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[kenog]

Coverdale/Page a match made in rock heaven:

Peter Howell Toronto Star. Toronto Star [Toronto, Ont] 13 Mar 1993

Coverdale/Page (Geffen): Tired of waiting for a Led Zeppelin reunion?

Wish Whitesnake would get back together? Still bummed out that Deep Purple - what's left of it - cancelled tour plans a couple of years back?

Wait no longer. This album collaboration between former Whitesnake/Deep Purple singer David Coverdale and Led Zep axegod Jimmy Page (out Tuesday) should satisfy all your hard rock cravings, particularly the Zeppelin ones.

Originally titled North/South, it was inspired by a shared love of blues-drenched rock and shared desires: Coverdale needed a guitarist, Page needed a singer, and they both needed a hit.

They have been granted their first two wishes, and the third may not be long in coming, because this is a great album.

Coverdale's vocals are the revelation here. Long an admirer and imitator of Led Zep singer Robert Plant, he manages to conjure up appropriate memories without slavishly following the master.

And having the opportunity to work with Page has been a tonic for himself and the famed guitarist, who plays the best riffs he's done since Zeppelin and also returns to the blues harmonica playing he first made his name with in the 1960s.

Many comparisons are to be made with what has come before, with both the rockers and ballads recalling Led Zep's heritage: "Shake My Tree" brings to mind the rock storm of "Whole Lotta Love" while "Take Me For A Little While" is the beloved step-son of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You". "Feeling Hot" is a spirited return trip by Page to his "Immigrant Song", but it's also reminiscent of another group of Zeppelin followers - '70s glam-rockers The Sweet. (Hear it on StarPhone: 350-3000, press category 2005).

And so on. The best thing about Coverdale-Page is the two don't sweat the similarities, they just get on with the job, with a nudge and wink to us all, as in the opening lines of "Absolution Blues": "Bless me, Father, I have sinned/ I've broken hearts, got drunk on gin,/ And still I lust for sweet young things . . ."

Coverdale-Page is a welcome collaboration, all the more so when you realize it will give classic rock stations something new to play, instead of endlessly respinning Zeppelin and Whitesnake records.

Edited June 7, 2013 by kenog

[kenog]

THE REUTRN OF JIMMY PAGE; "I FEEL I HAVE MY HEART IN IT AGAIN"

Hilburn, Robert. The Gazette [Montreal, Que] 21 Mar 1993

Led Zeppelin cast such an enormous shadow over rock that it's no wonder guitarist Jimmy Page, the group's founder and chief musical architect, is still trying to move out from under it.

By the time the British band called it quits after the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980, Zeppelin stood over even the Rolling Stones as the biggest live draw in the world.

Interest in their music has remained high enough that their four- disc box set in 1990 became the biggest selling CD retrospective ever - an estimated 1 million copies sold.

A second retrospective consisting of tracks not included on the box set is now scheduled.

Page has made numerous attempts to reassert his musical imprint on rock, but nothing has reflected the power and confidence of his Zeppelin days - until now.

Page's new project, in a partnership with vocalist David Coverdale, of Whitesnake and Deep Purple fame, recaptures much of Zeppelin's blues-rock power and intensity.

Their debut album, Coverdale/Page, went on sale in Montreal record shops this past week and is selling fast. It is expected to make the top-10 chart on eXpress next week.

If the rock world has spent more than a decade wondering if Page would ever regain his old touch, you can imagine his own anxiety.

"I think everyone goes through a period where you have a fear of losing . . . that spark, and I went through some of that," the guitarist says, sitting in a Hollywood hotel room with Coverdale.

"I was fully aware the work that I did during the '80s certainly wasn't of the quality of Zeppelin, but that wasn't necessarily my own fault. The other components weren't there.

"But working with David was a totally different thing. It was suddenly right back to that original spark of creativity and ideas flowing. I feel I have my heart in it again."

Page, 49, wears his rock legacy well. Already inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds, he will be inducted a second time when Led Zeppelin becomes eligible for the Hall next year.

Despite all the tales over the years of wild, indulgent Zeppelin behavior, Page comes across as a shy, soft-spoken man, which helps explain why he never tried to grab the personal spotlight c la Mick Jagger. His obsession was the music.

"Zeppelin became so huge that it's hard sometimes for people to understand that it was really the music that we loved," he says.

"I knew we were doing something substantial. I just knew it - and that's what interested me, not the rest of it. I was constantly writing for the band, working on production, all the rest of it. That was my life."

Page says he was too devastated when Bonham died to continue the band.

"John was a dear friend and one of the greatest drummers who ever lived," he says. "His death just knocked me sideways. I didn't want to play guitar, didn't want to listen to any music.

"But some of the stories got out of hand. It was never a question of my sanity or a vow to never play again."

In fact, the guitarist was ready to put Zeppelin back together by the time he remastered the tracks for the 1990 Zeppelin box set.

"I think I had always hoped we could work together again in some capacity because basically there was such a wonderful songwriting collaboration.

"The important thing (around the box set time) was that we all had the time to do something together again. I had free time and John Paul Jones basically had an empty year and Robert Plant was taking a year off."

Page said talks about a reunion project went on for months, but Plant eventually rejected it.

Page decided to make a second solo album - the project that turned into Coverdale/Page.

"I waded through scores of cassettes, looking for a singer for the album, but I didn't get inspired by anyone," he says. "I was getting quite depressed. I certainly didn't want to do an instrumental album."

The solution came with a phone call from his manager, Brian Goode: What about David Coverdale, the veteran British singer and ex- leader of Whitesnake?

Page was intrigued. He didn't know his fellow Englishman, except in passing, but he did know the voice. The pair got together in New York early in 1991, and the partnership was started.

"A lot of people could misconstrue the band as some sort of corporate (game plan) because we share the same record company, but that was purely coincidental. We didn't set out to make Led Snake," Coverdale says, joining the conversation.

John Kalodner, the Geffen Records executive who worked closest with Coverdale, 41, and Page during the months of recording, believes the new album is Page's strongest work since Zeppelin's landmark Physical Graffiti album in 1975.

"When people first heard they were working together, they figured it would be Whitesnake with Jimmy Page playing guitar." He says that's not the case. "Coverdale/Page is Jimmy Page. When I first heard the demos, I was amazed."

The next step: a tour, probably this summer. And yes, they'll be doing Zeppelin numbers.

"It'll be the ones David feels good about doing," Page says. "I enjoy playing them all. It's so (gratifying) that I was right (about Zeppelin). The music has stood the test of time. It is respected by your peers."

Page pauses, as if reflecting on the changes of the last decade.

"It's great to feel the old excitement and enthusiasm . . . to feel that things are going to be fine again."

Edited June 7, 2013 by kenog

[kenog]

^{Coverdale drags Jimmy Page into the cliche-o-matic:}

^{Lepage, Mark. The Gazette [Montreal, Que] 20 Mar 1993}

^{This is what David Coverdale has to offer to the advancement of world artistry and knowledge: "The boys are feeling hot tonight."}

^{And are there women to the left and women to the right, Dave?}

^{You betcher elfskin boots there are. While a breathless hard-rock community waits for the answer to how Coverdale wangled his name onto the front end of this FM programmer's dream, the rest of the world can go back to sleep in the cozy knowledge that Led Zeppelin is not, repeat not, back together.}

^{Nor is any facsimile of Zeppelin together, unless you consider Jimmy Page retooling his Druid Blues enough to warrant excitement.}

^{Maybe you do, all you Zephead faithful still walking around with Zoso patches on your Lois jean jackets. But for the rest of us, Coverdale's cliche-o-matic is enough to bleed away whatever second- hand enjoyment might be found in the return of Page, the Riffmaster General.}

^{Coverdale is no fool. Like a millionaire buying a title from some tired Brit nobleman, he's found a path to respectability. Now the guys at the record company can't laugh at him. He has Jimmy Page's home number.}

^{He also, predictably, has Robert Plant's number. Virtually every vocal is a lumpen remake of Plant's chest-beating wail. As for Page, the single Pride and Joy might be more enjoyable if the riffs weren't so meticulously compiled to appeal to every aspect of Zep fandom. An admitted master thief in his bygone days of black glory, Jimmy Page now leaves fingerprints everywhere.}

^{Over Now aims for Kashmir and gets as far as Long Island. There even remains some doubt that Page can still blaze. He crafts huge snow-drifts of chord progressions on electric and acoustic but dodges any flat-out burn.}

^{Coverdale is calling Take a Look at Yourself "R&B," which is an insult but typical of his pretension: it's a moderately graceful power ballad with Page in good form.}

^{The very titles of Absolution Blues and Whisper a Prayer for the Dying warn of Coverdale's attempt to capture the kind of heavy- handed mysterioso jabber that Zep owned in its heyday.}

^{So, since there is no subtlety to the album, we'll skip the subtlety here. David Coverdale is a flim-flam man, his lyrics shamefully inadequate. He would be a hair-farming parody if fans and critics weren't so inexplicably willing to forgive him his pseudo-aristocratic buffoonery, but all the Jimmy Pages in the world can't make up for a singer's hackdom.}

^{Coverdale makes this album an Escalator to Purgatory. Now playing forever at a rock station near you.}

Edited June 7, 2013 by kenog

[kenog]

Mackie, John; Andrews, Marke. The Vancouver Sun [Vancouver, B.C] 25 Mar 1993

Coverdale-Page

Geffen *

Ooooo, this is stinky. Trousersnake screecher (and noted Robert Plant soundalike) David Coverdale forms an unholy alliance with Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page to try and capture that massive Zep market. It'll probably be huge out of the box - rock radio will jump all over this sucker - but this is basically a pretty pathetic facsimile of the real thing. Pagey comes up with the odd interesting riff, but Coverdale just sounds ridiculous trying to summon up the bloodcurdling wails and bluesy growls that made Led Zep Led Zep. This isn't even as good as Kingdom Come - what on earth was Jimmy Page thinking when he agreed to this project?

[SteveAJones]

Miami Herald, The (FL)

March 31, 1993

Edition: FINAL
Section: LIVING
Page: 3E

PROJECT'S TOO MUCH LIKE WHITESNAKE, NOT ENOUGH LIKE ZEP

* Coverdale/Page, Coverdale/Page, Geffen

The band is Coverdale/Page, but a better handle would be White Zeppelin.

Coverdale/Page, the first collaborative project between David Coverdale (Whitesnake) and Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), is an album of commercial hard rock and blues that falls somewhere between a great Whitesnake record (1984's Slide It In) and a crummy one (1989's Slip of the Tongue). (Can't say the collaboration is all that surprising -- for years, Whitesnake has been tagged "a poor man's Led Zeppelin." Even Zep's Robert Plant joined in, calling Coverdale "David Cover Version.")

Pride and Joy is the most Zep-like cut of the bunch. Page's multitextured guitars lay a thick foundation upon which Coverdale layers his most assured vocal performance -- all cocky hard rock asides and macho posturing. It's no wonder the song has been atop the nation's album rock chart for the past month.

Aside from that triumph, however, Coverdale's voice has fallen apart. Where it once had definition and a lusty lower range, he now often sounds strained and forced. Shrieking in a high register when he should be confident and cool (Take a Look at Yourself) only undermines the power of his material.

It could be intimidation. Coverdale is singing behind a guitarist who put the soul, sweat and guts into rock guitar. Page's dynamic stamp is all over brazen rockers like Shake My Tree and the darkly hued midtempo scorchers Take Me for a Little While and Easy Does It.

Pity the two are saddled with weak musicians on bass and drums. A little more muscle in the rhythm section might have made C/P sound more like a decent Zeppelin album rather than what it really sounds like -- a decent Whitesnake one.

HOWARD COHEN

Edited June 7, 2013 by SteveAJones

[SteveAJones]

The Gazette (Colorado Springs, CO) April 23, 1993

Denver's summer concert season heats up

The list of summer concerts continues to grow, with Fey Concerts adding to the lineup at Red Rocks and Fiddler's Green. The best bet of the additions is Coverdale/Page, slated for Aug. 17 at Fiddler's Green. Denver has always been a Led Zeppelin mecca, so the return of Jimmy Page for the first time since he played Denver with The Firm in 1984 should be a sizzler.

[SteveAJones]

USA Today (May 6, 1993)

Comedian Richard Belzer ... Amtrak brings on board ...

Comedian Richard Belzer . . . hosts ABC's `In Concert' Friday night at 12:30 a.m. ET/PT (times may vary). Featured: Bon Jovi, Coverdale/Page (David Coverdale and Jimmy Page) and new artists The Wallflowers.

[SteveAJones]

PLANT WON'T GET THE LED OUT - A ZEPPELIN REUNION TOUR REMAINS THE LAST
THING ON THE SINGER'S MIND

Chicago Tribune - May 21, 1993
Author: Greg Kot.

Led Zeppelin remains in splinters-and that's just the way Robert Plant
wants it.

The band's other surviving members, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones,
sought out Plant a few years ago for a tour that likely would've
turned into one of the most lucrative in rock history. But even though
Plant enjoyed the occasional musical reunion with Page, something more
permanent was out of the question. "I don't mind taking my ex-wife out
to dinner," he said at the time, "but I wouldn't want to have sex with
her afterward."

Reminded of the remark, Plant laughs. He's got a new solo album out
Tuesday, "Fate of Nations" (Es Paranza/Atlantic), that emphasizes
acoustic interplay, introspective lyrics and lilting melodies-a
significant departure from the knotty hard rock of his previous
release, "Manic Nirvana."

Plant's solo career has been distinguished by highly personalized,
challenging music with the occasional commercial success. So how does
a guy turn his back on his old pals and plenty of instant cash?

"Because the `fate of nations' is greed," he says. "That's the main
constituent of all the problems we have-the use of fossil fuel, the
rape of the Third World, the constant grab-grab. How can I think the
way I do and sing the songs I sing and consider the middle-age
equivalent of something that was brilliant 20 years ago? Get real."

Page recently hooked up with David Coverdale, a Plant soundalike, in
what sounds like a desperate attempt to reinvent Zeppelin.

"If it makes him (Page) feel good, great," Plant says. "But if I'd
stayed in the rock-god dream era then I would have a beer belly and it
would be all over. I'd be on the road doing a `remember when' tour
with Dion and the Belmonts. I don't have any kind of huge career
aspirations, I can't eclipse what I did before, but at least I can be
as honest as I was when I was much younger."

Although it's marred by Plant's predilection for castles-and-fairies
imagery, "Fate of Nations" also contains some of his most tender,
compassionate and sharply observed lyrics.

"I want to paint sensual lyrical sojourns, that even after 30 listens you
still can't quite work it out," he says. "The archetypical song for
that is `Stairway to Heaven.' That song was written in 1972 and people
still muse about it. I don't even know what it's all about myself."

The album also carries a global message, acting as a wakeup call for
both Plant's audience and the singer himself.

"I have a very elite existence, but I don't sit back on my laurels and
say, `Hey, I've got a great voice and look at my history,' " the
singer says. "I believe if you've been given a good plot, then the
plot should improve. And I want to improve my little space by handing
out some pointers. Not because I'm some ridiculous potentate, but
because I'm part of something bigger."

For inspiration, he turned to the music of his youth. "The music that
turned me on before I met Page was Buffalo Springfield, the Jefferson
Airplane, Tim Hardin-all those people inviting people to take a look," he says.

Perhaps the keynote of the album is a lustrous reading of Hardin's
folk classic "If I Were a Carpenter," which Plant used to perform in
his pre-Zeppelin days with the Band of Joy, which included future Zep
drummer John Bonham.

"The Band of Joy version was nothing like the one I'm doing now,"
Plant says. "Back then we did a double-time freakout section in which
I banged together trash-can lids. The band touched on some of the more
aggressive Moby Grape stuff, some blues, `White Rabbit,' `For What
It's Worth.' It was not very English. The English music was big beat
body music. But all the head music was coming from America, and that's
what we were drawn to."

It's to that space and time that Plant once again returns on "Fate of Nations."

"I am of another age, and of another time when we tried to deal in a
currency of songwriting that was pointing to better days," he says.
"There was a communal awareness of right towering over wrong.

"And I think today you've got people like REM, (Peter) Gabriel and
loads of others who feel they've gotta make comment, and they do.
These people are not just dealing with their libido. I know rock is
this complete commercial mess, and I'm just as much a slave to it as
anyone, but I don't think it's a waste of time or ridiculous."

Edited June 7, 2013 by SteveAJones

[SteveAJones]

Dallas Morning News

August 18, 1993

Dallas to see tag-team tours

Young, Midnight Oil, Page with Coverdale schedule dates in fall

Nobody seems to go it alone anymore - just look at the two latest multistar musical bills scheduled for Dallas concert stages.

First, tours by grunge grandpa Neil Young and those preachy, political Aussies, Midnight Oil, will cross at the Starplex Amphitheatre on Sept. 19 at 5 p.m.

And former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and ex-Whitesnake singer David Coverdale will play the Dallas Convention Center Arena on Oct. 20 at 8 p.m. in support of their brilliantly titled collaboration,

Edited June 7, 2013 by SteveAJones

[SteveAJones]

Plant Rocks On - It's Hard to Argue With `Golden God' Label

Chicago Sun-Times - November 4, 1993

Author: Jim DeRogatis

There's an unforgettable scene in Stephen Davis' Led Zeppelin biography, Hammer of the Gods, where a young, shirtless Robert Plant walks out onto a Los Angeles balcony and proclaims, "I am a golden god!"

It's hard to think about Plant these days without remembering that vignette and laughing. But then good ol' Percy (as his Zep mates called him) rolls back into town, and guess what? It's kinda hard to argue with him.

At this point in his career, the 45-year-old singer has been a solo artist longer than he was a member of Zeppelin. But when he took the stage at a sold-out Arie Crown Theatre Wednesday night - long golden locks flowing over a colorful vest (no shirt) - there was no denying his mythic, larger-than-life presence.

Plant has become a polished entertainer in the grand English music hall tradition, giving the people what they want and then some. Despite his recent, valiant battles against Zeppelin nostalgia - vetoing a song on the "Dazed and Confused" soundtrack and rejecting Jimmy Page's reunion overtures - he frequently and gleefully dipped into the band's impressive catalog.

The set relied mostly on the softer side of Zeppelin, including a transcendent "Going to California," a blissful version of "Thankyou" (Zep's only wedding tune), and the J. R. R.

Tolkien-inspired "Ramble On."

Although he tactfully avoided the soaring vocal passages in his older tunes, Plant approached the Zep nuggets with a mixture of reverence and tongue-in-cheek humor, which is healthy; it would be pretty pathetic in 1993 to deliver lines like the ones in "Ramble On" about Gollum and the "darkest depths of Mordor" without a hearty chuckle.

At another point, while introducing a silly but touching cover of Tim Hardin's "If I Was a Carpenter," Plant asked the crowd if they remembered the '60s. "Yes!" came the enthusiastic response.

"You must have been real mothers' boys then," he said. "What happened?"

The singer was backed by a slick but unremarkable five-piece band. The keyboardist bore a striking resemblance to the young Page, while the overly energetic blond guitarist made lead-guitarist faces even dumber than Page's.

Other highlights of the two-hour set included bits of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" and Donovan's "Season of the Witch" in a psychedelic jam delivered amid clouds of fog and incense, as well as solid versions of Plant's best post-Zep tunes, "Tall Cool One" and the dopey but fun "29 Palms" from his current album, "Fate of Nations."

Cry of Love opened with a set of hackneyed, unoriginal blue-collar boogie. In their day, Zeppelin and the golden god would have eaten them for breakfast.

Edited June 7, 2013 by SteveAJones

[kenog]

The albums that make you wish you'd been there

Webb, Robert. The Independent [London (UK)] 08 June 2013

Led Zeppelin

How the West was Won (2003)

The lumbering soundtrack for The Song Remains the Same failed to deliver an accurate document of Zep's live appeal. This crushingly brilliant triple-disc set, assembled by Jimmy Page from June 1972 performances found during the production of the Led Zeppelin DVD, does the trick.

Download "Since I've Been Loving You"

Edited June 8, 2013 by kenog

[SteveAJones]

The Phoenix Gazette (December 1, 1994) (Phoenix, AZ)

Scans courtesy Steve A. Jones Archive

[SteveAJones]

New Times (December 1-7 1994) (Phoenix, AZ)

Scans courtesy Steve A. Jones Archive

Edited June 8, 2013 by SteveAJones

[SteveAJones]

New Times (December 15, 1994) (Phoenix, AZ)

Scans courtesy Steve A. Jones Archive

[SteveAJones]

New Times, May 4-10, 1995 (Phoenix, AZ)

Scans courtesy Steve A. Jones Archive

[kenog]

Some really interesting articles there, SAJ. I have never seen any of them before.

New Times, May 4-10, 1995 (Phoenix, AZ)

Scans courtesy Steve A. Jones Archive

[kenog]

Duo sounds like Zep but hasn't grown up

Saxberg, Lynn. The Ottawa Citizen [Ottawa, Ont] 27 Mar 1993

You know the old stereotype of the Led Zeppelin fan. He's the young long-haired guy in the black T-shirt guzzling beer and shouting "Zeppelin whenever he feels like it, ususally when he gets bored watching another band.

This album will appeal to such diehard fans. In fact, they'll probably hail it as Zep's second coming. For all intents and purposes, the Coverdale-Page project is a Led Zeppelin album. Or at least, it sounds like it.

Featuring Whitesnake vocalist David Coverdale and Led Zep guitarist Jimmy Page, the disc reprises the worst of hard rock songwriting, with awkward tempo changes, misplaced rhythmic breaks and heavy-handed guitar leads that sound dated, not dramatic. Even the lyrics are unimaginative, lacking the mystical element that made Zep interesting, instead focusing on relationships. And often it's a chauvinistic male view of relationships.

In Shake My Tree , for example, the woman is depicted as deceitful, while in Feeling Hot and Pride and Joy , she's a sex symbol. Other songs take the poor-me-she-left approach.

Obviously I'm not crazy about the album, but there is some nice six- and 12-string acoustic guitar work by Page, particularly on the songs Pride and Joy and Easy Does It . Coverdale's vocals lack finesse and he has a tendency to overdo the distortion and the Robert Plant-like wailing. Rather than lending a new dimension to the Led Zeppelin legacy, Coverdale and Page have merely reinforced the cliches and delivered an ego-driven macho workout. Grow up, guys.

Edited June 9, 2013 by kenog

[kenog]

Lepage, Mark. The Gazette [Montreal, Que] 10 Apr 1993

This week's theme is rock'n'roll subversion. In those terms, having a former member of Led Zeppelin produce a group of Texas rock terrorists is right up there with actually signing the band in the first place.

Here, Butthole Surfers return with tales from the recovery ward and face down that "sellout" charge. To fans of a band known for projecting scenes from sex-change operations at their concerts, any corporate move is a compromise. But charging this band with a cop- out implies a strange conception of the marketplace.

This is 17 songs' worth of flat-out guitar rock, Gibby Haynes gibberish, and controlled flashes of white-noise anarchy held together by John Paul Jones, who trims out the only truly excessive noise of yore.

Saloon opens with the barrelling Who Was in My Room Last Night?, singer Haynes's voice megaphoned under Black Sabbath guitar. The Wooden Song is half REM send-up and half serious and eventually explodes into some guitar brain-fry.

There's Tongue, which alternates among tribal noise, a straight chorus, and some punk, and ends with that Exorcist quote about "dying up there." The whole quote.

The Annoying Song? These guys tell no lies.

More great punk in the roller-coaster Goofy's Concern. Alcohol is a tribute song in which feedback-laden verses slam into big choruses. Some Dispute Over T-Shirt Sales is worth it for title alone.

Subversion? Call CHOM, tell them a Zep guy produced the new "Surfers" album, and hope they fall for it. They fell for it when Jones produced The Mission.

[kenog]

Independent Worm Saloon Butthole Surfers

Dafoe, Chris. The Globe and Mail [Toronto, Ont] 12 Apr 1993

Monday, April 12, 1993

(Capitol"EMI C298798 2)

Is there an underground band left in America that's too loud, too weird or too offensive to get signed by a major label in the wake of the success of Nirvana and the Lollapalooza tours? Probably, since corporate rock's spending spree in the indie-rock thrift shop has only just begun, but the signing of the Butthole Surfers certainly must be something of a landmark in major label strange. What's even stranger, though, is that the band, noted for it's neo-psychedelic excess and neo-primitive stage antics, has made a surprisingly accessible album. Producer John Paul Jones, late of Led Zeppelin, highlights Paul Leary's twisted yet catchy guitar work, especially on rave-ups like the horror-punk of Who Was In My Room Last Night? and the ridiculously snotty Goofy's Concern, and comes up with songs that might just sneak onto the fringes of the mainstream.

Edited June 9, 2013 by kenog

[kenog]

Sandall, Robert. The Times [London (UK)] 25 Apr 1993.

Atlantic And The Godfathers Of Rock And Roll, by Justine Picardie and Dorothy Wade, Fourth Estate, Pounds 9.99, pp310

The story of pop rock music is normally recounted through the lives and careers of people who have made a success out of playing it. This suits fans and celebrity spotters well enough, but it pretty much ignores pop agnostics or general readers. And since the entrepreneurial rogues who skulk and connive behind the scenes are often far more colourful and bizarre than the stars who hog the limelight, the standard rock biog misses out on the juiciest anecdotes too.

No such charge could ever be levelled at this hugely entertaining ramble through the life and times of the Atlantic record label. Justine Picardie and Dorothy Wade have chosen their subject judiciously. By focusing on a company that has evolved from a tiny post-war independent dedicated to selling black r'n'b to enthusiasts, to a cornerstone of the mighty Warner consortium, purveyor of efficient white rock to the masses, this book has a vast canvas to work on.

It also possesses a superb cast of characters. Apart from Elvis Presley, whom he tried for but couldn't afford to sign in 1955, Atlantic's founder Ahmet Ertegun has cut deals with just about everybody who is anybody in rock and roll: the list extends from Phil Spector to Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, and it includes an irregular army of managers, company moguls, hustlers, payola pluggers and suspected mobsters.

Ertegun's relationship to this murky world is mysterious. He clearly enjoys the excessive lifestyle, yet he is widely held to be a straight, even honourable, guy. In a business environment that often seems to model its practices and recruitment policy on those of organised crime, Ertegun is probably the closest thing to a White Knight the music industry has ever known.

The well-born son of a Turkish diplomat, he discovered a passion for the music of black America during his father's posting to New York. His interest, though, lay not in sophisticated East Coast jazz, but in raucous Southern blues, the stuff cool cats such as Basie and Ellington dismissed as "ignorant".

Years before Elvis, Ertegun was promoting the raw materials of rock and roll. From the late 1940s on, Atlantic led the charge to make what had previously been patronised as "race music" acceptable to a wider, whiter audience. Their records, starting with Stick McGhee's 1949 hit, Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee, sold by the hundred thousand. To the amazement of the big labels, Ertegun insisted that Atlantic artists, such as Ray Charles, be paid a royalty for every record sold rather than a flat fee. (Many of the most memorable stories in this book concern the appalling treatment meted out to older black artists by their label bosses; Muddy Waters, for example, is described painting the house of Leonard Chess, of Chess Records: "If I do a good job," he told a visitor, "we're going to eat tonight.")

By the mid-1960s, Ertegun's business sense had become as sharp as his ears: the new electric hybrid "rock", he realised, was where young white America now preferred to get its kicks. He signed Buffalo Springfield, the group which mellowed into hippie darlings Crosby Stills Nash and Young. Although Atlantic's retreat from black music wasn't a purely commercial decision black gangsters and pressure groups were making life difficult for white-owned labels it marked the end of the era of gung-ho enthusiasm.

Atlantic was taken over by Warner; Ertegun separated from his partner, Jerry Wexler, a diehard r'n'b fan, and became more of a celebrity broker. Once he had lured the Rolling Stones to his label, against strong competition from all the other leading companies, there was nothing much left to prove, and Ertegun has since adopted the role of charming and respected elder statesman. Atlantic is currently just another successful record label, albeit one with an unusually brilliant back catalogue.

These are the bones of the Atlantic story; but what makes this book such a delightful read is the way Picardie and Wade have fleshed it out. They have assiduously tracked down winners and losers alike, taking tea with Jagger in his New York mansion, consulting Atlantic's hapless and forgotten co-founder, Herb Abramson, in a shack in LA and logging a wonderful repertoire of stories as they go. Woven into the narrative are accounts of the rise and fall of Alan Freed, the hubristic DJ who coined the catchphrase "rock and roll", the sad demise of the Memphis soul label Stax, and the curious birth of Tamla Motown.

The impression left is of a world close in spirit to the lawless improvising energy of the Wild West, through which Ertegun rides like a lone lawman. Or used to anyway. Once, it seems, he had everything; now he merely owns the place. Robert Sandall is the rock critic of The Sunday Times

[kenog]

Abstract (summary)

The secret life of Plant Rambling on: the voice of Led Zeppelin talks to James Delingpole about his latest solo album

Delingpole, James. The Daily Telegraph [London (UK)] 01 May 1993

Perhaps he is being a little harsh on himself. Certainly at least half the world's rock musicians would disagree with him. For them, Led Zeppelin still enjoy almost god-like status. Why else do they endlessly try to replicate Jimmy Page's guitar riffs, John Bonham's drums, John Paul Jones's bass and warbling keyboards and, of course, "Percy" Plant's leather-larynxed vocals?

Though the band split up after Bonham's death 14 years ago their currency has not been so high since that increasingly fashionable era, the early '70s. The surviving members have lost little of their edge. Page has just released a new album with [ROBERT Plant] soundalike David Coverdale. John Paul Jones, always an arranger of genius, recently sorted out the lush orchestration on REM's album Automatic for the People. And Plant . . .

Try as it might, Plant's distinctive voice cannot help reminding you that it belongs to the former lead singer of Led Zeppelin. Especially when it is still singing about mysterious spirits, far-off lands (preferably in the East, though California will do), and elusive maidens. The lyrical obsessions remain the same as they were when the 21-year-old Plant was wailing about "the Evil One" stealing away with "a girl so fair" in "the Land of Mordor".

Edited June 9, 2013 by kenog

[kenog]

The Globe and Mail [Toronto, Ont] 17 May 1993

RECORDINGS Coverdale"Page, Geffen GEFSD-24487

Ex-Led Zeppelin string-bender Jimmy Page obviously tired of waiting for Robert Plant to pop around, so he did the next best thing - he hired veteran English shouter David Coverdale (ex-Deep Purple and others) to do Plant imitations. The result is basically the Led Zep reunion album that never was.

[kenog]

Plant's green shoots of recovery;Rock On Friday

Sinclair, David. The Times [London (UK)] 21 May 1993

ROBERT PLANT Fate Of Nations (Fontana 514 867) DURING his salad days in Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant invented the phenomenon of the male rock vocal as mating call. His best-known mannerism remains the tight-trousered orgasmic shriek, even if in recent years he has used it a good deal more sparingly than imitators such as David Coverdale.

His taste in lyrics has followed suit. From freshly squeezed lemons to big logs, Plant's stock in trade has long been the none-too-subtle double entendre. His previous album, Manic Nirvana, released in 1990, was a virtual lexicon of libidinous intent.

However, with Fate Of Nations his attention has finally wandered elsewhere: to the grim state and possibly sticky fate of the planet, no less. As an off-the-peg device for conjuring suitably apocalyptic images while evoking a vague notion of social concern, the environmentally concerned rock album is fast turning into a cliche itself. But, as with the bombast and innuendo of his previous incarnations, Plant handles his new subject matter with such confidence and panache that Fate Of Nations is a triumph.

The gradual process of uncoupling his singing from the demands of the heavy rock riff now seems to be complete. That does not preclude the use of several seriously chunky guitar motifs notably the blueswailing "Promised Land" and the neo-funk shuffle of "Network News", which echoes the striding twang of "Living Loving Maid" from Led Zeppelin II but Plant has, by and large, given up on the guitar as lethal weapon.

Instead his hirelings, Kevin Scott MacMichael and Francis Dunnery (formerly of It Bites), are directed to provide textures that are tough but always melodically haunting. Songs like "I Believe" and the gorgeous single "29 Palms" are among the most pleasantly uncomplicated that Plant has ever recorded. But he strays into cocktail-rock territory with a version of Tim Hardin's "If I Were A Carpenter", replete with syrupy string arrangement. This is the kind of family favourite better left to Rod Stewart.

When he is on firmer and grittier ground, the measured approach yields stunning results. The magisterial opening track "Calling To You" boasts a typically pining vocal, some stinging blues guitar chops and a wildly outre violin coda courtesy of Nigel Kennedy. "Great Spirit" splices a slinky wah wah guitar groove to a vocal that sounds like John Martyn given the benefit of a good night's sleep. And "Come Into My Life" an eerie rumble featuring the peerless guitar playing of Richard Thompson and the cut-crystal vocal tone of Clannad's Maire Brennan is about as soulful as rock gets.

Plant is one of a small coterie of long-running superstars one thinks of Gabriel, Jagger, Van Morrison perhaps who have recognised that in order to maintain standards it is not enough to hang around on the sidelines and survive. The trick is to stay properly engaged, which is precisely what Plant has done. Fate Of Nations is the album he deserves.

Edited June 9, 2013 by kenog

[kenog]

ABSTRACT

Hardy old Plant

Parsons, Tony. The Daily Telegraph [London (UK)] 22 May 1993

On Fate of Nations [Robert Plant Fate] stays close to his roots. And what an eclectic bunch of roots they are! The blues of Chicago and Mississippi, the winsome Olde English folkiness of Fairport Convention, the California dreaming of Joni Mitchell, the seminal headbanging of Moby Grape, the sweeping cosmic visions of the '60s, a little bit of the Indian subcontinent added for spice - all these can be heard on Fate of Nations.

All that's really missing from the Led Zeppelin cocktail is the blistering guitar of Jimmy Page. There are guitars on Fate of Nations - regiments of them - yet they are always kept in their place. They never get in the way of Plant's beautiful, unabashed romanticism, his concerns about the environment or his interest in the crawling king snake that he keeps about the house. But then Robert Plant has invented such a successful solo career because he stays close to what he loves while never sounding as though he is competing with the past.

Edited June 9, 2013 by kenog

[kenog]

Rock looks at rise and fall of Led Zeppelin in six-hour special

Hale, James. The Ottawa Citizen [Ottawa, Ont] 23 May 1993

It's difficult to imagine what rock radio would have sounded like over the past 20 years were it not for Led Zeppelin.

Bands as seemingly diverse as Van Halen and Living Colour continue to use the currency that guitarist Jimmy Page minted in 1968. At the time, Page's sonic approach -- which, more than any other, defines heavy metal -- didn't seem revolutionary. His terse, heavily amplified lead guitar wasn't that different than Jimi Hendrix's. Drummer John Bonham shared the same roots as Hendrix's Mitch Mitchell and the Who's Keith Moon. Granted, Robert Plant's keening howl was unique, but then, this was the era that gave us such distinctive belters as Janis Joplin, Eric Burdon and Joe Cocker.

Indeed, the band's founding as a last-minute substitute for the Yardbirds so that Page could keep some Scandinavian tour advances didn't augur well for great success.

There were critics who predicted a wonderful future for Led Zeppelin after hearing its incendiary debut recording, but just as many decried Page's regurgitation of Howlin' Wolf and Robert Johnson.

The band's third album turned some critics around with its interesting mix of traditional British folk and amphetamine-powered blues, but it wasn't until the release of its fourth album in 1971 that Led Zep staked its claim to rock hierarchy and redefined the sound of radio. Depending on your musical taste, Stairway to Heaven -- the cornerstone of that fourth album -- is either the best thing that ever happened to rock radio, or the worst.

Stairway's aura of mystery, its bombast and its dynamic melding of acoustic and electric guitars became the yardstick by which all other hard-rock bands were measured, and the song became the most heavily requested on North American rock stations. Zeppelin had secured its role as the godfather for two generations of rock musicians.

This week, 54 Rock (540 AM) -- that arguably couldn't exist without Led Zeppelin -- pays tribute to the band.

On Monday morning at 10, Jason Bonham is the host for Led Zeppelin -- The Final Chapter, a six-hour special that looks at the rise and self-destruction of his father's band.

Both Page and Plant join Bonham to look back at the Zep phenomenon, and to stage a group reunion at the 40th anniversary party for the band's label, Atlantic Records.

At 8 p.m. Monday, 54 Rock journeys north to Ontario cottage country to celebrate Victoria Day with Alannah Myles, the Toronto singer whose style owes a large debt to Plant's work with Zeppelin.

The Bonham documentary and the Myles concert make up the first pair of long-weekend specials that 54 Rock will air throughout the summer.

On Friday at 9:30 p.m., the Zeppelin story turns full circle when Plant sits down with Steve Warden of the Rock Radio Network to play tracks from his new recording, Fate of Nations .

It is, of course, ironic that 54 Rock, an AM station, is feting Led Zeppelin, the band that helped to sound the death knell for AM radio.

With musicians like Page and Hendrix expanding the sonic range of rock, and young listeners acquiring good-quality sound systems, AM just couldn't keep pace in the early '70s.

Today, an AM station like 54 Rock -- one that doesn't feature oldies or all talk -- is an anomaly.

After bouncing from the Music of Your Life to 54 Lite, CJSB found its niche as a bad-ass, black T-shirt kind of station. But its owner, Standard Broadcasting, sees the writing on the wall for AM radio. That's why it has filed an application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to give it permission to shift to 106.9 on the FM dial -- the spot vacated by the all-news CKO.

The application is a long shot. Earlier this year, the commission denied a similar request by Coast 1040, a Vancouver AM station, and has been wary about handing out the CKO network's coveted spots on the FM band.

Edited June 9, 2013 by kenog