SteveAJones Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 I would love to read something about whether and how that trip to India influenced Jimmy and Robert, musically or otherwise. I've read that Jimmy played with some Indian musicians there but I don't know if any of it was recorded. "From Bangkok, we flew to Bombay, where Jimmy and Robert had made arrangements to do some experimental recording. Jimmy had brought with him a Stellavox qaudriphonic field recorder that was several generations more sophisticated than anything the Indians had ever seen. The Stellavox had been custom-made to Jimmy's specifications in Switzerland, and it produced a higher quality sound than all of the eight-track studios in Bombay combined. Several of the Indian musicians offered to buy it, but it wasn't for sale. Bombay's top musicians, including members of the city's symphony orchestra, were invited to participate in the recording session. Robert, Jimmy, and their Indian colleagues recorded raga-style renditions of the some early Zeppelin songs, including "Friends" and "Four Sticks". There were never any plans to release these recordings, and when the overall quality of the sessions did not rise to Jimmy's perfectionist standards, there were no serious thoughts of changing those plans. Once we were back in England, Jimmy put the tapes from the Bombay recording sessions in storage at his house" (191-192 Cole, Stairway to Heaven). Some of this material surfaced on bootleg recordings in the late 80s and remains in circulation to this day. I have it on vinyl, but it has since been released many times on cd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swandown Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 I thought I read somewhere that the drone was recorded in New York. The first known use of the drone was at the 6/15/72 concert in New York, so it makes sense in the timeline. Regardless, I think they titled it "L.A. Drone" because it was more aesthetically appealing than "Long Beach Drone" (or "Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Drone"!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triplet Kick Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Frankly, my dears, I'm a little disappointed that no-one has commented on my little poetic piece above about la droné. Too much to expect, perhaps, or has silliness left these pages entirely? Literalism has it's place, for sure, but whither silliness? Surely not! everyone knows that at least Robert Plant is a big Python fan. Unless it's because my reasoning is, in fact, completely correct. I stand uncorrected. Ah-ha! With a pompous flourish, exit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadScreamingGallery Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I thought I read somewhere that the drone was recorded in New York. The first known use of the drone was at the 6/15/72 concert in New York, so it makes sense in the timeline. Regardless, I think they titled it "L.A. Drone" because it was more aesthetically appealing than "Long Beach Drone" (or "Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Drone"!) "L.A. Drone" is certainly more aesthetically appealing than the "Uniondale Long Island Drone." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 "L.A. Drone" is certainly more aesthetically appealing than the "Uniondale Long Island Drone." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadScreamingGallery Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 "From Bangkok, we flew to Bombay, where Jimmy and Robert had made arrangements to do some experimental recording. Jimmy had brought with him a Stellavox qaudriphonic field recorder that was several generations more sophisticated than anything the Indians had ever seen. The Stellavox had been custom-made to Jimmy's specifications in Switzerland, and it produced a higher quality sound than all of the eight-track studios in Bombay combined. Several of the Indian musicians offered to buy it, but it wasn't for sale. Bombay's top musicians, including members of the city's symphony orchestra, were invited to participate in the recording session. Robert, Jimmy, and their Indian colleagues recorded raga-style renditions of the some early Zeppelin songs, including "Friends" and "Four Sticks". There were never any plans to release these recordings, and when the overall quality of the sessions did not rise to Jimmy's perfectionist standards, there were no serious thoughts of changing those plans. Once we were back in England, Jimmy put the tapes from the Bombay recording sessions in storage at his house" (191-192 Cole, Stairway to Heaven). Some of this material surfaced on bootleg recordings in the late 80s and remains in circulation to this day. I have it on vinyl, but it has since been released many times on cd. Thanks. The mention of the "LA Drone" here and JP's working with Brian Jones in another thread reminded me of trance music (Moroccan, not Indian) and Burroughs' quote from his 1975 discussion with JP (later published in Crawdaddy): We talked about trance music. He had heard the Brian Jones record from recordings made at Joujouka. We discussed the possibility of synthesizing rock music with some of the older forms of trance music that have been developed over centuries to produce powerful, sometimes hypnotic effects on the audience. Such a synthesis would enable the older forms to escape from the mould of folk lore and provide new techniques to rock groups. I'm wondering now if Jimmy mentioned the "LA Drone" or his experiences in India to Burroughs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yupter Posted January 14, 2011 Author Share Posted January 14, 2011 Lots of possibilities to consider, but nothing definite. I'll keep my eye firmly on this thread though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorraine Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 i believe this is the australian version; performed in sydney, feb 1972: don't know if audio is from the live performance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jabe Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 LA Drone is conjuring up a vividly different mental image for me today. Think I'll give it a 'fresh' listen... it's been a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallas Knebs Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sagittarius Rising Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Wow, this is really silly. Going on and on about a minute long intro of basically nothing, just white noise. My wife likes to play stuff like this to go to sleep at night. After seeing two pages (no, I did not read them only saw that it made up two pages), I think I am going to harass my wife with a hour long Q & A about dryer lint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glyn Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 I love LA drone, I didn't know there was anything to discuss. It's always been quite obvious to me that it meant Los Angeles, being from a concert (or concerts) in the Los Angeles area. I'd love to hear the whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Duck Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 It's rather strange to identify Long Beach as LA even though it is part of LA County. I guess if they played in Escondido (San Diego County) the drone might have been called "SD Drone" or "San Diego Drone". ... Which, in that alternate universe, I'd still be making a thread about my confusion Perhaps it only seems strange to those who live in Los Angeles or Long Beach. I consider that whole area 'Greater Los Angeles'. Zep may have done so as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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