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MAGGIE BELL FOR JOHN BONHAM CELEBRATION II EVENT/LZ NEWS/EVENINGS WITH COMMENTARY/ OSAKA 71/GRETA VAN FLEET/NEW ZEP BOOK DUE/ JOE JAMMER ALBUM/DL DIARY BLOG UPDATE

1 May 2019 1,863 views 9 Comments
The great Maggie Bell has been added to the bill of the John Bonham A Celebration II event:
Here’s the info:
We are very pleased to announce the one and only Maggie Bell, who will be joining us on 21st September. Hailed as the Scottish Janis Joplin, Maggie Bell and her band The Power were discovered by one Mr Peter Grant whilst he was in Germany managing The Yardbirds.
Changing the bands name later to Stone the Crows, rumoured to be the words expressed by Grant when he first heard them perform.
In later years Maggie was signed to Swan Song Records with Jimmy Page contributing to her second album.
Maggie will be performing at John Bonham A Celebration II Festival with a performance to not be missed! To buy tickets: https://www.johnbonhamac.com/
Here’s more information about this great event:
Maggie Bell photo by Alan Harrison

Following the tremendous success of last year’s event, which raised £21,000 for Teenage Cancer Trust in the West Midlands, Earlybird tickets for “John Bonham A Celebration II” have now been released for sale.

This year’s event will run over two days, Friday 20th and Saturday 21st September, with bands playing in local venues on the Friday in addition to Saturday’s Festival Marquee line-up of rock and blues artists and special guests. As well as celebrating John’s life and achievements, the event will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the release of the Led Zeppelin II album.

Organised by John Bonham Memorial Friends in partnership with Heart of Worcestershire College and the Palace Drum Clinic, the special music event will once again be held in a large festival marquee on the college car park in Peakman Street, and will again raise vital funds for Teenage Cancer Trust in John’s name.

“The organising team are currently working to make this year’s event even bigger and better than last time” says Ros Sidaway, Event Manager “The line-up will be revealed over the next few weeks along with other special announcements! Fans of Led Zeppelin and rock- blues music will not want to miss out on what will be another terrific occasion”.

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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

Jimmy Page

Robert Plant

Upcoming events:

May 4 – John Paul Jones will perform at the Torino Jazz Festival with Tres Coyotes.
May 29 – Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace in Somerset, UK.
June 13 – Robert Plant will perform in Stockholm, Sweden.
June 15 – Robert Plant will perform at Bergenfest in Norway.
June 17 – Robert Plant will perform at The Big Challenge festival in Norway.
June 19 – Robert Plant will perform in Harstad, Norway.
June 21 – Robert Plant will perform in Bodø, Norway.
June 23 – Robert Plant will perform at the Secret Solstice music festival in Iceland.
June 25 – Robert Plant will perform in Tromsø, Norway.
June 27 – Robert Plant will perform in Svalbard, Norway.
June 29 – Robert Plant will perform in Svalbard, Norway.
July 2 – Robert Plant will perform in Halden, Norway.
July 4 – Robert Plant will perform at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark.
July 13 – Robert Plant will perform at the Rhythmtree music festival with Saving Grace on the Isle of Wight.
July 25-28 – Robert Plant will perform with Saving Grace at the WOMAD festival in the UK.
August 4 – Tight But Loose editor Dave Lewis will hold a fan meetup in London to mark the 40th anniversary of Led Zeppelin’s Knebworth performances.
August 16 – Robert Plant will perform at the Woodstock 50 festival in New York.
September 13 – Robert Plant will perform at the Harvest festival in Canada.
September 20-21 – The 2019 John Bonham memorial concert is scheduled to be held in Redditch.
September 21 – Robert Plant will perform at the Bourbon & Beyond music festival in Louisville, Kentucky.
November – The “Play It Loud: Instruments Of Rock And Roll” exhibition will move to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

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

Led Zeppelin News Website: Check out the Led Zeppelin news website at

http://ledzepnews.com/

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A whole lotta people in Pontiac – 42 years gone:

It was 42 years ago this week that Led Zeppelin performed before 76,229 at the Silverdome in Pontiac Michigan. At the time it set a new world record attendance for an indoor solo attraction concert. It was Led Zeppelin’s largest non – festival solo concert appearance of their career…a whole lotta people

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Evenings With Led  Zeppelin – The Complete Concert Chronicle by Dave Lewis and Mike Tremaglio:

A commentary by Larry M.Bergmann, Jr.

Led Zeppelin Concert Chronicle

So you have the Evenings With Led Zeppelin book before you  – and if you are reading this and have yet to indulge – you really should do – ordering details below..

So with book at the ready – here’s an excellent commentary by long time TBL contributor Larry Bergmann that will guide you through the extensive contents…

PART 8 – 1979-80 and beyond

1979

Nice info on the two 1979 jams with Bad Company in Birmingham…I either never knew about that, or had lost track of it across the decades…

Great to see photos of the Falkoner Teatret in Copenhagen after all these years…I love these two shows…the absurdly nasty review from Eric Kornfeldt in the pages of New Musical Express set the stage for the absurd and seemingly coordinated slagging the UK music media was laying in wait to dish out.

The show from July 24 is the best post-1973 Zeppelin gig…not coincidentally, it is also Jimmy Page’s best post-1973 Zeppelin gig.

I laughed at the comment of Paul Morley in the pages of New Musical Express, in an otherwise thoughtful review of the first Knebworth show on August 4…as Morley put it, “The thought that Led Zeppelin are ‘above’ the new music is poisonous, but established.”  And, 40 years later, remains established.  Quite so.

The Knebworth videos remain entirely vital.  Certainly the second show had some problems, not least that the band were on the back foot after the ridiculous and unfair hammering the critics gave them after the first.  Certainly the overall reputation of the gigs was enhanced by the material which was made available on Led Zeppelin DVD, more the reason for Page to one day get around to releasing the entire gig with enhanced image and sound.  It would be a guaranteed corker!

1980

The deliberate low-key aspects of this tour and subsequent lack in one way or another of press coverage render this section a bit light…

6-18 at the Sporthalle in Cologne is probably my favorite show of the tour, but not from the soundboard. I need the cracking audience tape to properly enjoy this great gig.

There’s a terrific (but again, too small) photo of the entire band from the 6-20 Brussels gig.  And if Cologne wasn’t the best show of the tour, then it’s this one.  The tour seemed to lose some steam along the way, an indication of the state of the band, one might surmise.

There’s a great shot of Jonesy from Rotterdam 6-21.

The Stadthalle in Bremen, where the band played on 6-23, is a striking edifice.

The 6-29 Zurich show is understandably the most durable from this tour as the quality of its soundboard is breathtaking. This is doubtless one of the finest quality recordings of the band.

Nice photo of Atlantic Records’ Phil Carson manning the bass on Money (That’s What I Want) in Frankfurt with Jonesy on keys on pg 555.

July 5 Munich entry features a bootleg CD insert with a very nice wide shot of the encore featuring the double drum set-up for Bonzo and Simon Kirke.

The entry for the final show in Berlin on July 7 seems melancholic even now…and my heart still aches when I see the slated October gigs for the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, I was bound and determined to be at all three of them…

POST-1980

Live Aid…so it was a bit ramshackle…but, wow, the magic of that day was palpable then, and still feels palpable now. The revisionist bullshit aside, Zep was the big moment of Live Aid on this (American) side of the pond. JFK Stadium shook the city of Philadelphia when they took the stage, and you can feel and see it on the video. Despite Page being let down by his guitar technician (and not for the first or last time during this era), and his obvious nerves, he’s still getting his points across, and he’s still Jimmy Fucking Page and that’s that. Despite Plant’s voice being shot and his 80s clothes (although his ensemble on this night wasn’t too bad), he’s still the Golden God. And despite John Paul Jones almost being inexplicably left out (this problem would unfortunately get worse), he’s still up there providing the glue that’s holding things together. Nothing bad to say about Paul Martinez, just not sure why Plant felt he needed to be up there. As for Phil Collins, well, it was obviously a PR stunt/massive compromise as he was somehow the MTV glamour geezer of the moment. Tony Thompson acquitted himself well enough to be invited to a little 1986 gathering that became the Led Zeppelin Reunion That Almost Was But Then Wasn’t.

The low moment of MTV’s jejune coverage was when they listed who was onstage, and Collins’ name was listed first! Along with one of his guests, Jimmy Paige.

All that said, it was a real thrill to see the three guys together again, and it wasn’t as bad as all that. But the next time, well, that wasn’t un-bad…

Atlantic Records Anniversary 1988…this was the true disaster.  The less said about this one the better.  I was appalled on the night and time has not helped. I was happy to see Jason Bonham get to play drums with Led Zeppelin, but there wasn’t much else to like. Apparently Page (nervous) and Plant (annoyed) were squabbling about whether or not to do Stairway right up to the moment where they took the stage, 90 minutes later than they expected, as the show was running way behind schedule. Perhaps the “we’ll get there when we get there” approach that became routine in 1975-77 came back to nip them in the heels. Or chomp them ferociously in the calcaneus…

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame…I’m not sure it was necessarily better than Atlantic Records, but it was more fun, especially the sight of the Zeps up there with Neil Young! But of course the night belonged to Mr. J.P. Jones, when he publicly thanked his friends for remembering his telephone number…

The O2…There’s not enough space here to attempt to put that one into perspective…all these years later, it looks to be the end.  But if so, what an end!  Bonzo and Peter Grant were smiling, I’m sure of it…

The Postscript on Peter Grant and Richard Cole is a nice touch, and the Dedication to the memory of John Bonham is the book’s entirely fitting conclusion.

Bottom line…if you love Led Zeppelin, you need this book. You have to have this book! You must get this book!!!

Kudos, Dave and Mike, ya done good…eye thank yew.

Many thanks Larry! To order the book:

Stock Availability Update:

 THE BOOK IS  AVAILABLE VIA AMAZON UK AT

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evenings-Led-Zeppelin-Chronicle-1968-1980/dp/1783057017?pd_rd_wg=8yG8k&pd_rd_r=96711cf5-5f25-4e56-b2d7-779e1cc923f8&pd_rd_w=dgz5Z&ref_=pd_gw_simh&pf_rd_r=0ZZPAZQ99FPF923R5AZF&pf_rd_p=14f91171-0541-58ad-938b-3aec945f4cb7

AND AMAZON IN THE US HERE:

https://www.amazon.com/Evenings-Led-Zeppelin-Complete-Chronicle/dp/1783057017/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1543278667&sr=1-1&keywords=%22evenings+with+led+zeppelin%22

AND BARNES AND NOBLE IN THE US  HERE:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/evenings-with-led-zeppelin-dave-lewis/1128973527?ean=9781783057016

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Contributors round up:

Here’s a couple of reviews and features from the TBL contributing team – firstly Ian Dixon’s view on a classic Led Zep live performance on CD… one that is always worth revising…

Led Zeppelin – Osaka Japan September 29, 1971:

In 1966 another Fab Foursome played a serious of pop concerts at the Budokan Hall Tokyo. This was part of the Beatles final lap as a touring band. Technology and respectful audiences produced some of the best recorded documents of the group live, but all too often reviled sloppiness and lacklustre, the consequence of having their show drowned out by teenage screams since the end of 1963. Five years later and Led Zeppelin played Japan, including that self-same venue in quite the opposite way. The Zep star was very much on the rise. Confidence was slowly being trumped by cock-sure swagger, but the group, Page in particular, could walk that walk. As for hearing the band, nothing short of termo-nuclear war was going to drown out Led Zeppelin. By the time of this tape, the final concert in Osaka, things were really humming. From the opening clatter and thump of Immigrant Song, Zep are loud. This may sound obvious, and indeed every other contemporary press review, collated in the mighty Evenings With book seems to mention it. But repetition can dull the message. It takes a tape like this to smash home the point that in full thunder Zeppelin were a (insert the expletive of your choice here) loud band. Plant’s vocals, another instrument and to appreciate the enormity of the sound the listener must either ride with it, or let it slam, full force into the brain.

By the bells and whistles section of Heartbreaker band and audience are understanding each other. Like stepping back from an oil painting the bigger picture emerges. Jimmy’s runs are ridiculously fast, complex and interesting, Bonzo extracts seven shades of madness from his kit, simultaneous competing rhythms, that sync with the distant boom of bass, unfortunately the tape is least kind to JPJ. Since I’ve Been Loving You is a dreamy brew and at the second time of firing, so too begins Dazed and Confused. But Dazed is long and after the violin bow section much of it unnecessary. Plants subsequent complaint of a sleepy audience is therefore a bit trait. But everyone wakes up for a tight, if not yet stella Stairway pre the release of album number four.

The acoustic section takes the concept of ‘tight but loose’ further. That’s the Way is gorgeous, Page coaxing textures from the guitar and Jones’ mandolin sounding crisp, while this being 1971, Plant’s voice is consistently sweet. Going to California, when it finally takes off, is not quite as ring-ready but not far behind. Tangerine though has less light and shade and suffers, but this section is greatly enhanced by Plants nod-nod, comments concerning “Mr Bonham” who has evidently gone AWOL from the stage, all made slightly more surreal by source swops in the tape that repeat a few choice mutters. “Mr Bonham” is back though for a one time only shot at Friends. Aside from the rarity value there is also a lot more good than bad about this, and had the band stuck with it, Friends could have easily replaced Tangerine. Though adding another screamer to the set every night may have proved too much for Plant.

If ever a country was ready for Moby Dick then the land of the kodo drummer was probably it. The victim on this tape of a chainsaw edit, the track still clocks in over 10 minutes. Militarian snare work and an earthquake from the toms are genuinely interesting, noddles around the rims less so. The Whole Lotta Love medley is gargantuan. Jimmy turns that riff inside-out and hammers it home. More lost in transit edits spoil the flow but in a parallel universe the Twist and Shout section turned into La Bamba, so narrow is the tightrope. There’s a great call and response part too.

 

Encores start with Communication Breakdown, its hiding somewhere in there among the testosterone honest. Organ Solo weaves from Salisbury Cathedral to The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Joe Coker, a portent of excess to come; and leads into a workmanlike Thank You. Lewis/ Tremagilo mention Rock and Roll was also played but my tape has run out. That’s All Folks.

Could Jimmy turn this and other Japanese shows into a “How the East was Won?” My feeling is there would need to be a lot of cleaning up and the copyright licenses would be a nightmare. Then after all that work and expense the end result could sanitise the performance, leaving die –hards disappointed and then wider public unmoved by a niche release. Perhaps the best way to get a feel for those times is after all through the flawed genius of bootlegs like this.

Ian Dixon

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Here’s Tuhin Chowdhury’s view on Greta Van Fleet – a band who have caused quite a divisive reaction in recent months…

Greta Van Zep?

There’s a new band on the horizon made up of three brothers from Frankenmuth, Detroit plus their friend; and they are set for a level of commercial success a hard rock act has not reached for a generation. Their double EP, From the Fires, came out at the tail end of 2017 and their recent full length debut, Anthem of the Peaceful Army, was released in the fall of 2018, leading to a headlining world tour and even a Grammy award.

Oh and one more thing; they sound uncannily like Led Zeppelin, so much so that their rapid success was once dubbed by Billboard as The Second Coming of Led Zeppelin’. But I must admit while I enjoy most of their songs, I also can’t help shaking off that deja vu feeling myself as the band sounds or acts almost identical at times to verge on a complete rip off group like infamous hair rockers, Kingdom Come.

This is not the case in all of their songs but rather symptomatic of their basic approach; mystical folk rock and blues based hard rock tends to lead to inevitable comparisons, it’s difficult for me as I have yearned for a serious 70s styled hard rock band to emerge in today’s Indie and EDM dominated industry.

Let’s address some of the similarities; for starters the most immediate connection is the singer, Josh Kiszka; his Plantesque vocals are strongly reminiscent of the Led Zeppelin frontman’s nasally vocals on songs like Babe I’m Gonna Leave You and Ramble On. Robert even commented on Kiszka in an Australian interview, stating that he was “pretty good” and that “There’s a job somewhere for him.”

The band’s folky side, particularly Led Zeppelin III, seems to be a strong influence on Greta Van Fleet’s sound, particularly on Anthem of the Peaceful Army, but more on that later.

However they have received flack for when they noticeably mine material from the ‘definitive’ first two Zeppelin records; particularly the guitar playing of Jimmy Page. Some of these ‘influences’ appear on their excellent double EP, From the Fires, such as the organ coda of Flower Power that recalls Jonesey’ hallowed playing on the intro of Your Time is Gonna Come (we’ll come back to this song later). There is a touch of No Quarter in the ‘underwater vocal’ in the bridge of Black Smoke Rising and the power chords from Black Dog are used to brilliant effect in the unhinged hard rocker, Safari Song; not to mention a whole host of licks are completely taken from Jimmy Page’s solos. Even the drummer employs many of John Bonham’s signature fills and plays on a Ludwig set almost identical to the kit used by the late drummer. Maybe I reflect too much on this, maybe I am too much of a Zep fan to truly ‘get’ them. I still cringe listening to the singer’s voice and at some of the Page-esque soloing, there are blatant lifts at the end of their song, Edge of Darkness.

Greta Van Fleet have since released their full length debut album, Anthem of the Peaceful Army (2018), which continues more into Prog Rock and Folk Rock genres; distancing themselves from the hard rock laden From the Fires. It’s more a hippy folk record built around an ecological message drawing on John Denver, Neil Young, CSN etc. Though Led Zeppelin pursued a lot of acoustic textures and many songs contained lyrics concerned with mother nature, I believe the grand mythological landscapes of the Anthem of the Peaceful Army owe more to the concept albums works of Yes and Rush than Zeppelin; just check out the grand ‘Yes-like’ album cover. The Zep comparisons will be inevitable as there is still plenty of hard rock: a style of music both pioneered and dominated by Zeppelin in the 1970s.

There are still some noticeable ‘similarities’ to the Zeppelin songbook, The Cold Wind for example steals the jangly rockabilly guitar of Candy Store Rock off of Zeppelin’ 1976 LP Presence. However the track, You’re the One, struck my ear immediately on first listen, like the organ coda of Flower Power, it possesses the same structure, key, guitar licks and even vocal breaks as Your Time is Gonna Come from Zeppelin’s 1969 debut. It is in my opinion one of their most egregious cases, along with their breakthrough single, Highway Tune’ blatant resemblance to The Rover, it is possibly their most obnoxious lift; I hate this song!

The music is not always that excellent either, the scratchy vocals and generic ‘meat and potatoes’ rock of songs like Watching Over and lead off single, When the Curtain Falls reveals they lack the crucial mystique and use of dynamics that made Zep who they were; there are no experiments in light and shade here. The half-baked symbolism and occasionally unimaginative lyrics reveal they aren’t in the same league as the mighty Zeppelin’ in terms of creating an aura around themselves, then again that is easier said than done in the age of social media.

But there their debut album does boast some barnstorming new material; listen to the deranged Mississippi slide of Mountains of the Sun, echoing the band’s very funky and very original sense of groove on songs like Safari Song. Then there is The New Day, a bright folk pop tune with a romantic lyricism and soaring harmonies; it’s closest Zep twin is Tangerine but that would be an insult to the new band’s songcraft, I think The New Day is better than Tangerine.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention they were nominated for four awards at this year’s Grammys, including nominations for Best New Artist, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance and winning Best Rock Album for From The Fires (2017); even though they classed it as double EP, it was a strong set of songs and worthy of the accolade.

Though the young rockers do give some credit to the past, it tends to be classic blues artists like Howlin Wolf as well as other 70s bands such as Fairport Convention over directly acknowledging Zeppelin. Alongside Robert Plant I often hear in Josh Kiscka’ lead vocals the more high pitched vocal styling of Geddy Lee as well as the faux Southern drawl and animated delivery of Black Oak Arkansas’ Jim ‘Dandy’ Mangrum.

hen there is the fact that many Zep critics and fans alike will point out the many ‘borrowings’ and plagiarism cases that dogged the group themselves, not to mention when Led Zeppelin started out they bared strong similarities to the Jeff Beck Group, Small Faces and The Who.In the end, Zeppelin went on to define 70s rock in a way that was still unique to them; managing to spread out their musical net whilst maintaining their own musical identity. Maybe Greta Van Fleet can do the same, they have only just started out and may branch out in territory never explored by Zeppelin; check out their cover of Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come.

In the spirit of being fair there are other influences, album track Brave New World sounds closer to 90s Grunge, while Lover, Leaver reminds me of Sandman by America. They even perform an obscure gem like John Denver’s The Music is You in concert; like Zeppelin, they are true music magpies absorbing the best of many artists to strengthen their own stable. Afterall Zeppelin took from many influences yet still managed to use others’ work simply as launching off point for many of their own ideas, they just failed to replace or credit the offending portion.

So maybe Greta Van Fleet are one long overdue dose of karmic justice? All I know is you can’t criticise them too much for lacking originality, I still believe they’re not doing anything that Rush didn’t already do in 1974. I am still torn on this group, I hope they follow in Rush’ footsteps; their 1974 self titled debut may have sounded heavily derivative of Zeppelin but over their next three albums they would come up with their own style.

I still find some of their antics incredibly off-putting, just when I begin to love them they irk me with another borrowing; like the open shirt look of the band or Josh using Plant’s iconic hand stances or occasionally guitarist Jake Kiscka striking Pages’ low slung ‘guitar hero’ stance. I just can’t fully champion the band til they do away with all these elements, it will at least convert some of the haters and erase the plagiarism charges that ironically was always a valid mark on Zeppelins’ record.

From Rolling Stone articles analysing the Crisis of Influence in Rock n Roll to Pitchfork’s brutal 1.8 review, the band have certainly provoked debate in the wider Rock community. However the band’s pat responses are most troubling; continually acting dumb, surprised or simply unaware of the strong similarities that seem plain as day to practically everyone else. And that to me is the worst sin of all, if they just owned up to the homage and being huge fans it wouldn’t really be an issue; the lesson here is to wear your influences on your sleeve and proudly. The question is, did Zeppelin do that enough in the their numerous plagiarism cases? Perhaps this new band can avoid that pitfall of borrowing too much, like the many blues lyrics Plant used, because if you try to pretend those influences aren’t there, just like Zeppelin’ many claims to ‘full’ authorship you will ultimately lose some integrity.

Greta Van Fleet could have a bright future ahead of them with their passion, enthusiasm and strong songwriting, a skill I feel a lot of contemporary rock acts lack. For the many detractors, I suggest songs like Black Smoke Rising, Safari Song, You’re the One and Mountains of the Sun; the hooks of these tracks are fresh representing a funky Southern Rock sound in which it’s not possible to mistake them for anyone else.

Tuhin Chowdhury

Here’s a link to more of Tuhin’s writing – this time on Lost 1970s gems:

http://lost70sgems.blogspot.com/

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New Led Zeppelin book: Led Zeppelin The Day I Was There..

The next book in the I Was There series is a Led Zeppelin collection of eyewitness accounts – here’s the details:

Led Zeppelin – The Day I Was There – Special limited edition hardback numbered from 1-500 and signed by the author.

Richard Houghton’s sixth book in the I Was There series is a collection of over 500 eyewitness accounts of seeing one of the most successful, innovative, and influential rock groups in history – Led Zeppelin.

With fans recalling memories of the earliest Yardbirds and Zeppelin shows at UK and European clubs right through until the O2 Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert in 2007. With personal photographs, memorabilia, fascinating anecdotes, and fan stories that have never been published before.

Led Zeppelin has been credited with a major impact on the nature of the music business, particularly in the development of album-orientated rock and stadium rock. The biggest band of the Seventies saw each of their nine studio albums placed in the top 10 of the Billboard album chart and six reached the number-one spot.

Publication date: 30th May 2019. Price: UK £24.99 US  $32.00

Pre ordering details at:

https://thisdayinmusicbooks.com/books/led-zeppelin-the-day-i-was-there/

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Joe Jammer new album

Joe Jammer has a new album out titled Till The End of Time.

This is the ex Zep guitar roadie’s third solo album which has taken nearly 20 years to accomplish. Joe said “The original recordings were done in Chicago back in 2001 and as there is so much high powered energy that can be felt throughout it took work on two continents with re mixing and mastering the tracks at MSL Studios London, as well as vocal overdubs at my own Hooch Studios, Morden to finally complete the album”.

“The concept of this album was presented to me by my friend Marty Trlak who is a singer/songwriter in his own folk/rock style which I rewrote and arranged the songs to fit my own imitable style”.

Classic rock blues from a guitar master.

Ordering details at:

http://www.angelair.co.uk/?tcp_product=joe-jammer-till-the-end-of-time

More on Joe at:

https://anniema0.wixsite.com/joejammer

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DL Diary Blog Update:

Friday treats at the Vinyl Barn: At the always excellent Vinyl Barn last Friday  I was well pleased to find a copy of the 1968 CBS sampler Rock Machine I Love You – a very timely find in the light of my post last week about the first volume in this series The Rock Machine Turns You On – this second volume has a great line up of artists including The Byrds, Taj Mahal, Laura Nyro, Leonard Cohen and more – this copy is near mint –top stuff –thanks Darren!

 

 

 

 

We had a great day out at the Victoria VIP Record Fair last Saturday. it was great to see Nick Carruthers. John Gunne, Alistair Chorlton and Wymer Publishing head and good friend Jerry Bloom. Here’s a pic of the TBL Record Fair crew line up at the excellent VIP Record Fair in Victoria on Saturday – James Bevis, Steve Livesley, Phil Harris,Jerry Bloom, Ian Avey and Tom – a great day of record buying and record chat….

When at the VIP Record Fair in Victoria we normally call in to the nearby excellent Royal Oak at – 2 Regency St, however it’s having a bit of a makeover and was closed on Saturday – we did get to see a preview of their impressive rock memorabilia backdrop wallpaper with a fair few Zep images – this is going to look very impressive when it’s all completed…more on the pub at this link https://www.royaloakpimlico.com/

 

 

It’s not every Monday a genuine celebrated rock star front man turns up in your local so I was pleased to see Spike of The Quireboys in the Fox and Hounds . The Quireboys guitarist Guy Griffin lives locally and Spike was staying nearby.I caught up with his latest touring news and gave him a preview of the work in progress TBL issue 45. It’s only rock’n’roll on a Monday but I like it!

Football – more twists and turns – Spurs makeshift side struggled last night against Ajax in the Champions League semi final first leg -a 1-0 defeat was not good. With Son back for next week’s second leg here’s hoping they can pull off a second leg victory – Ajax though were very impressive.  A top four Premier League placing is also far from confirmed with two games to go – it’s going to be an interesting last couple of weeks of the season.

May is upon us and there’s a lot to do – very busy on a variety of projects including the ongoing TBL 45 and wrapping a Record Collector feature – more on all this soon.

Finally, the good lady Janet and I are very proud of our nephew Simon Conway who completed the London Marathon last Sunday. Simon raised money for the Lily Foundation Fund to find a cure for Mitochondrial Disease. He ran the full course in just under four hours – A fantastic achievement…well done Simon…

 

 

Dave Lewis – May 1 , 2019.

Until next time –have a great weekend

TBL Website updates compiled by Dave Lewis

with thanks to Gary Foy and James Cook

Follow TBL/DL on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/tightbutloose.loose

The TBL/DL Facebook page has regular updates and photos – be sure to check it out.

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9 Comments »

  • chris swinson said:

    Saw Greta Van Fleet last year, stuck it out for 20 minutes,the singers voice grated on me that much.The new Zeppelin,i don’t think so.

  • Dave Lewis (author) said:

    thanks Graham!

  • Dave Lewis (author) said:

    Great feedback Jeff!

  • Jeff D said:

    Great stuff this week, Dave.
    I’ll be honest: I truly enjoy Greta Van Fleet. Yes, there is a fair amount of “taking” and “borrowing” from the mighty Zeppelin; both musically and stylistically. But, to hear a their sound now, in 2017-19, as opposed to what passes for “music” these days, is literally music to my ears. I’m as die-hard a Zeppelin fan as anyone, but I do like this band; especially since my two daughters, ages 17 and 14 respectively, turned me on to them as all three of us are Zeppelin fans. It’s nice to share something “contemporary” to them while enhancing and deepening our love of Led Zeppelin. Until the group starts releasing lousy tunes, I’m happy to enjoy them.

  • Graham Rodger said:

    I remember Kingdom Come being hailed as the new Zeppelin in 1988 in much the same way that Greta van Fleet are being hailed as the new Zeppelin now… haha.

  • Dave Lewis (author) said:

    Great words Hiroshi!

  • Hiroshi said:

    I was born and raised in Osaka. I missed out Led Zeppelin’s legendary shows in my hometown, though — I started to attend rock concerts a few years afterwords. Over the years, I have from time to time come across a number of people who made it to these shows. Among them, those lucky ones who witnessed either or both of the 1971 shows, when asked how it was, invariably went like, “it was beyond good…”, their eyes looking afar. I felt them shifted back through time to there and then.
    To this day, for many local Zep fans in the areas, the Festival Hall is a synonym of Led Zeppelin. Whenever we visit or pass by the venue, we are reminded that some of their greatest ever shows happened there, feeling proud of it, even if — like me — not every one of us was there.You were there in spirit indeed.

  • Dave Lewis (author) said:

    Great feedback Larry!

  • Larry said:

    Great commentary by Ian on the Osaka gig, this is truly a very special gig.

    The release of the board tape is one of the bootleg milestones. A shame it was chopped up in spots, but a few hardy souls have worked hard to combine the board with patches from the older sources. There are a few really nice fan releases out there in the cyber ether which are well worth seeking out.

    Greta Van Fleet…enjoyed the commentary by Tuhin. GVF obviously love Zep, so I’ve been inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. I like a few of their songs, but in my opinion the singer overdoes going for the big Plant-type sound. He certainly can belt it out, but I’m guessing he’ll maybe tone it down a bit as he matures. As for the obvious influences, it’s fair to say that all of the great ones had them and were influenced in this way or that, including Zep of course.

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