Monday, August 24, 2015

On This Day 24 August

Any requests?
2008 24 August Jimmy Page with Leona Lewis - Beijing, China Summer Olympics closing ceremony

  • 1967 The Yardbirds - Nantasket Beach Hull, MA at The Surf Club
  • 1969 Led Zeppelin - Jacksonville, FL at Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum
  • 1971 Led Zeppelin - Dallas, TX at Dallas Memorial Coliseum
  • 1994 Page & Plant – London, England at London Television Centre for band rehearsals with cameras in studio
  • 2008 Jimmy Page with Leona Lewis - Beijing, China Summer Olympics closing ceremony 

Whole lotta history
Led Zeppelin began using Whole Lotta Love in their setlists before the official release of the song on their second album, Led Zeppelin II, in October 1969. It was performed by the band and by Led Zeppelin's surviving members after John Bonham's death hundreds of times, and no wonder: The magick had been brewing in Jimmy Page's head before the members of Led Zeppelin stepped on the stage together for the first time.
I came up with the guitar riff for “Whole Lotta Love” in the summer of ’68, on my houseboat along the Thames in Pangbourne, England. I suppose my early love for big intros by rockabilly guitarists was an inspiration, but as soon as I developed the riff, I knew it was strong enough to drive the entire song, not just open it. When I played the riff for the band in my living room several weeks later during rehearsals for our first album, the excitement was immediate and collective. We felt the riff was addictive, like a forbidden thing.
~ Jimmy Page, interview by Mark Myers for The Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2014
Like Stairway to Heaven, Whole Lotta Love was the subject of a lawsuit for music theft from Willie Dixon. The claim lies in the lyrics, though, not the guitar riffs. The lawsuit was settled out of court in 1985.
“Page’s riff was Page’s riff. It was there before anything else. I just thought, ‘well, what am I going to sing?’ That was it, a nick. Now happily paid for. At the time, there was a lot of conversation about what to do. It was decided that it was so far away in time and influence that… well, you only get caught when you’re successful. That’s the game.”
~ Robert Plant, as quoted by Charles M. Young,  "Robert Plant's manic persona". Musician (Amordian Press) 1990
At the 2008 Olympic performance, lyrics were changed from "every inch of my love" to "every bit of my love," which makes sense for a female singer and a mixed audience venue, even if the new words don't quite measure up to the power of the song.  

2008 Jimmy Page - Beijing, China Summer Olympics closing ceremony

2008 Jimmy Page with Leona Lewis - Beijing, China Summer Olympics closing ceremony

2008 David Beckham, Leona Lewis and Jimmy Page - Beijing, China Summer Olympics

2008 Jimmy Page  - Beijing, China Summer Olympics (Ross Halfin Photo


♪  Whole Lotta Love over the years  ♪

♪ Whole Lotta Love (Jimmy Page with Leona Lewis, Beijing Olympics 2008) YouTube
♪ Whole Lotta Love / Rough Mix With Vocal (Led Zeppelin, Official Music Video 2015 remaster) YouTube








Sunday, August 23, 2015

On This Day 23 August

All in a day's work
1966 23 August On This Day The Yardbirds - Avalon, CA at Catalina Casino Ballroom

  • 1966 The Yardbirds - Avalon, CA at Catalina Casino Ballroom
  • 1969 Led Zeppelin - Dania, Fl at Pirates' World
  • 1970 Led Zeppelin – San Antonio, TX at HemisFair Arena
  • 1971 Led Zeppelin - Fort Worth, TX at Tarrant County Convention Center 
  • 1994 Page & Plant – London, England at London Television Centre for band rehearsals with cameras in studio
  • 1998 Page & Plant -  Cologne, Germany- Bizarre Festival
  • 2008 Jimmy Page with Leona Lewis - Beijing, China National Stadium, Olympic rehearsal
Jimmy Page's experience as a session man made him ready and able to perform under all kinds of circumstances: using borrowed equipment, dodging firecrackers, playing on a rotating stage or one that was being demolished by fans or while standing on a rising industrial scissors lift. Somehow I doubt he gave much thought to these sorts of things when he first laid hands on a guitar.


1966 Yardbirds at Catalena (Chuck Boyd photo)

1966 Jimmy Page/Yardbirds at Catalena (Chuck Boyd photo)

1966 Jimmy Page/Yardbirds at Catalena (Chuck Boyd photo)

1966 Jimmy Page/Yardbirds at Catalena (Chuck Boyd photo)

2008 Jimmy Page at Beijing Olympics rehearsal (Ross Halfin photo)



♪  Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin, Fort Worth 1971) YouTube
♪  Whole Lotta Love Medley (Led Zeppelin, Fort Worth 1971) YouTube
♪  No Quarter (Page & Plant, Bizarre Festival 1998) YouTube
♪  Spoonful/Whole Lotta Love (Page & Plant, Bizarre Festival 1998) YouTube
♪  Most High (Page & Plant, Bizarre Festival 1998) YouTube



Saturday, August 22, 2015

On This Day 22 August

1969 22 August On This Day Led Zeppelin - Dania, FL at Pirates' World
♪ Keep a Knocking (Little Richard) Soundcloud

  • 1966 The Yardbirds - Malibu, CA - Dick Clark's TV Show Where The Action Is
  • 1969 Led Zeppelin - Dania, FL at Pirates' World
  • 1970 Led Zeppelin - Fort Worth, TX at Tarrant County Arena
  • 1971 Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
  • 1994 Page & Plant Unledded project - at London Studios setting up studio shoot and also orchestra rehearsals
I've never been into Elvis Presley's music. My stacks of 45 RPM discs were all Motown back in the day and those musical preferences haven't changed in all those years. Give me Little Richard, not Elvis. But give me Led Zeppelin before any other.   

1971 JimmyPage/Led Zeppelin - LA Forum (photo H Mylett collection)

2014 12 November, Jimmy Page/Chris Cornell interview (Jill Jarrett photo)
Wasn't on this day, but I like the photo

♪  8mm audience film (Led Zeppelin, LA Forum 1971) YouTube
♪  Long Tall Sally & Tutti Frutti (Little Richard 1956) YouTube
♪  Long Tall Sally (Elvis Presley 1956) YouTube
♪  Long Tall Sally (Led Zeppelin, Royal Albert Hall 1970) YouTube

Friday, August 21, 2015

On This Day 21 August

Still standing ovations, after all these years.
1971 21 August On This Day Led Zeppelin at LA Forum

  • 1966 The Yardbirds - Tucson, AZ at Thrift City
  • 1969 Led Zeppelin - Framingham, MA at Carousel Theatre
  • 1970 Led Zeppelin - Tulsa, OK at Tulsa Assembly Center Arena
  • 1971 Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
  • 1998 Page & Plant - Vaduz, Liechtenstein at Little Big One Festival

1969 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin - Framingham, MA

1970 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin - Tulsa, OK
1971 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin - Inglewood, CA at The Forum
 1971:
Eddie Cochran (1938 - 1960) was an American musician who earned a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. His rockabilly songs were covered by many later artists, including Led Zeppelin. Cochran experimented with multitrack recording and overdubbing, and is credited as one of the first to use an unwound third string in order to "bend" notes up a whole tone.

Eddie Cochran was killed, while on tour in the UK, in a single vehicle crash when he was only 21 years old. During the time that the taxi and its contents were at the local police station a police cadet taught himself to play guitar on Cochran's impounded Gretsch.


2015 Press release for  Proud Gallery's Led Zeppelin Exhibit
1993 Jimmy Page with Gretsch White Falcon guitar (Ross Halfin photo)


♪  Dazed And Confused (Led Zeppelin, Tulsa 1970) YouTube
♪  Full show (Led Zeppelin, Tulsa 1970) YouTube
♪  Dazed And Confused (Led Zeppelin, LA Forum 1971) YouTube
♪  Weekend (Eddie Cochran, 1959) YouTube
♪  Weekend (Led Zeppelin, LA Forum 1971) YouTube
♪  Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin, LA Forum 1971) YouTube

Thursday, August 20, 2015

On This Day 20 August

Happy birthday, Robert Plant.  And happy day, Jimmy Page.
1948 20 August On This Day Robert Plant was born
♪ Happy birthday!

1990 20 August On This Day Jimmy Page with Aerosmith at Marquee Club

  • 1966 The Yardbirds - Oklahoma City, OK at Wedgewood Amusement Park
  • 1969 Led Zeppelin - Schenectady, NY at Schenectady Aerodrome
  • 1970 Led Zeppelin - Oklahoma City, OK at Oklahoma State Fair Arena
  • 1971 Led Zeppelin - Seattle, WA at Seattle Center Coliseum (unconfirmed)
  • 1990 Jimmy Page with Aerosmith - London, England at Marquee Club 
1990:
Train Kept A-Rollin' has been around a while. It was first recorded in 1951 by Tiny Bradshaw as a jump blues song (up-tempo blues that became popular in the 1940s, the precursor to rhythm and blues and rock and roll). The Johnny Burnette Trio added a repeating three-note minor key guitar line with intentionally distorted guitar (achieved by loosening a tube in the guitar amp), leading the way for The Yardbirds in 1965.

With The Yardbirds the song became Stroll On, as seen in the movie Blowup, with Jimmy Page on bass. He took the song with him to Led Zeppelin, reverting to the song's original name and, of course, to the guitar. When the four who were to become Led Zeppelin rehearsed together for the first time in 1968, the first song they took on was Train Kept A Rollin'.  

John Paul Jones:  
"...we did 'Train'... It was there immediately. It was so powerful that I don't remember what we played after that. For me it was just like, 'Crikey!' I mean, I'd had moments of elation with groups before, but nothing as intense as that. It was like a thunderbolt, a lightning flash – boosh! Everyone sort of went 'Wow'."
~ Mick Wall, When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin 2009
Aerosmith adopted Train Kept A Rollin' early on for their own set lists, recording it for their second album, Get Your Wings (1974, remastered 1993).


1990 Jimmy Page with Aerosmith at Marquee Club

1990 Jimmy Page with Aerosmith at Marquee Club
 Happy Birthday Robert Plant
10 Best Robert Plant Songs (post-Led Zeppelin), by Matthew Wilkening

Happy birthday, Robert Plant!

Jimmy and Robert
♪ Train Kept A Rollin' (Johnny Burnette Trio 1956) YouTube

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

On This Day 19 August

I'm not sayin' the magick had anything to do with anything.  No wait.  I am.
1965 19 August On This Day singles by Nico  released on Immediate Records label
♪  The Last Mile (Nico) Soundcloud
  • 1965 19 August On This Day singles by Nico, produced by Jimmy Page, released
  • 1966 The Yardbirds - Oklahoma City, OK at Wedgewood Amusement Park
  • 1970 Led Zeppelin - Kansas City, MO at Kansas City Municipal Auditorium Arena
  • 1971 Led Zeppelin - Vancouver,  Canada at Pacific Coliseum 

1965:
Nico's singles were released on this day in 1965 to launch the short-lived British label, Immediate Records, begun by Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham, with Jimmy Page hired on as guitar player, writer, and in-house producer. According to Gibson Guitar, "Page worked with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (which then featured Clapton), future Velvet Underground singer Nico (for whom Page and Oldham wrote songs, hoping to turn her into the next Marianne Faithfull), and R&B singer Chris Farlowe. Page also recorded a single of his own, "She Just Satisfies," on which he sang lead vocals."

Immediate Records released albums and singles in the US with MGM Records.  The group The Fifth Dimension and Nico's singles were early single releases under that US deal. 

To "routine" (referred to in the On This Day posting) according to the Oxford English Dictionary is to "link or unite (aspects of a performance) into a routine". The rest is up to your imagination.

1965 The Last Mile, by Nico, produced, arranged & conducted by Jimmy Page

1965 single by Nico, produced by Jimmy Page


1970
"...an abundance of hair was not the only change in Led Zeppelin, fast-rising British group. Without losing force and volume, they have added a mellowness which benefits their talents as well.... the group in the past always seemed to be coming on strong. Now they have developed a change of pace. Without sacrificing energy, they have added more style."
~ Steve Weber, Music in America newspaper review, Aug. 1970

It is interesting how reviewers were noticing and commenting on the evolution of the band in such a short time.

1971:
By this time not yet three years from its first performance, even more than 17,000 seats in a venue for Led Zeppelin wasn't enough. Over 3,000 fans without tickets threatened to trash Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum before the venue opened the doors to them to prevent damage to the building. The show was stopped twice to move equipment back from the edge of the stage because the audience at the front was ripping the stage apart.

Robert Plant: "Yeah, sometimes it gets a bit scary when we see half the stage disappearing..."
Jimmy Page: "It was a bit rough."
~ Rick McGrath, The Straight newspaper review, August 20 1971
1971 Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin - Vancouver (photo Rick McGrath)

1971 the crowd and the aftermath, Led Zeppelin at Vancouver (photo Rick McGrath)
Music. Magick. Power. He has known about this for a long time.
2006 August Classic Rock Magazine (photo Ross Halfin)




Tuesday, August 18, 2015

On This Day 18 August

Keep that train a rollin', Mr. Page!

1990 August 18 On This Day Jimmy Page with Aerosmith at Monsters Of Rock Festival
♪ Train Kept A Rollin' (Jimmy Page with Aerosmith) Soundcloud
  • 1966 The Yardbirds - Tulsa, OK at Tulsa Assembly Center Exhibit Hall
  • 1969 Led Zeppelin - Toronto, Ontario, Canada at The Rockpile
  • 1990 Jimmy Page with Aerosmith - Castle Donington, Leicestershire, England at Monsters Of Rock Festival
1969:
"The most amazing thing was the improvement in the group since its first appearance here last February, when it was a fledgling blues band. It had the ideas and the dynamics, but the expertise was yet to develop."
~ (Richie Yorke, The Globe and Mail, Aug. '69)
1969 Led Zeppelin - Toronto, Ontario, Canada at The Rockpile (first show) (D Richardson photo)

1969 Led Zeppelin - Toronto, Ontario, Canada at The Rockpile (second show) (D McClement photo)
1990:
Monsters of Rock was an annual rock and heavy metal music festival begun in 1979 at Castle Donington, England. It branched out to other countries and then fizzled out in the late 1990s. Castle Donington has hosted the Download Festival since 2003.

In 1990 Whitesnake was back at Monsters of Rock for the third time, and Aerosmith was to perform there for the first time. David Coverdale, of course, was the frontman for Whitesnake. Coverdale had been giving some thought to breaking up the band. He was tired of the music business, tired of touring, and was having problems in his personal life.  He told interviewers that he wanted time to reassess his live and career.

As it turned out, his retirement was brief. Both he and Jimmy Page were signed up with Geffen Records, and by the following year the two had collaborated on the Coverdale/Page album.

1990 August 18 On This Day Jimmy Page with Aerosmith at Monsters Of Rock Festival

1990 August 18 On This Day Jimmy Page with Aerosmith at Monsters Of Rock Festival

♪  How Many More Times (Led Zeppelin, Toronto - second show 1969) YouTube
♪  How Many More Times (Page & Plant, MGM Grand Las Vegas 1998) YouTube
♪  Onstage and backstage (Jimmy Page with Aerosmith, Donington 1990) YouTube
♪  Train Kept A Rollin' (Jimmy Page with Chris Farlowe, recorded during Outrider sessions 1988) YouTube