Posted on 05/28/2003 1:00:57 PM PDT by Drew68
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In the words of one of their songs, Dancing Days are here again for fans of Led Zeppelin.
Defunct for almost 23 years, the pioneering English band behind such hard rock classics as "Stairway to Heaven" and "Kashmir (news - web sites)" has cleaned out its vaults to issue eight hours of previously unreleased live material on DVD and CD.
The "Led Zeppelin DVD" contains footage from four tours spanning 1970 to 1979; the CD "How The West Was Won" combines two Los Angeles shows from 1972 to replicate a single concert.
Remarkably, the band's leader and guitarist, Jimmy Page (news), who compiled the releases, says he remembers all the concerts as if they were yesterday.
"To actually go through it bit by bit and hear sections of it, you go, 'Yeah, yeah, that's really good' or 'I played really well there' or 'My God, that's embarrassing, that bit I played then,"' Page, 58, said in an interview.
Both the DVD and CD were released this week with Page, singer Robert Plant (news), 53, and keyboardist/bassist John Paul Jones (news), 56, embarking on a publicity blitz. Ironically, Led Zeppelin shunned such chores during its 12-year reign, preferring to let the music speak for itself.
But rumors that the trio would play together came to naught. The band has reunited only twice since breaking up after the 1980 alcohol-related death of drummer John Bonham (news). Page and Plant toured and recorded together in the 1990s, to Jones' initial chagrin. These days, the threesome's relationship is more business than social, Page says.
"MAGICAL ELEMENT"
"There were four very different personalities anyway in Led Zeppelin, very different personalities," Page said. "But when they bonded musically, the four elements joined together, took on a fifth element -- a thing which is totally intangible and it can't be charted, which was that magical element."
Led Zeppelin's members fused folk and blues influences to create a genre known as heavy metal. The group's catalog, highlighted by their untitled 1971 album and 1975's "Physical Graffiti" has sold about 200 million copies worldwide.
But their strength was arguably live performances. They toured incessantly, setting new standards for ticket sales. Songs from the albums were radically reworked on stage.
The new CD boasts a 25-minute version of "Dazed and Confused," while Bonham drums relentlessly during the 19-minute "Moby Dick." Spontaneity was the key, which is why the band decided to call it a day rather than try to feign improvisation with a new drummer.
"You had to be totally, totally involved. It's like a sacrifice you were there for," Page said.
The DVD features songs from London's Royal Albert Hall (1970) and Earl's Court (1975), New York's Madison Square Garden (1973) and England's Knebworth Festival (1979). And that's it as far as live footage is concerned, Page says.
"We didn't have a documentary crew going round with us all the time. What would we do it for? We weren't a television band," Page said.
"A BIT OF A LAUGH"
Similarly, the only other audio footage in the vaults was from a university gig, which was done "for a bit of a laugh." Page vows it will never see the light of day because the band made so many mistakes. (Page did use some computer tricks to fix a few wrong chords on the newly released material.)
These days, Page divides his time between a historic London townhouse and a mansion in nearby Windsor. His post-Zeppelin career has been patchy, with highlights including a tour with the Black Crowes and recording a rap version of "Kashmir" with rapper Sean Combs. He says he's working on something "quite surprising" but declined to go into detail.
There's a shocker.
It's true. Zep's first album was very bluesy and similar in many respects to Beck's work with Stewart. The way both bands played the cover song "You Shook Me" though was radically different. Beck took that old Elvis song, put a fast almost jazz like beat to it, and made it into something almost unrecognizable from the original while Page pretty much stayed within the bounds of the original and let Plant work his magic. I agree, by ZepIII, Page was definitely breaking new ground and had developed a uniqueness all his own.
Beck's most innovative work was from 1965-68, spanning the period from his stay with the Yarbirds through the Jeff Beck Group albums (with Stewart) I mentioned above.
Beck took a lot of detours after 1968. In the early 70s with his second group it appeared that R&B and Motown was the sound he was going for in a semi-Jazzy kinda way with vocalist Bob Tench. I think some of his stuff then was innovative but yeah, not to the same degree of the The Yardbirds or Zepplin.
Where I think he got back to breaking new ground was with his album Blow by Blow. That album to this day is one of the very few works that effectively captures elements of Rock and Jazz in a very listenable style without all the mindless rapid fire scales a la John McCloughlin (sp) that defines most of fusion. I think George Martin the producer of the album was a large creative force here. But on the follow up Wired album Beck seemed to be back to his old habit of doing great guitar work over mediocre songs, though there were a few good songs in there.
What I see in his latest Tecno kick is that what he is really doing is layering his patented tracks over a tecno beat but his solos aren't true tecno. It's Jeff Beck soloing over tecno. The first album "Who Else" though nonetheless was a pretty good album. Unfortunately I hear his upcoming album will be more of the same tecno stuff following the disappointing You Had It Coming album.
Some of Beck's best work in the late 80s can be found on the soundtrack to Frankie's House. He collaborated with a keyboardist (Jed??) and can up with some interesting takes on oriental music and does a fantastic Clapton like solo which follows a beautiful but short passage. If you can take the abrupt changes in music that apparently tracks the movie scenes it is well worth a listen.
Insane envy over Page's overwhelming success didn't help, I'd imagine.
Yeah, Beck is kinda strange in that way. He once ragged on Peter Frampton for ripping off his "bagpipe" idea and making it a huge success...AS IF Beck wanted to go Pop/Rock and play before screaming teens! If mega success didn’t appeal to Beck then he has no reason to be envious of the artists that wrote and marketed their music to a wider crowd.
I've wished for the same thing for many years and Beck's running out of time. Beck and Stewart always reminded me of the musical version of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. Though their brief reunion in the 80s did produce a couple of great songs like "People Get Ready".
I liked Zep for the whole package and the aura of it all. I sort of lost immediate interest after HOTH...although PG was not too shabby. I bet most middle aged Zep fans recall PG as the highwater mark....for me it was IV...not a bad song on it.
By now I'm not surprised you'd have this opinion. ZepIV was tough act to follow--yet the band still did an admirable job with their later works. For me that was mostly in retrospect.
Well said. Bonham was definately that. Just about every musician on the rock scene thought Bonham was in a class by himself. His sound was incredible and impossible to reproduce.
What is great about this music is how it allows folks like you and I and from different generations to relate on a similar level and topic. Having said this, Jimmy Page's bell bottom pants and his shirts were so outrageously cool that even for their wardrobes it was well worth the money.
I also came to the conclusion that LZ was almost Tolkein-like in creating broad brushed mythologies and epic performances.
Rock of Ages - The Band
Live Rust - Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Live at Leeds - The Who
Band of Gypsies - Jimi Hendrix
Live at the Fillmore East - The Allman Brothers
Europe '72 - The Grateful Dead
It's Too Late to Stop Now - Van Morrison
The Song Remains the Same - Led Zeppelin
One for the Road - The Kinks
Wings Over America - Paul McCartney (a sentimental favorite ...one of the shows that was recorded was the first concert I ever attended).
One day the Who's late drummer Keith Moon told Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and the other members of a rival group that "they'd go over like a lead zeppelin". In a mockingly ironic move, they promptly adopted the term (Led Zeppelin) as the name of their band.
Plant, Robert (1948- ) British musician, Led Zeppelin frontman [noted for such works (with Led Zeppelin) as Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin III, Led Zeppelin IV, Physical Graffiti, and Houses Of The Holy]
[Sources: M. Driscoll, ed., 5087 Trivia Questions & Answers]
http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=7900
Led Zeppelin-I
Jethro Tull- Benefit
Hendrix-Electric Ladyland
Neil Young-Live Rust
Springsteen-Darkness on the Edge of Town
Roger Waters- In the Flesh Live
Floyd-Thw Wall, Live In Berlin
Talking Heads-STOP MAKING SENSE
10,000 Maniacs-MTV Unplugged
The Dave Matthews Band-various
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