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Mithril46

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Everything posted by Mithril46

  1. Interesting views, I always loved the song. Sure, the whole album is masterpiece, but I never saw FS as filler. I saw it as exotic hard rock with that dreamy, mysterious center section. I never understood why it wasn't played more live, the 71' Copenhagen version seemed to work pretty well.
  2. Great that you are attempting something like this. But, as you said, all can change depending on different parts of the song, It's not just WHAT remaster. This stuff can obviously get tremendously complicated. Although the releases are official, think about the boot remasters !!! Distortions, clipping, one instrument dominance are dialed/EQ'ed out, and despite a cleaner and more balanced result, the bite of the band can be diminished as well. To be fair, this stuff is rough going, even your interesting comparisons, which I haven't seen before.
  3. Some interesting points. As opposed to the bands you mentioned, in Zep Jimmy was really the boss of the board. Perhaps other band members had some say or suggestions, but the buck stopped with Jimmy in the studio, practically from the start to the final mix down of ITTOD. I think this helped the band immensely, because except for a few tracks on Zep l, the band really never had a dated sound. Go back to the 70's, a lot of no.1 hits even , they sound dated. Jimmy made sure the production would sound as transparent as possible. Or if he wanted a dense production, it would sound unlike anything you've ever heard. Kashmir, with all the keys and Arabic instrumentation, was not like anything heard before, certainly not "Rock".
  4. Well that is certainly part of the function of a producer. But actually depending on the artist and what the producer is "known" to do, there is tremendous variation. Jimmy was quite assertive in the studio, and even though he may have utilized Eddie Kramer or Glyn Johns on an album, you re not talking about many top 40 "commercial" artists where the record company literally insists on using a certain producer. Also, quite a few Hip/Hop and Rap producers in fact are well known for their prowess with certain pieces of music technology. All I'm saying really is that a producer can have many functions. As far as Zep goes, yes their producer or so on was certainly used to capture a certain sound or vision, but Zep had the ultimate say over the final mix, blah, blah. Nobody was going to tell Jimmy Page that a certain song on one of their albums would be a terrible mistake, unlike a dictated producer chosen by the record company, different situations.
  5. I think Page doesn't really talk about production matters for various reasons.One is that very quickly you are heading into terms and lingo obscure to most of the public. Another is according to my understanding, Page usually worked with someone else, like Eddie Kramer for example, and it might get very complicated as far as Page trying to pinpoint exactly who was doing what at what time. Then apart from Jimmy always mentioning using recording techniques like ambient miking, He has sometimes in the past said that he has some recording/ production techniques which he discovered and does not feel these "secrets" need be divulged. This stuff is interesting, some have said Page by himself could not do all the recording/mixing//producing stuff from beginning to end, this muddies the waters a bit.
  6. Well that's something, but a far cry from Beck's past. If it wasn't Beck, not sure somebody else giving eight weeks notice would be hung out to dry. I saw two of those shows, they were pretty damn good with or without Beck. Had the two bands been far less accomplished, obviously ticket sales/vibe could be heavily compromised.
  7. Ah, some correction.....Beck absolutely to somewhere in the mid 70's was prone to very erratic behavior, Yes missing gigs, quitting in the middle of a gig, even leaving a tour. And that 84' Stewart tour, the plan was for Jeff to play with Stewart for a half hr. tops, Beck was not the "band" guitarist for the full show. Now you must do your contractual obligations. But, Beck got frustrated onstage, saying they were.just getting started, and then, suddenly, cut off. I'm not sure that Jimmy wouldn't do the same thing if he had a half hour slot with Robert and his band. Although it's somewhat different because Jeff and Rod together weren't really superstars even early on, whereas Robert would never have such an arrangement since his own material would seriously pale in comparison. Anyway, for a long time now Beck has had no troubles being a responsible pro musician. I've seen him 4 or 5 times, the only problem is he is either totally amazing or just not sparking.
  8. Don't you realize everything to do with Zep is of cosmic significance?? I remember some threads here and elsewhere where somehow the subject of Page's height was discussed, and some of the posts made me collapse with uncontrollable laughter. Not going there. So Plant used his thumbnail, and Page did actually use his grown out pinky, but that was after Zep and I don't recall Jimmy doing much fingerstyle stuff. With Roy Harper Jimmy was throwing in fills and little chord bits, no need for short or long nails. I've got a good one......why don't we chart Page's weight changes yearly from 68' to Sep.80' ?? Ha Ha.
  9. I understand Robert in one way but overall he's been making similar statements about Zep's material for a long time. He's attacking one of the greatest "rock" songs of all time. Sorry, but nothing in his solo career even approaches "Stairway". Not sure if Lynryd Skynrd feels the same about "Freebird", or Paul McCartney feels the same about "Yesterday".
  10. Where is there any guarantee any such book will come out ? Page would have to be dictating the contents of the book now, and is there some legal document which would shield the material coming out only after death ? Most people feel uneasy setting up wills and after death financial arrangements let alone "getting the truth out" so others left alive will understand them better. Also at Page's age people can be struck down right away, although Page despite looking old seems to be much more animated and spry than others his age. I wouldn't be surprised that after Page's death someone finds 40? 50? pages of Page very loosely going over his life, and there you are with a tell-all, truthful book. He has promised so much in his past, why all the gates would open when he's gone ? But endgame, not sure if this fits, but I feel that even among younger kids/ teenagers, many consider Zep to be mythical and legendary, and many are in awe of the whole live thing, with Page's dragon suits and so on. Remember when Roy Harper first saw Zep, he thought the band was literally out of this world, something entirely different. Zep won't totally fade away.
  11. Well, in the 70's you sometimes had these one-off rock magazines with a Zep feature for maybe 10-20 pages, usually half black and white pictures, half color. Anyway sometimes there would be something interesting the band had to say, but even back then the writer(s) would usually just talk about the band, very rarely any substantial interviewing.
  12. Even to call a Zep "Endgame" , Plant and Jones seem to have a completely blasé attitude towards a 50th anniversary or various audio or video for the 50th. I would bet that Jones and Plant haven't even listened or cared much by what Jimmy has released in the last ten years or more. Does anyone really believe that Robert showed up in the studio when Jimmy was doing the companions thing, telling Jimmy, Oh, could you make the voice louder on that section ?? Plant and Jones probably don't even know or care what was on the companions or whatever.
  13. All this is very interesting. But I must press one area concerning the Beatles. They changed music and musicians enormously ? What bands and what songs( Yes, Oasis, Badfinger, some others) ? Beyond the early "PoP" period, the Beatles created many brilliant songs which may have inspired some musicians, but basically their output beyond a certain point is in many cases can't be duplicated properly without almost all members aboard. You could play just the guitar part from some of the Beatles' less popular songs, and not recognize the song. Whereas in Zep at least 60%-70% or more of their songs you could recognize straight away from the guitar or drums, even the bass part alone. Obviously some Zep songs are much harder than others, but the point is that Zep were the "Kings of the Riff"(of course "Kings of many musical elements"). So learning some of Zep's riffs they often sounded strong even without other other instruments. With certain Beatles songs, isolating parts of songs without the vocal harmonies or bass line, you may or may not recognize it. MAIN point: certainly the playing of riffs predates Zep, but Zep made the most colossal riffs imaginable, and hence dozens or hundreds of bands to this day search to find the ultimate riff.
  14. Some blame on Grant, but first of all Plant was far more a "master of ceremonies" with the partying, I've never heard that he was even 1/100 the total maniacs that Bonham, Page, and ?? possibly Grant were with their practically heroic substance alcohol intakes. So possibly some effect on his voice, but way overstated. Second even though Grant was closest to Page, you could make a very strong case to cancel the entire 77' tour because Page was in poor health and a junkie, and did not sound as if he had practiced much. Remember also that postponing a tour or changing many dates around can be very difficult. Anyway, sure Plant lost range, etc., but remember that Robert was such an overwhelming talent that he was still IMHO a great vocalist. Grant may have pushed a bit much, but I'm not entirely convinced of that, never heard or read anything like that. To me some posters make it seem like Plant was a baseball pitcher who had been forced to pitch 3 games in a row. It would never cross the mind of the baseball(or Rock manager) that you could be sidelining someone for a long time.
  15. Well neither have I gone for " the recreation" guitars. It is true, probably 50% or more of the signature artist guitars are mainly for a certain sound or genre. Like one of EVH's current line has just one volume knob and one p/u. Very hard to see that working in a Jazz group, or even a cover band.
  16. Some of the things I said were speaking to Zep fans who basically know Zep from A to Z. Now of course I could explain every detail in each scenario, but that would be a serious energy drain. I mean, sure, I critized the cheapest Dragon as probably not worth the price, but I want to try it anyway. I also looked at the specs, which looked a bit dodgy for a $1500 guitar. So I'm not all in, why would not being 1000% into the guitar be a contradiction ? Have you or anyone else out there bought a guitar which turns out to not be worth it, although it has certain things that are great, but basically is not reliable live ? These situations have many shades of gray, not just black or white.
  17. Great video. No absolute proof, but despite Jimmy having large hands, He much preferred thin necks. Who knows. This sticker business.....hope the fake dragon model gets the recent Supro treatment, where $700-$1000 priced guitars are now selling for 1/3 the initial price. Won't happen, does Fender even have a MIM above $700-$800 ? This just adds on feelings that Page is once again kind of ripping his fans off. However I haven't tried one yet, but usually player models by Fender are very well made, and play great. I'm not optimistic, hopefully I am proven wrong.
  18. Boy, trying to get someone else's guitar-amp setup to approximate Page's sound and tone, whew !?!? I guess something could be arranged with a cellphone/webcam, etc. But what Blue Congo suggested is a well-known and not troublesome way to get louder or get more gain(distortion) without losing your basic rhythm or riff sound. Hence master volume stays the same. One thing I must mention, live , Jimmy tended to adjust his tone and volume knobs for dramatic effect, not so much for subtle shadings. Like in "Sick Again", The E-G-A riff before the guitar solo sounds like it could well be the bridge pickup with tone-6-9 and volume the same, but then for the solo the neck pu tone 2-4 volume 6-9. I don't want to make things too complicated, but if you watch Santana play, he is literally adjusting the tone+ volume 24/7, and you can only hear the mildest change in sound. One more thing; some players almost never change pickups, but instead do a lot of muting and picking almost anywhere to get the desired mellowness or sharpness Hope I didn't confuse you.
  19. Don't know what happened But Paul Rodgers had a reputation going back quite a ways of being pushy, unable to see someone else's viewpoint, etc. When Jimmy told Peter Grant he was putting together a band with Paul Rodgers, Grant replied something like "Oh, not him, you know what he's like". And Rodgers did come up/ write some of the songs on the first Firm album, some guitar riffs/patterns as well.I have a bunch of non NY area shows where Page plays great on his B-Bender Tele and has created a new style, no Zep licks to be heard. But in NY 85'-86' Firm tours, Jimmy was just there..........not sloppy,, but since I was close, He really looked most of the time not too happy.
  20. Well perhaps everyone knows this anyway, but Paul wrote/came up with a number of guitar parts/arrangements on the first Firm album. WTF !?!? Well, Jimmy may have still been in guitar rehab, or Paul's pushy and unyielding personality may have been at the forefront. Not sure if the Firm was Jimmy's Baby. I saw 5 shows in the NYC Metropolitan Area. I had great seats for all shows. Anyway, at least two shows( one in 85', one in 86') Jimmy showed little enthusiasm in the music, barely moved onstage, and looked bloated and drunk. Only smiles at the encores( Les Paul back !!). Jimmy had to get playing again, even if he realized there would be huge compromises involved. To be fair, I do have 5 or 6 Firm video boots, and Jimmy is enthusiastic and frankly playing some amazing solos with his B-Bender Telecaster..
  21. Obviously $$$$ makes some decisions for you. Must say those QUilters are damn good and pretty versatile, and the much lower weight than 80% of all tube amps stops that dreaded journey from the car to the inside of the venue knowing that you're maybe counting how many gigs before the amp is "distressed". On the bulky but not too costly side is the Blackstar 40-50 watt combos, very versatile. Look, gear is important, but I've seen Strat Players rock Zep, and unprepared Les Paul Players with Marshall Stacks not sound anything like Page. This my be redundant, but find 10 Zep studio songs without very difficult solos( Living Loving Maid, Tangerine,,Celebration Day,, D'yer Ma'ker) not fast, no crazy bending. As mentioned earlier, do not get overly obsessive about Marshall's. Also, don't be fooled by the Supro reissues, they tend to be one trick pony's with a pretty limited sonic palette They can sort of do Zep l and Zep ll. Learn 10 of Jimmy's studio solo's first, Then worry about fine tuning of amp tone. If you listen closely, Jimmy is fond of emphasizing the upper mids in many solos. Partially meaning parts of his solos could be knocked out on a $80 solid state amp with a 8" speaker. But that's the solo's, other sections of a song, Page uses all sorts of sounds from A to Z. One more tip; Never buy a tube amp online, end of story, unless you're a certified "amp tech" or you learned how to read basic and advanced electronic schematics by age 6.
  22. I'm pretty sure that actually I read in one of those English Rock magazines that Jimmy said that "crash" part was a collage of 3 or 4 tremolo "crashes". Even some metal guy with the best Floyd Rose couldn't pull that off. It's like the noise section in studio WLL, back then at least you couldn't reproduce it live, impossible. But the YouTube posts definitely have Jimmy being pretty radical.
  23. The whole thing is hilarious. Wasn't the owed money a few yrs old ?? Maybe I'm talking about a different incident. Anyway when the midnight movie circuit was robust, me and a few friends always pointed out the missing ? or blackened ? or the the film being a bit grainy at that point, causing a gap in the tooth. Then we wondered, well,Plant is a legend in his own time possibly he doesn't care how it looks. Then to the other side, moneywise it would be no problem to get a bridge done, and maybe Plant wanted to fix it. Boy , to go back to those days when such minutiae about rock stars were legitimate talking points.
  24. Yeah, they are pretty good. Nothing sounds cheesy, good musicianship. However, don't expect anything like Page's 16 !?!? different stylistic techniques in a single song. But men guitarists can't quite get the whole enchilada either, so my judgement is not based on sex. I actually saw them, no desire to leave after 15 minutes, no heavy exodus from the chrowd either. I don't know how many people realize that touring with just a van is very taxing. It's not so much not being able to afford a motel, it's that the next day you may have to drive 500 miles, and you have to wake up early anyway. Turned down a Zep tribute exactly for that reason, can't sleep in a moving vehicle, and 4-5 hrs sleep most nights, straight into Peruvian marching powder land.
  25. Yeah, I find the bad mix thing rather odd, although Jimmy for sure is getting much more of a clanging sound than a chiming sound. But there is plenty of chiming elsewhere on previous albums. And as noted Presence is a great "musician's " album. All sorts of timing trickery and unusual chord and riff combinations.
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