THE POP LIFE (Pictures at Eleven review)

[Cat]

New York Times Company Jul 7, 1982

by Robert Palmer

IN 1975, Led Zeppelin was the most successful rock group in the world. Their albums were gobbled up voraciously; ''Physical Graffiti,'' for example, sold 500 copies an hour. The death of the group's drummer, John Bonham, in 1980 effectively brought Led Zeppelin's career to an end. But the group lives on: albums released some years ago continue to sell, and ''Stairway to Heaven'' is still the most requested song on American FM radio.

Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin's lead vocalist, was co-author of ''Stairway to Heaven'' and most of the group's other hits with the guitarist Jimmy Page. A few weeks ago, Swan Song Records, Led Zeppelin's record label, released an album of Mr. Page's soundtrack music for the film ''Death Wish II.'' Now the label has released Mr. Plant's first solo album, ''Pictures at Eleven,'' and Mr. Plant was in town recently to promote it. One wondered how the front man for the most successful rock band of the last decade was dealing with the 1980's; the answer was that Mr. Plant is keeping busy, actively avoiding stagnation.

Stagnating would be easy for a man in Mr. Plant's position. He could probably live comfortably on record and songwriting royalties from the Led Zeppelin catalogue without having to work. ''But I'm not like that,'' Mr. Plant insisted. ''I'm always going out to somebody's gig, going for it, climbing the walls, thinking about getting up onstage. One thing I've been doing is recording rockabilly on a four-track tape machine. Then several months ago, I was asked to sing with a sort of pick-up rhythm-and-blues band called the Honey Drippers. Everybody in the band lived in the North of England, as I do. The guitarist was Robbie Blunt, a guy I played with years ago. We opened concerts for other bands, playing for maybe 500 people a night, and the fact that I was the singer wasn't really important. The audiences were kind enough to let us get on and just rock, without perpetually shouting for 'Stairway to Heaven.' But the band had built-in limitations; it's great to play Albert King, Otis Rush, Gene Vincent, but that's going back. You have to go forward, too. So I sat down with Robbie, who's been with Chicken Shack, Silverhead, the Steve Gibbons Band, groups that never quite gave him the opportunity to open up. We started working on writing new songs, using the little four-track recorder, and slowly but very steadily the music developed.''

Mr. Plant says the album that resulted from this process, ''Pictures at Eleven,'' ''is more a showcase for Robbie Blunt than it is for me.'' And Mr. Blunt's precise, carefully detailed and often intricately delicate playing, the very antithesis of Jimmy Page's fire and brimstone approach with Led Zeppelin, does give the album a distinctive and appealing sound. But the work of Jess Woodroffe, a synthesizer player that Mr. Plant met in a music store, also lends it distinction and depth.

At the end of one song, ''Slow Dancer,'' the synthesizers and Mr. Plant's voice conspire to create an atmospheric remembrance of the Egyptian singer Oum Khalfoum, whose recordings Mr. Plant listened to incessantly earlier this year while traveling in the Sahara. The contributions of these players, and a tight rhythm section, focus Mr. Plant's vocal efforts on the material, making ''Pictures at Eleven'' very much an album of songs rather than a star turn.

''The musicians who were involved in the project are very unaffected,'' Mr. Plant reported. ''They're not suffering from any kind of psychological dependence on fame and fortune. So we're going on. Already, since we finished this album, we've recorded five more songs for the next one. Maybe with a second album out, we'll tour.'' And what about the chances of a Led Zeppelin reunion, with Mr. Plant, Mr. Page, and the bassist John Paul Jones, the three surviving members? ''That would be idiotic and heartless,'' Mr. Plant asserted, ''so obviously it won't happen. But I'm sure that Jimmy and I, at least, are bound to cross paths again somewhere down the line.''

[SteveAJones]

Awesome, Cat! I've been looking for this one.

I believe the title of the original article is "Led Zeppelin Gone, Group Lives On".

[Knebby]

Something has been lost in translation there - Robert would never describe himself or those musicians as living in the "North of England" - they were all from the West Midlands.

[SteveAJones]

Something has been lost in translation there - Robert would never describe himself or those musicians as living in the "North of England" - they were all from the West Midlands.

He may well have tailored his remarks for the audience as generally speaking, Americans

don't identify with a "midlands". Historically (at least until settlement of the Wild West)

they've identified (and at one point divided) themselves as Northerners or Southerners.

[Knebby]

He may well have tailored his remarks for the audience as generally speaking, Americans

don't identify with a "midlands". Historically (at least until settlement of the Wild West)

they've identified (and at one point divided) themselves as Northerners or Southerners.

To a point, I see what you are saying, (like him saying "soccer" instead of football)- but Robert would NOT have described himself as being from "The North of England" - he just wouldn't.

Also, if England had to be divided to make Americans understand as you suggest, his home would fall in the Southern half.

[ally]

To a point, I see what you are saying, (like him saying "soccer" instead of football)- but Robert would NOT have described himself as being from "The North of England" - he just wouldn't.

Also, if England had to be divided to make Americans understand as you suggest, his home would fall in the Southern half.

He may well have meant North as in north of London.

[Knebby]

He may well have meant North as in north of London.

Oh Ok . I forgot it is not permitted for me to be right on this forum these days.

People in the UK do NOT use "North of London" as a benchmark for claiming to live in the North of England.

[ally]

Oh Ok . I forgot it is not permitted for me to be right on this forum these days.

People in the UK do NOT use "North of London" as a benchmark for claiming to live in the North of England.

Where did that come from ? I was only suggesting a possibility.

[ledded1]

I live in the midlands about 40 miles north of Robert but in no way would I call lmyself a northerner. However southerners class anything north of watford gap as being in the north.

Knebby you are much farther north than me but I bet you wouldn't call yourself as a mere northerner living over there in the north east.

Those soft southern bastards don't really know where north is anyway

[ally]

I live in the midlands about 40 miles north of Robert but in no way would I call lmyself a northerner. However southerners class anything north of watford gap as being in the north.

Knebby you are much farther north than me but I bet you wouldn't call yourself as a mere northerner living over there in the north east.

Those soft southern bastards don't really know where north is anyway

Fuck, thanks for that. Most people in North America think anything above London is NORTH

[Knebby]

I live in the midlands about 40 miles north of Robert but in no way would I call lmyself a northerner. However southerners class anything north of watford gap as being in the north.

Knebby you are much farther north than me but I bet you wouldn't call yourself as a mere northerner living over there in the north east.

Those soft southern bastards don't really know where north is anyway

Shandy drinkers.

Being an exiled North-Easterner can be tough.

[Knebby]

Just an illustration - Robert and his Honeydrippers band mates live near where it says "Shropshire" on this map.

[ally]

Just an illustration - Robert and his Honeydrippers band mates live near where it says "Shropshire" on this map.

Well, thanks for that. Being an ex pat, I'm glad for the geography lesson.

[ledded1]

Shandy drinkers.

Being an exiled North-Easterner can be tough.

Well how much of a soft southern bastard have you become?

Weak expensive beer down sarf

I am about 15 miles from the Shropshire border. So a midlander through and through. But for soft southerners I am a hard northerner.

[Knebby]

Well, thanks for that. Being an ex pat, I'm glad for the geography lesson.

It was more for others who might not understand the Geography of the UK ally. I'm not totally familar with all the places in North America either.

Oh and ledded - nowt soft about me mate!

[ally]

It was more for others who might not understand the Geography of the UK ally. I'm not totally familar with all the places in North America either.

Oh and ledded - nowt soft about me mate!

[ledded1]

It was more for others who might not understand the Geography of the UK ally. I'm not totally familar with all the places in North America either.

Oh and ledded - nowt soft about me mate!

Oh I know pet

[ally]

Oh I know pet

I must say that I'm extremely jealous. I watched Unledded again and I'm sure I saw Knebby in there waving at me ledded!, not you

[Knebby]

I was waving at Samo. He was behind the orchestra waving a CD.

[ally]

I was waving at Samo. He was behind the orchestra waving a CD.

Sure, break my heart