Is that taken at the gig Plant played with a pub rock band in Worcestershire sometime in 1978? Iirc it was the first time he'd been on stage since Oakland '77. Bonzo sat in on drums for a couple of numbers too I think.

a respected Led Zeppelin fan who does seem to have inside knowledge of the band’s activity. My imagination, or does this sound like a description of Dave Lewis? I doubt there'll be any music in 2018 but .... a cinema released documentary telling the story of the band for a new audience that didn't get to see them live (even the o2 show)? That'd be fun. It'd help erase memories of the fantasy bits in Song Remains the Same anyway.

Sad news of Chuck Berry's death at the ripe old age of 90. No Chuck = no rock and roll as we know it.

writing off punk rockers as 'poorly educated' is a bit of a sweeping generalisation when a lot of them came out of art schools. Quite. Joe Strummer was the son of the British Ambassador to somewhere-or-other. I sometimes think if they had survived into the mid to late 80s, Zeppelin might have gone into a "hard rock with a funk tinge to it" phase. Kind of Chili Peppers before-their-time sort of thing. Those certainly were Jones & Bonzo's influences, and Page's late period guitar tone was to my ears getting thinner and more new wave / funk-ish. Maybe it was best they finished when they did though. The Stones and the others mentioned sold plenty of records in the 80s, but it was a lot of rock bands' least good decade in creative terms.

If they were so sure about the appeal, why take nearly 7 months to do it? $$$$$$

Did they check out no one else though? Peter Grant sounded Clem Cattini out for the drum stool, but Clem had a mountain of session gigs lined up & preferred to stay with that. Aynsley Dunbar said he was "offered the chance to join the New Yardbirds" as well. Page and Grant travelled up to Bonzo's flat in Dudley to persuade him to join up, which is fairly proactive.

ironic that it's the total opposite of when Zeppelin were formed. Back then, Page was totally proactive, whereas Jones supposedly had to be badgered into phoning JP about his new project by his wife.

The difference is, in Sid's case that was probably true..... I disagree it's the same thing as a pisstake. That's just a radio interview, in the context of everyone knowing Sid's musical contribution to the Pistols was virtually zero. This was in the context of JPJ a key part of Zeppelin, very publicly not being invited to a project that then used one of his signature tunes for its title! You couldn't be more disrespectful if you tried. I agree Plant's sense of humour often gets lost in translation, but this was adding insult to injury imo.

Mick Wall speculated in his Zep book that Jimmy Page was angry at Grant for negotiating Plant's solo deal with Atlantic. The final nail in the Zeppelin coffin as it were. I still think that encounter as described by Stephen Davis is nonsense, apart from anything else, it doesn't sound like the way Page talks.

He loves to sing Zeppelin songs and have his set list be full of the Zep catalogue as long as nobody in his band are former Zeppelin members. Was there not an invitation from Robert for Jimmy to work with him post O2, but the stipulation was it couldn't be anything related to Zeppelin-ish sounding music? I feel like this is all clouded because Plant so often jokes around in interviews or says stuff tongue in cheek that it's difficult to tell what his real view is. My two pe'nnorth: I believe he likes the freedom of being able to do Zep songs in completely different ways in his live stuff now, yet if asked he could still say something like "they're not exactly the old songs because they're in new arrangements". Would that be having your cake and eating it? Maybe, but as he co wrote these songs, hasn't he earned the right to do whatever he wants with them (as would Page and JPJ if they wanted to rearrange them in a live show of their own)?

This begs an interesting question: I've always assumed that Communication Breakdown (& Good Times Bad Times?) was already mostly written by the time the band had their first rehearsal. Presumably Page had been playing around with the riff at late period Yardbirds soundchecks or in the quiet period that June after the last US Yardbirds gig. But Keith Relf's voice would not have fit the track at all well imo, whereas it suited Plant's more tenor voice perfectly. So did Page always have a singer in mind with a higher pitch or wider range, even before seeing Plant sing? Or was it just serendipity?

I recall a quote where someone asked him about his solo career, meaning Outrider etc, and he said "well Zeppelin was my solo career". I don't mind him being, if you like, curator of the Zep Museum, I just wish he'd stop saying "there will be new music next year" then not doing it. If he just said "no, after all, I'm done" then fine, I agree, he doesn't owe us anything.

I'm sure even if they had toured in 2009 with Steven Tyler / Myles Kennedy / whoever, they'd have had trouble credibly calling it Led Zeppelin. Bit like "Queen + Paul Rodgers", no one seriously thinks it's Queen do they, that band died when Freddie Mercury did.

Hammer of the Gods ought to go in the fiction section. If you want a good Zep book, "Trampled Underfoot" by Barney Hoskyns is about the only one.

Vaguely remember on another thread, seeing it captioned as Milwaukee Arena? Not sure that's correct though

"Spanish Blood" is one of JP's best but least known riffs imo. A tinge of Ramble on about it. Gawd knows what the lyrics are about though.

Boy can you see the menace as well as the charm in that second interview! Grant might have lost a lot of weight by then but he hadn't lost that look in the eyes that says "don't mess me around if you know what's good for you sonny"

This is good news. Are the CBS sessions being referred to the March '68 ones that turned up on Cumular Limit?

another vote here for That's the Way. Not just the guitar but the words - Plant wrote those lyrics at 21, not bad going. Going to California is also beautiful, but in a different kind of way

I've always wondered just how they managed to record the first album so quickly. I guess Dazed & Confused was a case of the whole band learning an arrangement already in place from the Yardbirds, then adding bits such as the Beck's bolero excerpt. Babe I'm Gonna leave you an arrangement that Page had already laid out by the time he met Plant in Pangbourne in July. BMS is a Page solo piece already in place, You shook me and Can't quit you babe covers of well known blues songs. But that still leaves maybe 25 hours to come up with Good times bad times, Communication Breakdown, Your time is gonna come, and the complex arrangement for How Many More Times. And overdub & mix it. How the hell did they do it?! On a related note, If I ever finish building that time machine in my garage, I'll set the controls straight for Olympic studios circa Sept 25th - Oct 2nd 1968. Imagine being a fly on the wall at those recording sessions.

When Robert Plant breaks into the "see saw marjorie daw" bit near the end of Gallows Pole. Ferchrissake Percy it's a brilliant song, it doesn't need a snatch of a kids nursery rhyme in it!! LOL

OK, no worries Steve, i appreciate any help with this. I love this thread by the way, and the photo mysteries thread! Tbh I guess it'll be tricky to find out, I was just curious. Terry Manning seems like a reliable source & I was intrigued, in these days of "you can find anything on the 'net", that any of JP's session work could still be a secret.

I'd laugh if one day Page turned round and said the true meaning of ZoSo is "stop asking what ZoSo means"

Steve, not sure this is the appropriate thread as it is a mystery which precedes Zeppelin, but while reading the Barney Hoskyns "Trampled Underfoot" book recently, I saw a quote from Terry Manning (P.85) about how Jimmy Page had chatted with him when they first met in 1969, about his session work. He said something about "some records Jimmy played on which still aren't common knowledge, where he was the secret guitarist". It reminded me of a quote I saw in an interview with (I think) Bobby Graham about how sometimes pop bands never actually knew they were replaced by studio musicians because the session work was done after the band had left the studio. (as opposed to something like Nashville Teens, say, where it would've been done with the band present & they would have been fully aware there were studio musicians on their record). Question is, do you, or does anyone on this forum know, which bands / tracks Manning was referring to?

Long time lurker but first time poster here. What always makes me marvel at Bonham's brilliant drum solos is the musicality of it. Sounds daft: a drum is a musical instrument, so of course it's "musical", right? But then, a drum is the only instrument in a four piece band that can't play a C chord etc. Despite this, Bonzo made the drums sound wonderfully musical, partly from the skill of his playing, but also the ability he had to tune & set up his kit. I'm probably not explaining this too well, but imo, his ability to tune the kit is a gift not given to many (not even to that many professional drummers).