned me at home), I took in a batch of photos and cuttings for them to view in a meeting I had with Robert and Jimmy at the Swan Song office in March of that year. Whilst there Robert rang the photographer Neal Preston to get him on board with his seminal shots. On that memorable afternoon, Robert informed me he had completed work on his first solo album and in his words it was ‘’A new step forward’’. Robert and Jimmy waded through my pics and cutting and pulled a few out (The Bath Festival backstage pic I showed them made the final cut) and then they were off in search of rare rockabilly records in Camden. Another one for my memoirs.

Eight month’s later ,and in stark contrast to the way it has been with Celebration Day the album seeped out with little fanfare. The fact is (mad as it now sounds) at that point Led Zeppelin were hardly held in reverential terms. Their influence would of course become evident in years to come. It did enjoy some good reviews and entered the chart at number 4 but compared to past glories. It had a definite feeling of unfinished business. That grey melancholy front cover seemed to mirror the whole mood back then. Whilst the release of those eight cuts did spell something of a closure on the story it was all a little low key.

My copy here was signed by Hipgnosis designer Aubrey Powell when he came here to film some of my memorabilia for a Robert Plant video.  As he put it ”The End”. Or at least the end of another beginning.

I certainly made a meal of its release at the WH Smith shop I worked at where we had a fantastic display and some lovely posters which I raffled off. Wish I could find the one I kept back for myself.

Above: Back in the retail day, I ran a competition with some rather fine prizes on offer (I think Gary Foy won at least one of them)  as relayed in this local news story – I wish I could find one of the posters we had up in store…they were class…it’s in the loft somewhere!

30 years on it Coda holds up pretty well, there is some absolute class content in there -and now 30 years down the line Jimmy is now conducting a similar exercise in telling us much more than we already know about the darkest recess of the Zep studio archive…

CELEBRATION DAY CHART WATCH:

Celebration Day entered the US chart at number 9 – more details below – it entered the New Zealand charts at number one and is also number one in Germany.

http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart-watch/week-ending-nov-25-2012-albums-crash-burn-173216096.html

 DL DIARY UPDATE:

THE JOY OF THE SINGLE:

There was an excellent documentary last week on BBC 4 about the history and joy of the vinyl single – which was right up my street – you can watch it again at the link below.

The programme ran through the various attractions the seven inch single holds, such as that crackling sound as the stylus hits the grooves, the compact time span when three minutes plus was all it took to hammer home the message, the label and information plus of course the B side – oh yes the B side that often essential bonus to the main feature. Today’s Download generation would have no concept of that. (more on that subject below).

For all their reluctance to play the singles game in the UK , Led Zeppelin were actually a great singles band – a fact illuminated within Nick Anderson’s fascinating guide to Led Zeppelin’s UK singles pressings – part 2 of which will be in the next TBL. Communication breakdown, Whole Lotta Love, Immigrant Song, Back Dog, Rock And Roll, D’yer Mak’er, Trampled Underfoot, Candy Store Rock and Fool In The Rain (the tracks selected as the US singles and elsewhere) all sound great framed as 45 rpm singles –I have first-hand evidence of that as I’ve just spun each of them on my turntable.

All this singles talk put me on a mission to seek out my own collection much of which is stored in the loft. It was a very fruitful search that had me rediscovering all sorts of singles delights, the aforementioned Zeps, the singles on the Swan Song label I collected (I’ve got every UK release) , old Beatles stuff on Parlophone , Apple Records, Rolling Stones singles on Rolling Stones Records, Black Sabbath on Vertigo ,Jethro Tull on Chrysalis, loads of Island Records curios , T Rex Wax Co, Bowie on RCA, lots of Jimmy Page sessions and productions such as Dave Berry, PJ Proby, John Mayall, Jeff Beck etc. Plus plenty of original Punk stuff Clash Pistols, Generation X – a whole cavalcade of vinyl perfection. I intend to be highlighting these gems on Facebook and here in the coming weeks – the glory of the seven inch single campaign starts here – find it under the title  the TBL Single File.

Above – some mighty fine singles on the magnificent Sawn Song label – I have all the UK releases with plenty of gems from the likes of Dave Edmunds,The Pretty Things, Bad Co, Maggie Bell etc.

Above – a selection of Robert Plant 45rpms..

And as for classic B sides here’s a few for starters:

As Long As You Tell Him  – The Faces ( A side You Can Make Me Sing ,Dance or Anything.)

Dreams Of Children  -The Jam (Going Underground)

The Beatles – Baby You’re a Rich Man (All You Need Is Love)

Rod Stewart – Jodi (Oh No Not My Baby)

Led Zeppelin Livin’ Lovin’ Maid – (Whole Lotta love)

Led Zeppelin –  Hey Hey What Can I Do (Immigrant Song)

Robert Plant Far Post (Burning Down One Side)

Robert Plant – Pledge Pin live in Dallas (In The Mood)

Free – Mouthful of Grass (Alright Now)

Deep Purple -Speed King (Black Night)

Sex Pistols – Did You Know Wrong (God Save The Queen)

The Rolling Stones – Through The Lonely Nights (It’s Only Rock’n’Roll)

George Harrison –Miss O’Dell (Give Me Love)

The Who – Baby Don’t You Do it – (Join Together)

Derek & The Dominoes –Bell Bottom Blues (Layla)

T. Rex – Raw Ramp (Get It On)

The Who –Wasp Man ( The Relay)

Jimmy Page – Keep Moving (She Just Satisfies)

Free – Only My Soul (My Brother Jake)

Jethro Tull – 17  (Sweet Dream)

Oasis – Stay Young (Do You Know What I Mean)

David Bowie – Panic In Detroit live (Knock On Wood)

Family – Strange Band/Hung Up Down (Weavers Answer)

The Beatles – Old Brown Shoe (Ballad of John & Yoko)

Anymore for anymore…?

More on the glory of the seven inch single to follow…

You can watch the BBC documentary Joy Of The Single on the following link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01nzchs/The_Joy_of_the_Single/

Plenty going on here as Christmas approaches –TBL 34 text is shaping up and we have started the lay out more on all that soon…I did try and have a look at searching out tickets for The Rolling Stones for the good lady Janet and I but the pricing really was just too much – all along way from the £2.50 I paid to see the afternoon show at Wembley Empire Pool on September 8th 1973…Mick Taylor was of course with the band back then and it was good to see him brought into action for these 50 and Counting gigs…..Tomorrow it will be December 1st and Christmas really will be looming large. Don’t forget – if you are in need of a gift idea..the TBL shop has plenty on offer with satisfaction gauranteed…

Ben Catley has been in touch from the Led Zed tribute band and they require a new singer:

Robert Plant Required for Led Zeppelin Tribute Band. Led Zed are based in Cambridge / Suffolk  and require a quality male singer to fill Plants shoes, Drums, Guitar and Bass / Keyboards are ready to go with a 25 song set list Authentic instruments throughout ledzed@hotmail.co.uk

Russell Clarke  has been in touch  to mention he has a piece on Zep as part of the  The Rock’n’Roll Routemaster feature on the The Robert Elms Show on BBC Radio London 94.9FM airing at 12.30 next Wedneday December 5th. See more at at www.bbc.co.uk/london.

DL You Tube Interview links:

There has been some additons made to the DL You Tube interview extracts – Here’s the Vic Morgan BBC Radio Devon Late Show clip

See more at

http://www.youtube.com/user/KnebworthTBL30

Have a great weekend

Until next time…. keep reading – keep listening…

Dave Lewis/Gary Foy

November 30th, 2012

Don’t forget that you can follow Dave Lewis/TBL on Twitter – LedzeppelinTBL

and view additional photos etc at the Tight But Loose Facebook page (add us as a friend) at

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1611296783

 

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12 Comments »

  • MARK WILLIAMS said:

    See Robert & the Strange Decisions continue to add more dates to their Australian outing. Give it a rest Robert and see the light – please !

  • Dave Lewis (author) said:

    Graham – yes I’ll go with that one!

  • Graham Rodger said:

    B-SIDE OF “MOST HIGH” – “THE WINDOW” – ABSOLUTELY AWESOME SONG.

  • Dave Lewis (author) said:

    John top B sides there – another good Wings one is The Mess B side of My Love

  • John P said:

    Coda was the first Zep album I ever bought new so I’ve always had a soft spot for it.
    I was 14 and it was £1.85 in the bargain bin at Boots in Doncaster,about March 1983 if memory correct.
    Loved every track on side 1 but wasn’t too keen on side 2 but, rather bizarrely, I kept playing “Bonzos Montreux” and doing the obligatory air drums!
    Couple of classic b-sides;

    Tales From The Riverbank-The Jam (Absolute Beginners)

    Country Dreamer-Wings (Helen Wheels)

  • Phillipss said:

    IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN – THEY WILL DO IT SOON Atleast that is what I think!!!!

  • Ed- Washington DC said:

    Looking forward to Zeppelin joining the pantheon of honorees of the Kennedy Center awards. This has long been one of those prestige prizes, certainly in the power salons of Georgetown, NY’s Upper West side and Hollywood, that sets a benchmark for the giants of the arts. At least of this side of the water.

    That being said, Led Zeppelin has always been among my own personal Mount Rushmore of music greats, so it is pleasing to see the stuffed shirts down there finally get the lead out and honor band that took an original American idiom, blues, and modernized it from a British perspective and in their own course changed the sound of rock and roll.

    Unfortunate for us locals, the gala is an impossible ticket, although I’m told that PBS will run the program on TV after Christmas. I hope Jimmy, Robert and John enjoy their swing through official DC, and can navigate the formalities of dealing with politicians who try with limited success to be hip.

    To the great Led Zeppelin: three cheers from the red, white and blue.

  • Michael Brazee said:

    Bought Coda the day it came out. It was 2 days after my 28th birthday. Freshly married all of 3 months and did not know if I could get away with making the purchase, but by then the Missus (Lynn) knew that she was 2nd place in my heart. Not really, but on any given day… Then when we all got together on Thanksgiving a few days later, my brother-in-law (who got married one week before we did) and his wife gave my the LP again. Yep – vinyl back then.
    Always loved the album. Some great stuff on it. Only complaint was that the play time was too short.
    30 years later and the marriage is still going strong. It helps when she knows the pecking order of my affection 🙂
    Plus in the same relative timeframe I was able to buy the only Robert Plant single I ever bought Far Post. Sided with Moonlight in Samosa and maybe burning Down One Side. Haven’t dug it out in so long, can’t fully remember. It was a 33-1/3 RPM though, not a 45 RPM.

  • Steve Bunyan said:

    “On Robert’s request ( he phoned me at home)” – which was nice – You’re an absolute legend Dave! Where would we be without you?

  • Dave Lewis (author) said:

    Amy -that is a fantastic story!

  • Amy M. said:

    Coda has a special place for me as well. In late August of 1982, 4 of us American fans were the guests of Robert at Swan Song Records on the afternoon of the last Coda meeting. We had spent August meeting Robert and his fine family and friends, but hadn’t yet been able to visit with Jimmy and Jonesy. After the three of them met upstairs they came down and we had a wonderful afternoon giving Jimmy gifts, joking, talking, photos, etc. I recall Robert had one of those Knebworth lassos around his neck. JP was gobsmacked when I told him I was just 17. “You came all the way to England to see me?” Well, yes. A very special memory, that afternoon at Swan Song. After we said our goodbyes, the two left together (Jonesy had left earlier). The 4 of us peered out the window and saw Robert and Jimmy standing on Kings Road. They shook hands firmly, confidently, and with some sense of cheerful “Well this is it..”.

    A sight to behold. An afternoon I’ll never forget!
    Amy Maloney
    Washington, DC

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