On This Day 14 February

Ladies and gentlemen: The Intergalactic Elephant Band

1974 04 February On This Day Jimmy Page at Roy Harper's Valentine concert

2015 14 February On This Day preview of Sound Tracks

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Miami, FL at Thee Image Club
• 1974 Jimmy Page with Roy Harper - London at Rainbow Theatre 
• 1975 Led Zeppelin - Uniondale, NY at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (day 2)

1974: 

Jimmy Page, John Bonham and Robert Plant attended Roy Harper's Valentine Concert at the Rainbow Theatre in London. Jimmy Page joined Harper, Ronnie Lane, Keith Moon and Max Middleton for a few numbers, John Bonham made an appearance onstage to strum an acoustic guitar and Robert Plant took the mic at the end to announce "Ladies and gentlemen: Roy Harper!".  Harper named the one-time lineup The Intergalactic Elephant Band.

1974 Roy Harper's Valentine concert (Colin Curwood photo)

1974 Jimmy Page with "Harpic Award"

2014 Mark Oliver Everett (Eels) and Jimmy Page

2015:
Sound Tracks, previewed on Jimmy Page's website on this day, is a four-disc box set that brings together his scores for the movies Lucifer Rising and Death Wish II plus bonus discs with previously unreleased tracks. The 36 page booklet includes awesome original artwork.

Image from Sound Tracks booklet

“The archive material and work included here serve as an illustration of the ongoing process at the time of these two projects,” Page said in a press release.  Sound Tracks is available on Jimmy Page's website.

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♪  Male Chauvinist Pig Blues (The Intergalactic Elephant Band, Roy Harper's Valentine's Day Concert, London 1974) YouTube
♪  Too Many Movies (The Intergalactic Elephant Band, Roy Harper's Valentine's Day Concert, London 1974) YouTube
♪  Home (The Intergalactic Elephant Band, Roy Harper's Valentine's Day Concert, London 1974) YouTube
♪ Sound Tracks preview excerpts (SoundCloud)

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

On This Day 13 February

Another day, another award and glorious music

1972 13 February On This Day Led Zeppelin tourist stopover in Bombay
Jimmy Page's VIDEO (YouTube) 

• 1975 Led Zeppelin - Uniondale, NY at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
• 1992 Jimmy Page with Harry Connick Jr. for encore at James L. Knight Center, Miami
• 1996 Page & Plant Unledded Tour – Tokyo a Nippon Budokan
• 2005 Led Zeppelin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

1975:
An exciting show with some surprises:  an epic, 42 minute length Dazed and Confused, and a bit of theremin between Whole Lotta Love and Black Dog. Ron Wood joined Led Zeppelin for an encore of Communication Breakdown and Robert Plant sang a few lines from Roll Over Beethoven while the guitars got sorted out.

1975 Jimmy Page, Ron Wood, Peter Grant, Uniondale NY
(I always first think Ron is in handcuffs when I see this photo)

1992:
It's uncertain whether Jimmy Page, who was reportedly living on Florida's exclusive Jupiter Island at this time, attended  Harry Connick Jr's gig at the James L. Knight Center in Miami on 13 or 14 February - but it was definitely one of those two days.

"I'd been listening to his music, and I was keen to see what his concert would be like," says Page, 48, who was in Miami working on a new album. "We met before the concert, and Harry said, 'You should come up and play,' and I laughed. But I was sitting in the audience, and he suddenly said, 'We've got a really good friend here.... C'mon, Jimmy, come up and play with us.' I went up, and he put a guitar in my hands and said, 'Go ahead, it's your band.' So I did an improvised blues in B flat. I was so nervous! And he went over to the brass section and started singing these licks and cued them in." Would Page consider an encore? "Oh, yes, but I'll bring my own guitar the next time."
~ Jimmy Page interview

2002:
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement is a Special Merit Award, presented by vote of The Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording. John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Zoe Bonham and Jason Bonham accepted the award for Led Zeppelin.

2005 John Paul Jones & Jimmy Page at Grammy Awards

2005 John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, Zoe Bonham and Jason Bonham
accept Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award from Neil Portnow,
president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

♪

♪  Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin, Uniondale 13 February 1975) YouTube
♪  Whole Lotta Love/Black Dog ( (Led Zeppelin, Uniondale 13 February 1975) YouTube
♪  Communication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin, with Ron Wood 1975) YouTube
♪  Rain Song (Page & Plant, 13 February 1996, Japan) YouTube
(Just a cute brief clip of a funny moment)

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

On This Day 12 February

"Ladies and gentlemen of New York ... you're too much ... and we ain't so bad ourselves!"
~ Robert Plant, MSG 12 February 1975

1965 12 February On This Day Heinz and the Wild Boys release Digging My Potatoes
AUDIO: Digging My Potatoes (Soundcloud)

• 1975 Led Zeppelin - New York, Madison Square Garden
• 1996 Page & Plant Unledded Tour – Tokyo at Nippon Budokan 

1965:

Heinz Burt, a protégé of record producer and song writer Joe Meek, was the bassist for The Tornados, the band that released the multi-million dollar instrumental, Telstar, in 1962. With Meek's encouragement, Heinz Burt launched on a solo career, touring with Jerry Lee Lewis, but never quite successful on his own.

1975:
This was Led Zeppelin's third show at Madison Square Garden in February.  Robert Plant told the crowd that the band had to come four blocks through the snow to get there.  It might have been cold outside but the music was hot in MSG that night. Check out the awesome work when Jimmy Page takes off around 3:58 of Sick Again (below).

1975 12 February Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden

2005:
American record producer Clive Davis hosted a pre-Grammy Awards party in Beverly Hills on this day. Led Zeppelin would be awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award the next night at the Staples Center ceremony.

2005 Jimmy Page & Ahmut Ertegun at pre-Grammy party (Ross Halfin photo)

2005 Jimmy Page at pre-Grammy party

♪

♪  Diggin' My Potatoes (Heinz and the Wild Boys feat Jimmy Page 1965) YouTube
♪  Sick Again (Led Zeppelin, MSG 12 February 1975) YouTube
♪  Full set (Led Zeppelin, MSG 12 February 1975) YouTube
♫ 2005 Jimmy Page interview at pre-Grammy Awards party

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

On This Day 11 February

A firm step back to music

1985 11 February On This Day The Firm released
AUDIO: Closer rehearsal track (Soundcloud)

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Paris at La Locomotive
• 1967 The Yardbirds - Aulney-sous-Bois, Paris at Le Tube
• 1985 The Firm album released 

1985:

Jimmy Page seemed to have lost his musical way after John Bonham's death, but his work with The Firm was a step back to his creative life. The members of what was referred to as a supergroup were seasoned musicians that Jimmy Page could count on, but unlike with Led Zeppelin the combination wasn't an alchemical mix of talent that created a new and separate entity greater than the sum of its parts. 

I have no doubt that Jimmy Page was aware of what he had. He has said that the short lifespan of the band was planned, and for that I am grateful. The music is good but for Jimmy Page The Firm was a way to jump-start his career rather than a venue for musical magic.

Jimmy Page - The Firm years

1985 Jimmy Page

♪

♪  Make or Break (The Firm, 1985) YouTube

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

On This Day 10 February

Memphis yes or Memphis no?

1969 10 February On This Day Led Zeppelin Memphis (maybe)

• 1968 The Yardbirds - London, England at Barlong Hall
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Memphis, TN at Memphis State University
• 1975 Led Zeppelin - Landover, MD at Capital Centre
• 2002 Jimmy Page receives an award from Traffic Musique (French TV) 

1969: 

There seems to be some disagreement as to whether Led Zeppelin did actually do a show at Memphis State University on this day. David Stanley, Elvis Presley's step-brother, reported on having attended the concert, as did several others. However, the key to the city was definitely something that happened in 1970 (referenced in various newspapers), when Led Zeppelin performed on 17 April. At the 1970 show Robert Plant stated: "We've waited for a long time to come to Memphis, in fact ever since we were born I think!" which makes it sound a lot like the band hadn't been there the year before.

Dave Lewis reported that Jimmy Page attempted to get some time for the band in the Sun Studio (shown in the On This Day photo) but that the studio was already booked.

1970:
On 31 January 1970 Robert Plant was in a car accident, a head-on collision while he was driving his Jaguar. He suffered from broken teeth and various severe cuts that no doubt needed stitches.The 07 and 17 February shows in Scotland were cancelled.

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin Landover MD

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin Landover MD

2002 Jimmy Page, Paris (Ross Halfin photo)

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♪  Heartbreaker/Audience footage (Led Zeppelin, Landover 1975) YouTube

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

On This Day 09 February

Jimmy Page walks onstage and the place erupts.  As it should.

2002 09 February On This Day Jimmy Page
with Paul Weller's band at Teenage Cancer Trust, Royal Albert Hall
AUDIO: Wild Wood - Paul Weller (Soundcloud)

• 1968 The Yardbirds - Cardiff, Wales at Top Rank Ballroom
• 1996 Page & Plant Unledded Tour – Tokyo at Nippon Budokan
• 2002 Jimmy Page with Paul Weller's Band - Teenage Cancer Trust at Royal Albert Hall  

2002:
On this day Jimmy Page and Robert Plant appeared separately at the Teenage Cancer benefit at Royal Albert Hall. The event was billed as "The Paul Weller Band with guests Jimmy Page, Gary Moore, plus Robert Plant & Strange Sensation".

This was Robert Plant’s first London appearance in over three years and Jimmy Page’s first for over two. Furthermore, while it had been seventeen years since Jimmy Page had last performed at RAH for the ARMS shows in September 1983, Robert Plant had not performed there since the Led Zeppelin days: 09 January 1970.

Dave Lewis' take on Jimmy Page at the 2002 show:

"[it was] as if someone had picked up the remote and switched the TV over everything changes.
"You can see the Gibson…Weller goes off, his band mates mill around, lights flash down…and there on stage is Jimmy Page.
"Cherubic smile, well cut shirt, slimmer than in very long time, low slung Gibson Les Paul and sure enough it’s Dazed And Confused the instrumental…
"The place erupts and throughout the eight minute performance there is no doubt that we are in the presence of a living legend..."
~ Dave Lewis, TBL

2002 Jimmy Page, Teenage Cancer Trust benefit at Royal Albert Hall (Freda Hyatt photos)

2002 Jimmy Page, Teenage Cancer Trust benefit at Royal Albert Hall (Freda Hyatt photo)

♪

♪  Dazed And Confused (Jimmy Page with Paul Weller band, RAH 2002) YouTube

I forgot to post this the other day
♫   NBC News report with a brief comment by Peter Grant 07 February 1975

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

On This Day 08 February

Please listen to the song. And I don't mean the "popular" version.

2009 08 February On This Day a Grammy for Please Read The Letter
AUDIO: Please Read The Letter (Soundcloud)

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Chicago at Kinetic Playground
• 1975 Led Zeppelin - Philadelphia at The Spectrum
• 1996 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - Tokyo at Nippon Budokan 

1969 Led Zeppelin at Kinetic Playground, Chicago

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at The Spectrum, Philadelphia

1996:

Jimmy Page kind of bumbled his way into the two songs I've linked to below from the Tokyo show on this day. As Robert Plant said, though, about Tea for One it wasn't a song that Led Zeppelin had every played live in its entirety, and it was the first time that Robert Plant had performed it with Jimmy Page on guitar. 

Back in 1976 when Tea for One was recorded for Presence, Robert Plant's leg was still in a cast. Two versions were recorded at that session, one with a guitar solo and one without. I'm soooo glad that the one with the solo is the one that ended up on the album.  

2009:
I've provided links below to two versions of Please Read the Letter.  I fail to see why the Plant/Krauss version was the one that got the acclaim, but then, I am into rock music not syrupy folk love songs. No accounting for taste.

2010 January Ross Halfin and Jimmy Page

♪

♪  Rain Song (Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy 1973/2014) YouTube
♪  Rain Song (Page & Plant, Tokyo 08 February 1996) YouTube
♪  Tea For One (Led Zeppelin, Presence 1976)  YouTube
♪  Tea For One  (Page & Plant, Tokyo 08 February 1996) YouTube
♪  Please Read the Letter (Page & Plant, Walking into Clarksdale 1998) YouTube
♪  Please Read the Letter (Robert Plant & Alison Krauss) YouTube

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