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swandown

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Everything posted by swandown

  1. On my copy of Truth, Beck admits to stealing the "Ain't Superstitious" riff from Howlin' Wolf, but justifies it by claiming "but he doesn't mind because I asked him". I'm not sure if I'd call that "doing the right thing". Besides that, the song borrows significantly from Willie Dixon's song of the same name ( ), yet it's credited to Beck/Stewart. Hmmm.
  2. Here is the track, released in early 1969. There is a faction of Led Zeppelin fans who believe that this song was John Paul Jones' inspiration for the "Black Dog" riff. (Although I personally think Jones got it from )
  3. Nice find. Those are the earliest known adverts for a Robert Plant performance.
  4. Jimmy has confirmed that he and Robert both played guitar during the Bron-yr-aur retreat of 1970. Listen closely and you can hear two guitars on several recordings:
  5. Actually, Jones says on his website that he played with the Detroit Spinners in 1966-68. No further details are known, however.
  6. http://www.elixirstrings.com/artists/JohnPaulJones.html Most Influential Musicians: James Jamerson & Duck Dunn Even if Jones didn't know Jamerson by name, he was certainly aware of his work and heavily influenced by his style. In fact, Jones was so adept at mimicing Jamerson's style, that producers frequently sought out Jones for any sessions that requred "Motown style" bass lines. "As a session musician, I did all the Motown covers because I was the only one who knew how to play in that style" (quote from Barney Hoskyns' book).
  7. I don't think there were any pressings that were actually credited to "John Paul Jones". (I've never seen one, at least.) As far as I know, the original UK 45 was credited to "John Paul Joans", while the original U.S. 45 was credited to "J.P. Jones". That's when Peter Grant stepped in. The US 45 was then re-issued under the artist name "John". Supposedly, the UK 45 was re-issued under the artist name "John Paul Johns", but I have never seen a copy with that name on it.
  8. The band's popularity had declined quite a bit since Jeff Beck left the group, so I don't think they could pick and choose all the "top" venues of the day. Besides that, Peter Grant booked them to play wherever he could make money; if that meant playing a concert at a high school, it didn't matter as long as the band got paid. I would bet that they made more money playing that high school than they made from an average show booked by Giorgio Gomelsky or Simon Napier-Bell.
  9. Toward the end there is footage of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd at McCartney's birthday party on June 18, 1976.
  10. FWIW, The James Gang are not known to have opened for Zep prior to Jimmy acquiring the guitar. However, they did open for The Yardbirds in Ohio in 1968. Based on the James Gang concert list, it seems like Walsh must have flown to New York on either April 18th (in which case he would have had to leave immediately to play a gig on the 19th), or he flew to New York on the 20th. edit: I suppose it's possible that Walsh actually sold the guitar to Jimmy at a much earlier date. Maybe Jimmy met with Joe while they were both in Michigan on January 16th, and then Joe flew to New York on January 30th?
  11. On the contrary; I think Wood is telling the truth as he remembers it. He most likely did meet members of The New Yardbirds. He just didn't meet Plant, Bonzo, or JPJ that day.
  12. I would be inclined to believe McCarty if Relf hadn't been completely silent on the subject from 1970 until his death. Relf had several years to speak up, but chose not to. (I do think it's possible that Relf wrote some of those lyrics. But without any evidence, I don't think it's fair to lump this song along with "Dazed And Confused" and other songs that had been previously copyrighted by other writers.)
  13. Jane Relf has never provided any evidence that Keith Relf wrote any part of "Knowing That I'm Losing You". Keith never copyrighted the song, never made an attempt to collect royalties on "Tangerine", and even distanced himself from the song when asked in an interview.
  14. From 1963 to 1966, Andrew Oldham (the Rolling Stones' manager/producer) hired various session men to make demo recordings of several Jagger/Richards songs that had been rejected by the Stones. Oldham then got Mick Jagger to add a "guide vocal" to each demo, and then took the demos to other artists in hopes of getting them to release their own versions of the songs. (Some of the songs were later re-recorded and released by the Stones themselves.) Some of the original demos were later included on the Metamorphosis album, in 1975. Following is a list of Andrew Oldham demos which may have featured Jimmy on guitar: Heart Of Stone - Keith Richards has confirmed that Page played on the demo version on Metamorphosis. Some Things Just Stick In Your Mind - Jimmy is believed to have played on one version of this song, but the version on Metamorphosis may not include him. (When) Blue Turns To Grey - a couple Rolling Stones biographies credit Page and Jones with playing on the demo. (Walkin' Thru The) Sleepy City - possibly with Page. We're Wastin' Time - possibly with Page. Each And Every Day Of The Year - possibly with Page. Try A Little Harder - Jimmy may have played on one version, but possibly not the version on Metamorphosis. So Much In Love - Jimmy may have played on one version of this song. Out Of Time - Jimmy has confirmed that he played on the demo version on Metamorphosis.
  15. A few thousand copies were sent to radio stations for promotional puposes (see here and here) but the single was not released publicly. So, radio stations would play the song, but it wasn't eligible for the Top-40 chart because the single wasn't available in stores (and Billboard only counted singles that could be purchased in stores).
  16. "Stairway" was never released as a physical single by Led Zeppelin. It was released as a single by a few other artists, but none of those versions charted in the Billboard Top-40, which was the basis for Casey Kasem's radio program. So, if Casey Kasem ever did play "Stairway", it was not part of his Top-40 countdown.
  17. Entwistle and Cole both claimed it was "lead zeppelin" from the very beginning.
  18. I tend to believe Entwistle, BTW. I think Cole simply forgot which person told him the name, so he told Jimmy it was Moon's idea, and that's what Jimmy told the press.
  19. Entwistle claims it was his idea, but Richard Cole says it was Moon's idea. Here's what Entwistle said in a 1972 interview: "Led Zeppelin is a good name, isn't it? I made it up. Everybody says Keith Moon made it up, but he didn't. About four years ago I was really getting fed up with the Who. And I was talking with a fellow who is the production manager for the Led Zeppelin now [Richard Cole]. I was talking to him down in a club in New York. And I said, 'Yeah, I'm thinking of leaving the group and forming my own group. I'm going to call the group Lead Zeppelin. And I'm going to have a an LP cover with like the Hindenburg going down in flames, and, you know, this whole business.' And like two months later he was working for Jimmy Page and, like, they were looking for a name, and so he suggested Led Zeppelin, and Page liked it, and they came out with the same LP cover that I'd planned." And here's what Cole said in his book: "It was a name that had emerged from a conversation I had months earlier with Keith Moon and John Entwistle in New York while I was touring with the Yardbirds. Moon and Entwistle were growing weary of the Who and were kidding about starting a new band with Jimmy Page. Moon joked, 'I've got a good name for it. Let's call it Lead Zeppelin, 'cause it'll go over like a lead balloon."
  20. Thanks. Laura Lynn's version was produced by Danny Kessler, who is also credited with co-producing Robert's version. But Kessler was based in America so I suspect that he did not have any direct involvement with Robert aside from suggesting the song. BTW, I'm also trying to find the original version of Robert's 1967 song "Laughin', Cryin', Laughin'." It lists the songwriters as "N. Brandt" and "J. Principato", which I have determined to reference "Neil Brandt" and "Jesse G. Principato", two part-time songwriters based in New York. They sold several songs to the Eddie Kassner music publishing company, which had a very strong connection to Robert at the time (Listen's 1966 song "Everybody's Gonna Say" was published by Kassner). It seems logical that "Laughin', Cryin', Laughin'" would have first been recorded by a U.S. artist, but I haven't found any evidence of it so far.
  21. I recently discovered that Robert's 1967 solo release "Long Time Coming" had originally been recorded by an obscure U.S. singer named Laura Lynn. I tracked down a copy of Laura Lynn's version and I've uploaded it here: http://www.megafileu...raLynn-mp3.html BTW, here are the original versions of some of Robert's other pre-Zep recordings: You Better Run (by The Young Rascals, June 1966) - Our Song (by Ornella Vanoni, February 1967) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkwTEWXW1MQ I've Got A Secret (by The Sharpees, April 1966) -
  22. "The London Look" was recorded by John Paul Jones and Graham Gouldman without any of the Hermits present. Peter Noone overdubbed his vocals at a later session.
  23. Françoise Hardy recorded dozens of songs with producer Charles Blackwell in 1964-66, most of which were recorded in London with session musicians. Jimmy was one of Blackwell's favorite guitarists, so it's likely that Jimmy played on many of those recordings. The best suggestion I can make is to listen closely to "Je n'attends plus personne" and "Je veux qu'il revienne" (two songs that almost certainly feature Page), and then listen for similar guitar tones in other Blackwell productions in 1964-66.
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