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HUGE NEWS - The Bonham/Jones/ Page Sessions of 2008


Charles J. White

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I had never heard of Steve Albini. I brought it up on another thread. He produced a number of bands that where from the grunge era aside from Alice in Chains and some older Soundgarden it wasn;t my thing. Apparently plant and Page where demanding but if Jimmy was at the helm those requests would have been done by him. I have no problem with a guy asking me to do something he's done or would do.

I did gather that it wasn't all Plant calling the shots. But by Albini's own word i am more convinced that Jimmy should have produced.. His work has stood the test of time.

Alligator arms for dudes with money is nothing new to me. I did a protection assignment for Michael Jordan. I drove that dude all over took him to some dicey locations. Got my hands dirty at one spot. Smoothed one over at another. He was cool but 11 hours in the city  and one burned "contract" . He knew I was injured and I got a c note a thank you and maybe you should go to the hospital. And what ?  get arrested. I was pissed that he glossed over how I saved his ass in more way than one .

Celebrities, some of the worst "people"

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On June 11, 2016 at 2:54 PM, sk8rat said:

but he's a judge on a talent show. surely he is an educated musician that is so smart he can judge true talent.

He is?  What talent show?  Talent shows are far different than musical contests, more about entertainment value rather than musical quality.  Entertainment value is right up Howard's alley, musical quality not so much...

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Lol. That's pretty cool, thank you for that.

Hey, I'm not hating on the guy. In fact he seems like the kind of guy I'd hang out with nowadays.

It happens. As far as the time period that I assume was his hey day was, not mine. I was rarely in The States and doing lots of bad for the " greater good." 

I am grateful for the live stuff available from the 98 tour. There are some real good songs and I think if Page produced it they may have expanded more on the mid eastern flavor of No Quarter. Much to my delight Plant is expanding on it (along with other influences) with his more recent work. Like I mentioned earlier his band is incredible. The new songs are great . I think his live act is brilliant and how they reworked the old Zep tunes is really cool.

I often wonder how Jimmy Page  feels about the stuff Robert Plant is doing. 

Some of the guys in my circle say it's heresy.

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17 hours ago, Jimmywalnutz said:

Lol. That's pretty cool, thank you for that.

Hey, I'm not hating on the guy. In fact he seems like the kind of guy I'd hang out with nowadays.

Interesting story about Michael Jordan -- wouldn't mind hearing more about that if you're willing to share.

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Do not reduce Steve Albini to just some "grunge" producer. His made his mark far earlier and more importantly in the Chicago punk/noise scene. Big Black, Rapeman, Flour, Shellac are just a few of the bands he played in. 

As for "Walking into Clarksdale", I like how the album sounds...the guitars sound fine to me. I wasn't expecting "Physical Graffiti Part Deux". I like the variety of tones Jimmy uses...from the raw, grind of "Burnin' Up" to the "Wicked Game"-like tremelo echo of "Heart in My Hand".

Yes, the live performances on that '98 tour were better than the album. But that wasn't because of the production, it was because on the road Jimmy let loose a little more as he became more familiar with the songs...his solos gained power and confidence with every show. 

The same thing happened on the "No Quarter" album and tour. Compare the hesitant solos of Thank You and SIBLY on the album to the blazing solos he performed on the tour at the Forum and Irvine Meadows.

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On June 11, 2016 at 11:58 PM, Jimmywalnutz said:

I I did a protection assignment for Michael Jordan. I drove that dude all over took him to some dicey locations. Got my hands dirty at one spot. Smoothed one over at another. He was cool but 11 hours in the city  and one burned "contract" . He knew I was injured and I got a c note a thank you and maybe you should go to the hospital. And what ?  get arrested. I was pissed that he glossed over how I saved his ass in more way than one .

Celebrities, some of the worst "people"

Something tells me gambling debts and bookies were involved...

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I'd love too. But I really can't get deep.

 A guy I operated with in previous occupation started a bodyguard/driver company . I did a lot work for them during the mid 90's. I've been out for years. I won't go dropping names but Jordan was the probably the most popular client I personally had.

 Another time I was part of a 6 man team that went to the Dominican Republic (where we teamed with two Dominican operators) with an extremely rich Viacom executive to buy diamonds. .

Myself and another where tasked with watching the Dominicans. They were never to leave the Villa, have access to a window seat when we  or have access to any type of communication device. They knew the game and where actually very easy to handle.

The old man was razor sharp and a complete gentleman. All that money and sitting for breakfast in his boxers talking to us like we were friends for years. The Villa had the three most beautiful maids whom he thought were being exploited because the "uniform " left very little to the imagination. He was very eloquent with his words when he told us the young ladies would not be wearing swimwear unless they wanted to swim and odd jobs where verboten . In addition any other entertainment would take place in the pool house. I felt as if I had disappointed my father or grandfather.

A thousand per man , two for the TL and three for the Dominican guys. But the way this man conducted himself changed my life. To this day I try to  emulate the class he had. I struggle sometimes.

As far as MJ that's about all I will say. Your imagination or speculation is on the money.

 

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4 hours ago, Strider said:

Do not reduce Steve Albini to just some "grunge" producer. His made his mark far earlier and more importantly in the Chicago punk/noise scene. Big Black, Rapeman, Flour, Shellac are just a few of the bands he played in. 

As for "Walking into Clarksdale", I like how the album sounds...the guitars sound fine to me. I wasn't expecting "Physical Graffiti Part Deux". I like the variety of tones Jimmy uses...from the raw, grind of "Burnin' Up" to the "Wicked Game"-like tremelo echo of "Heart in My Hand".

Yes, the live performances on that '98 tour were better than the album. But that wasn't because of the production, it was because on the road Jimmy let loose a little more as he became more familiar with the songs...his solos gained power and confidence with every show. 

The same thing happened on the "No Quarter" album and tour. Compare the hesitant solos of Thank You and SIBLY on the album to the blazing solos he performed on the tour at the Forum and Irvine Meadows.

Ok  I LOVE Steve Albini !! I certainly don't want to reduce him to anything. PLEASE, I don't want to come off as an ignorant hater. I'm not. I just hadn't heard of him and I stand by my wish that Jimmy had handled the production. It is what it is. And as I mentioned I'm grateful for the live stuff being so much better.  

As far as expectations go after the first Firm album came out I was never disappointed again. I certainly wasn't expecting anything as brilliant as PG but hoped for a straight forward hard rock album. I love Free and Bad Company and of course Jimmy Page.

What's funny is that Trampled Underfoot is one my favorite Zep tunes . Top 10, easy. I never liked album version half as much as live. I love 1975 and 1980 in Rotterdam may be the one I like best. A  great deal of songs by Zeppelin are better live IMO. Same goes for Steve Albini.  : ) Peace.

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On 6/12/2016 at 1:41 PM, Walter said:

He is?  What talent show?  Talent shows are far different than musical contests, more about entertainment value rather than musical quality.  Entertainment value is right up Howard's alley, musical quality not so much...

americas got talent. a lot of the contestants are musicians. 

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21 hours ago, sk8rat said:

americas got talent. a lot of the contestants are musicians. 

Last time I checked, he isn't on that show.  Your quote is above - "he's a judge on a talent show".  Some of the contestants are musicians, early on, but most are not.  

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