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What are yer thoughts on JPJ's backing vocals on "Battle Of Evermore" (in 1977)?


Nutrocker

JPJ's backing vocals on "Battle Of Evermore"  

55 members have voted

  1. 1. What do you think of them?

    • I like 'em!
    • I don't like them, but I can live with them.
    • Can't stand 'em!
    • They should have got somebody else...


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As anybody who's heard recordings of the 1977 tour knows, John Paul Jones (aided on some dates by John Bonham) sang the Sandy Denny sections of "Battle Of Evermore". It seems to be a somewhat controversial choice... :lol:

What are yer thoughts on Jonesy's vocals? Like 'em, hate 'em, indifferent? They shoulda got somebody else? (an option I've heard a few times over the years- but in that case, who?)

Cast yer vote...

(FWIW I seem to flip between 'I can live with them' and 'they shoulda got somebody else'...I'm not sure anybody could do justice to SD's original vocal on the studio track, but any port in a storm, as they say)

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Er...

Well they were better than no backing vocals at all.

This is true :lol:

This poll is actually a spinoff of a question I raised in the ongoing discussion of the new May 25/30 '77 Landover soundboards, where John Bonham can also be heard singing along...

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If they could do it all over again, i think it would have been cool to have a female singer (either known or not) in each town sing with them on that one. Logistically it may have been a pain but it could have been done with a couple of talent scouts out across the land......JPJ, God love him, stinks, and that is no fault of his own. Sandy Denny left some pretty big shoes to fill.

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I had never heard the shows with both JPJ and JB singing on "Battle of Evermore". I think it's worse than JPJ alone!

I like listening to the shows, e.g. Destroyer where it's just JPJ singing the responses. For me it's not good, but funny and cute.

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"This song reflects...an evening in England, some 700 years ago." That's how Rob introduced BoE on Destroyer, and I always imagined it that way...around a campfire, of course. With that in mind, I think Jonesy's less-than-perfect vocals somehow become appropriate...adding a nice English touch to the proceedings (some nights were better than others, though).

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Hey, thanks for using my video as the example! :)

Had to use somebody's, bam, and yer's was the best example!

When there is no one else good old Jonesy will do it!

John Paul Jones has actually said as much.

"This song reflects...an evening in England, some 700 years ago." That's how Rob introduced BoE on Destroyer, and I always imagined it that way...around a campfire, of course. With that in mind, I think Jonesy's less-than-perfect vocals somehow become appropriate...adding a nice English touch to the proceedings (some nights were better than others, though).

Ever heard any Fairport Convention (Sandy Denny's old band)? Quintessential British Folk-Rock.

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I had never heard the shows with both JPJ and JB singing on "Battle of Evermore". I think it's worse than JPJ alone!

I like listening to the shows, e.g. Destroyer where it's just JPJ singing the responses. For me it's not good, but funny and cute.

I thought that was Jimmy signing with JPJ.

Anyway, good or bad, there was something cute about it. It was actually quite charming.

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i can't understand why they didn't get a female singer to tour with them. they were huge stars at the time, and i am sure any number of young up and coming singers would have done it at the drop of a hat.

Nevermind up and coming, I reckon somebody like Joni Mitchell or Stevie Nicks would have done well (to name but two suggestions for the part I've heard thrown about over the years)

But yer right, slave, I'm sure it would have been easy to find a female singer -even a variety of them- to sing the Sandy Denny part. For that matter, I believe Ms Denny herself was still alive in '77- why not just ask her?

Compare with the different female singers The Rolling Stones had to sing the female parts in "Gimmie Shelter" during their recent 50th Anniversary concerts (not that I'd want to hear, say, Lady Gaga singing "Battle Of Evermore" :blink: )

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Nevermind up and coming, I reckon somebody like Joni Mitchell or Stevie Nicks would have done well (to name but two suggestions for the part I've heard thrown about over the years)

But yer right, slave, I'm sure it would have been easy to find a female singer -even a variety of them- to sing the Sandy Denny part. For that matter, I believe Ms Denny herself was still alive in '77- why not just ask her?

Compare with the different female singers The Rolling Stones had to sing the female parts in "Gimmie Shelter" during their recent 50th Anniversary concerts (not that I'd want to hear, say, Lady Gaga singing "Battle Of Evermore" :blink: )

i think it would have been better to get an unknown singe/singers to do the whole tours with them. someone like stevie nicks ( i love her, btw ), would have been wanting to put their own stamp on the song, and probably not want to tour and only do the one song. even 2 or 3 songs wouldn't be enough.

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i can't understand why they didn't get a female singer to tour with them. they were huge stars at the time, and i am sure any number of young up and coming singers would have done it at the drop of a hat.

Why would they get a female singer to tour with them, for one or two songs (that applies to the recordings) ? Makes no sense to do that......

Battle of Evermore is the only Zep song with a female backing vocalist. Wouldn't that be a waste of time, energy and money? Who would really care.

It would have also totally changed the dynamic of the band onstage and what they were about in the first place (if the person was used in a variety of songs other than Evermore) ..making them more of a "vocal harmonizing act"...See Krauss and Plant, Fleetwood Mac, Journey, Styx, Three Dog Night, Supertramp, etc for info.

Thank God they didn't do that. It wouldn't be Led Zeppelin

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Why would they get a female singer to tour with them, for one or two songs (that applies to the recordings) ? Makes no sense to do that......

Battle of Evermore is the only Zep song with a female backing vocalist. Wouldn't that be a waste of time, energy and money? Who would really care.

It would have also totally changed the dynamic of the band onstage and what they were about in the first place (if the person was used in a variety of songs other than Evermore) ..making them more of a "vocal harmonizing act"...See Krauss and Plant, Fleetwood Mac, Journey, Styx, Three Dog Night, Supertramp, etc for info.

Thank God they didn't do that. It wouldn't be Led Zeppelin

as i said before, i think any number of unknown singers would be more than happy to tour and only sing the one song! that is why i also said a famous singer would not be interested in doing it.

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