PAUL SMITH LED ZEP SCARVES LAUNCH/ LED ZEPP IV & HOUSES REISSUES – YOUR FEEDBACK REQUIRED/ TBL 38 A WRAP/ROBERT ON LATER/BONZO WITH WINGS/DL DIARY UPDATE
Paul Smith Led Zeppelin limited edition scarves launched in London:
Wednesday October 22nd marked the official launch of the Paul Smith Led Zeppelin Limited Edition Scarves. This was held at the Paul Smith store in Albermarle Street in London with Paul Smith and Jimmy Page in attendance. The six limited edition scarves were on show – only 50 of each have been made available at a price of £395 each. They look incredible and really are the height of fashion art- albeit at a hefty price. During the evening I saw a fair few being purchased and they are sure to sell out. Jimmy was on great form mingling with the guests with Paul Smith and happy to pose for pics. His Gibson number one guitar and double neck were also on display. The brand association of Zep and high fashion is a perfect mix in the light of the reissue programme.
More details of the designs and ordering details are at this link
http://www.paulsmith.co.uk/uk-en/shop/campaigns/led-zeppelin/
More photos of the launch on TBL Facebook.
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Jimmy Page on Radio 4’s Front Row:
Kirsty Lang’s interview with Jimmy Page aired on on Front Rowon Tuesday October 21st BBC Radio 4. See link below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qsq5
Jimmy was in Berlin on Thursday and is due in Paris during the coming days for more promotional interviews – before flying to America for the events in New York and Los Angeles in early November. He also filmed an appearance for the BBC One show due to be aired in the next couple of weeks.
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Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters on Later with Jools Holland:
Robert and the SSS are lined up for an appearance on the Later With Jools Holland next week – They are due on the half hour edition of the show on Tuesday October 28th followed by a longer slot on Friday October 31st.
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TBL 38 Update:
TBL 38 is a wrap – designer Mick Lowe and I checked the last pages on Tuesday morning and it will now go off to the printers and then be ready for distribution in early November.
So ends what has become quite a mammoth task that began back on July 1st and finally came to completion 112 days later. It’s not been an easy ride but we got there in the end…more on how this issue came to fruition to follow.
I can tell you unreservedly that this is a landmark issue for the Tight But Loos magazine: a shinny new masthead logo, 30 pages of pure text accounting for 50,00 words and an exclusive TBL interview with Jimmy Page. This is not so much magazine. ..more a mini book and great value for the price.
After all the hours of putting it together, the challenge now is to get it seen by the widest readership possible. If you are reading this post, chances are you are interested in Led Zeppelin…if you are, then this magazine will considerably aid your enjoyment of what is a fantastic time to be a Led Zep fan.
This magazine offers detailed features all pleasingly presented in an all colour format. Websites are for browsing – the TBL magazine is for reading – time and time again. It rekindles that old fashioned thrill of actually waiting for something and knowing that when the package lands on your doorstep, the waiting will be worthwhile. All copies are individually numbered and signed by the editor making for a unique Led Zeppelin collectable item.
There are three ways to acquire the forthcoming TBL issue 38:
1: You can subscribe for the three issue TBL 2014/15 subscription which ensures you receive issues TBL 38, 39 and 40 as published – all subscribers also receive a free 10 x 8 print of Jimmy Page on stage in Frankfurt on the 1980 Over Europe tour – perfect for framing. To subscribe go to this link and order via paypal:
2: You can order TBL 38 as a standard cover single issue with the Jimmy Page cover shot. To order go to this link:
3:You can order TBL 38 with the limited edition John Bonham cover – this is a special collectable cover edition available in a run of just 300. To order go to this link:
In summary: if you love Led Zeppelin…you will love this magazine…and TBL 38 is not so much a magazine…it’s more a mini book…invest and enjoy!
Many thanks in advance for your support in advance.
Dave Lewis – October 24rd, 2014
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Led Zeppelin IV and Houses Of The Holy Reissues TBL Feedback – Your views required!
To celebrate the milestone release of the second batch of Led Zeppelin Reissues – Led Zeppelin IV and Houses Of The Holy – I am throwing open the various TBL channels to attain your views and feedback.
In effect, next week will be TBL Led ZeppelinIV/Houses of The Holy Reissues Forum Week on TBL Facebook and Website.
Led Zeppelin Reissues – Initial Instant Feedback:
Upon their release, I would very much like to receive your initial thoughts and feedback. Tell me what you think about the remastered albums, the companion audio discs, the outtakes, the packaging, the de uxe books, etc – positive or negative I want to know your views on it all. I’d also love to receive photos of you unpacking the sets and revelling in the moment and the experience.
This initial feedback can be as short or as long as you like.
Send it as soon as possible!
I am aware that some copies will start to seep out over the weekend, if not before – so as soon as you have your hands on these coveted releases – get your thoughts to me!
Note -this feedback applies to all formats not just the deluxe box sets -whatever version you buy I’d love to hear what you think of it!
Send it either on the TBL Facebook or to the TBL web site comments section or direct to my email davelewis.tbl1@ntlworld.com
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Led Zeppelin Reissues -the Retail Experience
One other request – should you buy the Led Zeppelin reissues in a retail outlet – again I would love to have pics of you doing so and of the retail displays at the front of the store – in the UK this will apply to any independent shop or an HMV or Fopp. I’d also welcome any pics of any posters your see on the tube/underground, shop fronts etc.
So, get ready to engage with TBL and air your views in celebration of the monumental occasion of the arrival of the second batch of Led Zeppelin reissues.
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Led Zeppelin II at 45….
To mark the 45th anniversary of the Led Zeppelin II album – here’s a TBL archive special:
A Kind Of Rock…. Still Flying
In the same way Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue defined the jazz genre, the second Zep album well and truly encapsulated rock music as we know it. Dave Lewis re appraises Led Zeppelin 2 on the occasion of its 45th anniversary.
In reappraising the second Led Zeppelin album forty years on it occurred to me that a parallel with the jazz giant Miles Davis is evident.
In the same way that Miles Davis Kind of Blue was the jazz album of choice for those who thought they didn’t like jazz, Led Zeppelin II became the rock album for those who thought they didn’t really like rock.
After Kind Of Blue, Miles Davis went on to make continuing adventurous music (witness In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew), Zeppelin also would push the boundaries of creativity with the likes of Zep IV and Physical Graffiti. Neither artist though, quite replicated the sheer shock element of intent so apparent on Kind Of Blue and Led Zeppelin II. These are both works of massive influence that grew their respective audiences manifold.
Having recorded the album in a variety of locations as they toured relentlessly that year, Jimmy Page admitted to having lost a bit of confidence by the time the album appeared in October 1969 accompanied by an advert that proclaimed it be ‘’Now flying’’. He need not have worried. By the beginning of 1970, Led Zeppelin II had dethroned The Beatles Abbey Road at the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. It marked the beginning of the band’s world domination. It registered over 130 consecutive weeks on the UK chart and remarkably was still holding court when Led Zeppelin III appeared a year later.
So what inspired this sales longevity normally reserved for the likes of The Sound Of Music or Bridge Over Troubled Water? Put simply Led Zeppelin II defined the rock genre in a way that Cream and Jimi Hendrix had hinted at. Here was a seamless forty one minute experience as track merged into track and sledehammered the listener into submission. At the helm of it all was Jimmy Page. If the first album had laid down the foundations of what this quartet were going to be about, Zep II extended the notion with a brain crushing display of dynamics. And it was Page’s precision production that gave the record its real character, a standard he would uphold on successive Zep albums.
It was also his ability to adapt to the varying studio conditions they found themselves in that gave the album its distinctive sound. Page’s experiments in distance miking, a trick he picked up during his session days considerably enhanced the effect of John Bonham’s straight from the wrist drumming and Robert Plant’s wailing vocal. When it transferred to disc, it reproduced an air of electricity you could almost touch.
This was best personified on Whole Lotta Love, the catalyst opening track and smash US hit single. The lyrics may have been the work of Willie Dixon but the sound was pure Page/Zep. The swirling white noise middle section being the result of a weekend mixing session in New York with Eddie Kramer.
This second Led Zeppelin album also marked the emergence of Robert Plant as the group’s lyricist. He offered up compositional strength that would further flower on subsequent albums. The dreamy What Is And What Should never be ,the emotional love song Thank You with John Paul Jones excelling on organ and the Tolkien inspired Ramble On all sound as fresh today as they did four decades back.
Chris Huston was the studio engineer at Mystic Studios in Los Angles where some of the tracks were cut. ‘’It was such a small studio’’ recalls Huston. ‘’I was very impressed with Jimmy’s ability to double track and create the sound he wanted first time every time. What you hear is the product of a lot of spontaneous chemistry in their playing’’.
Examples of that spark of chemistry can be heard in the smash and grab solos that light up The Lemon Song and the closing track Bring It On Home- the latter highlighting the band’s somewhat dubious practice for taking unaccredited old blues tunes (in this case Sonny Boy Williamson s song of the same name) and respraying them Zep style. Derivative as this tactic appeared, such arrangements always emerged unmistakably as their own.
Led Zeppelin II also contains one of the finest and few listenable drums solos committed to record in Moby Dick and a kitsch rocker Living Loving Maid that they always said they disliked, but actually packed a tight incisive punch. Another winning factor: The album made memorable use of the newly found freedom stereophonic sound offered, making it an early hi buffs delight.
It would of course been easy to replicate this formula on their next record but that was never an option. As the gold and platinum albums began lining their walls, Page and co had already moved on. Stedfastedly refusing to stick to one particular groove, with their second album they had already made the definitive hard rock statement. Mandolins, Martin acoustic guitars, Mellotrons and a date with ‘’A lady whose sure’’ now beckoned.
The intervening 40 years have done nothing to diminish the startling air of tension that signifies the opening cough and riff of Whole Lotta Love and the commencement of an album that continues to defy the wrath of time.
It a kind of rock…and a kind of legend and it’s still flying.
It’s Led Zeppelin II – go and wish it a happy birthday 45th birthday and play it right now …
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Raphael Ravenscroft 1954 – 2014
It was very sad to hear the passing of Raphael Ravenscroft age 60 from a suspected heart attack. Raphael contributed the iconic saxophone solo to Gerry Rafferty’s 1978 hit Baker Street..his saxophone solo also lit up the brilliant Pledge Pin on Robert Plant’s 1982 debut solo album Pictures At Eleven..RIP…
It was also very sad to hear the passing of pioneering early 60s rocker and glam rock hitmaker Alvin Stardust age 72.
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Wings Beware My Love with John Bonham on drums:
Here’s the preview of the Wings outtake due for release on the reissue of the Wings At The Speed Of Sound album in early November.
Tremendous drumming – could only be Bonzo…what a find
https://twitter.com/PaulMcCartney/status/524270739915292672
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DL Diary Update:
Bit of a day of mixed emotion on Wednesday …there was stress in the morning here -as many know my mode of transport is the trusty bike which I am out on about on every day –keeping fit, in town at TBL designer Mick’s, post office for TBl distribution,visiting Janet’s mum etc. I locked it up in town to do some shopping and alas when I got back it had been stolen…no sign of it – they must have broken the lock. Not good –gutted in fact and my faith in human nature has been severely knocked… I know it’s only a bike but I was a bit mortified…and I’m quid’s down as a new bike will be required and no doubt I’ll be more paranoid when leaving it locked up….that Paul Smith scarve is off the agenda for sure..(not that it was on it!)
Talking of which, I had to shrug off the disappointment of my bike theft and head for town for the official launch of the Led Zeppelin scarves at the Paul Smith store. The prices are very high end but they do look incredible. It was good to hook up with Ross Halfin and personally thank him for supplying the photo that adorns the standard issue of the forthcoming TBL 38.It was also great to be in Jimmy’s company again and talk to Paul Smith about the idea the designing of the scarves – I mentioned to Jimmy how much the fans in attendance at last week’s Guardian Live Q and A event had enjoyed the night. Here’s a pic from the launch with Jimmy Page and Paul Smith.
Just want to mention the very supportive feedback on the TBL Facebook regarding my aforementioned bike theft – in particular Steve Jennings and Pete Bullick. The generosity and goodwill of many TBL Facebook followers has been humbling and inspiring – and my faith in human nature has been well and truly restored…thanks folks.
This Saturday sees the return to Bedford of the VIP Record Fair the first to be staged here for some years. It will be a luxury to not have to travel far to be amongst the many stalls lined up. There will be a representation of TBL products on offer and all in all it looks to be shaping up to a great event. Look forward to saying hi to all that can make it along.
On the player …well Led Zeppelin IV and Houses Of The Holy – oh yes…just taken receipt of the CD double sets and the single vinyl editions. You thought you loved these albums? Think again because you are about to love them a whole lot more believe me…
Also on the player some Nick Drake – principally Pink Moon a suitable low key soundtrack – particularly last weekend when I felt really drained and low. I’m more than a little worried about my diabetes check which is due next week. Anyway it’s ever onward and with TBL 38 at the printers, I now move into distribution manager mode with envelopes to label and stamps to go on in preparation for the TBL 38 mail out… it will be coming your way soon…
DL – October 24th 2014.
You Tube Clips:
Jimmy Page interviewed by Liz Barnes for Planet Rock:
Jimmy with Jorgen Angel:
Jimmy Page Guardian Live Q and A:
Until next time…
Keep listening, keep reading…
Have a great weekend
Dave Lewis/Gary Foy – October 24th, 2014.
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Having bought the super deluxe box sets of all of these reissues and getting the code to download the 24/96 Hi Res versions of these albums has to me been a revelation !! It’s like rediscovering these great albums once again, the sound is huge so much more punch in Hi Res and you also realise, if you didn’t know already what a great bass player JPJ was in this band. Never have these albums sounded so good in my opinion absolutely stunning !!!!!!!!
Interestingly enough the obi(white) strip on HOTH is either there because they were afraid
that certain markets wouldn’t wear naked child’s bottoms on display in record shops
or was inspired by Jim’s travels in Japan where every record carries an obi strip.
Furthermore its only on the single vinyl version not the double deluxe.A future collectable?
These two latest releases suddenly got me thinking… I know that the band were keen to avoid having any identifying name or text appear on the fourth album sleeve/inner (as a response to unfairly adverse criticism from the music press)… but why did the fifth album come with an obi-style wrap…? Were they worried that the absence of any identifying name/text on their album sleeves would start to appear a bit gimmicky… or had they simply stopped caring what the music press thought by 1973…? (Anyway, nice to see the replica white wrap on the HOTH reissues).
In-depth review of the Jimmy Page by Jimmy Page book [2nd Printing – Genesis Publications, 2014] by Ken Winovich 2014
(Make sure you read my shorter ‘first impressions’ review of the book as well)
This book is a visual photographic documentary history lesson of what will turn out to be one of…if not the greatest rock and roll guitarist ever in Jimmy Page. Jimmy’s contributions to music are immense and his work has changed and influenced music in so many ways and the history book is still being written. He is one of the most important members in rock and roll history. And it’s all here underneath the front and back covers. Right off, I was surprised not to see the usual baby picture. But I reminded myself this is a musical autobiography. Which is why the book jumps ahead to it’s oldest and earliest picture – one of Jimmy as a choir boy at Saint Barnabas church in Epsom and in the absence of the baby picture, it actually is more effective because it did involve music. Because of some spoilers I read, the ‘It Might Get Loud’ caption didn’t have quite as huge an effect on me but it still did. What immediately becomes apparent is this man was bitten hard by the early rock and roll he heard from the radio and records. When you look at how quickly he mastered the guitar, it’s unreal. We all know it was ‘Burt Weedon’s’ play-in-a-day book that started him off, but he clearly dove right in and wasn’t messing about. I mean you blink and suddenly he’s opening for Cliff Richard and the Shadows! It was a fast learning process. And blink again and he’s in a full-time, professional band in Neil Christian and the Crusaders! Blink again and he’s a wanted session man! They already had Big Jim Sullivan. So why? Why…just why did they even need ‘little’ Jimmy Page as he was then known. Cause he was damn good that’s why. “Well done Jimmy. Be here tomorrow at ten o’clock.” Not only did we learn later from him that he knew exactly what he wanted with Led Zeppelin, apparently he knew exactly what he wanted to do on this or that session record and on anything he’s done for that matter. In the Yardbirds. And post-Zeppelin. When most of us mortals get bogged down in thinking and planning and sometimes never get anything at all accomplished, Jimmy does. And it’s not hard to see ‘real talent’. They stand out so bloody obvious. Just like John Paul Jones immediately recognized ‘a good foot’ in John Bonham. And Mike Leander immediately saw it when he wandered down to a club and saw a young Page. Even at age 15, Page had established a reputation and John Paul Jones confirmed it with “I’d heard of Page long before I’d heard of Clapton or Beck’. Page by page in this book…and by the way, that’s it’s title: (Jimmy) Page by (Jimmy) Page, you pass the early formative years which appear at the bottom of each page. The first noticeable omission I caught was his appearance on the Huw Weldon show which I thought was an important moment in his musical ascent. Was it his very first TV appearance? Maybe. His first live appearance? Probably not. But it should have been in here. Since it’s in many of the other books on Page, no biggie and may even have been due to the squabbles over copyright that every artist has to deal with. The only other big omissions in the book I felt were more never before seen photos of the dragon suit from Earl’s Court and a back close-up of the white dragon suit from the 1977 U S Tour. Those aside, I can now focus on all the small things. But make no mistake – the book is just awesome.
As Page moves through each year from his first bands through his session years, you realize all the people he’s met along the way and worked with. So it’s a huge learning experience. And he wouldn’t be there unless he had something to contribute. And it seems every time Jimmy releases something, whether it’s this book or the new current remasters, we learn the details us fans have searched for and sweated over for decades. The details. On page ten, we see books on a dresser but they aren’t the Zep sheet music books that adorn our dressers as they didn’t make them yet in those days! We learn the name of ‘the fella at school’ who tuned Jimmy’s Spanish guitar that was left at his house by the previous owners when Jimmy and his family moved in. Talk about fate! Leave a boomerang laying around and what do you think a kid will do with it? Use it. And that’s another thing that is lacking in the book. It would have been great to see that guitar, on a stand, in the corner. The one that started it all. That photo probably doesn’t exist so we live with it. But there had to be a catalyst to get him charged. There were several. And they hit his senses. The radio. The TV. Lonnie Donnegan and his “Rock Island Line”. Elvis Presley. Chuck Berry. Buddy Holly. And then throw an album cover with a rocking chair on it and off he goes. He had a little help from his friends. Were you to meet Rod Wyatt you would say ‘thank you’ for being helpful and teaching. I always say your success is limited to the cast of characters you have to work with. When you are promoted to supervisor or manager, you’re like “Oh, this is it! I’m on my way up!” Till you find out you have a rag-tag bunch instead of your own hand-picked troupers. When I look at the photos, Jimmy’s head is always down, playing and I get a sore neck just looking at the pictures. He played and played and played. He worked through all the tough stuff. Whatever help he had along the way, it just fit in place. Blink again and he’s in Red E Lewis and the Redcaps which were a Gene Vincent and The Blue caps clone in a different color. What’s nice is the import DVD’s in which Reddy Lewis talks about a young Jimmy Page really compliment this book as does all the many Page interviews and guitar mags over the years because you just can’t read and hear enough about how Page got started. It didn’t take long for Page to graduate to the professional level with Neil Christian and the Crusaders. They had their own manager and Pagey was still in school and permission was required to get Jimmy to leave school and join the Crusaders. I am reminded of Rush’s DVD where Alex Lifeson is at the dinner table with his parents discussing the same prospect into the future. This is a big gamble. Page’s parents were probably concerned for Jimmy’s future. But when you see that he has above average talent, it’s a no brainer. But what a turn of fate. But Page’s health declines while in this band. Had it not, he would probably never have been a studio musician. But it did. Jimmy leaves the band and studies fine art. A valuable lesson here for me. If it’s not meant to be, leave it! Instead of me with my ‘failure-is-not-an-option’ thinking and then I’m on the way down with the ship. What stands out is the finality of things. His music was over at that point in time. A photo of Jimmy with a paintbrush in his hand and blank or half-filled canvas would have been nice. But it’s not about music. However it is art. Fine. Out it goes. But you’ll see this finality theme again when the Yardbirds expire and in the end with led Zeppelin. When the Yardbirds come to an end, there was a half page paragraph about the details and I got that sense of finality again. They were a great band and it’s a shame it ended. But when you get to the finality of Zeppelin, something was missing. Whether it was a photo of the house where John Bonham died in or a photo of Bonham seated in his drum kit on 7-7-80 which was the last Zep show with John. Something was missing in the book right there. I didn’t get that finality sense I was looking for as we’ve all had to deal with that horrible day. Suddenly I was looking at photos from the Michael Winner film Death Wish II era. Maybe it was deliberate as Zep’s story is till alive and kicking.
One thing I really like is the show listings and dates. I have been memorizing them not by choice from other books having to refer to them all the time but it’s nice to have them here as well. I’m a hard core Zep fan as well as a Pageophile and I like spending time playing all the records he played on because his story really is remarkable whether it be playing on the first hit ‘Diamonds’ or the dramatic story behind the James Bond song ‘Goldfinger’ with Shirley Bassey collapsing after she belts out the last “He wears/loves only gold!” and you really get a sense of Page enjoying what he was doing and really getting into it. For many of us it is work. Hard work. But to him, he was enjoying it. There are many new revelaations in the book. I discovered what outfit he actually wore when he was in my home town at the Civic Arena when someone else claimed he wore something different. And that’s based on the meticulous records he kept. There are some cans of worms that now open up but that’s my own fault for not being at the show. I’m going with Jimmy’s version. Another item I felt is lacking in the book is more studio photos from the Zeppelin days. They may have been deliberately left out so any gear that Jimmy needs to replace that appears in the studio photos doesn’t start disappearing off his local guitar stores of choice. I forgot to also mention the Mermaid Theater with Royston Ellis. I felt there should have been a photo of that as well. Jimmy’s out there and he’s performing whether as the act or in support with the act. And sooner or later that’s going to lead to success. As you continue on through the book, there’s a nice blend of full page photos and smaller ones to fill the full page. It’s not an all-one-size boring game. Very effective. Enter another revelation. He was also on the album ‘A Hard Days Night’! The list of acts on page 18 is so small when in fact it’s between 1,500 to 2,000 if not more. I have been collecting any and all songs he played on and I can easily spot his style on any record that’s in doubt as to whether he played on it or not. Somebody out there needs to write a book: “All the records Jimmy Page played on and broke” and that word ‘broke’ doesn’t mean vinyl! And there’s color photos in here as well! That was a surprise. For the older photos, I prefer black and white as they are sharp. We learn the name of yet another guitar store he bought from. We see his coveted Black Beauty Gibson Les Paul that was eventually stolen. The way Jimmy is holding it on page 21 it was clearly dear to him. There are passport photos showing a musician travelling around the globe and in demand. His work with Jackie De Shannon. And there’s none of the groupies, sex tales that have appeared in other books already whether true or not and that omission alone helps make this book take on the cadillac of biographies. It’s constantly focused on the facts and getting to the point. On to his first single. By 1965, he’s ‘introduced’ in a press article and again, you blink and it’s only taken him 2 or 3 years to accomplish that when the rest of us it would have taken a decade or beyond. Great Decca studio shots where he spent his most time. The studio pix with Brian Jones at IBC studios working on ‘A Degree Of Murder’ were great. Jimmy is already using his violin bow on record. You can even see other session men reflected off the studio glass and that adds to the exploratory theme of the book. Again, I get the sense of finality as I see Page with headphones on, playing Keith Richards’s Les Paul with Bigsby arm, working hard. maybe too hard. His session days are about to end. Fate steps in again. Had Paul Samwell Smith never had the flare up at the Mayfair Ball, Jimmy would never have been in the Yardbirds. No Yardbirds, no Led Zeppelin. It’s great to see the steps along the way in this journey to Led Zeppelin and it’s now one more step away.
The Yardbirdfs were a great band. I never saw them live as I was too young by I liked their music. The first song I heard was “For Your Love” but I remember saying to myself “I like their sounds. Their guitars.” You bet I did. I would be hearing alot of them soon. That’s why this book is a journey for us fans. We well remember how music was to us BEFORE we got into Zeppelin to now. It was…..kinda boring. There were great moments but they always seemed to flare up and then disappear. This band or that band would be raising hell and all of a sudden you’d learn they broke up or this or that band member died. What’s happening is change. And we all deal with it in our lives. The playground never stays the same. And you will see this in the Yardbirds. Had they had the discipline of Page, they would have lasted 30 years and beyond. But they were a loose canon. When they listened to management and went in the direction of the singles market, they lost their first star guitar player. When they agreed to do a Caravan of Stars tour and were told to sleep in the luggage racks on an overcrowded stars bus, they lost their second star guitar player. And when Keith Relf had a little too much to drink at an Oxford show which embarrassed it’s great bass player in Paul Samwell Smith, he left. Enter Jimmy Page. It’s a shame. I don’t think this band realized who they actually recruited on bass. Beck comes back after the Dick Clark mishap but there’s tension again. Beck leaves and it’s Jimmy’s show. But the Yardies implode anyway. And no wonder. Because what was about to be unleashed on the world just was meant to be. Mankind was about to be pounded by the heaviest rock it ever heard. The photos in the Yardbirds section were great. And I am glad Jimmy got permission and did not have to get bogged down into adding the tiny copyright lines for every photo. They are such a distraction. Let the photos breathe! Again the show listings are a plus and show this isn’t a one-time moment in time. These were tours that lasted months. It’s all about work. Money. The business. How Jimmy kept up and survived the dirty side of it is beyond me but he kept his nose clean. I loved the Andy Warhol shots as he’s from my home town. The photos also show that Jimmy kept a sense of humor through it all. You would have to or you could get wrapped up in the business too much. The booze and the pills to get the artists up and at em probably helped. You get a feel for what his life was like. Meet with the press. Sound checks. Rehearsals. Interviews. Make-up. Fittings. Promoting. Posing. There’s even way-back-in-the-bathroom shots. But through it all, Page forges on. He worked his butt off to save up for his house and kept his sanity tour after tour. The photo on page 65 baffles me. Page looks like he’s playing a lefty guitar but the pickguard is not right. It’s a clever shot! A fold-down vanity mirror in that bathroom in the back was used to take the photo that ivolved another mirror and you get a photo you can’t quite explain! And you chuckle now and then. The ‘hurry-up-and-wait’ comment had me cracking up. So true if you’ve ever performed or managed acts. Very nice variety of photos. The close-up of Jimmy’s shoe on his wah wah pedal. This book could have easily been $75 or more like my Clint Eastwood or Marilyn Monroe books. And that’s what you want with legends and icons like them. Big, clear photos because stars shine. You can see it in just about every photo and that needs to be conveyed. Not hidden away. And the years listed at the bottom of the pages help you keep track of where you are along the journey. I love the full-page spread on pages 76 and 77. Reminds me of Hendrix at Woodstock. Just look at the faces in the audience. They are looking at the showman! We’ve seen it in other photos. Jimmy is something to watch.
I cracked up when I read again another reference to Bardot. Her loss. But as far as photos in the book go, I felt some of his most iconic shots were missing. Like holding up the double-neck with his eyes closed, grooving. Coming down on his left foot after leaping in the air with his Les Paul on the 75′ US Tour. And so many others. The trade-off is all the new, never-before seen photos. So I am not sure how I really feel and if that’s the case, that’s a good thing as it’s better than it definitely falls short and that’s the end of that. I arrive at the start of the Zeppelin section and that’s mainly what I want. Before I continue, what am I expecting? A few rare shots. Studio shots. Closeups of the dragon suits in particular the back of the white one. Answers to equipment issues. Any little nugget us other guitarists would love to uncover. There’s a great flow in the Zeppelin photos. It’s growth. You see these smaller audience photos and you blink and boom! Your suddenly in full size arenas and that was true. They took off fast. Headlining by the start of 1969 and they were only FIVE months old! To the doubters out there of just how good Led Zeppelin were, re-read this sentence. Yeah they worked their butt off. Four US tours….I covered all of this before, but the unearthly good music is what does it. No bullshit. No make-up. No laser and light shows that actually are better than the act itself. Just pure…in-your-face good music. Right now I got the feeling to put together say a four hour history of the BEST of Jimmy Page, sit down one rainy afternoon and divide the 506 pages by 4 hours and just go through it hour by hour so that when the last song plays, I am on page 510! The book is cool because you get to see the rewards coming in. Big homes. Boats. Gold discs. And you still see that despite it all, Page still was not one to rest on his laurels but to continue the hard work. And it would pay off. He would create the greatest guitar solos of all time and the greatest most requested song of all time and what I consider the greatest album of all time in Led Zeppelin IV. As if he hadn’t done enough already. And it just continues. For us Zeppelin fans, the 80-page books were super and now to have this, it’s more than a Page or Zep fan could ask for. His selfie on pages 170-171 is cool as are the fish eye photos which give a nice variety to the book. The tiny film rush strips are great as you get more. One gets the feeling that his closest friends were his guitars in the double-neck, Les Paul and Danelectro on the tours. They’re in just about 80% to 90% of the photos. Great full page spread of Giant’s Causeway! You blink and you’re at the height of the top of the Zeppelin mountain in 1973-75. There’s some far-away shots which are great as they were playing huge stadiums and give a fans view or perspective. The crowds are bigger. The stage is bigger. The guitars get more numerous. The stage hands. This is it! The top of the mountain. Their own Jet! String of limos. Dry ice. Great to see the behind the scenes making of the movie at Shepperton. Jimmy working hard at home in Plumpton. The Electric Ladyland shots were great to see of him and Eddie Kramer mixing the movie soundtrack. I just wish there were about double that amount. Polar Studios. Musicland. The huge size of the book is a plus so we guitarists can uncover new secrets like the exact settings on the knobs of the Marshall stack. That Jimmy appears to have had the ‘ZoSo’ bleached into his amp front and not with wood or poster board. Microphone placement. Echoplexes. I will be quite busy. And how Bonham’s kit was mic’d. I also learn that the Civic Arena shows of February 2, 1975 may indeed have occurred. That would explain the contradiction in photos. I’m on that mystery again as somebody claimed the basketball game occurred on that night. With new access to the papers I am definitely on it. We learn Zep were the first to use lasers in their show. Not surprised. They were at the top. Ah! Caught myself in error. The iconic pic of Page with double-neck raised is on page 274. And who could blame me? There is SO MUCH to look at here. What a fantastic journey. Great shot of Jimmy handing his guitar to a roadie. The Earls Court dragon suit. But a word of warning. Do NOT say…eat a ham sandwich and then come in and turn the pages. Many of them have a dark black stage lighting background and your soiled fingerprints will ruin your book! It should be looked at with you having washed your hands prior!
Reliving Led Zeppelin’s domination of the seventies was fun. They were a power house. And the photos are so cool. They look tired at Manticore Studios. Maybe it was a case of ‘what are we getting ourselves into this time’? Who only knows. But the second half of 1975 was the beginning of the end with Robert’s accident. I remember well we were all wondering if he would ever walk again. I honestly don’t know how he does it. He’s still out there performing when I would have figured arthritis would have settled in and he was home-ridden. When you look at these photos page after page and see them in different outfits, you really do get the sense of how many shows they did and they were in demand. It was getting crazier and crazier. I really don’t think anybody could withstand that kind of touring. Two to Three nights and in some cases an entire week in this or that city. A thorough tour in any one country would have taken months. But they were determined to do it. Great shot of John Paul tuning what may be his triple neck or a roadie tuning Jimmy’s double-neck. Glad the ‘guitar army’ photo was in here and in color! To omit it would have depreciated the book by 10%! They are the tools Jimmy Page used to get us hooked! What a crowd at Knebworth. In a away I am glad I wasn’t there. I feel concerts can only get so big and it’s pointless after that. Now watching the DVD is a different story. But if you were way in the back, I don’t know. But the flip side of that is the power, the sound and the scale. To be in that audience even way in the back, at a Led Zeppelin concert, which turned out to be the last ever in Britain, I’m wrong. Then boom. It’s all over. I felt the 80’s tour could have had another two pages front and back of photos. But the biggest letdown was I did not get the sense of finality. Of the end. 1980. September. But maybe that was deliberate and if it was, it was a good move. Because Led Zeppelin’s music lives on. It took most if not all of us including the band members years to get over it. There was anger. There was release. Acceptance was out of the question. In time, it would be dealt with. But to find myself on the pages of Death Wish II without an official ‘end’ page, that left a gripe in me. That was it for Death Wish II. One spread. I have here in my notes that I felt the ARMS photos were lacking but that’s not the case on double-check. Same goes for the Page/Plant section. No Atlantic 40th shots and that’s not good as that reunion show should have been in here. Did somebody goof at the office? Possibly. Good to see all the groupies and off stage bullshit was kept out giving a classy look at Jimmy’s career with the focus totally on music and how it was played and the tools that he used and the people who helped him make it. I forgot to mention Page’s claim how he was an early pioneer to use a fuzz box. He very well may have been the first. What I also feel was lacking in the book was another one of those listings of all the songs he played on as a session musician. Shame nobody updated that list finding a few more undiscovered gems just in time for this reprint. Maybe it’s better it wasn’t included as it would have been outdated one month later as the volume of work he’d done for many artists just seems to grow by hundreds as every decade passes. Being the huge Zeppelin/Page fan that I am, if there was a truck load of items I would have wanted while stranded on a desert Island it would have been this book, Photographers Zeppelin, Dave Lewis’s Concert File, the underground tapes, Heaven and Hell, Portraits, all the Deluxe Box set 80-page booklets, Live Dreams and maybe a few others and I would be set for two decades! Some more violin bow shots would have been great. I hate to think of all the gems that were tossed out by process of elimination and that had to be a headache for Jimmy but this man really get’s into what he’s doing and the biggest thing you notice is that he takes the time. He really does. He get’s knee deep in it all and the quality of anything he produces really shines through. I don’t think he allows ‘compromise’ to take over often. Which brings me to the biggest letdown with the book. It’s the fact how little Peter Grant appears in it. He was a critical part of Page’s musical journey and he’s hardly spotted in here as much as he should have been. Page has praised him highly in the past even elevating his title to not only manager but the fifth member of the group. So Page’s having said that, I am not as perturbed. Another critical omission was a photo from the ‘Beck’s Bolero’ session which was the first time the name ‘Led Zeppelin’ ever came up. It would have been neat to see a photo of that if one exists at all. Gerrard Street. Even if it was a shambles.` They would have been effective. Just like Jimmy with paintbrush in hand rather than the dull looking across-the-street photo of Sutton art college. I did like Jimmy’s comment of how he cherishes the first Gold album as his favorite and that makes me appreciate Led Zeppelin I all the more!
And for my final thoughts. Check Page 205 to see that John Bonham had cut out Robert’s face from a photograph and taped it to his kick drum and you can see why those two got into it in Japan over petrol money! They really were like brothers! Supporting each other. Teasing each other. Confiding in each other. And occasionally coming into fisticuffs with each other. How Bill Graham ended up posing in that ARMS photo after the Oakland incident is beyond me but in the music business, I guess you have to just ‘let it go’. Your paths are gonna cross again. This was a real treat and 2014 is really making a run as my most exciting Zeppelin year ever and that’s something because back when they were blowing through my town, it really was a blitz-kreig! I was mad I got the book late after it’s actual release date and once again there were trauma issues despite the fact it was sealed in plastic. But the moment I opened the box, my grin was as wide as Page’s as Jerry Wexler handed him the gold record award for Zep IV after a 73′ tour show with Jimmy in the movie dragon suit (that photo is not in this book). I did get it at a book club discount rate and it’s on that note that I shall end. What a deal! What a book! What a journey! Fantastic!
Scale of 1 to 5 with 5 rating best:
Content: 4.97
Worth it: 5.0
Layout: 4.9
Manufacturing; 4.7
First Impressions review of “Jimmy Page by Jimmy Page” [Genesis Publications Book – 2nd edition 2014] by Ken Winovich 10-29-14
This is a beautiful book! In the size of 10 x 12.5 inches which has an edge over the usual smaller books or 8 x 10’rs. There’s no flimsy glossy cover slipped on to get torn and wrinkled which I like now but of which I might wish I hadn’t said I was glad it wasn’t there later on – as the front and back covers start to experience normal wear. Wear is something hard core Zep fans hate and have to deal with ‘constantly’ and that’s because we handle every item in our collection annually and we NEVER get enough. The book covers Page’s entire ‘musical’ career starting as a young boy in the church choir and from there his musical history just explodes for lack of a better word, moving ever onward from his first bands, the end of his temporary hiatus from music in art school on to a couple other bands, through his important sessions era, the important ground-breaking band the Yardbirds which spawned the world’s three greatest guitarists in one group ever in the ‘holy trinity’ of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, the entire career of the greatest rock and roll band ever in Led Zeppelin, his Death Wish II soundtrack score, the Arms benefit tour for Ronnie Lane, the Firm, Outrider, Coverdale Page, Page/Plant, the Black Crowes (excuse me if these are out of order as I am still a little under the weather), the O2/Zep reunions and the 2008 Summer Olympics in China. Whew! Some musicians are lucky if they get maybe three of these ‘projects’ going in one lifetime! I divided up the 504 pages to see how each of these ‘eras’ were divied up in the book and it’s just about right. Page has said recently he didn’t want the usual autobiography where there are a few pictures which we’ve all seen slammed in the middle and chapter after chapter of babble. Since Jimmy has always let his music do most of his talking, the photographic biography is a real bonus and treat for Page and Zeppelin fans which utterly compliments his music. And many of us Zep fans are even more fascinated with just how did Page create Led Zeppelin’s monumental sounds and what is the story behind it? That is answered in between these covers and shame on you if you don’t explore that a bit further. The typing that does appear within it is barely just enough – but more importantly concise and to the point, highlighting what was most important – the key decisions and events that in my opinion really help hammer home an understanding of the man and the body of work he has done from the moment he stepped into the musical waters. You really get to see the how and why behind the cause and effect of events in his life which led up to his most important contribution to music which was Led Zeppelin and it all unfolds year after year from the front cover to the back. There are added bonuses like new revelations which I will point out in the more thorough review shortly to follow. And what really hammers it home is the strikingly clear photos from the mid to late 50’s in the Page household which was Jimmy’s playground to get down to musical business. A good rule of thumb for how good a book is can be judged by: 1) will it be picked up more than a few times in the future 2) is it hard and irresistible to ignore & finally 3) is it so darn good that you just can’t put it down and when you do it’s only because you are human and have to give in to the demands of sleep and rest. And I might add I agree with Jimmy when he said recently that the books that always interested him had plenty of pictures and that’s been true for me as well. Pictures are worth a thousand words and there are over a thousand pictures in this book on each page front and back. The babble will always be there to refer back to later but the pictures – they are what’s absorbed first. This is a journey back through musical history as it’s reader get’s to see the metal being hammered and shaped in the furnace over the passage of time until it’s finally ready! Wow!
I am a life-long lover of Led Zeppelin and consider their music a personal friend (however weird that may sound). With that said, I want to express something to the intimate Led Zep world just to see if I’m missing something. Is it just me or are the alternate tracks on these reissues sorely lacking in impact? My favorite from the whole bunch, hands down, is Four Sticks, which I understand is one of the few that has appeared before on bootleg. Was Page’s attempt to not avoid duplication in fact counter-productive to the fan?
Stephen.Who knows,maybe in two years time you’ll be able to buy these strictly limited edition,once gone never to be repeated,scarves at a tenth of the current selling price. Or is that the book I’m thinking of? LOL.
Got both deluxe edition 2CD sets yesterday from HMV Newcastle at 9.00am opening time, and thus qualified for a small litho print, the inverse blue version of the HOTH cover, which hilariously makes the naked children look hypothermic.
I reckon PHYSICAL GRAFITTI will be released on its own next Spring, along with a live set from 1975.
With the box sets, deluxe vinyl and CD’s duly ordered way back when first announced I cannot contain the excitement when I get the email from Amazon saying that they will be delivered today! Unfortunate early evening meeting means I get home late in the dark to find… nothing. I check my email again and it says they have been left in a safe place. Find torch and start exploring front garden, bins, recycling box but still nothing. Just about to send furious email when there is a knock on the door and my new neighbour duly hands over said package. Open up as carefully as excited hands allow only to find wrong version of LZ4 vinyl has been sent. Another email sent off and return label printing complete I settle down to LZ4 deluxe CD in what remaining time there is left of the evening.
First impressions? Well, LZ4 is my favourite album of all time and I was initially slightly disappointed with the remastering of disc 1, not as much bass as I heard on the LZ2 remaster for instance, but then I realised what I loved about this album was the original production and this has definitely been preserved so I guess I am OK with that. What was a real revelation though was companion disc 2. The mixes hear are definitely harder and rawer for the most part and I really liked them. Stand-outs were Stairway – I love that mix – something more ethereal and heavy about it and, strangely Going to California which almost sounds better than the original with vocals! Four stick too is heavy and raw – more of a live sound. So in general I believe this is the best of the companion discs so far. That’s it – hopefully Houses will get played tonight and I hope to provide feedback asap.
Like most people these days I buy my music off the net, apart from that is any official release from Zeppelin. Call me old fashioned but I have to buy all my Zepp stuff physically from a shop as god intended and as we used to do back when these albums were first released (happy days). So got on the phone to HMV in Southampton this morning to put by the special edition box sets of IV and Houses. So after the girl I spoke to asks me “how are you spelling Zeppelin” &, wait for this one “are they a new band” (give me strengh) I managed not to loose my temper and had them put by to pick up after work. Imagine my surprise when walking in to the store and hearing The Ocean blasting out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! que big grin took me back to buying records in the 70s! So picked em up went home and now the enjoyment starts, if half as good as the first 3 then i’m a happy man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
400 knicker for a scarf! Come on Jimbo. That was probably more than it cost to record all of Zep 1 back in the day. I’ll be sticking to Primark! 🙂
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