JAP Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 33 minutes ago, The Old Hermit said: If it was ever going to get an official release, the recent Physical Graffiti companion disc was the time and place... but it didn't happen, so it likely won't ever now. Interestingly, in a 1977 interview with Dave Schulps (that you can hear online very easily), Jimmy talks about a twenty-minute instrumental he had planned to record during the Presence sessions in November 1975, but ultimately didn't have time because of having to lay down overdubs... I'm wondering if 'Swan Song' was that instrumental (because supposedly it was about twenty minutes long in it's original incarnation) or an entirely different track altogether? If it isn't, it's a pity Jimmy never got around to that Presence instrumental... but like so much with Zeppelin, it's what could have been that continues to fascinate and tantalize as much as what was. Yes the PG release would have been the place for it. If that's our lot. Sunshine woman would have been great on the coda release but it's even better as part of the complete BBC sessions. All this mystery is first rate entertainment for me.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Old Hermit Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 7 minutes ago, JAP said: Yes the PG release would have been the place for it. If that's our lot. Sunshine woman would have been great on the coda release but it's even better as part of the complete BBC sessions. All this mystery is first rate entertainment for me.... So true. It's interesting that 'White Summer'/'Black Mountain Side' is finally getting a proper 24/96 release on the new BBC Sessions... I couldn't understand why Jimmy inexplicably left it out on last year's remastered Coda... now I know why, I wonder if the new BBC set was being planned at that time? Jimmy Page, ladies and gentlemen; the man of mystery, hiding in the shadows and peeking around corners . Oh, and I do believe 'Swan Song' and the instrumental Jimmy mentioned to Dave Schulps in 1977 were indeed one and the same track; Paul Rodgers reminisced in an interview about Jimmy bringing in a nineteen-minute instrumental recorded on cassette (dating back to Zeppelin) during production of the first Firm album, so they were, in all likelihood, one and the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAP Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 I do suspect the BBC thing was put together around the same time. To me it would make sense to pick everything (within reason) from every tape reel in one long job then assemble sets from the results, then plan order of release then remaster selected tracks inline with the release schedule So there's a logic to it all. less likely to look back and think I wish I had included this or left off that etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
in_the_evening Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 Mediocre track at best. Needed a lot of work, what showed up for the firm was pretty dull. Like most of the Firm's stuff come to think of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grasbo Posted August 7, 2016 Share Posted August 7, 2016 I think this is mentioned somewhere that Swan/Midnight has a close cousin in Ten Years Gone therefore not on PG.Both the jazzy mid sections,the quiet guitar interludes,the loud bits,etc.I liked the Firm a lot and bought the albums when released.Paul is notoriosly fiery but he is a great blues belter.I compare him to the late Jimmy Deware of Robin Tower fame.I think he cops a lot of flak because he is a completely different singer than Plant as was the case with Sir Frederick.Yes Paul did play rhythm guitar most notably on Radioactive,a song I didn't go much on and released as a single.I think Page and Rogers sounded great together despite what others say.No,there was no Immigrant Song or Stairway but there was Midnight Moonlight which was their best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithril46 Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 I think the song is interesting but is B-material and that's why Plant wasn't blown by it. The song is certainly distinctive but even though Jimmy was playing parts of it live as early as70', for some reason in my mind the song is encrusted in a hazy opium fog. Cool that there are Firm fans out there, But for me ( And Page has even said this) the band was mainly Jimmy's guitar skill rehab project. Each to their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boleskinner Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 I'd say it's far more interesting than Boogie with Stu and Black Country Woman which are derivative, throw-aways. And Down by the Seaside, aside from the bridge, has always been a snooze for me. Would have liked to have seen it on the record and BWS and BCW, or Night Flight, taken off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rm2551 Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 My God that shows just how invaluable Bonham actually was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAP Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 ive only ever had access to the 5 mins or so that you can pick up on you tube so it's in this form that I evaluate it and enjoy it. I think I read somewhere, perhaps on here that it was intended that it was to bel based on the four seasons . So I missing 15 mins worth . Clearly page had bigger ideas for this beaut and therefore regards it differently to the 5 min riffathon on YouTube. An except from it might have been good on the PG disc , but at 20 mins It could support itself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juxtiphi Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 12 hours ago, JAP said: ive only ever had access to the 5 mins or so that you can pick up on you tube so it's in this form that I evaluate it and enjoy it. I think I read somewhere, perhaps on here that it was intended that it was to bel based on the four seasons . So I missing 15 mins worth . Clearly page had bigger ideas for this beaut and therefore regards it differently to the 5 min riffathon on YouTube. An except from it might have been good on the PG disc , but at 20 mins It could support itself To me all the outtakes are essentially the same albeit with different levels of doneness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAP Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 Whilst I like this swan song excerpt . I can't get on with midnight moonlight at all?! I don't see them as being common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAP Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 17 minutes ago, juxtiphi said: To me all the outtakes are essentially the same albeit with different levels of doneness. Even the done ones aren't really done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juxtiphi Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 14 minutes ago, JAP said: Whilst I like this swan song excerpt . I can't get on with midnight moonlight at all?! I don't see them as being common. It is indeed the basis for Midnight Moonlight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmtomh Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 Page has said in an interview that he felt Swan Song was too unfinished to be released as a companion disc track (on PG, I suppose, or possibly on Coda). I interpret that statement to mean that since it became a full-on track recorded by a different band (The Firm), he's not inclined to think of it as a Zep song, but rather an idea he had, which he didn't develop into a song until The Firm. On a related note, he's said many times - including in the documentary It Might Get Loud - that the original long instrumental thing he was working on was indeed called Swan Song, that it was a suite of course, and that it's also where the basic riff from Kashmir came from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithril46 Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 Yeah, don't be misled. There are no "done" versions, but on various studio boots all the takes together, maybe 30 min or more. If iI'm wrong, correct me. I think Jones plays keys on a little. My boots are all disorganized. Did Bonzo play on some of it ?? Thought so, maybe not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jukkin Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 To me the basic offbeat rhythm sounds not too dissimilar to that on For Your Life. Perhaps the band developed it further and eventually parts of it inspired FYL; acoustic --> Presence heavy. Just a thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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