If Bonham was still with The Senators in September 1964, then it leaves open the possibility that he played on their 2nd 45, "When Day Is Done" b/w "Breakdown" (Oriole CB 1957), which was released in October 1964.

There was a brief reference earlier in this thread. I see that the album's release date is listed as February 1964, but the article you posted is from September 1964. Were they still promoting the album 7 months later, or is the release date wrong? I didn't know Bonham was still in the band in September. I thought he had moved on by then (to Terry Webb & The Spiders?)

I guess that's Bonzo on the far right? Does the article mention him by name?

Great find on that Senators picture! Probably John Bonham's earliest press exposure. I find it interesting that the article lists the lead singer as Bobby Child, yet their bass player (Bill Ford) says that the singer during Bonham's tenure was Terry Beal. Ford says that Child wasn't in the band with Bonham....yet there he is in the article.

John Paul Jones and Clem Cattini have both stated that Jimmy Page and John Bonham did NOT play on "Hurdy Gurdy Man". However, even if they're both wrong, consider this: "Hurdy Gurdy Man" was released on May 3, 1968. The Yardbirds hadn't even broken up yet. John Bonham was still 3 months away from meeting Jimmy Page or John Paul Jones. It is virtually impossible for John Bonham to have played on that session.

Lots of interesting stuff here, Steve. Thanks. I'd like to track down those TV appearances in 1960 and 1963.

Also, their guitarist Mickey Waller had played with Jimmy Page in the '60s (in Mickey Finn & The Blue Men).

I believe that the date was first published by Greg Russo in his Yardbirds biography.

No way. Neither Jimmy nor Robert nor anyone else in Zep has ever made such a statement. Jimmy says the first he heard of Robert was when Terry Reid suggested him in July 1968. Keith Relf was certainly the weakest link of The Yardbirds, but they never would have replaced him with an unknown from the midlands.

June 12th - Obs-Tweedle June 22nd - The New Obs-Tweedle I would not be surprised if Robert joined sometime between those two shows. It fits in perfectly with the common story that he was only with the band for a few weeks. Also, the venue for the July 20th show (The Connaught Hotel, Tettenhall Road, Wolverhampton) is quite interesting, because this was supposedly the date of the show at the "teacher training college" where Jimmy and Peter Grant saw Robert.

Much of the official story has come from Bill Bonham. I know that the group existed before Robert joined them, and that Robert only joined them because their singer got sick and they needed someone on short notice. Robert had been in London, trying to land a record contract and also playing with Alexis Korner (and sleeping on his couch). I wonder why Robert went back home? It seems to me that the smarter career move was to stay in London for as long as possible. But who am I to argue with fate? Robert was only with them for a few weeks.

The Yenton gig is likely the "classic" BOJ lineup (with Kevyn Gammond and John Bonham), which existed from fall 1967 to spring 1968. The earlier BOJ lineup featured Vernon Pereira and Mick Reeves (who both died in a traffic accident in 1976). BTW, that 5/4/68 gig for Obstweedle may not have featured Plant, as most reports indicate that he didn't join the group until June.

I believe this was the 2nd incarnation of the band, which Robert formed after being fired from the original Band Of Joy. I'm guessing that he called it "Robert Plant And The Band Of Joy" to distinguish it from the other group (which soon folded anyway).

Nice find! The Brumbeats featured Roger Hill and Alan Eastwood, who crossed paths with Robert Plant numerous times in the '60s. Also, when The Brumbeats were signed by Decca Records in late 1963, John Paul Jones was part of the session crew that was brought in as "insurance" in case the band couldn't play.

Black Snake Moan - Plant's first major band c. 1964/65. But I don't think they did very many formal gigs. The Banned - Plant was with them sometime before joining the Crawling King Snakes c. 1965.

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Just curious -- did you ever find any info on the Crawling King Snakes or any of the other bands that Plant supposedly played in: - Andy Long and the Original Jaymen (Jury Men??) - The Delta Blues Band - Black Snake Moan - Sounds Of Blue (with Chris Wood??) - New Memphis Bluesbreakers - The Tennessee Teens (supposedly the original name for Listen) - The Banned

Yes, I can. "Little Nightingale" was written by John Williams, who had formed a partnership with Jimmy Page in 1965 -- Williams would write songs, and Page would try to get them recorded by the artists that Jimmy sessioned with. Jimmy convinced Bobby Graham to use 2 of their songs for the 'N Betweens session ("You Don't Believe Me" being the other song). Jimmy may not have actually played on the 'N Betweens session, but he definitely played on the demo versions of those 2 songs. As for John Bonham playing with Steve Brett, it has been reported in multiple Zep biographies and it's also mentioned here. But I've never seen confirmation.

Slade has the distinction of being the ONLY band whose members crossed paths with THREE members of Led Zeppelin prior to 1968: 1. Noddy Holder was an occasional roadie for Robert Plant's Listen and also shared the bill with them multiple times. 2. John Bonham was briefly a member of Steve Brett & The Mavericks (one of Noddy Holder's early outfits) 3. Jimmy Page sessioned with The 'N Betweens (which featured future members of Slade) in 1965.

He did spend part of his summer of 2004 touring with Mutual Admiration Society.

I have always wondered if Mrs. Valens subsequently gave a portion of her settlement money to Little Richard.

Adding to this.... Not all of these songs have Jimmy on guitar. In fact, the only one that is confirmed to feature Jimmy is "Heart Of Stone". (There were at least 6 session guitarists who played on these demos, and most songs feature only 2 guitars, so...) Also, Bill Wyman recently stated that "Try A Little Harder" was recorded by the full Stones lineup in February 1964.

Actually, the steel guitar part was overdubbed onto the demo in 1975 by a session guitarist named Jon Tiven (who, incidentally, would later play guitar with Robert Plant on "If It's Really Got To Be This Way"). The undubbed version is only available on bootlegs. link He's made several similar comments throughout the years.

Keith didn't actually ask Jimmy for ideas. The demo version (with Jimmy) had already been recorded by the time the Stones got around to recording it. Keith didn't want to bother coming up with a guitar solo, so he (allegedly) copied the solo from the demo. He probably didn't even know who played it. Judge for yourself: Demo version (July 21-23 1964, Regent Sound Studio, London) (Jimmy solo): link Stones version (November 2, 1964, RCA Studios, Los Angeles) (Keith solo): link

Steve -- the "One Hit" solo was definitely done in New York in July 1985. Jimmy did not contribute to the Paris sessions. BTW, although it has been reported that Jimmy also sat in on a version of "Back To Zero", I am fairly certain that the version recorded in New York was not released.