Led Zeppelin Flying High with New Concert Discs

Reuters (via Yahoo) ^ | 05/28/03 | Dean Goodman

[Drew68]

Led Zeppelin Flying High with New Concert Discs

Wed May 28, 2003

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.

[dennisw]

I forgot about Roxy Music's Avalon....another "perfect" album....and the women do so love that one. It was made for the "sheets" and I would suggest any young horndog to be sure to have that CD somewhere.................


Right you are on all counts! It got me interested enough to check out their other albums but Avalon is the only one I like. IIRC Brian Ferry played a lot of the keyboard parts on that album. He's not just a pretty face. Natalie Merchant and Sarah McLaughlin like to do Avalon (More Than This) and Peter Gabriel tunes. "Into the Fire"  ..... very erotic.

[LS]

Really. Page must have dried out, sobered up, and shaved!

[dennisw]

Annuder thing. I saw the Stones in 1970 and Led Zeppelin too. They both flailed around a lot, the lead singers surely made their presence known, but ultimately they were boring after the first 20 minutes. The sound was just too thin. Saw Traffic (no Dave Mason) and Cream around then and liked them better. Steve Winwood looked stoned to the gills, I always figured on a psychedelic but who knows.

Stones at Boston Garden, Zep at much smaller venue.

[wardaddy]

The other three you mentioned are also good in that genre...definitely. Sarah McLaughlin...that song "possession" seems like a love song but i think she wrote it about a stalker didn't she?

[wardaddy]

Winwood is my neighbor.

I'll have to ask him.

[dennisw]

Yeah Page looks great. I think that stupid Aliester Crowley stuff put a whammy on him for years. He must have ditched it and the leeches (hangers on) that went along with it. I can remember how fresh he looked when as a session man he joined the Yardbirds.

Saw him with the Yardbirds minus Jeff Beck. Was OK and he did use the violin bow on his guitar. Ya know they did "Dazed and Confused"

[dennisw]

Winwood is my neighbor.......

Cool. Did he marry an American? He's put out great stuff over the years. He was very hot a decade ago.

[Mr. Mojo]

You're a few years old that I am ....unbelivably I've never seen the Stones. The first time I had the opporunity to do so was in 1978 at the L.A. Coliseum, and I refused to see them in a huge outdoor arena with "festival" seating (where every seat is a bad one) just on principle. I figured I'd wait for them to play a smaller venue ....but it just never happened.

Saw Dave Mason at the Universal Amp, and it was terrific.

Damn, you're lucky to have seen Cream. ...I'm envious.

The Zep show I saw in '77 was had its good and bad points. The bad: just too damn loud, and some of the songs were way too long (30 min+). The good: the songs, and the musicianship.

[dennisw]

"possession" ... I don't know that tune. Natalie Merchant can be very good even though she's a shamless hippie wannabe and I think tending towards lesbianism. She hung out too much with Michael Stipe.

[Senator Pardek]

Steve Walsh in Kansas still has that phenomenal range...

I saw the reformed Kansas with Steve Morse in '88. Breathtaking.

[wardaddy]

Yeah...He married a Eugenia from here. Pretty blonde...some years younger. I think they have 4 children.

They live mostly in an 11th century Manor House in the Midlands where the children are in school.

I'm on a hillside here in the Green Hills area of Nashville. Steve and Eugenia are on top...naturally.

[dennisw]

A lot of what I saw was at the Anderson Theater in the East Village. Later on it was the Fillmore East. Also two shows at Hunter College in Manhattan. I used to go to the Cafe Au Go Go a lot in Greenwich (West not East) Village. Blues Project was sort of the house band.

My most memorable Cafe Au Go Go jam was Eric Clapton and others including Al Kooper. Was on a Saturday or Sunday, daytime. I was using the men's room urinal when Al Kooper jammed in and splashed a lot of water on his face to cool down. I said something to him and he said even less to me. Clapton had a huge mop of Afro hair in that phase

[wardaddy]

Possession is the first song on Fumbling Towards Ecstasy...it was her first hit before Building a Mystery.

Natalie gets a bit grating...I agree.

[Senator Pardek]

Ya know they did "Dazed and Confused"

YES!

I recorded a YB concert off the radio when I was a kid - the song was called "Smokestack Lightning" in those days, and had a bluesy feel, not the psychedelic groove of the Zep version.

Page also played "White Summer", which later became "Black Mountain Side".

[dennisw]

You can get the Yardbird's/Page's version "Dazed and Confused" at Kazaa Lite. Yardbirds were one of my favorite bands and dittos for The Animals.

[dennisw]

"Smokestack Lightning" .... a Yardbirds song for years. An old blues song by Howling Wolf? Clapton played it on "Five Live Yardbirds"

[Mr. Mojo]

You frequented the Fillmore in its heyday, for sure. Did you see Hendrix there on New Year's Eve, '69? Or the Allman Bros in '71? ...Or The Band ...anytime?

Kooper was great, especially when he played with Dylan and Mike Bloomfield. But that was a few years before then ....in '66-'66.

My favorite concert experience was at a small club in "the valley" in L.A. -- The Palomino...in Feb. of 1987. Taj Mahal was playing, but some unexpected guests showed up. I was just sitting at the bar having a few drinks with a buddy (sitting to my left), and I noticed that none other than Bob Dylan was sitting right next to him (to his left). Freaked him out to no end, huge Dylan fan that he was. But he got me back when he pointed out who Dylan was talking to --- George Harrison. So we warily initiated the conversation and ended up rapping with them for about 5 minutes ....both were very pleasant and funny. Then a two young hot blondes approached them and they forgot about us pretty quickly ...lol.

Anyway, John Fogerty also showed up and and the three giants jammed classic rock tunes with Taj and his amazing band (featuring Jesse Ed Davis on guitar) till about 2:00 AM. It was an all-time night.

[Senator Pardek]

An old blues song by Howling Wolf?

One of those dudes.

What's really cool in how Page totally gave the tune its edge on LZ's first album.

He was a 24 year old producer who decided to have the song follow immediately after "You Shook Me" without a pause - trippy!

[stands2reason]

My favorite band is RUSH

Mine too, until Grace Under Pressure. Got too keyboard-y. 2nd favorite is Metallica, up til Black. My other favorite is Tool, who I still like, though they only put out an album every 3-4 years.

What do these bands have in common with all great bands?

IT'S THE DRUMMER, STUPID!!!

[dennisw]

Dazed and Confused / You Shook Me > without a pause is right! I hear you on that that one and best listened to while ...... and while ..... You know what I mean. Led Zeppelin brand of heavy metal erotic poetry.



Bob Dylan's ultimate love song (for me at least) is "Visions of Johanna"

Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind