To mark the impending momentous worldwide screening of the Led Zeppelin Ahmet Ertegun 02 reunion concert on October 17th, we are counting down to the day with a daily Celebration Day Newsletter post. This will feature relevant news and updates plus the TBL Countdown Collection – a daily celebration of Zep moments, memories and artefacts.

ROBERT PLANT ON BRIAN JOHNSON’S RADIO 2 SHOW THIS THURSDAY

Brian Johnson of AC/DC’s BBC Radio 2 show Rockers  And Rollers features Robert Plant in this week’s episode aired on Thursday October 4th at 10pm.

See link at  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01m7n5x

 I’ve been reading the New Musical Express, the weekly music newspaper more commonly referred to as NME since 1964. This year the NME is celebrating its 60th year of publication and this week the paper marked that milestone with a special collector’s issue. It contains a facsimile copy of the very first issue published back in 1952 and there are eight differing covers on offer. I still have a look at the NME every week when I am in the post office/newsagent nearby and it still does a good job of covering the contemporary scene and reflecting on it’s heritage.

Of course in the Zep era, NME was one of the main sources of Zep info –I have many of the issues they featured Zep – notably memorable cover stories such as Nick Kent’s preview of Physical Graffiti and Charles Shaar Murray’s review of Earls Court. This week I decided to add to my tally of NME’s and indulged in the special 60th birthday collectors issue. I went for the Paul Weller cover and it was good to invest in a tangible piece of print media of which the NME of course has long been the last music weekly standing. So happy birthday NME, you have inspired this particular for many years. More on the NME to follow.

 Today’s choice is Your Time is Gonna Come –The Roots of Led Zeppelin.

In 2008, the Castle label tackled the complex licensing issues of the pre-Zep catalogue to come up with the CD compilation Your Time Is Gonna Come – a fascinating overview of the offshoot projects Jimmy, Robert, JPJ and Bonzo were involved with covering the years 1964 to 1969. By their own admission, the compilers know it’s not the complete picture. They acknowledge the failure to secure rights to Jimmy’s 1965 solo single, She Just Satisfies’/Keep Moving, and I would imagine contractual issues prevented any of the Plant CBS singles/Band Of Joy acetate being included (some of which ended up on the Robert Plant best of compilation, Sixty Six To Timbuktu); however, it’s great to have all 25 selections together in one convenient package, as opposed to the time and expense associated with tracking down all of these items in their original form.

Take the first two tracks for instance – both sides of John Paul Jones’s only UK solo single ‘Baja’/’A Foggy Day in Vietnam’ cut for Andrew Loog Oldham. The original on the Pye label goes for at least £200!

Elsewhere, the set focuses on Jimmy’s early to mid 60‘s session work combining the more familiar First Gear’s Leave My Kitten Alone, The Primitives How Do You Feel, and Fifth Avenue’s Just Like Anyone Would Do, along with lesser known obscurities such as Glyn Johns Like Grains Of Yellow Sand and Heinz & The Wild Boys Digging My Potatoes. There’s also a sample of his work as a producer/writer on Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate label including Nico’s The Last Mile. The Beck and Yardbirds era is represented by the always thrilling Beck’s Bolero (the session with Keith Moon and John Paul Jones where the name ‘Led Zeppelin’ was first touted) and the quirky Yardbirds 1967 single Little Games with the then session man John Paul Jones’s cello arrangement merging with Page’s guitar.

Robert Plant’s pre-Zep work is represented by the two sides cut with Alexis Korner in 1968 – his rasping blues vocal ripe for the mass exposure it would soon attain.  There are two notable, rare ‘Zep as session men’ excursions. The first is  PJ Proby’s album Three Week Hero –  a leftover session gig JPJ was arranging as Zep were forming.  It marked the debut of all four of them together on record.  Then there are the three tracks Jimmy and Bonzo worked on with Lord Sutch for his much maligned Lord Sutch & Heavy Friends album. Recorded in May 1969 at Mystic Studios in Hollywood where parts of the second Zeppelin album were being recorded at the time, the trackWailing Sounds, in particular, has a cut and thrust from the Zep pair well in keeping with the spirit of The Lemon Song/Heartbreaker, etc.

The CD comes complete with an engrossing foldout inlay sleeve notes which has some enlightening contributions from Obstweedle (the band Page and Grant saw Plant singing with) member Bill Bonham and early Plant agent Roger Bolton.

For newcomers to the Zep legacy via Mothership, this compilation is a great method of discovering the lengthy and obscure apprenticeship served by the band, while for more seasoned collectors it’s a most convenient way of finding an abundance of rare Zep related pre-fame material on one CD.

Review taken from the book From a Whisper to a Scream by Dave Lewis  – you can order the book here:

http://www.tightbutloose.co.uk/?page_id=14483

Until tomorrow…keep on celebrating…

Dave Lewis/Gary Foy

October 2nd , 2012

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