PLANTING SEEDS, TURNING NEW PAGES

[Cat]

PLANTING SEEDS, TURNING NEW PAGES; LED ZEPPELIN MAINSTAYS REGROUP FOR AN ALBUM THAT RECALLS A STORIED PAST AND FORESHADOWS A PROMISING FUTURE.

Sarasota Herald Tribune (May 15, 1998)

Here's the news on the reunion of Led Zeppelin's main men, guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant:

"Walking into Clarksdale," their first full studio collaboration in 18 years, is surprisingly vital, and indicative of a renewed partnership that may actually outlast the much-hyped tour of the faded '70s rock superstars.

Page and Plant, believe it or not, say the divorce is officially over. Perhaps disappointed by their most recent individual efforts, the two are back together and ready to explore misty mountains and Moroccan deserts.

"You mean are there going to be any more solo albums from either of us? The answer is no," Page told Guitar World magazine. "We're not solo anymore. We're a duo. It's the best way. We spark off each other in such a brilliant way.

"I'd missed Robert's voice and the working relationship we had, writing together," Page said. "He'd certainly missed my guitar and that very aspect of inspiring each another. It's really fortunate that we still have the ability to do that after all this time."

Plant added: "If anything, because we haven't worked together, we've got even more of a lust to create edgy material. And also our relationship was sorting itself out, and we were growing up. We were becoming big boys. So all these things have fueled a new career for us."

The album, a follow-up to their live 1994 "No Quarter: Unledded" MTV special, videocassette, CD and world tour, has the British metal warriors joining forces with alternative rock studio guru Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies, PJ Harvey, Bush) for a set that simultaneously evokes the old days and feels like the future.

Page and Plant, backed by "Unledded" mates Charlie Jones on bass and Michael Lee on drums, recombine their favorite elements - Middle Eastern textures, Celtic mysticism and thundering, refried blues - for a sound more than reminiscent of Zep, but less than derivative.

Syncopated percussion clicks signal the start of the first single, "Most High," which slides into Page's air-hanging guitar churh and Page's twisting vocals. The rhythm section kicks in, and swirling Arabic figures contribute to the psychedelic exoticism of the piece. The crunching and recycling title track includes a rhythmic reference to Bo Diddley and lyrics that nod to Mississippi Delta blues men. Page came to the sessions equipped with his own vision of the album.

"I always saw it as a collection of songs and moods that, hopefully, present a musical landscape," he told the magazine. " `Shining in the Light' (the opening track) is kind of the access point to this whole landscape, with high peaks and mountains and smoky valleys. It's an atmospheric record, really."

Plant initially hooked up with Page during 1968 for the group then known as the New Yardbirds. The singer and his drummer, John Bonham, joined forces with the guitarist and bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones for the quartet, rechristened Led Zeppelin following several Scandinavian and British concerts.

The group galvanized audiences for 12 years, turning in the air-guitar classic "Stairway to Heaven" and other nuggets of classic, bluesy metal and acoustic pieces along the way. High-school keggers in certain circles just were't complete without doeses of "Dazed and Confused," "Communication Breakdown," "Whole Lotta Love," "Immigrant Song," "Kashmir," "Black Dog," "Misty Mountain Hop," "Over the Hills and Far Away" or "Dancing Days."

Bonham's death in 1980 prompted the group's surviving members to stay away from each other, with the exception of a few reunion gigs (with Bonham's son, Jason, on drums), and appearances by Plant and Page on each other's solo albums.

The current reunion was prompted by the commercial and artistic success of the "Unledded" extravaganza.

"I think it (`Clarksdale') was a natural extension of the spirit we learned to conjure up," Page said. "We wrote some numbers in the initial stages of getting back together, and the conduit for that was the `No Quarter' project. After 14 years of not working together . . . we got together with some drum loops. And on the first day we came up with `Yallah' and `Wonderful One,' which were both on `No Quarter.' The chemistry was immediate."

[FireOpal]

"You mean are there going to be any more solo albums from either of us? The answer is no," Page told Guitar World magazine. "We're not solo anymore. We're a duo. It's the best way. We spark off each other in such a brilliant way.

What happened then, was there a falling out?

[stonefreelee]

What happened then, was there a falling out?

exactly, wtf...i thought that was a good album. i was grateful to have seen them in '95 and '98 and never understood why they stopped when they did...if it was explained in the press, I musta missed it...

[purdieshuffle]

i've heard that Robert was "disheartened" at the end of the 98 tour. Some say more about things he couldn't control than Page. Maybe Knebby will tell us the reason some day....