From the Louisville MacGuffin... Robert Plant Springs Led Zep Shocker! Reported by George Kaplan DATELINE-April 1, 2011 Louisville, KY "Abba, the gauntlet has been thrown down. For years now, Robert Plant, former lead singer of Led Zeppelin and reigning "Golden God" of the 1970's, has parried away all requests for a Led Zeppelin reunion tour. Requests that only got more demanding and desperate after the success of their one-off reunion gig for the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert in London, December 10, 2007. Today, in a brief telephone interview with this reporter to talk about the upcoming Band of Joy concert here in town, April 8, the singer revealed a thaw in his previous stance regarding any Led Zeppelin reunion. Here's Robert Plant after I asked him if he could ever see playing with Led Zeppelin again: "I'll tell you what; you tell Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus to get Abba back together and then I'll get the lads back together for a tour. In fact, we could tour together and show these kids Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga what world domination really looks like." Led Zeppelin and Abba? The mind reels at the thought of the heavy-metal titans and the squeaky-clean Swedes in satin together on a tour. But Mr. Plant thought it perfectly natural. "We always got on well with those guys, and had a grand time recording in their studio(Polar Studios) for the "In Through the Out Door" album. And who knows, if we're in the right mood, we could even pop in on each other's sets. It's a little-known secret, but Jimmy(Jimmy Page, guitarist for Led Zeppelin) actually played the guitar overdubs on "Dancing Queen". It was just before we all met up in Malibu to commence working on the "Presence" record. In fact, some of the lyrics were inspired by Jimmy's old flame, Lori Maddox. The line "feel the beat of the tambourine" was suggested by Jimmy and came from how at our concerts, Lori used to shimmy in time to me tambourine-banging during "Stairway to Heaven". And really, if you think about it, the whole aura of the song brings to mind all those girls with dreams in their eyes dancing the night away at Rodney's English Disco." The golden-tressed singer, long a beacon of sexual desire for women of all ages, then suggested a sartorial common-link with Abba. "Well, if you go back and look at old photos, Björn and I seemed to share a propensity for male camel-toe." Mr. Plant also revealed an ulterior motive for wanting to tour with Abba. "After the O2 gig, I was talking football with Liam Gallagher and, as is his wont, he started shooting his mouth off. So what I would like to do is join forces with Abba and challenge the Oasis boys to a match. They can name the pitch. Maybe even get together with Blur. It'll be 70's vs. 90's." When I suggested that with both Abba and Zeppelin having four members their side might be a little short-handed, the singer revealed his well-known impish sense of humor, suggesting that "we'll put Jimmy's wallet in goal. Nobody gets in Jimmy's wallet" he cackles devilishly. Asked if he ever thought about playing soccer before becoming a singer, he replies, "I think every English boy dreams at one time or another of scoring the winning goal for his side, whether it be for England in the World Cup, or in my case, winning the FA Cup for the Wolves." The Wolves are Mr. Plant's beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, of which Mr. Plant is currently one of the team's Vice-Presidents. Our allotted time having come to an end, Robert had to go, but he had a parting shot for Abba before he left. "Just tell them to get in shape. I don't want to be on the road with a bunch of Swedish Meatballs, ha-ha-ha-ha". Robert Plant will be appearing with his Band of Joy at the Louisville Palace, Friday April 8, 8pm."

Thanks guys...ah yes, good ole Raymond from Scotland...I might have guessed he was in charge...even if he did have a tendency to tune Jimmy's guitars in Scottish You know, I was so young then, 15 for the 77 tour, that I was so caught up in the actual experience and "WOW" of the concerts that it was hard enough for me to keep a list of what songs the band played. It is only now, years later, that I wished I had been more attentive to which guitar was plugged into which amp and how and at what time he used his effects(aside from the more obvious times like in No Quarter when he used his wahwah pedal or the laser pyramid during the bow solo). Now that I think of it...during the "noise solo", there was quite a bit of high-pitched buzzing similar to NFBM...and thanks to you guys I now know it was the Eventide. I assume those units are relative antiques by now...does anybody still use them? Do they fetch a fancy price like some of those old crybaby wahwahs?

But if that is so...wouldn't it affect the sound on all his guitars? I don't recall the Les Paul sounding all that different from before, whereas the difference in sound on his double-neck was very noticeable. Did he use a different amp and speaker cab for the Gibson double-neck than he did for his Les Pauls?

The best Led Zeppelin albums I've ever heard are Classic's 45rpm vinyl box set(now out-of-print) of all the studio albums...simply stunning to hear, especially on a crackin' good system.

I second the motion that this is not Rain Song. Besides the fingering, the giveaway that this is STH is Jimmy's body language...that is CLASSIC Jimmy laying back into the Stairway solo. In Rain Song, Jimmy didn't move much except for the middle rocking part and you can definitely tell by the fingering in the photo that he's not playing chords. It's Stairway for sure.

Two shows at the Wiltern June 4 & 5 Hotplant! But get ready for sticker-shock...tix are $250-90. And that is before any service fees are added. The shows come just over a week after Plant's show at the Greek so the old guard will be in clover that week.

Yeah, Xorq you are right about the b-sides...Radiohead's always had amazing b-sides. Remember the b-sides for the Bends that were collected on the MY IRON LUNG EP? Songs like "The Trickster" and "Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong" were better than some on the Bends. Or how about the OK Computer era b's? I remember thinking how could they not put "Pearly" or "A Reminder" on the album? Another thing about Radiohead that is similar to Led Zeppelin is that it's hard for me to pick a favourite album...just as I can't decide btween Physical Graffiti. LZ III & LZ IV as my favourite, OK Computer, Kid A, In Rainbows and even The Bends all take turns as my fave Radiohead, depending on my moon. That's when u know a band is good...when they have so many good records it's hard to choose a favourite. Oh and thanks for reminding me about the newspaper thingy...I guess you heard about the snafu in Washington DC the other day? I didn't get the new one until the cd came out Tuesday...I'm not a downloader and I've got enough other music to get through that I can be patient and wait for the record to come out in physical form. Hell, I've got a stack of 20 cds still in the shrinkwrap waiting to be listened to.

When "Presence" came out, I think I was not alone in highly anticipating the chance to see the band do "NFBM" in concert. In particular, one wondered how Jimmy would handle that massed army of guitars during the buzz-saw intro. Of course, by 1977 guitar effects had progressed to the point that Brian May could make it sound as if he were playing several guitars at once, so I figured Jimmy would have something up his sleeve. Sure enough, come the 1977 tour and as Jimmy launches into the riff of NFBM, you could hear some kind of effect that he used that made it sound as if he were playing two guitars: one, a low grindy tone and another with a higher, buzzy tone. Unfortunately, at some of those 77 shows, I didn't have a clear view of what Jimmy was doing; was he using his wahwah or did he hit a switch? I am guessing that maybe he was splitting his signal or something, kind of like what they would do with Plant's vocals to make it sound as if he was backing himself up. Also, on some nights the effect worked better than others to the point that on some bootlegs you can't hear it at all. So just what effect was Jimmy using to get that high/low grindy tone? And was there an alternate way Jimmy could have played that intro that would have achieved the same massed buzz-saw effect but been more reliable? Was the effect created from the stage? Or was it the responsibility of the soundguy at the mixing desk? Why did he abandon the effect after the 77 tour? From what I can tell on the 2003 DVD, Jimmy didn't use the effect at Knebworth and I haven't heard it on the few 80 shows I've listened to. As usual, thanks in advance to anyone who can provide answers.

Okay, so from 1972 to 1975, Jimmy's 12-string tone in concert had a ringing, chiming quality. Then, on the 1977 tour, it changed to this muddy, grungy tone. The warm, bell-like tones of the double-neck that rang thru songs like "The Song Remains the Same" had disappeared. So what happened? Was it a switch in gear? His gear and amps looked to me to be the same in 1977 as in 1975. Was it his playing style that changed? Or perhaps a fault of the mixing desk or the PA?(while Jimmy's stage amps appeared the same, I think the band used a different PA system for the 1977 tour) It's been puzzling me for years.

I have now had a day to listen and re-listen to the new Radiohead cd "The King of Limbs" and while I can't say that it is as accessible as "In Rainbows"(there's nothing as out-of-the-box striking as "Reckoner" or "Nude" was), I am starting to dig it more and more with each listen. Early favourites on the new record are "Morning Mr. Magpie", "Feral" and "Give Up the Ghost". Besides, it's Radiohead...who, along with Wilco, PJ Harvey, Sigur Ros, Lucinda Williams and a few others, will be remembered 20 years hence as one of the greats of this era. I love Radiohead for the same reasons I got into Led Zeppelin: great musicianship, adventurous sounds, good production, and the stubbornness to follow their muse and do things their own way, conventional-wisdom be damned. Just as Led Zeppelin could take familiar blues-rock tropes and create something scintillating and distinctly their own, Radiohead uses electronica to a similar end. Both bands cast their musical net over a wide and eclectic variety of sources, inspired by an ever-questing musical curiosity, yet the end result is always definable as being uniquely their own. Whether Led Zeppelin was blazing through sun-blasted Arabian deserts or drifting down the muddy Mississippi river or mellowing out in the gorgeous green hills and dales of Wales, the resulting music always bore the unmistakable stamp of Led Zeppelin. Be it a pile-driving blues stomper or a blissed-out English madrigal, Led Zeppelin had the ability to put everything through its magic filter and make it strange, weird, wonderful, and most importantly, ROCK! Even if they were just picking banjos and mandolins...their music rocked. Radiohead is similar. Now before the fanboys get up in arms and say I am crazy for mentioning Radiohead in the same breath as Zeppelin, I am not saying Radiohead is the equal of Led Zeppelin in historical impact or that I would say they are my 1st or 2nd favourite band of all-time. But they are creeping into my top 10. And the feeling I get listening to Radiohead is strikingly similar to the feeling Zeppelin gives me, even though their approach is very different. Radiohead seems to go out of their way to not act or play like a standard rock band, even though all you have to do is take one listen to one of their early albums(say The Bends) and you know they could have made plenty of money and gained plenty of fans just regurgitating the same album over and over. But just like Led Zeppelin refused to repeat Led Zeppelin II ad nauseum, so Radiohead decided after The Bends to follow their own muse, trusting the listener to follow them wherever it lead. Just as "In Through the Out Door" is as different to "Houses of the Holy" as "Houses" is to "Led Zeppelin I", Radiohead's "The King of Limbs" is to "OK Computer" what "OK Computer" is to "Pablo Honey". It's just that the difference is that Zeppelin's inspiration to transcend the blues-rock genre lay in world music(primarily Celtic and North Africa) and Motown and Funk, while Radiohead's way out of the grunge-ghetto led through the fields of electronica and minimalism and the chopped-up beats of hip-hop. But make no mistake, no matter how far afield Radiohead gets, they still make it rock(maybe not as "heavy" as Zeppelin but they rock all the same)...you know a Radiohead song when you hear one. It has the same indefinable "something" that separates them from their supposed followers/competition that Zeppelin songs had. Just as Led Zeppelin were miles above the likes of Black Sabbath, Iron Butterfly, Grand Funk Railroad, Deep Purple, etc., so has Radiohead distanced themselves from the Doves, Elbow, Coldplay, Muse. Characteristics that both bands share: 1. A striking vocalist(Robert Plant/Thom Yorke) with an immediately identifiable voice. 2. A guitarist(Jimmy Page/Jonny Greenwood) with an individual approach to the instrument and an ability to sculpt mesmerizing soundscapes. 3. A great drummer(John Bonham/Phil Selway) capable of handling any beat or time signature the band needs. Trust me, you have to see Radiohead live to appreciate the job Phil Selway does. 4. A bassist(John Paul Jones/Colin Greenwood) with a way with a groove and the ability to play keyboards as well. 5. Consistent quality production...their albums always "sound" good. And while Radiohead doesn't sell near the amount of records that Zeppelin did, they can sell out any show at the drop of a hat. Their live reputation has grown exponentially through the years. If you've never seen them live, you owe it to yourself to at least check them out once. So back to the thread...what are your thoughts about the new Radiohead?

I fear its hopeless Electrophile...this guy obviously has a mental block when it comes to this topic; perhaps his mother tortured him with endless plays of "YMCA" when driving him to-and-from school when he was a wee lad. No you don't. You never have any valid reasons...just incorrect assumptions and gibberish. Apparently you just throw the words "crappy", "wimpy", "spineless", "rubbish", "disco sucks", "shitty", "ruddy", "YMCA", and "lame" in some random phrase generator and repeat ad nauseum. I don't have the time nor the space to go into detail the false assertions you keep making...the post would run pages and pages long and I don't think Sam Webmaster would appreciate me taking up so much bandwidth on such a trifling matter as this. But let's just take one of your more inane points: that disco was tied to the anti-rock conservative values crowd. In a word: POPPYCOCK! Disco was, for one thing, a public music. It was mostly intended to be heard in dance clubs for people to dance to...it was never meant to be analysed whilst listening to it closely on headphones at home. It wasn't anti-rock, or anti-anything...it was just another form of expression, a type of music to coexist with all the other forms of music around at that time, be it rock 'n' roll, top 40 pop, folk, soft rock, soul, R & B, whatever. Disco didn't replace rock...rock was still plentiful during the disco era...nor was it trying to do so. And as for your assertion that disco was a result of some conservative movement afoot in the country to wipe out rock? That is very funny, considering that the early creators and adherents of disco were mostly from the decidedly non-conservative gay/lesbian and ethnic communities of the big cities. To this day, I still like some disco from the 70's: Donna Summer, KC & the Sunshine Band, Chic, Kool & the Gang...and Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" is a powerful feminist statement of survival. In fact, I would rather listen to any of the above than to the bland offerings of Journey and Foreigner and their late-70's corporate-rock brethren. But don't worry spidersandsnakes...this is the last "invasive post" I will submit to this thread, for trying to follow your logic is like being trapped on a Möbius strip.

I am glad to see that I wasn't the only one who first thought this was about the relative merits of Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia when reading the PI vs PHI thread title. I'm no math wizard, but I am inclined to go with PI. Yes, PHI is the "Perfect number", or even "Golden number", if you will. But the problem I always say with being perfect is that you can't be anything else. But PI is the "irrational", "transcendental" number, both qualities that are descriptive of Led Zeppelin's music. So even though PHI has many things going for it: its uses in art, music, architecture, nature, et al...how fun it is to say the name Leonardo Fibonacci...the bizarre fact that while the Golden Mean or Golden Section principle has been around since the time of Euclid, it wasn't until the 1909 that the letter PHI was used to designate this concept, thanks to an American mathematician named Mark Barr...no, even with all that in its favour, I am going to go with plucky, little PI. Besides, PI has this in its corner: Pi by Wislawa Szymborska "The admirable number pi: three point one four one. All the following digits are also initial, five nine two because it never ends. It can't be comprehended six five three five at a glance, eight nine by calculation, seven nine or imagination, not even three two three eight by wit, that is, by comparison four six to anything else two six four three in the world. The longest snake on earth calls it quits at about forty feet. Likewise, snakes of myth and legend, though they may hold out a bit longer. The pageant of digits comprising the number pi doesn't stop at the page's edge. It goes on across the table, through the air, over a wall, a leaf, a bird's nest, clouds, straight into the sky, through all the bottomless, bloated heavens. Oh how brief - a mouse tail, a pigtail - is the tail of a comet! How feeble the star's ray, bent by bumping up against space! While here we have two three fifteen three hundred nineteen my phone number your shirt size the year nineteen hundred and seventy-three the sixth floor the number of inhabitants sixty-five cents hip measurement two fingers a charade, a code, in which we find hail to thee, blithe spirit, bird thou never wert alongside ladies and gentlemen, no cause for alarm, as well as heaven and earth shall pass away, but not the number pi, oh no, nothing doing, it keeps right on with its rather remarkable five, its uncommonly fine eight, its far from final seven, nudging, always nudging a sluggish eternity to continue." In summation, anytime is a good time for Pi

So some friends and I attended last night's double-bill of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" and "Star Trek III:The Search for Spock" and, as usual, George Takei was freaking hilarious, insightful and eloquent. If you've never had the chance to see him in person, you should rectify that at your next opportunity...you won't be sorry. He is one of the most entertaining speakers I've ever heard. I am surprised no one has posted this on this thread yet, but here is one of the most hilarious and clever things I've ever seen on Youtube...just the editing work alone deserves massive hosannas...ENJOY! And for those who can't get enough of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy singing( I have albums by both "thespian-singers"...and no, I don't feel embarrassed by that fact, hehehe), here's a treat for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd5zadgAYg0

TONIGHT at the American Cinematheque@Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood...with GEORGE TAKEI IN PERSON! Star Trek Celebration @ American Cinematheque TO BOLDLY GO…: CELEBRATING STAR TREK In 1979, Robert Wise's STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE kicked off a mania for TV-to-movie adaptations that has thrived ever since and spawned multiple sequels, tributes and spin-offs. To celebrate the STAR TREK film series, we've chosen six of the eight films in the franchise, plumbing deep for gems in the Trek universe that haven't necessarily received the tribute they deserve. All of these films embody the ideals of sci-fi's first franchise that have endured for more than 40 years. May they continue to live long and prosper for many more. Please join us at the Egyptian Theatre for our STAR TREK tribute, including 35mm screenings of THE WRATH OF KHAN and THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, plus THE VOYAGE HOME, THE FINAL FRONTIER and THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY in 70mm. Series compiled by Grant Moninger. Discussion with cast and crew following STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE and with the STAR TREK IV, V and VI screenings. Egyptian Theatre • Thu, March 24 - Sun, March 27 Films in this Series at the Egyptian STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE Thu, March 24 - 7:30pm Egyptian Theatre STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN / STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK Fri, March 25 - 7:30pm Egyptian Theatre STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME / STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER Sat, March 26 - 7:30pm Egyptian Theatre STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY Sun, March 27 - 7:30pm Egyptian Theatre

Thanks for the tip, Jahfin...this is always one of the highlights of the year for me...only 21 days left! Woohoo!

"open my front door...hear my back door slam...you must have one of them new-fangled back-door man"

Actually you did start the fire...with your incessant yelling(do you always have to post in bold all caps?) about how the 80's were crap. Not only on this thread but on another one in the ramble on section you go on and on about the 80's being crappy, wimpy, all about disco Saturday Night Fever and Studio 54, etc. etc. So not only are you repetitive...but you're incorrect. Saturday Night Fever came out in late 1977 and it definitely was a hit and pushed disco in the mainstream consciousness. 1978-1979 was disco's high point with the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and albums by Chic and Donna Summer. But by 1980 the writing was on the wall...disco was on the wane. Of course there was the July 12, 1979 Disco Demolition Night at Chicago Whitesox Stadium. But the two things that helped drive a nail in disco's coffin in 1980 was the twin failures of the movies "Xanadu" and "Can't Stop the Music". And by the end of the year everyone had forgotten about Saturday Night Fever as "Urban Cowboy" was Travolta's newest hit and the craze swept the nation as bars from San Francisco to Washington DC installed mechanical bulls. So you see, as the 80's began disco had ceased to be a force, so for you to continuously paint the 80's as a decade of disco is misguided. Actually what is really amusing about these various "music isn't as good as it used to be" is that people say this every decade. The 70's are looked upon as a golden age now but I can assure you that as early as 1973 Rolling Stone and other mags were running articles about how stagnant and boring the rock scene was and that the 70's were dead compared to the exciting 60's. And I guarantee you that in 10 years time people will be moaning about how the 2020's suck and why aren't there any bands as good as the ones in the 2000's, like Radiohead and the White Stripes. Of course the scary thing is that someone will actually be nostalgic for the insipid likes of Train and Maroon 5.

In the 70's there was one music magazine I read religiously from cover-to-cover and that was CREEM. I would also read Crawdaddy, Trouser Press, Rolling Stone, Downbeat, NME, Melody Maker, and Circus on a semi-regular basis. Later in the 70's the punk zines started to appear and those were always fun reads and some are now quite valuable. But Creem was my rock n roll bible from 1969 to about 1986 when it started running out of steam. Today MOJO is the one magazine I always make sure to get every month and read every page. Good writers(including some old Creem vets), a large and varied review section, a good mix between historical and new music, and a free cd with every issue makes Mojo the one essential read for any music fan. The other music mags I still peruse with varying degrees of devotion are Uncut, Paste, Downbeat, Gramophone, BBC Music, HotPress, American Songwriter, Record Collector, Relix, Q, NME, The Wire, Spin, Filter, Oxford American Music Issue, and yes, even Rolling Stone...although more for its current affairs reportage than its musical content.

Man, things have been so hectic that my mind has been elsewhere...for the first time in YEARS I didn't fill out a bracket. Just don't follow the college basketball season like I used to do. All I know is that the PAC 10 was down this year. I was hoping Belmont and Gonzaga would go farther (further?) than they did. And while I usually don't root for Duke, after what Jalen Rose said in that self-aggrandizing Fab Five film, I will cheer for Duke to squash Michigan today.

Of all the times it had to rain here in Los Angeles, Mother Nature chose last night to send clouds and rain our way, negating any chance for us Angelenos to see the closest moon in 18 years.

Double amen. I'm gonna go out and hug a tree in your honour.

Amen, sister.

For the newbies... First time hearing Led Zeppelin

Here's an all-girl band, The Daughters of Eve, singing "Help Me Boy", which is a female version of "Help Me Girl", a song recorded by the Animals and the Outsiders: Another hot one from the Lost Agency: But, of all the great songs and bands that are on this collection, HERE IS THE #1 REASON YOU SHOULD BUY/DOWNLOAD THIS COMPILATION-The Foggy Notions "Need A Little Lovin'" Well, that's just great...it's no longer on youtube. It was on the other day, but now it's been pulled due to copyright issues for some reason. Too bad, as it was my favourite discovery of the whole set. With a propulsive bassline and jangling, shimmering(almost shoegazey-like) guitar riffs and sweet vocal harmonies, this was a song the Stone Roses would have KILLED to have. And get this, the average age of the band was 16! Imagine being in high school and already having this song under your belt...man, talk about a trail of panties. Apparently, they only cut this one single...and since I can't post "Need A Little Lovin'", here's the flipside, "Take Me Back and Hold Me"...but it's nowhere near as good as "Need A Little Lovin'":

Yeah, I LOVE Sundazed...along with Proper, Ace, Charly and Bear Records, they put out some of the most amazing and rare stuff. There were a few other songs I wanted to put in my earlier post, but I had exceeded my file limit. So, now that Kiwi Zep Fan has had a chance to catch up, here are some more nuggets from the Sundazed 2131 South Michigan Avenue set: First up, a couple tracks with some PUMPING BASSLINES. Well, I wanted to post Oscar and the Majestics "Soul Finger" but there isn't one on youtube, so here's some cool fuzzed-out ravers instead... More fuzz goodness to come...