Tell Me :
Talk
What a heap of shite as any avid Zepp fan and bootleg collector will attest. There is still so much left in the archives that hasn't been officially released - loads more demos, live gigs, videos of complete shows in Seattle in 77, Knebworth both shows in 79 plus both Earl's Ct shows.
Anybody? :-)
Who needs to hear the same 8 albums rehashed on bootlegs, archives, etc? No matter how you slice it, it's still the same old stuff. Even less if you don't count In Through The Out Door....
Page needs to get over his band that broke up 35 years ago and do something with what (if anything) is left of his once great talent. His is the saddest story of any musician. I was in attendance at the Ace Hotel earlier in the year where he did his book reading, and it was PATHETIC. He practically kissed Robert Plant's ass. Kudos to Plant for turning down a reunion. I interviewed him back in 1984 and he basically said that if he had to do LZ songs in 30 years he would be nothing but a "cover band". Way ahead of his time.....
Errr no live LZ were pretty much done by 75 while the Stones were frantically good until 82.
On record LZ slowly and steadily declined until "Coda" was the final nail in the coffin. The Stones gave us SG and Tattoo You which are superb discs.
During the Stones 10 year post-Exile decline they made decent albums and got a second wind with Some Girls. Zeps post-PG decline was steep and rapid - one weak album followed by a bad one and done.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-21 14:19 by 2000man.
hmm I don't agree that I or III are great ablums , some great songs but too uneven to be considered great.
And I strongly disagree that the Stones were done by the end of the 70's.
so you are saying led zeppelin never had a chance to right the ship but the stones did
I thought SG was released in 78 and that TY was recorded during the 70's.
I don't know about the live decline. I last saw The Stones in 78 and didn't like them at all. Zeppelin was bad live by 75? Maybe. Hadn't heard that before.
If you want to be technical, that being 1980 is the last year of the 1970s, yes, TATTOO YOU was recorded in the 1970s as far as the band goes. Jagger did the final vocal recordings in 1981 so...
LZ1, LZ3 are pretty damn good albums, with 1 bordering on great and 3 has been upgraded to great over the years critically and by Zep fans.
The problme for me is LZ's ventures into other genres often sound like a heavy-handed parody : to me the reggae-ish Dy'er Maker always sounded like a bad dull and boring reggae spoof.
Otoh I'd be hard-pressed to say the sublime "Wild Horses" is a parody of the country genre.
I've always looked at the quality of the albums released by the classic rock groups (once it is established that they're 'great') from the perspective of how the group evolved (via the albums)...so while they may not all be great albums they're at least interesting to listen to.
LZ III is a good example. To me it is a bridge album between the successful LZ II & LZ lV.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-30 19:52 by nightskyman.
Too many letters... stupid Roman numerals...
LZ3 is a great album, especially Out On The Tiles. That song, every time I hear it - like Black Dog - it just kills. And LZ2... a crazy good album. LZ3 is a bit schizo too, it's all over the place, it's a bit of a jolt. And 3 is, it turns out, a great connection between 2 and 4 in terms of having not so many heavy tunes as 2 and 4 do.
But 'Faraway Eyes' is
But then you have the Stones' reggae spoof/parody Hey Negrita,
or their cheesy cover of Cherry Oh Baby - both bad attempts at reggae imo.
On the other hand you have Zep's 'country-ish' Down By The Seaside - a great tune in all respects.
_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......
What kind of defines that whole approach by Zeppelin to delve into other genres is "All of My Love". When I first heard that I was like wtf?. All due respect to Plant's love of that schmaltzy stuff but that was horrible.
On the other hand I've got nothing but praise for their acoustic work on LZ3 and other records. Most of it was was fantastic and showed a softer side to this great band. Songs like That's the Way and Going to California still hold up after all these years. I LOVED it when they used to sit in chairs and perform an acoustic set with mandolins and such.....just awesome. Wish the Stones would do something similar actually.
Talk about your favorite band.
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Re: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
pricepittsburgh
()
Date: June 11, 2015 15:33
Quote
FrankMQuote
BluzDude
Whole lotta Love
Stairway
Hey Hey What can I do
Bron y are Stomp
Fool In The Rain
Since I've Been Loving
You Rock n Roll
...not as diverse as Wild horses,SFTD or Hot Stuff? Give me a eF'n break! That's called selective hearing my friend.
I think you are confusing speed with diversity. Stairway and Rock n Roll aren't two different genres of music my friend. One is obviously a slower song.
The Stones could fill entire albums with music that isn't any kind of rock and roll.[/quote
The Stones diversity is different than that of Zeppelin's.
The Stones always seemed to naturally flow into their various genres, whereas Zeppelin seemed to make the effort. That's not an insult to Zeppelin or even a compliment towards the Stones. It may even be perceived as an insult to the Stones and a compliment to Zeppelin, depending on how you look at it.
The Stones had a way of always sounding like the Stones. The songs would be different in genre or style, but there was always this Stones thing going on. Very much like when Elvis would nail various genres. He never struggled with different genres, but it always felt like an Elvis song.
The Stones and Elvis would do a song that was R&B but still could be Pop, or Pop that could still be considered by some as Rock or R&B, or R&B that had a more straight Blues feel, or Country that bordered on Blues or Blues that bordered on Country or Country that bordered on Folk.
I honestly don't feel that Zeppelin sounds like the same band at all when they ventured into various fields. Their Blues songs sounded like straight Blues and nothing else. Their Rock and Roll sounded like straight Rock, their Folk sounded like pure Folk. The Progressive music sounded like nothing anyone else was doing at the time. Their musical arrangements were so unique and creative, that it doesn't have a pure Zeppelin vibe all the time. You mentioned not getting speed mixed up so I'll use similar tempos to compare. Compare "That's the Way" with "The Rain Song", "Kashmir" with "What is and What Should Never Be,
"Bron Y-Aur Stomp" with "Four Sticks", "Since I've Been Loving You" with "The Battle of Evermore", "No Quarter" with "Thank You", "D'yer Mak'er" with "Hot Dog" "In the Light" with "Fool in the Rain" "Achilles Last Stand" with "The Lemon Song" "Black Dog" with "In The Evening" "Down by the Seaside" with "Tangerine" "The Song Remains the same" with "Communication Breakdown" "Ramble On" with "Friends", "Hots on for Nowhere" with "Rock and Roll", "Night Flight" with "Heartbreaker", Stairway to Heaven with "Ten Years Gone"
The Stones music always felt like the Stones. I think Jimmy Page and JPJ's various arrangements and instrumentation, really made Zeppelin diverse in a way where that was their intent. Whereas with the Stones they just sort of always bordered on other genres, even in their traditional Pop Rock tracks. But that's what Rock and Roll always was from the start, a fusion of many genres. Zeppelin was more complex and took it beyond the natural state.
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2015-06-12 03:59 by pricepittsburgh.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
Hairball
()
Date: June 17, 2015 04:04
Jimmy Page Previews Final Zeppelin Reissues, Closes Band Vault
"As far as the studio side of things [goes], this is it," the guitarist says
By Mark Sutherland June 16, 2015
Reissues
Jimmy Page slammed the door of the Led Zeppelin vaults shut as he launched the final round of the band's album reissues in London today.
The deluxe editions of Zeppelin's final three studio albums – Presence, In Through the Out Door and Coda – feature a wealth of previously unreleased material. Highlights include "Sugar Mama," a song initially recorded during sessions for the band's 1969 self-titled debut, and "St. Tristan's Sword," an instrumental recorded during the Led Zeppelin III sessions.
"As far as the studio side of things [goes], this is it," the guitarist said at a press conference in the former Olympic Studios in Barnes, West London. "Unless something might pop up on international Record [Store] Day or something like that. But it will be a long way off."
Today's event was the fourth playback/Q&A session for the series of reissues, and Page expressed his "jubilation" at finally finishing the project, which involved an exhaustive three-year trawl through the archives.
"There were hundreds of hours of listening to set all of this up," he noted. "I'm really thrilled because what it means for Led Zeppelin fans is that there's now twice as much information as there was before, and it's of really good quality. So as far as I'm concerned, I've done my job."
There remains a wealth of live Zeppelin material without an official release, but Page said the prevalence of live bootlegs meant a project on the scale of the studio reissues wasn't needed.
"Looking at the whole bootleg scene and knowing how much live material had already come out, and pretty good stuff at that, dealing with the studio outtakes seemed to be a more satisfying project," he said. "I knew the chronology and the quality of what was going to turn up so I could really visualize it a lot easier than all the [live] bootlegs that are out there. This is what needed to be done – the whole Led Zeppelin world in the studio needed to be dealt with properly and seriously."
Page plans to return to active guitar playing, once promotion for the reissues is out of the way.
"I won't take it easy," he said. "I'll be working on the guitar now, that's the next thing to be obsessive about. It's clear what I'm going to be doing next; I want to do something, which involves being seen to play the guitar. It goes without saying that I would like to be doing a guitar project – I mean, better doing that than a violin project!"
Page also revealed that his and frontman Robert Plant's legendary 1972 sessions with the Bombay Orchestra, tracks from which are included on the Coda companion disc, had initially been a test run for a "masterplan" for Zeppelin to make recording and touring stops across the planet on its way to Australia.
"I could see a way where we could stop in Cairo and play and record with the orchestras there," he said. "And we could also have recorded in India if we could play in Mumbai at the cricket ground there, and then continue on to Australia. It was a great idea – the only thing was there was no infrastructure to do this sort of thing."
Page said that, consequently, the Police became the first major western rock band to play live in India, some 12 years later. Despite such reminiscing, however, Page insisted he no longer misses his old band.
"I haven't been missing it for the last three years because I've been involved from [2012 live album/DVD] Celebration Day all the way through [to this]," he said. "So no, it's OK, it's fine."
The final set of deluxe reissues will be released July 31st.
_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......
"As far as the studio side of things [goes], this is it," the guitarist says
By Mark Sutherland June 16, 2015
Reissues
Jimmy Page slammed the door of the Led Zeppelin vaults shut as he launched the final round of the band's album reissues in London today.
The deluxe editions of Zeppelin's final three studio albums – Presence, In Through the Out Door and Coda – feature a wealth of previously unreleased material. Highlights include "Sugar Mama," a song initially recorded during sessions for the band's 1969 self-titled debut, and "St. Tristan's Sword," an instrumental recorded during the Led Zeppelin III sessions.
"As far as the studio side of things [goes], this is it," the guitarist said at a press conference in the former Olympic Studios in Barnes, West London. "Unless something might pop up on international Record [Store] Day or something like that. But it will be a long way off."
Today's event was the fourth playback/Q&A session for the series of reissues, and Page expressed his "jubilation" at finally finishing the project, which involved an exhaustive three-year trawl through the archives.
"There were hundreds of hours of listening to set all of this up," he noted. "I'm really thrilled because what it means for Led Zeppelin fans is that there's now twice as much information as there was before, and it's of really good quality. So as far as I'm concerned, I've done my job."
There remains a wealth of live Zeppelin material without an official release, but Page said the prevalence of live bootlegs meant a project on the scale of the studio reissues wasn't needed.
"Looking at the whole bootleg scene and knowing how much live material had already come out, and pretty good stuff at that, dealing with the studio outtakes seemed to be a more satisfying project," he said. "I knew the chronology and the quality of what was going to turn up so I could really visualize it a lot easier than all the [live] bootlegs that are out there. This is what needed to be done – the whole Led Zeppelin world in the studio needed to be dealt with properly and seriously."
Page plans to return to active guitar playing, once promotion for the reissues is out of the way.
"I won't take it easy," he said. "I'll be working on the guitar now, that's the next thing to be obsessive about. It's clear what I'm going to be doing next; I want to do something, which involves being seen to play the guitar. It goes without saying that I would like to be doing a guitar project – I mean, better doing that than a violin project!"
Page also revealed that his and frontman Robert Plant's legendary 1972 sessions with the Bombay Orchestra, tracks from which are included on the Coda companion disc, had initially been a test run for a "masterplan" for Zeppelin to make recording and touring stops across the planet on its way to Australia.
"I could see a way where we could stop in Cairo and play and record with the orchestras there," he said. "And we could also have recorded in India if we could play in Mumbai at the cricket ground there, and then continue on to Australia. It was a great idea – the only thing was there was no infrastructure to do this sort of thing."
Page said that, consequently, the Police became the first major western rock band to play live in India, some 12 years later. Despite such reminiscing, however, Page insisted he no longer misses his old band.
"I haven't been missing it for the last three years because I've been involved from [2012 live album/DVD] Celebration Day all the way through [to this]," he said. "So no, it's OK, it's fine."
The final set of deluxe reissues will be released July 31st.
_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
Happy24
()
Date: July 20, 2015 09:46
I will see Robert Plant this Thursday. First time for me. I am sure some people here saw him recently, so I wanted to ask what time the show starts (it says 8 p.m. on the ticket) and is there any support band? And how long is the show? I see he is doing a lot of festivals now, but this one is not a festival.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
Turner68
()
Date: July 20, 2015 11:18
The stones are much better. But Led Zeppelin was much bigger.
The Beatles were the band of the 60s,
and Led Zeppelin the Band of the 70s.
The Stones were the band of the 60s & 70s.
The Beatles were the band of the 60s,
and Led Zeppelin the Band of the 70s.
The Stones were the band of the 60s & 70s.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
Silver Dagger
()
Date: July 20, 2015 13:35
Quote
Hairball
Jimmy Page Previews Final Zeppelin Reissues, Closes Band Vault
"As far as the studio side of things [goes], this is it," the guitarist says
By Mark Sutherland June 16, 2015
Reissues
Jimmy Page slammed the door of the Led Zeppelin vaults shut as he launched the final round of the band's album reissues in London today.
The deluxe editions of Zeppelin's final three studio albums – Presence, In Through the Out Door and Coda – feature a wealth of previously unreleased material. Highlights include "Sugar Mama," a song initially recorded during sessions for the band's 1969 self-titled debut, and "St. Tristan's Sword," an instrumental recorded during the Led Zeppelin III sessions.
"As far as the studio side of things [goes], this is it," the guitarist said at a press conference in the former Olympic Studios in Barnes, West London. "Unless something might pop up on international Record [Store] Day or something like that. But it will be a long way off."
Today's event was the fourth playback/Q&A session for the series of reissues, and Page expressed his "jubilation" at finally finishing the project, which involved an exhaustive three-year trawl through the archives.
"There were hundreds of hours of listening to set all of this up," he noted. "I'm really thrilled because what it means for Led Zeppelin fans is that there's now twice as much information as there was before, and it's of really good quality. So as far as I'm concerned, I've done my job."
There remains a wealth of live Zeppelin material without an official release, but Page said the prevalence of live bootlegs meant a project on the scale of the studio reissues wasn't needed.
"Looking at the whole bootleg scene and knowing how much live material had already come out, and pretty good stuff at that, dealing with the studio outtakes seemed to be a more satisfying project," he said. "I knew the chronology and the quality of what was going to turn up so I could really visualize it a lot easier than all the [live] bootlegs that are out there. This is what needed to be done – the whole Led Zeppelin world in the studio needed to be dealt with properly and seriously."
Page plans to return to active guitar playing, once promotion for the reissues is out of the way.
"I won't take it easy," he said. "I'll be working on the guitar now, that's the next thing to be obsessive about. It's clear what I'm going to be doing next; I want to do something, which involves being seen to play the guitar. It goes without saying that I would like to be doing a guitar project – I mean, better doing that than a violin project!"
Page also revealed that his and frontman Robert Plant's legendary 1972 sessions with the Bombay Orchestra, tracks from which are included on the Coda companion disc, had initially been a test run for a "masterplan" for Zeppelin to make recording and touring stops across the planet on its way to Australia.
"I could see a way where we could stop in Cairo and play and record with the orchestras there," he said. "And we could also have recorded in India if we could play in Mumbai at the cricket ground there, and then continue on to Australia. It was a great idea – the only thing was there was no infrastructure to do this sort of thing."
Page said that, consequently, the Police became the first major western rock band to play live in India, some 12 years later. Despite such reminiscing, however, Page insisted he no longer misses his old band.
"I haven't been missing it for the last three years because I've been involved from [2012 live album/DVD] Celebration Day all the way through [to this]," he said. "So no, it's OK, it's fine."
The final set of deluxe reissues will be released July 31st.
What a heap of shite as any avid Zepp fan and bootleg collector will attest. There is still so much left in the archives that hasn't been officially released - loads more demos, live gigs, videos of complete shows in Seattle in 77, Knebworth both shows in 79 plus both Earl's Ct shows.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
Mr.D
()
Date: July 20, 2015 14:16
The 18CD set, Studio Magik, is so much better than the released "rarities" on these remasters, many of those you can't tell any real difference! You can find the Studio Magik set on Youtube.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-20 14:17 by Mr.D.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-20 14:17 by Mr.D.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
Happy24
()
Date: July 20, 2015 23:09
Quote
Happy24
I will see Robert Plant this Thursday. First time for me. I am sure some people here saw him recently, so I wanted to ask what time the show starts (it says 8 p.m. on the ticket) and is there any support band? And how long is the show? I see he is doing a lot of festivals now, but this one is not a festival.
Anybody? :-)
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
likecats
()
Date: July 21, 2015 07:10
I've seen RP solo several times from 1983 on, but the most recent was 2011 so I don't know what to say except that the set list will likely include a generous selection of Led Zeppelin songs, although re-arranged. Whatever he does, I think you're in for a good time.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
roller99
()
Date: July 21, 2015 07:29
Quote
Silver DaggerQuote
Hairball
Jimmy Page Previews Final Zeppelin Reissues, Closes Band Vault
"As far as the studio side of things [goes], this is it," the guitarist says
By Mark Sutherland June 16, 2015
Reissues
Jimmy Page slammed the door of the Led Zeppelin vaults shut as he launched the final round of the band's album reissues in London today.
The deluxe editions of Zeppelin's final three studio albums – Presence, In Through the Out Door and Coda – feature a wealth of previously unreleased material. Highlights include "Sugar Mama," a song initially recorded during sessions for the band's 1969 self-titled debut, and "St. Tristan's Sword," an instrumental recorded during the Led Zeppelin III sessions.
"As far as the studio side of things [goes], this is it," the guitarist said at a press conference in the former Olympic Studios in Barnes, West London. "Unless something might pop up on international Record [Store] Day or something like that. But it will be a long way off."
Today's event was the fourth playback/Q&A session for the series of reissues, and Page expressed his "jubilation" at finally finishing the project, which involved an exhaustive three-year trawl through the archives.
"There were hundreds of hours of listening to set all of this up," he noted. "I'm really thrilled because what it means for Led Zeppelin fans is that there's now twice as much information as there was before, and it's of really good quality. So as far as I'm concerned, I've done my job."
There remains a wealth of live Zeppelin material without an official release, but Page said the prevalence of live bootlegs meant a project on the scale of the studio reissues wasn't needed.
"Looking at the whole bootleg scene and knowing how much live material had already come out, and pretty good stuff at that, dealing with the studio outtakes seemed to be a more satisfying project," he said. "I knew the chronology and the quality of what was going to turn up so I could really visualize it a lot easier than all the [live] bootlegs that are out there. This is what needed to be done – the whole Led Zeppelin world in the studio needed to be dealt with properly and seriously."
Page plans to return to active guitar playing, once promotion for the reissues is out of the way.
"I won't take it easy," he said. "I'll be working on the guitar now, that's the next thing to be obsessive about. It's clear what I'm going to be doing next; I want to do something, which involves being seen to play the guitar. It goes without saying that I would like to be doing a guitar project – I mean, better doing that than a violin project!"
Page also revealed that his and frontman Robert Plant's legendary 1972 sessions with the Bombay Orchestra, tracks from which are included on the Coda companion disc, had initially been a test run for a "masterplan" for Zeppelin to make recording and touring stops across the planet on its way to Australia.
"I could see a way where we could stop in Cairo and play and record with the orchestras there," he said. "And we could also have recorded in India if we could play in Mumbai at the cricket ground there, and then continue on to Australia. It was a great idea – the only thing was there was no infrastructure to do this sort of thing."
Page said that, consequently, the Police became the first major western rock band to play live in India, some 12 years later. Despite such reminiscing, however, Page insisted he no longer misses his old band.
"I haven't been missing it for the last three years because I've been involved from [2012 live album/DVD] Celebration Day all the way through [to this]," he said. "So no, it's OK, it's fine."
The final set of deluxe reissues will be released July 31st.
What a heap of shite as any avid Zepp fan and bootleg collector will attest. There is still so much left in the archives that hasn't been officially released - loads more demos, live gigs, videos of complete shows in Seattle in 77, Knebworth both shows in 79 plus both Earl's Ct shows.
Who needs to hear the same 8 albums rehashed on bootlegs, archives, etc? No matter how you slice it, it's still the same old stuff. Even less if you don't count In Through The Out Door....
Page needs to get over his band that broke up 35 years ago and do something with what (if anything) is left of his once great talent. His is the saddest story of any musician. I was in attendance at the Ace Hotel earlier in the year where he did his book reading, and it was PATHETIC. He practically kissed Robert Plant's ass. Kudos to Plant for turning down a reunion. I interviewed him back in 1984 and he basically said that if he had to do LZ songs in 30 years he would be nothing but a "cover band". Way ahead of his time.....
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
LongBeachArena72
()
Date: July 21, 2015 08:26
It is of course impossible to render a "judgment" on who was the "better" band with any kind of authority. It's even tough to gather objective evidence about who was the "bigger" concert draw or seller of albums. All I can offer is a first-hand and VERY subjective comparison of Zepp and The Stones from the perspective of a teenager growing up in SoCal in the early 70's.
There was no comparison, at least at my school, and in my circles: Zeppelin won, hands down. When I showed up with my Stones tickets for June 72 I got a few "wows," or "really?" But when people heard I was going to see Zeppelin a few weeks later, in the same venue as The Stones, the reaction was either stone-cold envy or rabid, conspiratorial celebration ("it's gonna be epic, dude, they open with 'Immigrant Song,' and I @#$%& swear to you Plant's voice is gonna blow you away").
People seemed a bit detached from The Stones, as if they were already more historical figures than current rock'n'rollers; whereas Zeppelin was, well, Zeppelin was just "@#$%&' Zeppelin, man," a bunch of madmen who tore the roof off arenas and yet were also still kind of guys you thought you could get high with. To use a cliche of the time, perhaps Zepp seemed more 'relatable' to the kids I hung around with.
There was also a HUGE gender disparity in the bands' respective fanbases: some chicks seemed to dig The Stones, but MOST ALL chicks dug Zeppelin.
My personal opinions about each band's accomplishments:
--Zeppelin I through PHYSICAL GRAFFITTI is a six-album run unequaled in rock history
--BEGGARS through EXILE is the greatest 4-album run in rock history
--On two different nights in June, 1972, at the Long Beach Arena, each band blew me away. The Stones were pure adrenaline, the show almost seemed over before it started; Led Zeppelin was deeper, louder (creating a tiny perforation in my left eardrum), and just generally 'heavier,' in both a musical and philosophical sense.
Both bands were over and done with by the end of the decade. I believe history will probably be kinder to The Stones, if only because they created great songs for nearly 15 years, while Zepp's run was more like 10. The Zeppelin phenomenon was maybe more of a "you had to be there" sort of thing ... and that doesn't often translate well decades down the line.
Does anyone know how the Zepp remasters are selling in comparison to The Stones stuff (EXILE, SOME GIRLS, STICKY)? All I could find in a quick search was that PHYSICAL GRAFFITTI'S first week was 40,000 units and STICKY FINGERS was around 35K. Not sure how accurate that is, or if it's even that fair a comparison, since PG was a double album, of course.
There was no comparison, at least at my school, and in my circles: Zeppelin won, hands down. When I showed up with my Stones tickets for June 72 I got a few "wows," or "really?" But when people heard I was going to see Zeppelin a few weeks later, in the same venue as The Stones, the reaction was either stone-cold envy or rabid, conspiratorial celebration ("it's gonna be epic, dude, they open with 'Immigrant Song,' and I @#$%& swear to you Plant's voice is gonna blow you away").
People seemed a bit detached from The Stones, as if they were already more historical figures than current rock'n'rollers; whereas Zeppelin was, well, Zeppelin was just "@#$%&' Zeppelin, man," a bunch of madmen who tore the roof off arenas and yet were also still kind of guys you thought you could get high with. To use a cliche of the time, perhaps Zepp seemed more 'relatable' to the kids I hung around with.
There was also a HUGE gender disparity in the bands' respective fanbases: some chicks seemed to dig The Stones, but MOST ALL chicks dug Zeppelin.
My personal opinions about each band's accomplishments:
--Zeppelin I through PHYSICAL GRAFFITTI is a six-album run unequaled in rock history
--BEGGARS through EXILE is the greatest 4-album run in rock history
--On two different nights in June, 1972, at the Long Beach Arena, each band blew me away. The Stones were pure adrenaline, the show almost seemed over before it started; Led Zeppelin was deeper, louder (creating a tiny perforation in my left eardrum), and just generally 'heavier,' in both a musical and philosophical sense.
Both bands were over and done with by the end of the decade. I believe history will probably be kinder to The Stones, if only because they created great songs for nearly 15 years, while Zepp's run was more like 10. The Zeppelin phenomenon was maybe more of a "you had to be there" sort of thing ... and that doesn't often translate well decades down the line.
Does anyone know how the Zepp remasters are selling in comparison to The Stones stuff (EXILE, SOME GIRLS, STICKY)? All I could find in a quick search was that PHYSICAL GRAFFITTI'S first week was 40,000 units and STICKY FINGERS was around 35K. Not sure how accurate that is, or if it's even that fair a comparison, since PG was a double album, of course.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
dcba
()
Date: July 21, 2015 10:47
Quote
LongBeachArena72
Both bands were over and done with by the end of the decade.
Errr no live LZ were pretty much done by 75 while the Stones were frantically good until 82.
On record LZ slowly and steadily declined until "Coda" was the final nail in the coffin. The Stones gave us SG and Tattoo You which are superb discs.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
Mr.D
()
Date: July 21, 2015 13:58
Here's a recent setlist from a Plant show that I downloaded from DIME:
01-Intro Music/Trampled Under Foot(Led Zeppelin)
02-Turn It Up
03-Black Dog(Led Zeppelin)
04-Rainbow
05-The Wanton Song(Led Zeppelin)
06-Spoonful(Willie Dixon)
07-Band Introduction
08-The Rain Song(Led Zeppelin)
09-How Many More Times(Led Zeppelin)
10-No Place to Go(Willie Dixon)/Dazed and Confused(Led Zeppelin)
11-Little Maggie(traditionalcover)
12-The Lemon Song(Led Zeppelin)
13-Crawling King Snake(Big Joe Williams)
14-I Just Want to Make Love to You(Willie Dixon)/Whole Lotta Love(Led Zepplin)/Mona(Bo Diddley)
15-Crowd
Encore:
16-Rock and Roll(Led Zeppelin)
As you can see his set is top heavy with rearranged Zep songs, not a bad thing!
01-Intro Music/Trampled Under Foot(Led Zeppelin)
02-Turn It Up
03-Black Dog(Led Zeppelin)
04-Rainbow
05-The Wanton Song(Led Zeppelin)
06-Spoonful(Willie Dixon)
07-Band Introduction
08-The Rain Song(Led Zeppelin)
09-How Many More Times(Led Zeppelin)
10-No Place to Go(Willie Dixon)/Dazed and Confused(Led Zeppelin)
11-Little Maggie(traditionalcover)
12-The Lemon Song(Led Zeppelin)
13-Crawling King Snake(Big Joe Williams)
14-I Just Want to Make Love to You(Willie Dixon)/Whole Lotta Love(Led Zepplin)/Mona(Bo Diddley)
15-Crowd
Encore:
16-Rock and Roll(Led Zeppelin)
As you can see his set is top heavy with rearranged Zep songs, not a bad thing!
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
2000man
()
Date: July 21, 2015 14:18
Quote
dcba
On record LZ slowly and steadily declined until "Coda" was the final nail in the coffin. The Stones gave us SG and Tattoo You which are superb discs.
During the Stones 10 year post-Exile decline they made decent albums and got a second wind with Some Girls. Zeps post-PG decline was steep and rapid - one weak album followed by a bad one and done.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-21 14:19 by 2000man.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
Ket
()
Date: July 21, 2015 14:38
Quote
LongBeachArena72
My personal opinions about each band's accomplishments:
--Zeppelin I through PHYSICAL GRAFFITTI is a six-album run unequaled in rock history
--BEGGARS through EXILE is the greatest 4-album run in rock history
Both bands were over and done with by the end of the decade.
hmm I don't agree that I or III are great ablums , some great songs but too uneven to be considered great.
And I strongly disagree that the Stones were done by the end of the 70's.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
keefriffhard4life
()
Date: July 21, 2015 14:58
Quote
2000manQuote
dcba
On record LZ slowly and steadily declined until "Coda" was the final nail in the coffin. The Stones gave us SG and Tattoo You which are superb discs.
During the Stones 10 year post-Exile decline they made decent albums and got a second wind with Some Girls. Zeps post-PG decline was steep and rapid - one weak album followed by a bad one and done.
so you are saying led zeppelin never had a chance to right the ship but the stones did
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
LongBeachArena72
()
Date: July 21, 2015 17:26
Quote
dcbaQuote
LongBeachArena72
Both bands were over and done with by the end of the decade.
Errr no live LZ were pretty much done by 75 while the Stones were frantically good until 82.
On record LZ slowly and steadily declined until "Coda" was the final nail in the coffin. The Stones gave us SG and Tattoo You which are superb discs.
I thought SG was released in 78 and that TY was recorded during the 70's.
I don't know about the live decline. I last saw The Stones in 78 and didn't like them at all. Zeppelin was bad live by 75? Maybe. Hadn't heard that before.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
GasLightStreet
()
Date: July 22, 2015 00:19
Quote
LongBeachArena72Quote
dcbaQuote
LongBeachArena72
Both bands were over and done with by the end of the decade.
Errr no live LZ were pretty much done by 75 while the Stones were frantically good until 82.
On record LZ slowly and steadily declined until "Coda" was the final nail in the coffin. The Stones gave us SG and Tattoo You which are superb discs.
I thought SG was released in 78 and that TY was recorded during the 70's.
If you want to be technical, that being 1980 is the last year of the 1970s, yes, TATTOO YOU was recorded in the 1970s as far as the band goes. Jagger did the final vocal recordings in 1981 so...
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
GasLightStreet
()
Date: July 22, 2015 00:21
Heaven, No Use In Crying and Neighbours were recorded in 1979.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
2000 LYFH
()
Date: July 30, 2015 18:03
All 74 Led Zeppelin Songs, Ranked From Worst to Best - By Bill Wyman (could it be?) : [www.vulture.com]
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
GasLightStreet
()
Date: July 30, 2015 18:41
Quote
KetQuote
LongBeachArena72
My personal opinions about each band's accomplishments:
--Zeppelin I through PHYSICAL GRAFFITTI is a six-album run unequaled in rock history
--BEGGARS through EXILE is the greatest 4-album run in rock history
Both bands were over and done with by the end of the decade.
hmm I don't agree that I or III are great ablums , some great songs but too uneven to be considered great.
And I strongly disagree that the Stones were done by the end of the 70's.
LZ1, LZ3 are pretty damn good albums, with 1 bordering on great and 3 has been upgraded to great over the years critically and by Zep fans.
Re: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
dcba
()
Date: July 30, 2015 18:44
Quote
pricepittsburgh
The Stones always seemed to naturally flow into their various genres, whereas Zeppelin seemed to make the effort.
The problme for me is LZ's ventures into other genres often sound like a heavy-handed parody : to me the reggae-ish Dy'er Maker always sounded like a bad dull and boring reggae spoof.
Otoh I'd be hard-pressed to say the sublime "Wild Horses" is a parody of the country genre.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
nightskyman
()
Date: July 30, 2015 19:51
Quote
GasLightStreetQuote
KetQuote
LongBeachArena72
My personal opinions about each band's accomplishments:
--Zeppelin I through PHYSICAL GRAFFITTI is a six-album run unequaled in rock history
--BEGGARS through EXILE is the greatest 4-album run in rock history
Both bands were over and done with by the end of the decade.
hmm I don't agree that I or III are great ablums , some great songs but too uneven to be considered great.
And I strongly disagree that the Stones were done by the end of the 70's.
LZ1, LZ3 are pretty damn good albums, with 1 bordering on great and 3 has been upgraded to great over the years critically and by Zep fans.
I've always looked at the quality of the albums released by the classic rock groups (once it is established that they're 'great') from the perspective of how the group evolved (via the albums)...so while they may not all be great albums they're at least interesting to listen to.
LZ III is a good example. To me it is a bridge album between the successful LZ II & LZ lV.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-30 19:52 by nightskyman.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
GasLightStreet
()
Date: July 30, 2015 19:59
Quote
nightskymanQuote
GasLightStreetQuote
KetQuote
LongBeachArena72
My personal opinions about each band's accomplishments:
--Zeppelin I through PHYSICAL GRAFFITTI is a six-album run unequaled in rock history
--BEGGARS through EXILE is the greatest 4-album run in rock history
Both bands were over and done with by the end of the decade.
hmm I don't agree that I or III are great ablums , some great songs but too uneven to be considered great.
And I strongly disagree that the Stones were done by the end of the 70's.
LZ1, LZ3 are pretty damn good albums, with 1 bordering on great and 3 has been upgraded to great over the years critically and by Zep fans.
I've always looked at the quality of the albums released by the classic rock groups (once it is established that they're 'great') from the perspective of how the group evolved (via the albums)...so while they may not all be great albums they're at least interesting to listen to.
LZ III is a good example. To me it is a bridge album between the successful LZ II & LZ lV.
Too many letters... stupid Roman numerals...
LZ3 is a great album, especially Out On The Tiles. That song, every time I hear it - like Black Dog - it just kills. And LZ2... a crazy good album. LZ3 is a bit schizo too, it's all over the place, it's a bit of a jolt. And 3 is, it turns out, a great connection between 2 and 4 in terms of having not so many heavy tunes as 2 and 4 do.
Re: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
2000man
()
Date: July 30, 2015 20:00
Quote
dcba
The problme for me is LZ's ventures into other genres often sound like a heavy-handed parody : to me the reggae-ish Dy'er Maker always sounded like a bad dull and boring reggae spoof.
Otoh I'd be hard-pressed to say the sublime "Wild Horses" is a parody of the country genre.
But 'Faraway Eyes' is
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
dcba
()
Date: July 30, 2015 20:08
Yeah but it has "tongue-in-cheek" written all over it.
When LZ wrote "Dy'er Maker" they wanted to pay tribute to the reggae genre and they came up with this horrible silly parody of a song. I mean Bonham playing reggae, you can't help but laugh.
Same for "The Crunge" which sounds like someone trying to play a bunch of James Brown licks. Another sad parody that only makes you want to go back to the originals...
When LZ wrote "Dy'er Maker" they wanted to pay tribute to the reggae genre and they came up with this horrible silly parody of a song. I mean Bonham playing reggae, you can't help but laugh.
Same for "The Crunge" which sounds like someone trying to play a bunch of James Brown licks. Another sad parody that only makes you want to go back to the originals...
Re: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
Hairball
()
Date: July 30, 2015 20:08
Quote
dcbaQuote
pricepittsburgh
The Stones always seemed to naturally flow into their various genres, whereas Zeppelin seemed to make the effort.
The problme for me is LZ's ventures into other genres often sound like a heavy-handed parody : to me the reggae-ish Dy'er Maker always sounded like a bad dull and boring reggae spoof.
Otoh I'd be hard-pressed to say the sublime "Wild Horses" is a parody of the country genre.
But then you have the Stones' reggae spoof/parody Hey Negrita,
or their cheesy cover of Cherry Oh Baby - both bad attempts at reggae imo.
On the other hand you have Zep's 'country-ish' Down By The Seaside - a great tune in all respects.
_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
treaclefingers
()
Date: July 30, 2015 21:26
I'm in a bit of a funny mood today.
Let's just give it to Led Zeppelin already and bury this thread...it would be worth it.
Let's just give it to Led Zeppelin already and bury this thread...it would be worth it.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
Naturalust
()
Date: July 30, 2015 22:00
Quote
dcba
Yeah but it has "tongue-in-cheek" written all over it.
When LZ wrote "Dy'er Maker" they wanted to pay tribute to the reggae genre and they came up with this horrible silly parody of a song. I mean Bonham playing reggae, you can't help but laugh.
Same for "The Crunge" which sounds like someone trying to play a bunch of James Brown licks. Another sad parody that only makes you want to go back to the originals...
What kind of defines that whole approach by Zeppelin to delve into other genres is "All of My Love". When I first heard that I was like wtf?. All due respect to Plant's love of that schmaltzy stuff but that was horrible.
On the other hand I've got nothing but praise for their acoustic work on LZ3 and other records. Most of it was was fantastic and showed a softer side to this great band. Songs like That's the Way and Going to California still hold up after all these years. I LOVED it when they used to sit in chairs and perform an acoustic set with mandolins and such.....just awesome. Wish the Stones would do something similar actually.
Re: OT: Rolling Stones vs. Led Zeppelin
Posted by:
kowalski
()
Date: July 31, 2015 02:23
[radio.com]
Jimmy Page Looks Back on Led Zeppelin, and Towards the Future
By Brian Ives
[...]
Coda was the first Led Zeppelin album that I bought when it was new; I was too young to really be aware of the band when you were around, but it was so exciting to know that a “new” Zeppelin album was coming out. But what prompted you to release a collection of outtakes in 1982?
Coda had to be put together, it was a sort of… we owed the record company another album. I don’t even know how [Led Zeppelin’s late manager] Peter Grant managed to broach the subject to me, it was quite a while after we’d lost John [Bonham]. But to me, it still felt like we’d just lost him yesterday. So it was a difficult album to put together, but there was the backbone of it: “Bonzo’s Montreaux,” which was recorded between Presence and In Through the Out Door. I’d worked on it with John. The other members weren’t there. That, for me, was the backbone of the album. Under the circumstances, there couldn’t be anything better than having a drum orchestra of John Bonham.
Compiling the music for these companion discs, I knew I wanted to arrive at two extra discs for Coda. To make it a total celebration of Led Zeppelin and its music, and the quirkiness of it. I’d surprised the band with some of this stuff, because they’d not heard it. I just really wanted to show so many colors and textures, and it does.
How involved were Robert Plant and John Paul Jones in the reissue process, did you send them tapes?
I’ll tell you how it worked. I knew there were some key pieces [that I wanted to include], but this was going to be such a complete picture [of the band]. The whole depth and length of the project became quite clear, but I couldn’t invest hundreds of hours of listening to tapes without the help of the others.
What I did was, I played them the companion disc for Led Zeppelin III separately: Robert first. And then the companion disc for Presence. I outlined what the project was going to be. Robert thought it was great. Then I played it for John Paul Jones, and same deal. Robert sent a few tapes that he had, he had a couple of those things were of use.
When I spoke to you last year, you told me that you had some concern that you wouldn’t be able to find bonus material for Presence. When did you find the tracks that make up the companion disc?
It was when I was trawling through stuff, and it sort of turned up. At one point I thought, “Oh boy, we might have to use a live tape.” I wasn’t that happy about having to use live stuff for the first one [the companion disc on the first Led Zeppelin album was a concert recording], but it was what it was.
Anyway, I wasn’t going to go through hundreds of hours of tapes to find something, but it magically turned up.
“Nobody’s Fault But Mine” was probably the most popular song from Presence; what do you remember about the recording of that?
It was meant to be tricky, with the stops and the pauses and the phased guitar. When you hear that, you say, “My goodness gracious, these guys are on fire here.” And then you listen to “Tea for One,” and it’s so poignant. And you listen to “For Your Life,” that was made up in the studio. That’s getting more into an avant grade thing, and the whole sort of guitar orchestra, which was “Achilles Last Stand”… I’m personally on fire on that, but not more so than anyone else.
Robert Plant tells a story about falling off of his crutches [the singer had been recovering from a car accident] in the studio, and says that you raced from the control room to help him out.
That actually is true and you’re the only person to say it. He was in a wheelchair, but he was perched up on a stool to sing. Yeah, it’s true. He said, “I never saw him move so fast.” Well, that’s probably quite true.
Besides Robert’s injury, you were dealing with a pretty strict deadline to finish the album, right?
From what you’ve read and from what I’ve been told, we had 18 days in the studio. Well, what I do know is that it was coming to the point where I knew we were going to go over our allotted time. To do all the mixes and the sequencing of the album. The others had gone home, fair enough, they’d done all their parts, and I was doing the mixing and the guitar overdubs and solos here and there. These were the days you had to mix an album manually: it was the engineer’s hands, and my hands, doing everything. You couldn’t just take the files away, these were analog tapes. And the days were ticking by. The Rolling Stones were due to use the studio next. so I asked Mick if we could have a couple of more days. They were trying all different guitarists out at the time, they were doing Black and Blue there, so Mick said, “Yeah.”
Was your solo on the Rolling Stones “One Hit (To the Body)” your way of returning the favor?
That was recorded here in New York. But no, it wasn’t like that. Maybe they owe me a favor! But it was great fun to do that.
You started using modern synthesizers on In Through the Out Door.
That was John Paul Jones. We’re going into rehearsals, and he shows up with this massive theater organ, it was called a Dream Machine. It was a Yamaha Dream Machine, Stevie Wonder had one too. John had it at home and had been working on it, and lo and behold, he’s got these songs together. He’d never written complete songs for Led Zeppelin before. But now he had. It was cool. Because the album before, I’d written it all. It was a guitar driven thing. There’s keyboards on the first Led Zeppelin album, and over the years. But it made obvious logical sense that if he had numbers that he’d written on this new state-of-the-art keyboard, let’s do an album which focuses on the keyboard and features it at the forefront, and that’s how it went.
This was the first time there were Led Zeppelin originals that weren’t co-written by you; “South Bound Saurez” and “All My Love” were written by John Paul Jones and Robert Plant.
John Paul Jones had written complete songs, and I was quite happy about that. If he has a complete song, I’m not going say, “Oh by the way, I want to be credited as a writer” and then change the song. I couldn’t be bothered with that! I wrote the lyrics in the early days, but I wasn’t so happy doing the lyrics, I was happier doing the rest: writing the music and doing the production. Robert was super-established as a lyricist by In Through the Out Door, so obviously he’s going to write lyrics. And that’s how you get a couple of songs written by John Paul Jones and Robert.
Did you play harmonica on any Led Zeppelin songs?
I did play harmonica, but never on Led Zeppelin albums. I was a harmonica player when I was a studio musician. But Robert was a good harmonica player, he could do the country blues style, Sonny Terry or Sonny Boy Williamson, but I don’t think he’d played through an amp before he met me.
So, now you’re done with the remasters, how do you feel about the project?
I feel that it was an important thing to do in the historic picture of Led Zeppelin because, I’ve sort of said this before but it’s a fact… If you say “Led Zeppelin” to somebody, they’ll think of a riff or a vocal, but what I guarantee is that it’s from the studio albums. There’s so much love and affection out there from the audience for the recordings, that I thought that it was only right and proper to release the recordings in a way that had some dignity to it, and that had some context to it, with companion discs that gave a snapshot into the time that these things were recorded. Everything is on the companion disc for a really definite purpose. What it does, in effect, is doubles up the amount of studio information out there. It just gives the people who have been liking Led Zeppelin for so long, it gives them more music to enjoy and I thought that was an important thing to do .
You mentioned not wanting to use live stuff for the Presence companion disc, even though you did so for the companion disc to Led Zeppelin (I). I’m guessing you have more live stuff in the vaults; is that something you plan on addressing in the future?
Um, I’m not going to be looking at that in the immediate future. Because one of the reasons for concentrating on the studio stuff, was because I felt that there was an imbalance. There was the Led Zeppelin DVD [the 2003 DVD of live material] and How the West Was Won [a 2003 album of live material recorded in 1972]. We were on fire on How the West Was Won. And then there was Celebration Day [the 2012 release recorded at Zeppelin’s one-off reunion concert at the O2 Dome in 2007]. In a way, the O2 performance was really good because we look like what we look like now. The only problem is then we became quite recognizable in the street [laughs]. But those projects were all live stuff, so it was important to do this.
I wanted to ask you about the late Chris Squire from Yes…
That was really sad, he was a phenomenal bass player.
I interviewed him about a year and a half ago, and he told me he was hoping that you would release the XYZ tapes at some point [XYZ was a project that involved Page, Squire and Yes drummer Alan White].
Absolutely, but I haven’t worked on it. It’s a series of multi-tracks, it was something that I was wanting to do after all of the Led Zeppelin stuff was out, I wanted to contact Chris and Alan. It’s really sad that we’ve lost him. The music was really good. It’s the first thing that I did after we lost John Bonham. I had a studio at the time, and they wanted to get together, and I thought this was like laying down the gauntlet… I’m not curling up under a rock and hiding [after Led Zeppelin’s breakup]. And these guys are really, really good so I had to be really good too. It was really an interesting blend, and really good music.
You’ve been a vocal fan of Royal Blood – what was it about them that turned you on.
Let’s talk about Royal Blood, I’d seen them on a late night show in England. I thought, “That’s really interesting.” They did two songs and it really stuck with me. I thought “How are they doing that?” And they played so tightly, and were really passionate. I was here in this hotel, and I met the manager of the Arctic Monkeys—who are another really fine band I might add—and I said, “Hi, how are you doing?” I thought he was here with the Arctic Monkeys, and he said he manages Royal Blood. I said, “Do you? I know who they are.” There was quite a buzz going on about them in London. He said they’re playing at the [New York club] Mercury Lounge. And I said, “Can I come? I’ll come to the show!” He said, “Yeah, come, they’d love to meet you!” And I went there, and I wanted to get near the front [of the stage] to see what they were doing, but there were a lot of people who were trying to get to the front. It was phenomenal to feel their music and to feel what they were doing. There were riffs, but with a really intellectual attitude. And it was amazing.
Do you find yourself impressed with new bands often?
That’s the reason I mentioned them, because I had an experience. They don’t fail to impress.
Last year I spoke to Paul Rodgers, who told me that you always go to his shows at Royal Albert Hall, but he can’t get you to get on stage. Would you ever work with him again?
I don’t know. One of the reasons why I didn’t want to get on stage with anybody was simply that, then people would say, “Oh, he’s playing again!” and then I’d wake up the next morning and I’d be flooded with people asking “Can you do this?” or “Can you do that?” Well, I actually managed to engineer a situation whereby I’ve been able to battle that stuff off. It wasn’t about not playing with Paul.
I was concentrating on a number of things: doing my website, I wanted to launch a website, I did that. I wanted to put a book out, which was a lengthy project, I did that. I wanted to make sure that this Led Zeppelin studio work came out, I’ve done that. I’ve set the scene up now, for me to be able to do the thing that everyone wants me to do, and what I want to do, which is take all that energy that I put into everything else, focus that into the guitar. And that’s what I want to do.
Meaning, new music?
New music, and to be seen playing.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-31 02:24 by kowalski.
Jimmy Page Looks Back on Led Zeppelin, and Towards the Future
By Brian Ives
[...]
Coda was the first Led Zeppelin album that I bought when it was new; I was too young to really be aware of the band when you were around, but it was so exciting to know that a “new” Zeppelin album was coming out. But what prompted you to release a collection of outtakes in 1982?
Coda had to be put together, it was a sort of… we owed the record company another album. I don’t even know how [Led Zeppelin’s late manager] Peter Grant managed to broach the subject to me, it was quite a while after we’d lost John [Bonham]. But to me, it still felt like we’d just lost him yesterday. So it was a difficult album to put together, but there was the backbone of it: “Bonzo’s Montreaux,” which was recorded between Presence and In Through the Out Door. I’d worked on it with John. The other members weren’t there. That, for me, was the backbone of the album. Under the circumstances, there couldn’t be anything better than having a drum orchestra of John Bonham.
Compiling the music for these companion discs, I knew I wanted to arrive at two extra discs for Coda. To make it a total celebration of Led Zeppelin and its music, and the quirkiness of it. I’d surprised the band with some of this stuff, because they’d not heard it. I just really wanted to show so many colors and textures, and it does.
How involved were Robert Plant and John Paul Jones in the reissue process, did you send them tapes?
I’ll tell you how it worked. I knew there were some key pieces [that I wanted to include], but this was going to be such a complete picture [of the band]. The whole depth and length of the project became quite clear, but I couldn’t invest hundreds of hours of listening to tapes without the help of the others.
What I did was, I played them the companion disc for Led Zeppelin III separately: Robert first. And then the companion disc for Presence. I outlined what the project was going to be. Robert thought it was great. Then I played it for John Paul Jones, and same deal. Robert sent a few tapes that he had, he had a couple of those things were of use.
When I spoke to you last year, you told me that you had some concern that you wouldn’t be able to find bonus material for Presence. When did you find the tracks that make up the companion disc?
It was when I was trawling through stuff, and it sort of turned up. At one point I thought, “Oh boy, we might have to use a live tape.” I wasn’t that happy about having to use live stuff for the first one [the companion disc on the first Led Zeppelin album was a concert recording], but it was what it was.
Anyway, I wasn’t going to go through hundreds of hours of tapes to find something, but it magically turned up.
“Nobody’s Fault But Mine” was probably the most popular song from Presence; what do you remember about the recording of that?
It was meant to be tricky, with the stops and the pauses and the phased guitar. When you hear that, you say, “My goodness gracious, these guys are on fire here.” And then you listen to “Tea for One,” and it’s so poignant. And you listen to “For Your Life,” that was made up in the studio. That’s getting more into an avant grade thing, and the whole sort of guitar orchestra, which was “Achilles Last Stand”… I’m personally on fire on that, but not more so than anyone else.
Robert Plant tells a story about falling off of his crutches [the singer had been recovering from a car accident] in the studio, and says that you raced from the control room to help him out.
That actually is true and you’re the only person to say it. He was in a wheelchair, but he was perched up on a stool to sing. Yeah, it’s true. He said, “I never saw him move so fast.” Well, that’s probably quite true.
Besides Robert’s injury, you were dealing with a pretty strict deadline to finish the album, right?
From what you’ve read and from what I’ve been told, we had 18 days in the studio. Well, what I do know is that it was coming to the point where I knew we were going to go over our allotted time. To do all the mixes and the sequencing of the album. The others had gone home, fair enough, they’d done all their parts, and I was doing the mixing and the guitar overdubs and solos here and there. These were the days you had to mix an album manually: it was the engineer’s hands, and my hands, doing everything. You couldn’t just take the files away, these were analog tapes. And the days were ticking by. The Rolling Stones were due to use the studio next. so I asked Mick if we could have a couple of more days. They were trying all different guitarists out at the time, they were doing Black and Blue there, so Mick said, “Yeah.”
Was your solo on the Rolling Stones “One Hit (To the Body)” your way of returning the favor?
That was recorded here in New York. But no, it wasn’t like that. Maybe they owe me a favor! But it was great fun to do that.
You started using modern synthesizers on In Through the Out Door.
That was John Paul Jones. We’re going into rehearsals, and he shows up with this massive theater organ, it was called a Dream Machine. It was a Yamaha Dream Machine, Stevie Wonder had one too. John had it at home and had been working on it, and lo and behold, he’s got these songs together. He’d never written complete songs for Led Zeppelin before. But now he had. It was cool. Because the album before, I’d written it all. It was a guitar driven thing. There’s keyboards on the first Led Zeppelin album, and over the years. But it made obvious logical sense that if he had numbers that he’d written on this new state-of-the-art keyboard, let’s do an album which focuses on the keyboard and features it at the forefront, and that’s how it went.
This was the first time there were Led Zeppelin originals that weren’t co-written by you; “South Bound Saurez” and “All My Love” were written by John Paul Jones and Robert Plant.
John Paul Jones had written complete songs, and I was quite happy about that. If he has a complete song, I’m not going say, “Oh by the way, I want to be credited as a writer” and then change the song. I couldn’t be bothered with that! I wrote the lyrics in the early days, but I wasn’t so happy doing the lyrics, I was happier doing the rest: writing the music and doing the production. Robert was super-established as a lyricist by In Through the Out Door, so obviously he’s going to write lyrics. And that’s how you get a couple of songs written by John Paul Jones and Robert.
Did you play harmonica on any Led Zeppelin songs?
I did play harmonica, but never on Led Zeppelin albums. I was a harmonica player when I was a studio musician. But Robert was a good harmonica player, he could do the country blues style, Sonny Terry or Sonny Boy Williamson, but I don’t think he’d played through an amp before he met me.
So, now you’re done with the remasters, how do you feel about the project?
I feel that it was an important thing to do in the historic picture of Led Zeppelin because, I’ve sort of said this before but it’s a fact… If you say “Led Zeppelin” to somebody, they’ll think of a riff or a vocal, but what I guarantee is that it’s from the studio albums. There’s so much love and affection out there from the audience for the recordings, that I thought that it was only right and proper to release the recordings in a way that had some dignity to it, and that had some context to it, with companion discs that gave a snapshot into the time that these things were recorded. Everything is on the companion disc for a really definite purpose. What it does, in effect, is doubles up the amount of studio information out there. It just gives the people who have been liking Led Zeppelin for so long, it gives them more music to enjoy and I thought that was an important thing to do .
You mentioned not wanting to use live stuff for the Presence companion disc, even though you did so for the companion disc to Led Zeppelin (I). I’m guessing you have more live stuff in the vaults; is that something you plan on addressing in the future?
Um, I’m not going to be looking at that in the immediate future. Because one of the reasons for concentrating on the studio stuff, was because I felt that there was an imbalance. There was the Led Zeppelin DVD [the 2003 DVD of live material] and How the West Was Won [a 2003 album of live material recorded in 1972]. We were on fire on How the West Was Won. And then there was Celebration Day [the 2012 release recorded at Zeppelin’s one-off reunion concert at the O2 Dome in 2007]. In a way, the O2 performance was really good because we look like what we look like now. The only problem is then we became quite recognizable in the street [laughs]. But those projects were all live stuff, so it was important to do this.
I wanted to ask you about the late Chris Squire from Yes…
That was really sad, he was a phenomenal bass player.
I interviewed him about a year and a half ago, and he told me he was hoping that you would release the XYZ tapes at some point [XYZ was a project that involved Page, Squire and Yes drummer Alan White].
Absolutely, but I haven’t worked on it. It’s a series of multi-tracks, it was something that I was wanting to do after all of the Led Zeppelin stuff was out, I wanted to contact Chris and Alan. It’s really sad that we’ve lost him. The music was really good. It’s the first thing that I did after we lost John Bonham. I had a studio at the time, and they wanted to get together, and I thought this was like laying down the gauntlet… I’m not curling up under a rock and hiding [after Led Zeppelin’s breakup]. And these guys are really, really good so I had to be really good too. It was really an interesting blend, and really good music.
You’ve been a vocal fan of Royal Blood – what was it about them that turned you on.
Let’s talk about Royal Blood, I’d seen them on a late night show in England. I thought, “That’s really interesting.” They did two songs and it really stuck with me. I thought “How are they doing that?” And they played so tightly, and were really passionate. I was here in this hotel, and I met the manager of the Arctic Monkeys—who are another really fine band I might add—and I said, “Hi, how are you doing?” I thought he was here with the Arctic Monkeys, and he said he manages Royal Blood. I said, “Do you? I know who they are.” There was quite a buzz going on about them in London. He said they’re playing at the [New York club] Mercury Lounge. And I said, “Can I come? I’ll come to the show!” He said, “Yeah, come, they’d love to meet you!” And I went there, and I wanted to get near the front [of the stage] to see what they were doing, but there were a lot of people who were trying to get to the front. It was phenomenal to feel their music and to feel what they were doing. There were riffs, but with a really intellectual attitude. And it was amazing.
Do you find yourself impressed with new bands often?
That’s the reason I mentioned them, because I had an experience. They don’t fail to impress.
Last year I spoke to Paul Rodgers, who told me that you always go to his shows at Royal Albert Hall, but he can’t get you to get on stage. Would you ever work with him again?
I don’t know. One of the reasons why I didn’t want to get on stage with anybody was simply that, then people would say, “Oh, he’s playing again!” and then I’d wake up the next morning and I’d be flooded with people asking “Can you do this?” or “Can you do that?” Well, I actually managed to engineer a situation whereby I’ve been able to battle that stuff off. It wasn’t about not playing with Paul.
I was concentrating on a number of things: doing my website, I wanted to launch a website, I did that. I wanted to put a book out, which was a lengthy project, I did that. I wanted to make sure that this Led Zeppelin studio work came out, I’ve done that. I’ve set the scene up now, for me to be able to do the thing that everyone wants me to do, and what I want to do, which is take all that energy that I put into everything else, focus that into the guitar. And that’s what I want to do.
Meaning, new music?
New music, and to be seen playing.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-07-31 02:24 by kowalski.
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