On This Day 26 April

Led Zeppelin played day two of a two day engagement at Winterland on 26 April 1969.

1969 26 April Led Zeppelin at Winterland

• 1968 Yardbirds - Cincinnati Convention Center, Cincinnati OH
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
• 1985 The Firm - Joe Louis Arena, Detroit MI
• 1995 Page & Plant - Market Square Arena, Indianapolis IN

Theremin

According to Dave Lewis' Led Zeppelin: The Concert File (a book every Zep fan should have) this show was Led Zeppelin's biggest of their career to date. Jimmy Page was now using the Theremin during Dazed and Confused.

The Theremin was invented by Léon Theremin. An electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact, two metal antennas sense the relative position of the musician's hands and send electronic signals to an amplifier based on the position of the hands. The distance from the antenna determines frequency (pitch) and amplitude (volume). Higher notes are played by moving the hand closer to the pitch antenna. Louder notes are played by moving the hand away from the volume antenna.

Because of the way the Thermin is played, the musician must actively control the rests (space between the notes) as well as the notes themselves.  The Theremin is an instrument well suited for a musician like Jimmy Page who has always been concerned with visual arts as well as musical, and who understands the value of light and shade.

Jimmy Page plays Theremin 1975 03 February MSG 

Lev Termen (Léon Theremin) demonstrating Termenvox, c. December 1927

On This Day 25 April

Jimmy Page recorded the video portion of These Arms of Mine with Paul Rogers on April 25 1985.

1983 25 April These Arms Of Mine recorded

• 1968 Yardbirds - WUAB-TV Studios, Cleveland OH
• 1968 Yardbirds - Cleveland Palace Theater, Cleveland OH
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco CA
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Freedom Hall Kentucky Fairgrounds & Expo, Louisville KY
• 1985 Willie & The Poor Boys -- album released
• 1986 The Firm - U.N.O. Lakefront Arena, New Orleans LA 
• 1995 Page & Plant - Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati OH

1983 [2020 edit]

It's complicated.  The first ARMS benefit took place at the Royal Albert Hall on September 20 of 1983.  Later, Bill Wyman asked Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers to contribute to a couple of the songs for the Willie & The Poor Boys album.

The audio recordings were done two weeks in November 1984, and one week in early January 1985 at Jimmy's studio, The Sol, in January 1985.  All records for the album show a release date in the UK on this day in 1985 and in the US two days earlier.

According to Wyman's website, the video was filmed afterwards, on June 24, 1985 at Fulham Town Hall . 

 
The band, Willie and the Poor Boys, is not to be confused with Willy & The Poor Boys, a 1970 album by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The Willie and the Poor Boys band was a side project of Bill Wyman's, formed in November 1974. Mr. Wyman explained to Dave Letterman on August 1985 "When we were at school, they used to call me little Willie. I never quite worked that one out, I didn't understand - it looked alright to me, you know..."



♪ Yardbirds (Cleveland Palace Theater, Cleveland OH, 1968 - audience recording, poor quality)YouTube

♪ 1977 Led Zeppelin (Freedom Hall Kentucky Fairgrounds & Expo, Louisville KY) YouTube

♪ These Arms of Mine YouTube

On This Day 24 April

Today was the first day of a four day run of Led Zeppelin concerts in San Francisco in 1969: this day and the last at Fillmore West, and the two middle days at Winterland.

1969 24 April Led Zeppelin at Fillmore West

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Fillmore West, San Francisco
• 1985 The Firm - Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, IL

1969

By April of 1969 Led Zeppelin had come a long way since half a year before at their first ever concert in Denmark (as the Yardbirds). They were already the Real Deal, and San Francisco knew it.  The opening medley of the show demonstrates how tight they were, even when jamming. 

This particular show had equipment problems that Robert Plant refers to in his chats between songs.  

Ah, we seem to always have this cock up every time we come here. This is the second time we've been here. Good evening from Led Zeppelin. Let's see if we can get it ... all. No cock ups now.
~ Robert Plant lead-in to The Killing Floor

♪  The Killing Floor YouTube

Artist Randy Tuten, who did the avocado poster, was one of the original San Francisco psychedelic rock poster artists.  He began producing posters for Bill Graham's organization in 1969.

The first Led Zeppelin concert poster he did featured a car on it. The next was an update of an avocado art piece he created in college.  After then Tuten began to use the blimp in his Led Zeppelin posters.

♪  Led Zeppelin (Fillmore West, San Francisco 1969) YouTube

On This Day 23 April

On April 23 1969 Joe Cocker's album With a Little Help from My Friends was released

Jimmy Page guitar on Joe Cocker's 1969 album, With a Little Help from My Friends

• 1969 Jimmy Page - release of Joe Cocker album feat. Jimmy Page, guitar
• 1970 Jimmy Page - JulieFelix Show BBC TV Studios, Lime Grove, London 
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - The Omni, Atlanta GA
• 1985 The Firm - Metropolitan Sports Center, Bloomington MN
• 1986 The Firm - The Omni, Atlanta GA

1969
In the brief time after the Yardbirds and before Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page did a little session work, including this first studio album of Joe Cocker's. What's interesting in this particular song is how his approach to this kind of work had changed since the early days. A proper session musician didn't (and still doesn't) steal the show from the main attraction, and in this song, of course, the main attraction is the vocalist and the lyrics.

Even so, in With a Little Help from My Friends you can hear that guitar, can't you. While Jimmy Page never lets himself out, while there are soaring riffs, the pure tone and perfectly positioned support has a presence all its own. You know Jimmy Page has totally got this.

Joe Cocker died December 2014, singing practically to the end. He was a wild man back in the day and was always hard for me to watch - he let the music take him so fully that he looked like he was having seizures - but his gritty voice was well suited to the rock, blues and soul that I loved him for. Some of his Beatles covers are better than the original, if you ask me, and of course, there's a bunch of soundtracks with Joe Cocker singing the songs that help make the movies the box office hits they were.

He [Cocker] was a lovely northern lad who I loved a lot and, like many people, I loved his singing. I was especially pleased when he decided to cover "With a Little Help from My Friends" and I remember him and (producer) Denny Cordell coming round to the studio in Savile Row and playing me what they'd recorded and it was just mind-blowing, totally turned the song into a soul anthem and I was forever grateful to him for doing that."

~ Paul McCartney on Joe Cocker's death

1970
Julie Felix is an American born, British-based folk recording artist and show host.  During her singing career she performed at Royal Albert Hall, among other venues.  In 1966 Felix became the resident singer for a BBC television show and hosted her own shows for the BBC from 1968 to 1970. Felix currently lives in England, and is still recording and performing

♪

♪  With A Little Help From My Friends (Joe Cocker, playlist of tracks featuring Jimmy Page, 1969) YouTube

♪  White Summer (Jimmy Page, Julie Felix Show BBC 1970) YouTube

♪  Led Zeppelin (The Omni, Atlanta GA 1977) YouTube

Rumors and damn lies

I thought that Diply (or Dipsh*t) guy or whoever he is took the name-dropping pretty far. You know, the selfie with the enigmatic comment (what was it? "Collab soon"?) It was not explicitly stated who Diplo might be working with in the future but there was Robert Plant right there with him in the photo giving weight to the implication. It wasn't quite false advertising. But the intent to deceive was there even if disguised as "self-promo".  Clever but... ish.

Now Field Day 2015 is doing the same thing with Jimmy Page. "Earlier this year, festival organisers decided to ask Run the Jewels to join forces with guitar great Jimmy Page this June. Shortly after spotting the three together backstage at the NME Awards, they deemed one photo enough reason to stir a potential collaboration."

Run the Jewels?  No.  Just... no.

So of course it'll be all over social media that Jimmy Page will be there, and the attendance will be boosted tremendously, as will Run the Jewel's popularity -- just for stating something they wish would be true.

Geez, I sure don't want to have to wade through even more of this stuff, on top of all the rest of the innuendo and rumor out there. Because, you know, intent. The law takes it seriously  It's the difference between, for instance, accident and murder. 

Real fans take the difference between Jimmy Page and not Jimmy Page pretty seriously, too.  I hope the organizers of the festival understand how seriously we take it.

On This Day 22 April

In 1960 (or was it 1961?) Jimmy Page persuaded Chris Farlowe and The Thunderbirds to record at RG Jones - a demo Studio in Putney.

In 2019 On This Day says the Farlowe studio session was in 1961

1960 Jimmy Page at RG Jones Studio with Chris Farlowe

• 1961 Jimmy Page - produces Chris Farlowe's Money
• 1985 The Firm, Market Square Arena, Indianapolis IN

1961

R.G. Jones is one of the longest running studios in Britain.  The facility was located at Morden Manor when Jimmy Page was there with Chris Farlowe (it was moved to Wimbledon in 1969 where it operated until 2001). The studio produced demo records for the Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, David Bowie, Springfields, Englebert Humperdink, Tom Jones, the Bee Gees and others.

Jimmy Page's On This Day says the studio session happened in 1960 and in 1961, depending on which On This Day you are looking at.  However, let's go with 1961.  Page, at that point 17 years old, would go on to work for Immediate Records for several years as the label's in-house producer.

Chris Farlowe sang on three tracks from Jimmy Page's Death Wish II soundtrack (1982), as well as Hummingbird, Prison Blues and Blues Anthem on Page's album Outrider (1988).

Farlowe is considered by some to be one of the most underrated British soul & blues influenced singers ever.  I consider Outrider to be one of the most underrated albums ever.  


♪ Money (Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds 1960 or 1961) YouTube
♪ Hypnotizing Ways (Oh Mamma) (Death Wish II 1982 YouTube 
♪ Prison Blues (Outrider 1988 YouTube 

On This Day 21 April

Jimmy Page & Robert Plant released Walking into Clarksdale on this day in 1998.

1988 21 April - Page/Plant Walking into Clarksdale released

• 1968 Yardbirds - Le Scene, Indianapolis IN
• 1973 Musical Express Interview  Jimmy Page: The Mild Barbarian [TEXT]
• 1985 The Firm - Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OH
• 1998 Page & Plant - Walking Into Clarksdale release

1998
Clarksdale is a town in the Mississippi Delta, one of the seats of Delta blues music.Walking into Clarksdale took 35 days to record. The album was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini. Most High was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1999.

Japanese bonus track Whiskey from the Glass - Jimmy Page referred to this as "most atmospheric". I have to agree!

♪ YouTube 

♪ Soundcloud 

Most High and Shining in the Light were released as singles, with a music video for the former. Most High was also featured as a CD single with the b-sides Upon a Golden Horse and The Window.

♪ Most High YouTube

♪ Shining in the Light YouTube

1973 21 April Musical Express cover

1973 21 April Musical Express article

1973 21 April Musical Express interview photo

1973 21 April Musical Express interview photo