The song I’ve heard JPJ and Jimmy talk about the most is 4 sticks. BONHAM struggled mightily with the drums, hence the namesake, and the infamous rock and roll track was born out of bonzo’s frustration at playing it. Bonham went on a rampage, hammering out little richard’s keep on knockin. Jimmy and JPJ improvised the music on the spot. I would of thought that levee would of been another tough one. Jimmy has once said that it almost didn’t make the album cut, not sure I remember the full story. I know they tried to play it live a couple of times and scrapped the idea, page and plant played it live on some of their shows later and of corse they played a grunge version of it with Neil young.

I would say the live versions of since I’ve been loving you, rain song, and no quarter. My reasoning is his approach to those songs are so amazing considering the tempo. Also a fan of live versions of Kashmir, and earlier on the live version of I can’t quit you and killing floor. I’m particularly a fan of his drumming at the Albert Hall concert that was released in 03.

I could be wrong but I feel like Jimmy has kind of kept quiet over the last year or so, not sure if it has to do with the pandemic or the controversy surrounding his home, but that seems to be the timeframe that Jimmy has gone more inward than what we saw in the past. I don’t think he owes us anything. Like many of you, I am always hoping to hear more LZ music that is perhaps unreleased, whether it is live or studio. Hopefully Jimmy is enjoying his time.

Early on it was JPJ who didn’t want to tour and was close to quitting in 1974-75 timeframe. Apparently he wouldn’t come around the band much in those days when they were not touring. I think like, bohnam the long family separation really bothered JPJ. After Robert’s accident in Rhodes, I think he wanted to slow down and take some time. Jimmy was really pushing the band back together to record before Robert was ready. Jimmy was really the one that kept the band going in the latter years, but allegedly his drug use caused him to withdraw as well towards the end. Physically we all know he looked tired. Most of us know that it was not Jimmy’s spiritualism or lack thereof that derailed the band. it was the high demand for tours, drugs and alcohol coping mechanisms, family separations, and ultimately premature loss of life that ended the band. In many ways they were all but done when the 77 tour ended prematurely. I think in 1980 the band had some momentum going, they were catching a 2nd wind and you can really hear it in the in through the outdoor record. it was so unlike all of their other records. Jimmy mentions that he and JPJ were both collaborating to use more guitar based jams on their next record, perhaps it was Jimmy fearing that he was losing some of his grip. Of corse plant was done after losing his son, but as you all have mentioned Bonzo talked him into coming back and I don’t sense that plant would have come back if he were not all in. I think he wanted to turn the ship in the right direction and prove that they could complete another tour and perhaps do another record after in through the out door. I think in the end it wasn’t an ultimatum, decline in drumming ability, or fear of touring that killed bonzo and LZ. He did have some mental health issues and separation anxiety, but he was also known for drinking a lot while at home. many close to him have told stories about it.

These are good points. I think it goes to show that the greatness of LZ isn’t one player, it’s the collective band. In many ways it’s easy to explain why Jimmy’s career stayed in LZ. He was the most invested and the band peaked in 1975, even though he doesn’t mention a date, plant does mention the latter in many of his explanations for not reuniting to make new music with Jimmy and JPJ. Jimmy and Robert got a lot of the credit within the band because Robert was up front taking on most of the writing and Jimmy started the band and produced a lot of the records. JPJ and bonzo are both peerless in my opinion. JPJ is an incredible versatile musician that allowed the band to deviate to just about anything they wanted. He is basically a cheat code and In many ways JPJ is a one man band. I love hearing JPJ’s stories now. He tells a tale of when he first played the melody for black dog to bonzo and bonzo tells him to F off and there is no way he is playing along to that. Also JPJ gives Jimmy credit for simplifying their equipment to get unique sound in the studio and using simple techniques that other bands were not using. Jimmy credits bonzo for his drum tuning and variation and credits his session days for learning from other people’s limitations.

Jimmy mentions this in his visit to Oxford University. He created a lot of his music on the acoustic guitar and transformed it at a later date as needed. it is good to see all of the various takes on here. In spite of all of the rip off noise, Page was a proponent of avant garde. He wanted to take other people’s ideas and make them unique. Of corse he did experiment with a lot of different tuning styles on his guitars. Perhaps the most unique in my opinion that he is known for is the tuning that he uses for bronyraur, friends, and poor Tom. I also think rain song is incredible for the variation that he gets out of that tuning. I’m not a trained guitarist, but in my opinion the alternate tunings are helpful for a singer to tune the guitar to match their voice and it also allows you to simplify your playing while you sing and play at the same time. Joni Mitchell and Neil Young were 2 of Jimmy and Robert’s influencers and they were both alternative tuners, especially Joni. Of corse many guitarists adopted alternative tuning because of the unique sound. But standard tuning seems to provide the most variation for scales and octaves so Jimmy stuck to standard tuning and drop D’s for a lot of his electric music. One of my favorite electric songs he performed aside from rain song is dancin days which is in open G. I wish he did an unplugged version of that one.

American, and I spent 3 years in the UK from 2016-2019. The only place I could find LZ items were at the Camden Town Market area in the north of London. They had a lot of vintage rock stuff there. Now days it seems trendy for young kids to where old band shirts, at least in America. In the states you can find a lot of their shirts on the shelves.

I never heard cook it, I always heard cocaine. I never thought twice about it because of Plant’s interviews about the LA cocaine scene combined with him making sounds/gestures and pointing to his nose. But Robert is also talking about crystal meth in the song so that could also be what the cooking refers to if he sung that.