At last! .... I just read this thread completely bemused, glad I saw this last comment. For me 4 sticks is not just one of the best pieces that Zep wrote but one of the best pieces anybody on this planet wrote. Its not as epic as Kashmir, Stairway, Achilles etc. but it has an incredible evocative intensity. Especially the 'chorus' or whetever you want to call it, 'when the owls fly in the night'. The whole band is so integrated its like the four members have ceased to exist and only one entity exists, thats the only way I can explain it and I've never heard anyone achieve that anywhere....thats what it does for me personally. I loved the Page Plant reworks but the version of 4 sticks even with all the extra musicians just didnt achieve the intensity of the original.

How official was the 'Led Zeppelin Complete' music book published by Superhype in '73. My copy says Blow

Have to totally agree!!! I was once called a fanboy as if its an insult! as I disagreed with someones crap. I'm proud to be a fanboy and wear that badge with pride, and have done for almost 50 years. Led Zep produced some of the most incredible music on the planet///lets celebrate that................oh no! lets whinge and complain instead

They'll be going after Mary Poppins next,,,, didnt JPJ mention that this was closer than Spirit....

Heres a few pics that may be of interest....

Devin Townsend ... cant get enough of him!

The symbol is not created by JP, it isn't a word, it is made up of three symbols... the Z, the Oso, and the underline attached to the Z. Its a symbol that is made up of Astrological and alchemical correspondences relating to JP's birthsign. Although it is three symbols it has been put together along time ago.... the earliest I have seen is in a table of astrological, alchemical correspondences in a French occult book from the 16th century. Its nothing complicated or mysterious but JP obviously played on the aura and mythology that grew up around the symbols, particularly his. If you think back to when the album came out and how long it was before we had access to the internet, it was very easy to maintain the mystery, and it was practically impossible to look it up. All part of the Zep aura.

Has anyone watched/read Steven Greers videos, books such as 'unacknowledged'. Yes its all the rehashed UFO cases we've all read before BUT instead of 'everyday' witnesses its testimonies from Military personnel, ex-CIA, NSA, air traffic controllers, airline pilots, presidential advisers etc . The video and the book are very convincing and the 'Disclosure' conferences/press briefings etc are very interesting, but they do leave alot of questions open....such as Why hasnt anything more happened since the first conference in 2001. Why havent we got more credible evidence especially in this day and age of mobile phone/videos etc, why hasnt Steven Greer been killed/assassinated. Its very much about a global political, corporate and science conspiracy, news, research, academia is all sanitised before it is released to the public but I can't imagine it being that efficient that 'they' whoever they are manage to keep the lid on all of this.

Yes! I remember the joys of the 3 day week, the power cuts, the dustbin mens strike!.......no central heating, no fridge!

Yes she loved it, we were both Zep fans from quite an early age, she would have been 19 at the time, and we'd been fans since Zep 2 came out. In fact its still one of the things we talk about now, and our kids go 'Oh they're off again!'. When its that loud you don't notice bum notes, and especially with how much their music changes night after night if you did hear anything amiss you'd assume that it was just another version. I think at the time they could have played everything wrong and it would still have sounded amazing!! The screen was great as you could see their expressions or fingerwork but I kept looking from stage to screen and back. Yes I've seen that scarf! They were selling allkinds of unofficial crap outside Earls Court, I cant believe how anyone could be so stupid as to buy a scarf with a misspelling!

I think the 'high register' made him totally unique. It made him sound at times quite inhuman, animalistic, unearthly, and those albums Zep 3 to Houses and parts of P.Graff were unbelievable. Having said that, if someone asked me for my favourite vocal album ever, I think I'd have to head for the LA Forum in 1973 in which he didnt sing high register. I'm sure its a topic thats been covered before somewhere, but its still abit of a mystery to me why at that still young age he had to switch vocal styles. I'm assuming that the volume he used to sing at, the high register 'strain', and the fact he didnt do a vocal warm up before shows, night after night had something to do with it, but it just seemed such a dramatic change from 72 to 73?

I dont think there was much concept of health & safety in those days or any rigid regulations on sound level limits. I remember seeing an interview with Jack Bruce (I think) about Creams initial US concerts. They didnt want to be like a Beatles concert where you couldnt hear them because of the screams, so they had to drown out the audience. The first band I ever saw live was Black Sabbath in 1972 in the Bradford George Hall (smallish venue in UK) and I was in shock at how loud it was! The audience had packed the empty area between the stage and the front row, when the first riffs came out of the speakers at the side of the stage it was like a physical force blasting people back!

Yes I saw them on the first date 4th of August. All the video clips miss out what a clear day it was... especially during Jimmy Pages violin bow solo there was a full moon over the stage, it was almost as if they had planned this!

I'm from Halifax originally, now down in Essex by the coast near Frinton.

I've mentioned in a few posts that I'd seen Led Zep at the final night of the Earls Court concerts, and I've had a few messages asking me to expand, to put into words what it was actually like to go and see them, I did do a write up at the time, when I was 16 so bear with me... First I think I need to put a few things in perspective. Back in 1975 there was no YouTube or mp3's. If you didn't see Led Zep in concert then you had no idea what they were like. There were no TV performances, no singles, very little radio play. At that point, no live album. I was fortunate enough to have a handful of bootlegs, so I was aware of how they never played studio versions, and how tracks like Dazed & Confused or Whole Lotta Love had continued to evolve through live performances. If you were a Zep fan, apart from the albums, and bootlegs if you could get them, you collected any snippets or pics from music papers and magazines. So to go from collecting every little item you could get your hands on to the sudden possibility of a full blown concert was absolutely epic. On top of that they were bringing their US gear with them, lights, screen, effects, lasers etc. 1974 had been such a quiet year for Zep fans and suddenly 75 had exploded with Physical Graffiti and a world tour. In those days you couldn't get tickets online, you either had to queue up at the venue box office or send your money off by post. I lived in Northern England about 250 miles from London so my only option was sending off the money for a ticket. On reading that all tickets had sold out within hours I realised there wasn't much hope. Even when an extra two concerts were added, my envelope returned without any tickets. The next option was to buy all the music papers that week and see in the classified ads if anyone had spares for sale. There were quite a few. So off I trudged to the nearest public phone (hey this was an industrial town in northern England mid 70's...home phones were luxuries!). I rang every single ad, without any success. The very last person I phoned had just sold his, but he said a friend of his might have a couple of spares, I'd have to ring back tomorrow. Fortunately the next day I found that they were going spare. The tickets face value was £2 but these were going for £10 - (a fortune for a 16 year old at the time). I had to get a bus for a couple of hours to Manchester, then a taxi to the guys place to get the tickets. One for me and one for my sis. People I knew thought I was crazy! After months of growing anticipation the day finally arrives. Its a 250 mile journey by bus to London going early morning and arriving in London around midday. It really feels like a pilgrimage. We can see a few London sites, see the concert and sleep in the railway station before going home the next day. We last until 2pm and decide to head to Earls Court and see whats going on. People have already started turning up, and with the increasing crowds we are finally allowed in at around 6pm with 2 hours to wait. Our seats are about half way down the side, fairly high up. So its a good view of the whole stage and the screen above the lights. Seeing John Bonhams drum kit stood centre stage with its triple linked rings symbol on the bass drum suddenly makes you realise what you are about to see. Just that alone feels like seeing a famous landmark or icon that you've only ever seen in pictures. The time passes as more people arrive. The crowd gets louder and more excited. Although the start is scheduled for 8 we all expect the usual delays. At 7.45 a smartly dressed person comes up to the microphone.. ‘Could you be coming in off the corridors as the show will be starting a few minutes earlier!’ Its like a disaster movie in reverse, everyone comes rushing in screaming and shouting heading for their seats. The tension and atmosphere of anticipation is amazing. The lights dim and people scream, cheer and whistle, a figure walks on stage in a single light, it is UK DJ Alan Freeman.. ‘We’re hear tonight because we share the same taste!’ …another cheer… ‘Ladies & Gentlemen…..LED ZEPPELIN!’…..the audience erupts. Then darkness, a drum is hit, a bass note twangs. My heart is loud! Then in the darkness drums...John Bonham beats out the opening of ‘Rock & Roll’…the lights go up in a blaze with the opening chords...most of the audience look as if they are propelled from their seats . Robert Plant bare chested with his golden mane and Jimmy Page in his shiny black dragon suit gliding and strutting about the stage. John Bonham hits his drums so hard that the reverberation through the stage is picked up through the mics. I’ve never heard any band with a drum sound like this. The drum ending of Rock & Roll gives everyone a glimpse of what is to come later and the final notes became the opening to ‘Sick Again’. ‘Good Evening!’ shouts Plant, ‘Good evening!’ roars the crowd. Plant chats between most of the tracks. He explains how all songs start 'Over the hills and far away'. His vocals are not the high pitched Houses of the Holy version, they are roared out much lower and actually works better Then ‘In my time of Dying’, with skullcrushing power! The ending is a showcase for Robert Plant as he wails through ‘Don’t you make my dying!!’, louder and louder. ‘Tangerine’ – Plant explains is a song of first love and the chorus is sung by all four of them. ‘Kashmir’! four mirror balls above the stage bathe the audience in multi coloured lights. (In those days you could still smoke in public places and most of the audience do, so the light effects work so much better.) Plant stands in classic pose centre stage. A powerful rendition. Without much pause straight into ‘The Song Remains the Same’ and then the ‘Rain Song’. Then comes what Plant calls ‘The human part of the show’, three chairs are arranged on the stage. Jimmy with acoustic guitar and JPJ with mandolin. Plant chats about Welsh mountains, honey and lemon drinks, and how loose John Bonham is! They play ‘Going to California’, ‘That’s the Way’ and ‘Bron-y-aur Stomp’ with the audience joining in that classic handclap. You can see they are all enjoying this. Darkness, then dry ice bathed in blue and green light provides the atmospheric setting for ‘No Quarter’ unlike the version on TSRTS this one really is JPJ’s solo spot. He sits at a grand piano and plays classical pieces some with a synth? in the background, then just piano that becomes jazzier and funkier till Page and Bonham join in, then a return to classical piano. Most people have no idea JPJ can play like this and are completely blown away. If they aren’t completely blown away then they certainly are when ‘Trample Underfoot’ starts. That is followed by…’Yes! John Bonham…Moby Dick!’ The next half hour is incredible. It’s like watching an automaton, at times you’d think that if this was on film you’d suspect they had speeded parts up. John Bonham is an incredibly visual drummer, he can play fast, complex drum parts but his arms are still raised above his head each time to get full power on the downstrike. The 'hands only' part is equally amazing as he smashes at the cymbals and back elbows the gong. The sounds he gets from the kettle drums reverberate around the hall before the final drums and sticks climax that leaves everybody with mouths wide open. ‘Take a bow John!’ shouts Plant…he stand s and bows and a roar goes up. ‘Take a bow John!’ shouts Plant…he stands again and another roar goes up. ‘Take a bow John!’ shouts Plant…he waves Plant away and downs a pint of beer, another roar goes up!. The lights go out and the slow unmistakable bass of ‘Dazed and Confused’ starts, Page joins in with a wailing guitar. A purple flare explodes at the back of the stage and Plant roars…’Bin Dazed and Confused for so long its not true!’ This is a track that has grown and grown over the years. A cheer of delight from the audience as Page picks up his violin bow. Purple and Grey smoke begins to rise out of the stage around him. Three green laser beams stream across the hall from the back converging in the smoke on the stage. The guitar begins to shriek loudly! In fact it gets painful its so high pitched and loud! Page stands with bow pointing upwards, the bow crashes down, an iron chord splits the air, the magician points his bow at a corner of the hall from where the chord returns as a single equally loud echo, then over and over he thrashes the guitar. The guitar squeals and moans and the audience sits there mesmerised. What can follow that…..’Stairway to Heaven’. Page with his classic double neck, and Plant with his hair bathed in a corona of golden light. Cheers erupt as the first few notes are played, more cheers as …’Theres a lady who sure all that glitters is gold….’ …then as Plant sings the final line, white lights focus on a huge revolving mirror ball that immerses the audience in a sea of light. The show is over but the audience cheer, stamp, scream for a full ten minutes before they come out for the encore…’Whole lotta Love’. Page takes off his guitar to play the theremin for the abstract middle section and Plant joins in with roars and wails. Multi coloured flares explode above the stage and they tear into Black Dog for a final blistering finish. Then they are gone, the house lights come up and nobody moves, more cheers and stamping. Slowly a few people begin to file out, but then have to come running back in as the lights go down again… ‘We never do this!’ shouts Plant, as Page starts Heartbreaker, I can hear shouts of ‘Oh yeaaaaah!!!!‘ and ‘fuuuuuckin’ heeell!!!! in the seats near me as Page goes into a frenzy. They finish that and straight into ‘Communication Breakdown’ and the final finish. Its now after 11.45, everyone leaves dazed but not confused.

I did do a write up back in '75 will see if I can find it!

I was at the last night of the EC concerts , have never seen anything before or since that comes close.

One place in particular which I've never been able to track down again, was seeing a documentary back in about 1980 about the sixties/seventies, and it had a section about the Vietnam war. The scene had black and white footage of superfortess bombers dropping a massive endless load of bombs. The accompanying music was the abstract middle section of Whole Lotta Love which went perfectly with the footage. Then theres that high pitch noise and Robert Plant screams out that almighty 'Looooooove!'. At that moment it wasn't the orgasmic howl that we normally think of, it was a scream of desperation....screaming 'Love!' at this scene of horror! I was watching with a group of friends and we just sat there with our mouths open. In that one little scene using that part of WLL it had more power than all the protest songs put together!'

I'm very fortunate that I get to take pics of a lot of beautiful women....

I do remember those times well, I was a student in Manchester and punk was a massive thing. It did seem that journalists drove this, they all jumped on board as it was a new movement and nobody wanted to be late to the party. It was an ideal opportunity for journalists with huge egos to make a name for themselves by having the audacity to slate the established order and be at the start of this new revolution. There were punks who took it seriously but really it was just another fashion. I can remember so many that were punks one year to suddenly embrace disco the next year or new romantics the year after that. Its true that the big bands had lost touch with the world out there, bands like ELP and Yes were especially slated, they became anathema and they couldnt really understand what had gone wrong. ELP were touring with an orchestra and choir and playing Symphony's and singing of pirates. Yes were singing of Hindu philosophy and mentioned the Universe in almost every line! But... it was the press that decided we didnt want that anymore, we didnt want 20 minute guitar or drum solos, we didnt want symphonic arrangements, we didn't want to hear about the cosmos. It became a fashion to call all these bands pretentious and self-indulgent and 'boring old farts' or 'dinosaurs'. I can remember the number of times I heard that and thought... wow lets listen to the alternative..bands that cant sing, cant play, sound like shit and were basically a bunch of morons. Much as the press may have thought differently the old order were still very much there....in 78 Supertramp had the most successful album. in 79 Pink Floyd brought out the Wall which ended up being the 3rd highest selling album ever. Led Zep played Knebworth and brought out ITTOD which was reputed at the time to have re-launched and saved the American albums market.

I'm never sure what people mean by 'songs'. I wouldnt call Kashmir or Achilles songs, they were pieces of music that include vocals. I'd say most of Zep's music was like that, except certain tracks like Tangerine or Thats the way. The Beatles were great song writers in that anyone could take a Beatles song and it could still sound good if not better, whereas bands that played Zep just lost that 'essence' and personality it had to be Zep playing them. I always felt that Zeps creative peak was Zep 4, Houses , and Physical Graffiti. Zep live were abit of a shock for some people. Non Zep fans find Zep fans obsession with bootlegs a mystery until they realise how the tracks would be different from concert to concert, how they evolved with time. To hear Zep live for the first time, say with The Song Remains soundtrack, suddenly Whole Lotta Love has been transformed and warped into an almost unrecognisable monster track, if you listen to bootlegs you can follow how it evolved, how new sections developed. Its as if they played only to ardent Zep fans. So I can understand from that point of view how some people could have said they didnt like them, but from a Zep fans point of view the creativity continued through every concert.

or as Plant would put it.....

Led Zeppelin were never out of style regardless of how Plant embraced punk and new wave. I was there and it wasnt that way. Much as the media jumped on the bandwagon of punk and new wave the gigantic zep fanbase never diminished. They were the most bootlegged, sampled band of the 80's and by the 90's onwards continued to attract new fans and certainly became far more influential on music of the next 25 years than any other band. Had the stones appeared on the scene at the same time as Zep they wouldnt have got anywhere, by the 70's people had awoken to a much higher level of musicianship and depth of composition something that the Stones were sorely lacking in when compared to the likes of Zep and also when compared to quite a few bands of that era. Bands like the Beatles and the Stones appeared when this was a new phenomenon, they built their reputation and fame through the 60's not just with their music but with their celebrity status, and continued to ride their ego's and spent talent for the next 40 years.

Zep were far better musicians, composers, performers, to be honest they just dont compare, the virtuosity, depth of composition and continual evolution of their music when played live was just so far ahead of anything the Stones could ever hope to achieve. Zep were mainly single artist performance concerts, their concerts would regularly be 3 and a half hours and even longer. In the 70's the Stones were already established as one of the worlds biggest acts, and lets face it alot of people went to see them because of who they are rather than from a musical appreciation. In comparison Zep remained a cult band, they weren't a household name, they were a band that had a massive 'real' fanbase. Their albums dramatically outsold the Stones despite very little exposure via singles, TV or radioplay. There was always alot of jealousy about Zep especially when they first arrived and blew everyone out of the water. Plant may have been jealous of the Stones, but lets face it Zep played on their aura of mystique and not brash media celebrity status, his 'jealousy' was very much misplaced.

Thats very true! When Led Zep played back in the 70's their performances where the equivalent of gold medal winning athletes at the olympics, at their peak after lots of training. They were a very physical band, they played for hours. That could never be repeated as 70 year olds!