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BlackDog71

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I have decided to read up on the band more and i was wondering where i should go? What books should and shouldn't i get? I know there's a few the band (Page in particular) aren't happy with due to lack of accuracy. I am asking you guys which you would recommend?! Let me know the name of the book and author and why it's good or bad. Thanks ahead of time :D

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I have decided to read up on the band more and i was wondering where i should go? What books should and shouldn't i get? I know there's a few the band (Page in particular) aren't happy with due to lack of accuracy. I am asking you guys which you would recommend?! Let me know the name of the book and author and why it's good or bad. Thanks ahead of time :D

Hello BlackDog71,

Just PM you, hope that helps. Glad to see that you respect them enough to ask which ones are the most accurate.

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A few of the better ones:

Ritchie Yorke: Led Zeppelin Biography

Dave Lewis (basically anything by Dave Lewis is solid): Led Zeppelin: The Concert File

Paul Kendall and Dave Lewis: Led Zeppelin: In Their Own Words

Keith Shadwick: Led Zeppelin 1968-1980

Mick Bonham: John Bonham: The Powerhouse Behind Led Zeppelin

Howard Mylett: Tangents Within a Framework

AVOID:

Stephen Davis: Hammer of the Gods

Richard Cole: Stairway to Heaven

Thomas Friend: Fallen Angel

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ev's pretty much wrapped it up with his list. if you want to expand afterwards try

peter grant: the man who led zeppelin. chris welch

jimmy page: magus musician man. george case

when the levee breaks: the making of zeppelin 4. andy fyfe

all three are decent enough and aren't 'tabloidy' like ev's three avoids list are (tho i haven't read fallen angel). read them to, but see the others first to get the foundations laid beore you get into the naysaying and gossip

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I am asking you guys which you would recommend?! Let me know the name of the book and author and why it's good or bad. Thanks ahead of time :D

0879308710.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

..most favorite so far..for my purpose of reading..this book really explores/gives details about their visit to Bombay, quite the opposite of other books...I was even surprised with Stairway to Heaven...no details..it's as if the Band suddenly disappeared on the other side of earth and reappeared...well, something must have happened...this visit truly sets the book apart for me from others...I really enjoyed...it all depends what you are looking for.....

others, most are mentioned here that I have read...I would recommend Danny Goldberg, their former entourage...I also valued his chapter/memories about Zep...particulary the way he fondly remembers Peter Grant...

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A few of the better ones:

Ritchie Yorke: Led Zeppelin Biography

Dave Lewis (basically anything by Dave Lewis is solid): Led Zeppelin: The Concert File

Paul Kendall and Dave Lewis: Led Zeppelin: In Their Own Words

Keith Shadwick: Led Zeppelin 1968-1980

Mick Bonham: John Bonham: The Powerhouse Behind Led Zeppelin

Howard Mylett: Tangents Within a Framework

AVOID:

Stephen Davis: Hammer of the Gods

Richard Cole: Stairway to Heaven

Thomas Friend: Fallen Angel

I'll co-sign that list with you, Ev. :thumbsup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

The book Fallen Angel I have not heard of?

It was written by Tom Friend, who claims Led Zeppelin attempted to send his soul to eternal damnation during one of their June 1977 Madison Square Garden concerts. He attempts, with varying degrees of success, to show

the reader how virtually everything concerning Led Zeppelin is connected to Crowley, the Devil and other such

nefarious figures. The book does contain a number of concert photographs I took of Page/Plant cloaked in black.

I permitted those images to be published upon the strict condition my rights to photographer's credit be retained

and they not be captioned in any misleading or sensationalistic fashion. Imagine my sheer dismay to find they are probably the only balanced content in that rubbish book.

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Evster's list is solid. Particularly the "avoid" section.

Another one that I'd recommend that doesn't get mentioned often is actually the Rough Guide To Led Zeppelin. That one is compiled from a lot of sources, and while it isn't 100% accurate, it will get you "into the game" faster than any single book I can think of.

Beyond that, as Ev says, buy anything & everything that Dave Lewis has written. The Concert Files is the best, but both Celebration books are must haves too, & the music guides are usefull as well.

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0879308710.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

..most favorite so far..for my purpose of reading..this book really explores/gives details about their visit to Bombay, quite the opposite of other books...I was even surprised with Stairway to Heaven...no details..it's as if the Band suddenly disappeared on the other side of earth and reappeared...well, something must have happened...this visit truly sets the book apart for me from others...I really enjoyed...it all depends what you are looking for.....

others, most are mentioned here that I have read...I would recommend Danny Goldberg, their former entourage...I also valued his chapter/memories about Zep...particulary the way he fondly remembers Peter Grant...

Hello PlanetPage, this is a great book. I also would recommend Led Zeppelin IV by Barney Hoskyns.

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This is my ZEP book collection to date

1. CHRIS WELCH. DAZED AND CONFUSED.

2. ROBERT GODWIN. THE ILLUSTRATED COLLECTORS GUIDE TO LED

ZEPPELIN.

3. ROBERT GODWIN. THE ILLUSTRATED COLLECTORS GUIDE TO LED

ZEPPELIN.CD EDITION.

4. ROBERT GODWIN. THE ILLUSTRATED COLLECTORS GUIDE TO LED

ZEPPELIN.VOL 2.

5. ROBERT GODWIN. LED ZEPPELIN. THE PRESS REPORTS.

6. ROBERT GODWIN. THE MAKING OF LED ZEPPELIN FOUR.

7. RICHARD COLE. STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN.

8. LOUIS REY. LED ZEPPELIN LIVE.

9. RICHIE YORKE. THE LED ZEPPELIN BIOGRAPHY.

10. RICHIE YORKE. THE DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHY.2ND ED.

11. ALAIN BLAIS. THE LED ZEPPELIN SCRAPBOOK OF OFFICIAL

CONCERT PROGRAMMES.

12. STEPHEN DAVIS. THE HAMMER OF THE GODS.

13. CHRIS WELCH. LED ZEPPELIN.

14. HOWARD MYLETT. LED ZEPPELIN x 3 COPIES.

15. HOWARD MYLETT. JIMMY PAGE. TANGENTS WITHIN A

FRAMEWORK.

16. HOWARD MYLETT. LED ZEPPELIN. IN THE LIGHT.

17. HOWARD MYLETT. ON TOUR WITH LED ZEPPELIN.

18. DAVE LEWIS. THE FINAL ACCLAIM.

19. DAVE LEWIS. THE CONCERT FILES.

20. DAVE LEWIS. A CELEBRATION.

21. ONGAKU SENKA. LED ZEPPELIN. (JAPAN)

22. WARNER BROS. THE COMBINED LED ZEPPELIN 1&2.

23. NEAL PRESTON. PORTRAITS.

24. ROCK FUN. LED ZEPPELIN. (JAPAN)

25. ROSS CLARKE. MAKING AND BREAKING RECORDS.

26. WILLIAM RUHLMANNN. LED ZEPPELIN.

27. C. CROSS & E.FLANNIGAN. HEAVEN AND HELL.

28. PAUL KENDALL. A VISUAL DOCUMENTARY.

29. EDDIE MCSQUARE. GOOD TIME BAD TIMES.

30. ROSS HALFIN. THE PHOTOGRAPHERS LED ZEPPELIN.

31. LAURANCE RATNER. LIVE DREAMS.

32. MICK BONHAM. BONHAM ON BONHAM. (PHOTOS).

33. SWAN SONG RECORDS. IN THROUGH THE OUTDOOR.

34. G.CHATTEAU/S.RAPPALLO. THE MONTREUX CONCERTS.

35. CHRIS WELCH. PETER GRANT. THE MAN WHO LED ZEPPELIN.

36. CHRIS WELCH. JOHN BONHAM. A THUNDER OF DRUMS.

37. CHRISTOPHE LE PABIC, BENOIT PASCAL. HEXAGONAL EXPERIENCES.

38. LED ZEPPELIN OVER EUROPE. JEAN-PIERRE LELOIR

39. SUZY, LED ZEPPELIN AND ME. MARTIN MILLAR

40. NEAL PRESTON. LED ZEPPELIN. THE PHOTOGRAPHS

41. BONHAM BY BONHAM. MICK BONHAM.

42. ROBERT GODWIN. THE MAKING OF LED ZEPPELIN 4. (MINI BOOK)

43. CHRIS WELCH. LED ZEPPELIN. (MINI BOOK)

44. SUSAN FAST. IN THE HOUSES OF THE HOLY. THE POWER OF LED ZEPPELIN

AND ROCK MUSIC.

45. R. HULETT & J PROCHNICKY. WHOLE LOTTA LED. OUR FLIGHT WITH LED ZEPPELIN.

46. SHADWICK, K. LED ZEPPELIN. THE STORY OF A BAND AND THEIR MUSIC 1968-80

47. NIGEL WILLIAMSON. THE ROUGH GUIDE TO LED ZEPPELIN.

48. JIMMY PAGE. MAGUS MAGICIAN MAN. GEORGE CASE.

49.NEIL DANIELS. "ROBERT PLANT: LED ZEPPELIN, JIMMY PAGE AND THE SOLO YEARS"

50.RAY TEDMAN. LED ZEPPELIN REX COLLECTIONS

51.RICHARD MORTON JACK. THE SUNBEAM GUIDE TO LED ZEPPELIN

52, FRANK REDDON. SONIC BOOM THE IMPACT OF LED ZEPPELIN VOL1

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This is my ZEP book collection to date... blah, blah, blah

:slapface:

The funny thing is, the OP asked for recomendations as to why certain books were good or bad.

Not just a list of a gazzilion titles with no comments.

So, whooppee, you have a lot of books. Great. Now please give the OP the benefit of your experience & actually say whether you think any of them are good or bad. Assuming that you have read them, that is.

Otherwise you're just showing off.

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slapface.gif

The funny thing is, the OP asked for recomendations as to why certain books were good or bad.

Not just a list of a gazzilion titles with no comments.

So, whooppee, you have a lot of books. Great. Now please give the OP the benefit of your experience & actually say whether you think any of them are good or bad. Assuming that you have read them, that is.

Otherwise you're just showing off.

I provided a comprehensive list of what's out there. I have posted recommendations in the past and the one I'd make now is use the search function, google and bing for each book.

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Steve, I wasn't addressing you - sorry if that wasn't clear. Yes, you had given good info before the list of books.

It was the other guy I was on at...

I can't speak for Paul but I think his intent was the same as mine, to present an overview of what he has as a point of reference for what is available for others to choose from.

peace.gif

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:slapface:

The funny thing is, the OP asked for recomendations as to why certain books were good or bad.

Not just a list of a gazzilion titles with no comments.

So, whooppee, you have a lot of books. Great. Now please give the OP the benefit of your experience & actually say whether you think any of them are good or bad. Assuming that you have read them, that is.

Otherwise you're just showing off.

The other guy (ie)me buys books and reads them not to show off but because he likes Led Zeppelin. And of course I have spent a fortune on the books and then don't bother to read them. jeez!!

Sorry if my list offends you huw but I will make my recommendations in my own time thank you. Part of the list is also to show what's out there. I don't see you making any effort to add to the discussion other than critising me for my list. So if you are apologising to Steve for his list do me the courtesy of doing the same to me.

Good list by the way Steve.

I forgot to add the Dave Lewis Knebworth book to mine. And I bought tickets for both shows and went to both just thought I wouldn't waste my money buying the tickets and not turning up. That's aimed at the other guy by the way not you ;)

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...but I will make my recommendations in my own time thank you.

But the whole point of this thread was that he asked for recommedations - if you weren't going to make any then fine, but why post?

Part of the list is also to show what's out there.

Well I don't want to put words into the OPs mouth, but I had the impression that he was overwhelmed by the sheer number of books out there, which your list emphasises. For eg, a search for "Led Zeppelin" on Amazon brings up 2736 books. That seemed to be the problem that he wanted help with - finding the good ones amongst the sheer number that are out there.

I don't see you making any effort to add to the discussion other than critising me for my list.

Wrong.

Re-read the thread & you will see that I had made my small contribution earlier, by recomendeding some books & saying why.

So if you are apologising to Steve for his list do me the courtesy of doing the same to me.

I appologised to SAJ because he had already made constructive comments in the thread before posting his mega-list. If you posted some recomendations earlier in the thread that I missed, then yes I'm happy to appologise to you as well. :)

Look, can we start this again. I really wasn't trying to cause you any offence, & maybe I jumped in a bit hard. That's because I've seen this before: there was a guy on the old Electric Magic board (NB - I'm not saying that this was you, OK? Can't remember his username) and he did this same thing at least half a dozen times that I saw - a newbie would ask for book recomendations and he would post a huge list of the books that he had, with no comments as to which were good and which weren't. After the first few times it happened, I asked him (or her) for recomendations, not just a big list, but it never happened.

So I think that perhaps I took out some of my frustration with that guy on you, and for that I do appologise to you.

:peace:

So now that hopefully we've cleared the air a little, could you perhaps see your way clear to giving the benefit of your obviously large experience with books on Led Zeppelin, and maybe tell us a couple of your favourites, & why?

;)

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Look, can we start this again. I really wasn't trying to cause you any offence, & maybe I jumped in a bit hard. That's because I've seen this before: there was a guy on the old Electric Magic board (NB - I'm not saying that this was you, OK? Can't remember his username) and he did this same thing at least half a dozen times that I saw - a newbie would ask for book recomendations and he would post a huge list of the books that he had, with no comments as to which were good and which weren't. After the first few times it happened, I asked him (or her) for recomendations, not just a big list, but it never happened.

Oh, your reaction to this thread all makes sense now. Here are my recommendations:

2008 Bream, Jon

WHOLE LOTTA LED ZEPPELIN - The Illustrated History of the Heaviest Band of All Time

First edition

Voyageur Press

^^^

A worthwhile book for those just getting into the band and want to have a nice overview of the Led Zeppelin era at their fingertips.

2007 Case, George

JIMMY PAGE - MAGUS, MUSICIAN, MAN

First edition

^^^

A worthwhile book for those just getting into Jimmy Page and want to have a nice overview of his life in music at their fingertips.

1992 Cole, Richard & Turbo, Richard

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN: LED ZEPPELIN UNCENSORED

First edition

Harper/Collins

^^^

Love him or hate him for telling the tales with varying degrees of accuracy, the fact remains Richard Cole was there throughout it all. Essential.

1985 Davis, Stephen

HAMMER OF THE GODS The Led Zeppelin Saga

First edition

William Morrow & Company

^^^

Love him or hate him for the kind of books he writes, this one is pretty damn entertaining from cover to cover.

Kendall, Paul

LED ZEPPELIN A VISUAL DOCUMENTARY

Omnibus Press

1981, 1995 Kendall, Paul

LED ZEPPELIN IN THEIR OWN WORDS

Omnibus Press

^^^

I've always like these two books Nothing spectacular about them, just a solid presentation of the Led Zeppelin era.

1998 Ketenjian, Samuel & McFall, Mark

THE SINGLES - WORLD WIDE GUIDE TO LED ZEPPELIN 45's

First edition

^^^

Interested in collecting Led Zeppelin singles? You'll find this book to be essential.

1983 Lewis, Dave

LED ZEPPELIN THE FINAL ACCLAIM

^^^

If not my favorite Led Zeppelin book of all time certainly in the top five. Go on tour with Led Zeppelin in Europe '80.

Dec-05 Lewis, Dave & Pallet, Simon

LED ZEPPELIN: CONCERT FILE

First edition

Omnibus Press

^^^

Excellent book on Led Zeppelin's extensive touring.

2000 MacBay, Shannon & Rhys-Gruffydd, Karol

FOLLOW THE LEGEND - LED ZEPPELIN Volume One: Albion - There and Back

First edition

^^^

Quite good actually. If your the type who like to travel to Led Zeppelin-related locations this book if for you.

1983 Mylett, Howard

JIMMY PAGE TANGENTS WITHIN A FRAMEWORK

First edition

Omnibus Press

^^^

The first and arguably the best book on Page written to date. Howard's a friend of mine so I'm biased. LOL.

1993 Ratner, Lawrence

LED ZEPPELIN LIVE DREAMS

Margaux Publishing

^^^

A woefully underappreciated book. Larry spent a lot of money putting this together. Exceptional.

1997 LED ZEPPELIN LIVE An Illustrated Exploration of Underground Tapes

Final edition

Hot Wacks Press

^^^

One the most enlightening, entertaining books on Led Zeppelin's performances ever written. Essential.

1-Apr-02 Welch, Chris

PETER GRANT - THE MAN WHO LED ZEPPELIN

First edition

Omnibus Press

^^^

The closest we will ever get to a Jimmy Page autobiography is Peter Grant's. Outstanding in every way. Essential.

1999 Yorkie, Ritchie

LED ZEPPELIN - THE DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHY From Early Days to Page & Plant

Revised edition

Virgin Books

^^^

Yorkie was allowed access and into their inner sanctum from the early days on. Essential.

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i was in a bookshop this week and saw one i haven;t seen very often "led zeppelin - the story behind every song" (or something along those lines. i had a ten minute browse of it which allowed me to virtually read the whole thing. it was pretty poor really and didnt provide as much insight as it's title promised. i shalln't be bothering with it

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