Sunday, February 7, 2016

On This Day 07 February

Best in any show anytime anyplace!
1975 07 February Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden

  • 1969 Led Zeppelin - Chicago at Kinetic Playground (day 1 of 2)
  • 1975 Led Zeppelin - New York City at Madison Square Garden (day 2 of 3) 

1969 Led Zeppelin at Kinetic Playground, Chicago
1975:
The three MSG shows were not on consecutive days but involved some traveling back and forth from other venues. Robert Plant was still fighting the flu.
1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden

1975 Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden



♪  Rock and  Roll / Sick Again (Led Zeppelin MSG 07 February 1975) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube

Saturday, February 6, 2016

On This Day 06 February


1996 06 February On This Day Page & Plant at Budokan Hall, Tokyo

  • 1975 Led Zeppelin - Montreal, Canada at Montreal Forum
  • 1996 Page & Plant Unledded Tour –Tokyo at Budokan Hall 

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, at Montreal Forum


Note: Another day of a brief Mage Music post because I'm doing other stuff. Regular posting will resume in a day or two.


♪  Kashmir (Led Zeppelin, Montreal Forum 1975) YouTube
♪  Full set (Led Zeppelin, Montreal Forum 1975) YouTube
♪  Gallows Pole (Page & Plant, Tokyo 1996) YouTube
♪  Since I've Been Loving You (Page & Plant, Tokyo 1996) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube

Friday, February 5, 2016

On This Day 05 February


1965 05 February On This Day Marianne Faithfull's Come and Stay With Me, feat. Jimmy Page
AUDIO: Come and Stay With Me (Soundcloud)

  • 1996 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - Tokyo, Japan at Nippon Budokan 

2002 Jimmy Page (Ross Halfin photo)
2016:
Mage Music posts will be brief for the next few days.  I've got some things I gotta do.


♪ Gallows Pole (Page & Plant, Tokyo 1996) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube

Thursday, February 4, 2016

On This Day 04 February

Away to Bombay
1967 04 February On This Day Jimmy Page visits Bombay
AUDIO: White Summer with sitar edits (Soundcloud) 

  • 1975 Led Zeppelin - Uniondale, NY at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
  • 1995 Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes - Paris, France at LeZenith de Paris 
1967:
Bringing home large, awkward items picked up while visiting foreign countries seems to be something that Jimmy Page enjoys doing. On this day in 1967 he talks about a tanpura and some tablas (drums) that he brought home from India. At some point he also obtained a sitar, which he is shown playing in the photo below, and which is featured in the audio White Summer with sitar edits. A tanpura is a 4 stringed drone instrument used to back up vocalists, whereas a sitar is a multi-stringed, fretted instrument meant for carrying melody. 



ca. 1967, Jimmy Page with sitar

Tanpura, sitar and tablas
1975:
Led Zeppelin had been scheduled to play at the Boston Garden on this day, but as has already been described on this blog, the show was cancelled and the band was banned in Boston.  Those who had purchased tickets for the Boston show were mailed tickets to the 04 February Uniondale show, which had been scheduled as a replacement.  That was a good thing for the Boston fans because tickets for all the New York venues in February (including MSG) sold out immediately (and not without some arrests of over-enthusiastic fans).

Led Zeppelin would return to Uniondale for the previously scheduled 13 and 14 February shows after this added-on 04 February date.

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Uniondale NY

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Uniondale NY
1995:
According to Dave Lewis in his Led Zeppelin: The 'Tight But Loose' Files,  Robert Plant was the one to introduce Jimmy Page to The Black Crowes at the band's show at Royal Albert Hall in January 1995. Apparently Jimmy Page was impressed enough to join the Black Crowes in Paris for a couple of songs. The Page & Plant Unledded Tour continued in the US at the end of February, but Jimmy Page was to hook up again with The Black Crowes to begin a US tour in the fall of 1999.


♪  Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin, Uniondale 04 February 1975) YouTube
♪  In My Time of Dying (Led Zeppelin, Uniondale 04 February 1975) YouTube
♪  Shake Your Money Maker (Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes, Paris 1995) YouTube
♪  Mellow Down Easy (Jimmy Page with The Black Crowes, Paris 1995) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

On This Day 03 February

I wonder if Joe Walsh ever inquires about the health and happiness of Jimmy Page's #1?
2001 03 February On This Day Jimmy Page went to Joe Walsh show in Miami FL

  • 1975 Led Zeppelin - New York City at Madison Square Garden
  • 1986 The Firm - Mean Business released 

1969:
Four shows in New York City were cancelled when John Bonham flew back to England because Bonham's three year old son, Jason, was ill.  The shows weren't rescheduled.  Jason, as we all know, recovered quite nicely.

1975:
Jimmy Page's smashed finger (he slammed his ring finger in a train door in England prior to leaving for the US Tour, breaking the tip) was well enough for the band to return Dazed and Confused to the set list, dropping How Many More Times.  

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden

1975 Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden
1986:
The Firm's Mean Business didn't shake the music world, but it's a solid album. Paul Rodgers is a great singer, but if you've been reading this blog all along, you know I've never felt he was right for Jimmy Page's music. According to Jimmy Page, The Firm had never been meant to stay together forever and that was just fine with me.

2001:
There are all kinds of stories out there about how the Gibson Les Paul guitar went from Joe Walsh's possession to Jimmy Page's. I'll say this, if the two men have been friends this long, whatever the details of the exchange it is fine with both of them today.  

"I like to give people equipment and stuff,” Walsh said in a 2012 Guitar World interview. “For me, it’s a kind of payback. Anyone who is an influence or hero for me, I’m always concerned with how I can balance the karma.”

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

On This Day 02 February

"Jimmy Page is not yet in Eric Clapton's class".  Oh yeah?
1969 02 February On This Day Led Zeppelin at the Rock Pile, Toronto

  • 1967 The Yardbirds - Auckland, New Zealand at Auckland Town Hall
  • 1969 Led Zeppelin – Toronto Canada at The Rock Pile

1969:
There has been some discussion about Jimmy Page's reference to Ritchie York (sic) as having capitalized from Led Zeppelin by writing an unauthorized book. In my opinion this was not a slur on Yorke, who was Led Zeppelin's "man in Toronto", who toured with the band, and was regularly granted interviews with them.

Yorke, a journalist, has written at least three books on Led Zeppelin:  The Led Zeppelin Biography (1976), Led Zeppelin: The Definitive Biography (1994) and Led Zeppelin: the Definitive Biography (1999 update to the 1994 book). Although Yorke's 1994 book claims to be "authorized" (the word is in quotes on the back cover) that's not actually true. The band's having freely offered the interviews and not objecting to the book is not the same thing as Led Zeppelin's officially approving or endorsing it.

Truly, you could say that every book and website and blog (including this one) is actually capitalizing on Led Zeppelin or the individual members. Some, of course, are better than others.

Yorke's books are generally considered to be the most accurate and least fabricated of all the books written about the band, however, that Ritchie Yorke ever wrote "Jimmy Page is not yet in Eric Clapton's class" makes me have serious doubts about the journalist's aesthetic appreciation and critical thinking capabilities.

My personal favorite book is George Case's Jimmy Page: Magus, Musician, Man: An Unauthorized Biography because it focuses on Jimmy Page rather than Led Zeppelin. I highly recommend it.

1969 Ritchie York review of Toronto show

1969 John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Toronto

1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Toronto




♪  Full set (Led Zeppelin, Toronto Rock Pile 1969) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube

Monday, February 1, 2016

On This Day 01 February

I'm sorry, the dog ate my homework.
1970 01 February On This Day Screaming Lord Sutch: 'Cause I Love You / Thumping Beat
AUDIO: Thumping Beat (Soundcloud)
  • 1967 The Yardbirds - Hamilton, New Zealand at Founder's Theatre
  • 1969 Led Zeppelin - New York City at Fillmore East (day 2 of 2, 2 sets)
  • 1975 Led Zeppelin - Pittsburgh, PA at Pittsburgh Civic Center 

1969:
The band started out with White Summer Black Mountain Side rather than Train Kept A Rollin’

“We’re sorry about the delay," Robert Plant tells the audience, "but because we’re all a bit stupid, we forgot the bass player’s guitar! Would you believe that! So we’re gonna open up without the bass player. We’re gonna feature Jimmy Page. This is a thing that was very popular when he was with The Yardbirds.”

1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Fillmore East (day 2)

1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Fillmore East (day 2)
1970:
More about Screaming Lord Sutch

1970 Screaming Lord Sutch and Jimmy Page in recording session

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Pittsburgh PA



♪  1969 Full set (Led Zeppelin, Fillmore East 01 February 1969) YouTube
♪  Thumping Beat (Screaming Lord Sutch feat. Jimmy Page & John Bonham 1970) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube