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23 minutes ago, hummingbird69 said:

I was at that show but I didn't see anything like that and I seriously doubt he would, after all, it was Jimmy's baby and nobody was there to see Paul.

I'm not arguing with you backstage or elsewhere, but The Firm was very much a partnership and it's unfair to say nobody was there to see Paul. Paul STILL sells out venues as a solo act, something Jimmy struggled to do during his short-lived solo career.

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I know a couple of folk who went to see the Firm because of Paul Rodgers, not because of jimmy. it worked the other way for me; I stayed away from them because of him. I haven't liked anything he's done since the first two bad company albums

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3 hours ago, hummingbird69 said:

I was at that show but I didn't see anything like that and I seriously doubt he would, after all, it was Jimmy's baby and nobody was there to see Paul.

Trust me.. I had a birds eye view and saw it clear as day.

They played The Worcestor Centrum 2 nights May 7 and 8 1985  

Edited by the chase
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One of my fave Firm stories from Jimmys tech Tim Marten:

Paul was bitching about them taking too much time between songs, and gained the nickname “Prickly”

during the next show, as Marten approached Jimmy with his guitar between songs, he said Jimmy would hop backwards away from him yelling “ Quickly for Prickly !” 

Haha that’s classic Jimmy !

 

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3 hours ago, the chase said:

Trust me.. I had a birds eye view and saw it clear as day.

They played The Worcestor Centrum 2 nights May 7 and 8 1985  

Meh. I don't buy it. I highly doubt anyone including Paul Rodgers would have the audacity to tell Jimmy Page to "wrap It up".  Unless you can come up with a verifiable form of proof by way of comments made by Paul that he had to tell Jimmy to wrap it up a few times, then I really don't think it happened like you think it did.

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57 minutes ago, bluecongo said:

One of my fave Firm stories from Jimmys tech Tim Marten:

Paul was bitching about them taking too much time between songs, and gained the nickname “Prickly”

during the next show, as Marten approached Jimmy with his guitar between songs, he said Jimmy would hop backwards away from him yelling “ Quickly for Prickly !” 

Haha that’s classic Jimmy !

 

There are a few instances on video where you can clearly see that Jimmy was fed up with the stagehands.

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7 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

I'm not arguing with you backstage or elsewhere, but The Firm was very much a partnership and it's unfair to say nobody was there to see Paul. Paul STILL sells out venues as a solo act, something Jimmy struggled to do during his short-lived solo career.

I happen to like the Firm. I enjoyed those records immensely but it wasn't because I had a liking for Paul's voice. In fact, I never thought they were a great fit. they seemed to be shoehorned together but I found Jimmy's playing to be quite enjoyable. 

At the concerts, Jimmy always got a much bigger crowd response when introduced.  I can't prove it, but, I think if you did an exit poll after each show you'd find out that Jimmy was the bigger draw.

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5 hours ago, bluecongo said:

One of my fave Firm stories from Jimmys tech Tim Marten:

Paul was bitching about them taking too much time between songs, and gained the nickname “Prickly”

during the next show, as Marten approached Jimmy with his guitar between songs, he said Jimmy would hop backwards away from him yelling “ Quickly for Prickly !” 

Haha that’s classic Jimmy !

After disbanding, Jimmy said "touring with Paul was like touring with my Grandmother". Apparently Paul's early to bed, early to rise routine was the polar opposite of Jimmy's.

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4 hours ago, hummingbird69 said:

At the concerts, Jimmy always got a much bigger crowd response when introduced.  I can't prove it, but, I think if you did an exit poll after each show you'd find out that Jimmy was the bigger draw.

Oh, sure. I was there also. 

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Well perhaps everyone knows this anyway, but Paul wrote/came up with a number of guitar parts/arrangements on the first

Firm album. WTF !?!? Well, Jimmy may have still been in guitar rehab, or Paul's pushy and unyielding personality may have

been at the forefront. Not sure if the Firm was Jimmy's Baby. I saw 5 shows in the NYC Metropolitan Area. I had great seats

for all shows. Anyway, at least two shows( one in 85', one in 86') Jimmy showed little enthusiasm in the music, barely moved onstage, and looked bloated and drunk. Only smiles at the encores( Les Paul back !!). Jimmy had to get playing

again, even if he realized there would be huge compromises involved. To be fair, I do have 5 or 6 Firm video boots, and Jimmy is enthusiastic and frankly playing some amazing solos with his B-Bender Telecaster..

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3 hours ago, Mithril46 said:

Well perhaps everyone knows this anyway, but Paul wrote/came up with a number of guitar parts/arrangements on the first Firm album. WTF !?!? Well, Jimmy may have still been in guitar rehab, or Paul's pushy and unyielding personality may have been at the forefront. Not sure if the Firm was Jimmy's Baby. 

Unlike Led Zeppelin, which was clearly Page conceived and designed, The Firm was merely a vehicle within which he could return to playing live rock. Paul's initial influence was arguably greater because he had already gotten his solo career off the ground, so he wasn't struggling to reinvent himself in the same way that Page was. He wasn't coked up, either.  

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3 hours ago, Mithril46 said:

Well perhaps everyone knows this anyway, but Paul wrote/came up with a number of guitar parts/arrangements on the first

Firm album. WTF !?!? Well, Jimmy may have still been in guitar rehab, or Paul's pushy and unyielding personality may have

been at the forefront. Not sure if the Firm was Jimmy's Baby. I saw 5 shows in the NYC Metropolitan Area. I had great seats

for all shows. Anyway, at least two shows( one in 85', one in 86') Jimmy showed little enthusiasm in the music, barely moved onstage, and looked bloated and drunk. Only smiles at the encores( Les Paul back !!). Jimmy had to get playing

again, even if he realized there would be huge compromises involved. To be fair, I do have 5 or 6 Firm video boots, and Jimmy is enthusiastic and frankly playing some amazing solos with his B-Bender Telecaster..

Not quite sure what you are getting at with your first few sentences. Are singers just supposed to sing, guitar players only play and write guitar arrangements? Just because Rogers wrote some guitar parts does not mean Jimmy was asleep behind the wheel.

I too saw the Firm, in Phoenix March 12th 1985 and they put on one hell of a show. Jimmy was playing very well and I remember it was about the year before that rumours of Jimmy's playing ability were starting to go around, mostly due to the boot for Aug 11th 1979 gig. This plus his showing at some of the ARMS shows had many people, including me, worried. When the band played and Jimmy was soloing very well and playing with both passion and precision, everyone knew Jimmy was back! I looked at my friend Bob and said what Jimmy was doing with the b-Bender was groundbreaking, no one had been doing that with the b-Bender TMK and his playing was simply beautiful.

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10 hours ago, hummingbird69 said:

Meh. I don't buy it. I highly doubt anyone including Paul Rodgers would have the audacity to tell Jimmy Page to "wrap It up".  Unless you can come up with a verifiable form of proof by way of comments made by Paul that he had to tell Jimmy to wrap it up a few times, then I really don't think it happened like you think it did.

Hell, Robert "wrapped him up" on the STH solo to a million people, Live Aid '85 🤣

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1 hour ago, SteveAJones said:

Unlike Led Zeppelin, which was clearly Page conceived and designed, The Firm was merely a vehicle within which he could return to playing live rock. Paul's initial influence was arguably greater because he had already gotten his solo career off the ground, so he wasn't struggling to reinvent himself in the same way that Page was. He wasn't coked up, either.  

Good point.  I've heard Paul claim writing Radioactive including the guitar solo itself in random interview (sorry no source, I'm sure others have heard this too).  Page was pretty out of it in this era.

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19 hours ago, hummingbird69 said:

Meh. I don't buy it. I highly doubt anyone including Paul Rodgers would have the audacity to tell Jimmy Page to "wrap It up".  Unless you can come up with a verifiable form of proof by way of comments made by Paul that he had to tell Jimmy to wrap it up a few times, then I really don't think it happened like you think it did.

That’s fine. You don’t have to buy it.  I said what it looked like to ME. Maybe Paul nudged Jimmy with his mic stand to tell him his shoe was untied.. I’ll agree it is open to interpretation. 

But it did happen.

Edited by the chase
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On 4/29/2019 at 7:15 AM, SteveAJones said:

I invite you to read my post. I really have nothing further to say about it.

I read your post, and it doesn't say how you know. That's why I asked you, "How do you know?"

But I haven't gotten an answer, which suggests that there isn't a good answer, and I'm fine leaving it at that.

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Don't know what happened But Paul Rodgers had a reputation going back quite a ways of being pushy, unable to see someone else's viewpoint, etc. When Jimmy told Peter Grant he was putting together a band with Paul Rodgers, Grant

replied something like "Oh, not him, you know what he's like". And Rodgers did come up/ write some of the songs on the

first Firm album, some guitar riffs/patterns as well.I have a bunch of non NY area shows where Page plays great on

his B-Bender Tele and has created a new style, no Zep licks to be heard. But in NY 85'-86' Firm tours, Jimmy was just there..........not sloppy,, but since I was close, He really looked most of the time not too happy.

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  • 3 years later...
39 minutes ago, Skipper Genery said:

I read an Article with Page saying that He and Paul agreed to do TWO ALBUMS and then call it quits. It was ALL Pre-Arranged.

Thought I remembered reading that too about The Firm. But it wasn't an argument, was it? Welcome Skpper Genery. We do have a Firm thread in progress here and there are a few others throughout our forum:

 

Edited by luvlz2
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