On This Day 14 May

Who ever said it was easy being a rock god?

1991 On This Day Jimmy Page & David Coverdale,
jam with Poison, fall through stage floor

• 1967 The Yardbirds - London England
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - New Orleans LA at Municiple Auditorium
• 1986 The Firm - Kansas City MO at Kemper Arena
• 1988 Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham - New York City at Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary, Madison Square Garden 
• 1991 Jimmy Page, David Coverdale, with Poison - Reno NV at Lawlor Events Center 
• 2014 Interviews in NYC for Remasters releases

1973:

"Before Moby Dick Plant said: “I once heard a song called The Witch Queen of New Orleans. Well, tonight, I’m pleased to announce that John Bonham is The Drag Queen Of New Orleans!" Page laughs so much that he enters the piece late…"
~ From Dave Lewis’s Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, describing the 1973 show in New Orleans

After this show the band members attended a party at Cosimo Recording Studios (note that this event has been posted elsewhere as occurring in 1972, but in May 1972 the band was recording at Stargroves, Mick Jagger's country home, and subsequently at Olympic Studios in England).

1973 Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Ernie K-Doe, after-show party at Cosimo Recording Studios, New Orleans 

1988 Jimmy Page, Jason Bonham & Robert Plant, Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary, NYC at Madison Square Garden [not in photo: John Paul Jones]

1988 Jimmy Page& Robert Plant, Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary, NYC at Madison Square Garden

1991:
Jimmy Page and David Coverdale jammed with Poison during the American band's encore at their show in Reno.  Despite Jimmy Page's falling into the stage pit, he rallied to join in with Rock And Roll, The Rover and Stairway To Heaven.

On This Day text:
During the early part of May 1991, I had been writing with David Coverdale at his house in Nevada, in preparation for a joint project album. On May 14th, another act with his management, Poison, were playing at Reno. We took the evening off to go and see them. I wasn’t that keen, but was encouraged to come up and play someone else’s guitar on a version of 'Rock and Roll' with David on vocals. We were introduced stage centre and as the number began I started moving and playing to stage left out of the spotlight. I found myself falling through a pryo pit that was cut into the stage and nobody had warned me about it. I emerged with a few cracked ribs and a broken guitar but I still managed to carry on until the end of the song! Apart from a few twinges, this didn’t affect the ongoing writing process with David.

2014 Jimmy Page interview in New York City. Craig Robertson/Toronto Sun/QMI Agency

2014 14 May “I knew what I was doing, and I didn’t want anybody getting in the way of it.” ~ Jimmy Page
Credit: Damon Winter/The New York Times 

♪

♪ Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin New Orleans 1973)  YouTube
♪  Full set (Page, Plant, Jones & Jason Bonham, Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary 1988) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

On This Day 14 May

Who ever said it was easy being a rock god?

1991 14 May On This Day Reno,NV/Lawlor Events Center - with David Coverdale,
jam with Poison, fall through stage floor

• 1967 - Jimmy Page - The Yardbirds - Stratford,London,England
• 1973 Led Zeppelin New Orleans,LA US/Municiple Auditorium

 ♪ Stairway to Heaven New Orleans, YouTube

Before Moby Dick Plant said: “I once heard a song called The Witch Queen of New Orleans. Well, tonight, I’m pleased to announce that John Bonham is The Drag Queen Of New Orleans!" Page laughs so much that he enters the piece late…
~ From Dave Lewis’s Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, describing the 1973 show in New Orleans

After this show the band members attended a party at Cosimo Recording Studios (note that this event has been posted elsewhere as occurring in 1972, but in May 1972 the band was recording at Stargroves, Mick Jagger's country home, and subsequently at Olympic Studios in England).  

1973 14 May post-show party at Cosimo Recording Studios, New Orleans.  Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Ernie K-Doe

• 1986 The Firm at Kansas City,MO/Kemper Arena
• 1988 Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham at Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary, New York, NY/Madison Square Garden 
• 1991 Jimmy Page, David Coverdale jam with Poison at Reno,NV/Lawlor Events Center 
• 2014 Interviews in NYC for Remasters releases

1988 Jimmy Page, Jason Bonham & Robert Plant at Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary, New York, NY/Madison Square Garden [not in photo: John Paul Jones]

1988 Jimmy Page& Robert Plant at Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary, New York, NY/Madison Square Garden

Jimmy Page interview in New York City on Wednesday May 14, 2014. Craig Robertson/Toronto Sun/QMI Agency

2014 14 May “I knew what I was doing, and I didn’t want anybody getting in the way of it.” — Jimmy Page
Credit: Damon Winter/The New York Times 

Physical Graffiti remaster - disc 2

I shall play me the songs of my people.  Geez, those boys were fun, weren't they?

These are my random thoughts upon first listening to the second disc of the Physical Graffiti remaster. 

♪  There is nothing to be said about the songs themselves, really. They aren't new:  I've been hearing them since 1975. Other people love them or don’t, but for me they are still the songs that fed my soul as a young adult. Now they are here again, freshened, more immediate and intense than ever. As relevant as ever. And maybe tastier than ever before.

♪  The question is how did these incredible musicians create so many songs that are so completely unique – not just different from other bands’ music, but each one unique in the body of Led Zeppelin’s own work?

♪  It is a tribute to Jimmy Page that I am hearing nuances to the instruments I haven’t heard, or at least noticed, before. Clarity. Immediacy. Darts to the heart. The remasters are worth every penny just for this.

♪  JPJ comes in with a bass line that punches through my gut and shakes me to the core. It’s not a new thing, but it’s just devastating.

♪  I swear some of these songs sound like different versions than the original versions. They aren't. It just seems that so much more is revealed that they sound new to me. Some songs I have fallen out of listening to now spring back to the forefront of desirability.

♪  Wish there had been more Stu over Led Zeppelin’s career.

♪  Love the giggle and the segue to the plane, the whole whimsy of leaving it in. It's like sitting on a stool with them right there.

♪  No wonder I don’t like to listen to this music in public. I can’t control myself - gotta move, gotta wiggle, gotta shake and rock and roll. I'm a pod person taken over by Led Zeppelin!

♪  Geez, I’ve got this goofy grin stretched across my face and tears in my eyes. Madness, this music! Blissful madness.

♪  This disc #2 of Physical Graffiti is less air and more earth. Fairy dust is earth, right? Music as play. Music as a way to express the sheer joy and electric energy of fully-experienced life.

♪  Oh, oh, oh – that guitar slices right through, doesn’t it?

♫

Rats, dumped right back into the real world again.

Physical Graffiti remaster - disc 1

These are a few of my reactions upon listening to just disc 1 of the Physical Graffiti remaster.

The clarity of sound is the greatest gift of these remasters, from Jimmy Page to the world.

As a guitarist, Jimmy Page at this point is beautifully balanced between technical brilliance and creative inspiration.

Such vast musical concepts, reaching into realms beyond what mere physical ears can perceive.

This remaster gives more and more, if one wishes to hear it.

Mr. Jones holding unbending in the winds of Magick. Bonzo driving hard, relentlessly shoving us to the other side.

Can anyone ever fully grasp the excellence of this music? No, for it keeps revealing more and more over time.

This was back in the day when Robert could still lose himself in the music, unabashedly giving his all. Heeding the master’s call.

Trampling right over us on the way to primal connection, leviathans calling to each other in the deep. If there is anything NOT being talked about here, it’s love, the thing of romance. We’re talking about sex magick.

The camels patiently plod through the hot sand as the music weaves time and space to set us on the road to god. Having done all possible to get us there, it is up to us to take the next step.

♫

One disc, that's all I can handle at a time.  This is not merely music, you know.  It’s Magick distilled through sound.

Physical Graffiti 2015 pre-order

Physical Graffiti Deluxe Box Sets now available for pre-order.  The Amazon listings are confusing (for instance, the Format is listed as Audio CD but the package does include the vinyl), so read each page very carefully.

[PS - The Amazon US page is now live although getting links for it is still a problem.  If you picked up the old link I posted here, it apparently still works.  Otherwise use the link below for Amazon US and cross your fingers.]

__ UK ____________________

Physical Graffiti Collector's Edition, Box set

Led Zeppelin (Artist)  Format: Audio CD

---

Price:	£131.99 & FREE Delivery in the UK. Details
	Pre-order Price Guarantee. Learn more.

This title will be released on February 23, 2015. 

Product Description

Led Zeppelin's sixth album, Physical Graffiti is here newly remastered, with an additional CD and LP featuring previously un-released studio outtakes. This super deluxe box set includes:

• CD 1 & 2: Original album newly remastered in vinyl replica sleeves
• CD 3: Companion disc with previously un-released studio outtakes in a new sleeve
• Vinyl 1 & 2: Original album newly remastered in single sleeves replicating the original album on 180 gram vinyl
• Vinyl 3: Companion audio on one LP ( 180 gram vinyl ) in a new sleeve featuring negative artwork based on the original album artwork, and featuring previously un-released studio outtakes
• HD Download card with the original album and companion audio @ 96/24
• LP-sized, individually numbered, high quality print of the original album cover
• Album-sized hardback book (96 pages)

Track Listings

Disc: 1
1. Custard Pie
2. The Rover
3. In My Time Of Dying
4. Houses Of The Holy
5. Trampled Under Foot
6. Kashmir
Disc: 2
1. In The Light
2. Bron - Yr
3. Down By The Seaside
4. Ten Years Gone
5. Night Flight
6. The Wanton Song
7. Boogie With Stu
8. Black Country Woman
9. Sick Again
Disc: 3
1. Brandy & Coke (Trampled Under Foot - Initial Rough Mix)
2. Sick Again (Early Version)
3. In My Time Of Dying (Initial Rough Mix)
4. Houses Of The Holy (Rough Mix With Overdubs)
5. Everybody Makes It Through (In The Light Early Version/In Transit)
6. Boogie With Stu (Sunset Sound Mix)
7. Driving Through Kashmir (Kashmir Rough Orchestra Mix)

__ US ____________________
Physical Graffiti (Super Deluxe Edition Box CD & LP)

Scroll down for more links

Don't forget - Mage Music is now available 

as a book (paperback and Kindle) with posts from 

May 7, 2012 through November 22, 2014!  

Order yours today from Amazon!

CD

Deluxe CD

Vinyl

Deluxe Vinyl

Super Deluxe Box

MP3

Remember, prices will likely drop for pre-orders as the release date approaches! (cool!)

Let Me Go, Lover!

“Oh let me go. Let me go. Let me go lover. Let me be, set me free from your spell”
~Joan Weber, written by Jenny Lou Carson and Al Hill. Covered by Patti Page, Teresa Brewer and The Lancers, Billy Fury, Peggy Lee, Hank Snow, Dean Martin, Kathy Kirby and no doubt others... not to mention Lucille Ball.

Mage Music 90

That song was really popular back in the day. Let me go, lover. A heartfelt plea, begging for the freedom to get on with life.

Of course, it’s a mistaken concept, as appealing as it may seem. Nobody attains freedom by relying on it to be provided by someone else. Only personal choice gives freedom. Only personal choice breaks the chains.

I started out to write this blog post because I woke up the other morning with that song in my head. To my knowledge I hadn’t heard it anywhere in the days before. I figured it had manifested as an earworm for a reason.

I had some ideas about what to say - but I said them in the first two brief paragraphs, above. Nothing more would come. The song didn't go away. Darned annoying but I lived with it a few days anyway. Till today, when I realized what was really going on in the back of my head.

All this writing that I've been doing here - it wasn't for you, it was for me. Sorry. I needed to work out some concepts the hard way – by making them concrete through writing, and by firing them in the furnace of public view. The blog was perfect for that.

I woke up with the song in my head because it’s time to pull the pot out of the fire.

What pot? What is the woman talking about now?

My last post was about how I came away from the most recent Led Zeppelin remasters feeling like they were a good-bye. That was really the beginning of my coming to understand that I, too, have to move on. Mage Music -- the blog -- isn't my creative goal and it never was. Mage Music has been my testing ground. 

I wrote that I knew all things have a perfect time to be, and that there is a time for moving on.

So yeah, that's the message my subconscious -- or maybe the Universe -- was giving me. It's time to say so long, though not good-bye. I'll have things to talk about here in the future, but my focus is going to be on writing the book I've been wanting to write all along, about creativity and Magick.

So the pot's been fired, and I'm looking at it closely to see what other work needs doing. There are flaws, but I think the concept will stand. I will need to remaster the blog but that's no problem. Better artists than me have seen the need for doing that. 

Maybe now that blasted song will let me be. 

2014 remasters: Goodbye Led Zeppelin

Last night I received the 2014 Remasters, Led Zeppelin IV and Houses of the Holy. I'm going to take my time reviewing the music but wanted to post a few thoughts right away.

I got the first three reissues as Deluxe CD sets rather than the Super Deluxe box sets, but sprung for Super Deluxe for these next two. Last night LZ IV and HOTH arrived. I have, of course, seen the photos of the contents (right) and knew what to expect, but not how I'd feel about the box sets.

First thoughts when I opened the individual cartons:

Why did I just get the Deluxe CDs before? I'm so sorry now I didn't sell my left kidney to get the Super Deluxes for the first three. I'll have to pick them up down the line because I just want them so badly now. The Super Deluxe box sets are perfect. They are obviously the product of intense thought and consideration, beautifully presented. You can tell that this physical aspect of the remasters were truly a labor of love on Jimmy Page's part.

They are the saddest things I've beheld in a long time.

I perceived in that moment that the remasters really are a swan song for Led Zeppelin. I understood that this truly was the end, the last significant work that was ever going to be released as Led Zeppelin, for ever and ever. The remasters are a going-away present from Jimmy Page to his former bandmates and to the world. Jimmy Page is moving on -- to new music we can hope, but whatever it is, he is leaving Led Zeppelin behind. 

All things in their time. I know that. 

Change means moving on. I know that.

But it's such a bittersweet knowledge.

Next two LZ remasters available to order

So far I've only found the links for the Super Deluxe Edition box sets but this is a good start!

Led Zeppelin IV 

Track Listings

Disc: 1
1. Black Dog
2. Rock And Roll
3. The Battle of Evermore
4. Stairway To Heaven
5. Misty Mountain Hop
6. Four Sticks
7. Going To California
8. When The Levee Breaks

Disc: 2
1. Black Dog (Basic Track With Guitar Overdubs)
2. Rock And Roll (Alternate Mix)
3. The Battle Of Evermore (Mandolin/Guitar Mix From Headley Grange)
4. Stairway To Heaven (Sunset Sound Mix)
5. Misty Mountain Hop (Alternate Mix)
6. Four Sticks (Alternate Mix)
7. Going To California (Mandolin/Guitar Mix)
8. When The Levee Breaks (Alternate UK Mix)





Houses of the Holy






Track Listings
Disc: 1
1. The Song Remains The Same
2. The Rain Song
3. Over The Hills And Far Away
4. The Crunge
5. Dancing Days
6. D'yer Mak'er
7. No Quarter
8. The Ocean

Disc: 2
1. The Song Remains The Same (Guitar Overdub Reference Mix)
2. The Rain Song (Mix Minus Piano)
3. Over The Hills And Far Away (Guitar Mix Backing Track)
4. The Crunge (Rough Mix - Keys Up)
5. Dancing Days (Rough Mix With Vocal)
6. No Quarter (Rough Mix With JPJ Keyboard Overdubs - No Vocal)
7. The Ocean (Working Mix)

--------------


Remasters page has order info for all options.

Remasters 2014 Report: Led Zeppelin III Companion Disc

I gotta tell you, I sat down to listen to this disc with mixed feelings. I was feeling kinda bad because it’s the last of the first batch of remaster discs, with nothing more till next fall.  That’s a long time to wait.

But whoa baby – I also knew this one final disc of the first batch was going to be pretty awesome. I mean – Bathroom Sound? Who puts out an album with anything on it like that? You KNOW right then it's going to be great!

And I was not disappointed.

Led Zeppelin III Companion Disc

Immigrant Song is some kind of perfection.  Powerful and nearly frightening in its simplicity and depth.

So clean. That’s the gift of the remasters. Crispy critters.

Oh oh oh RP - all that hummuhhh stuff!

I damn love the minor key. It’s so off balance.

Holy shit – it's an instrumental. Sorry RP, but this may be my new favorite version, even without you.

Ominous. Clouds looming just over the horizon out of sight, perhaps bringing something very unexpected. Friends come with hidden blessings, don’t you know.

Oops – my cat just decided that Led Zeppelin blasting in her ear was too much so she just up and left. Her loss.

Shocking – I was totally sucked into following the last bit of sound and then Celebration Day completely gobsmacks me.

How is it that every single time I listen to this music it’s a new thing, a revelation and yes a celebration of Magick and music and life?

Guitar guitar guitar – a few notes send me off!

Energy, power, dammit. It’s all here.

Hah – that guitar is just slightly flat! On purpose?

Each damn song is the best!

I love love love this SIBLY rough mix! And I’ve always loved the guitar's comments in SIBLY.

Lose my worried mind? How about how my heart is being yanked out right through my skin?

Crap. Are you supposed to need tissues to wipe your eyes when you’re loving music this much? Of course, that heartectomy might have something to do with it.

And dammit, that guitar IS flat!

SIBLY is just emotionally wringing. But isn’t it all?

Bathrooms are great for sound! Grinding, growling. The beast.

Brains, hearts and souls in synch.

And of course my mind is hearing RP’s voice anyway!

Ah, there’s JPJ. And finally… the heartbeat, Bonzo.

And then it just stops like that – makes me laugh!

That’s the way, all right. It’s such a sweet thing, but with a core of darkness. Contrast.

Oh, that’s an interesting thing with RP’s voice now.

“Fish in dirty water dying” – I don’t always listen to the words, but isn't that an amazing phrase?  I think it every time I hear it.

Geez – why didn't they use this rough mix as the final product? There’s some amazing stuff in it! A new favorite for me!

Gods yes, I think I may love this version of Jennings Farm Blues more than any other. There is stuff being said musically that I've not heard before.

No – there is no “I think” about loving this version. It is just different enough that it’s practically a whole new song and KaChing – just like that another new favorite for me!

I can’t say that tremolo does much for me. I get what Robert’s doing with it but a little goes a long way.

Afternote:

Led Zeppelin - they were masters of the music in a way that no one had been before, right from day one. They stood out even compared to the Big Guys of rock music of the day. This was their third album, fer crying out loud. They'd only been a band for two years!

I can’t believe all the whiners who say that these remasters are just more of the same. I pity those people for what they cannot hear. Meanwhile, I feel like I've been given an extraordinary gift of perfect imperfection. A bittersweet gift, at that, not without the price of emotional investment.

But isn't that what Magick is all about?

Remasters 2014 Report: Led Zeppelin III

It’s so cool that the remaster CD has the spin disc cover like the original. Such attention to detail – not surprising but still worth acknowledging.

Jimmy Page should be revered as one of the great wonders of the world, a planetary treasure.

As before, these are thoughts and reactions experienced when listening to this remaster disc for the first time.

Led Zeppelin III

One of the most chilling, soul shivering song beginnings ever. But LZ was good at that.

Love the way RP lingers on the syllables.

I will never listen to the original albums again. The remasters are it.

The crispness of the sound makes me appreciate all over again how tight their musical choreography is.

Wait wait – Immigrant song can’t be that short!

That alternate tuning - edgy!

A kind of scary song, isn’t it? Friends? I mean really - who the hell decided on that innocent name?

The flow from Friends into Celebration Day – brilliant!

I’m so happy I joined up with that band decades ago!

The ups and downs – rhythm, tone, alternate tuning, major to minor scales, pitch, even the segues to next songs. Contrast, contrast, contrast, baby - never ever left to chance.

SIBLY. Simply… wow. A guitar and drummer. A touch of keyboard. And then POW. A sucker punch to the gut and then backing off to let RP sing of the damage. I fall for it each time.

Those rocking rhythms just stuck in there.

Wah. Tearing me to shreds.

The guitar – I wasn’t ready, I could never be ready for that lethal insertion of emotion. And then and then and then….

Jazz/scat, the whole kitchen sink. RP’s tools were beyond mortal.

Once again I’m struck with the disjoint of the start of OOTT. Uncomfortable, puts me off balance. Inside, it feels normal already. Were they not afraid of anything at all?

I remember thinking when I first ever heard this that it was a great song but why in the world did LZ do it? But really, who cares? It’s another way to express something different musically. Do it all! Any way at all!

Banjo. What a riot. It’s a sound. In fact, Gallows is so rich with diverse sound

I never noticed that chorus effect in the last minute – is that really what I’m hearing?

That false start before Tangerine… intriguing

Tangerine has always been one of my least favorite LZ songs. But there’s new information now, and it seems more complex musically than I thought. Maybe I've never given it a fair shake.

More slide guitar? Steel pedal? Where did that come from? And so its own thing. Not the way I’m used to hearing it

I can’t really listen to this music with my eyes open.

The sound between the notes is so full!

Steel strings so hard for such a soft song. But the bass cushions.

I love the ending – sometimes words just get in the way.

Oh Bonzo – you made it stomp. Can’t help but bounce when listening to this!

The greatest band in the world does a song about a dog. Is there ANYTHING they won’t try?

That’s some pretty slick guitar playing, Mr. Page.

Two instruments, so unlike. A guitar. A voice. And yet so much there.

But the end too soon!

♪

Afternote:

Did anyone truly appreciate LZ in their time? I know that what I hear and appreciate now is very, very different than what I was hearing back then. We all are growing up, but maybe there are good things that come from that after all.

What I take away from this album is a new appreciation for how diverse these guys were, how bold and adventurous. Any technique, any sound – it was all fair game to get their music out there.

Remasters 2014 Report: Led Zeppelin II Companion Disc

So many people are talking about the remasters. That’s a cool thing. It’s too bad, though, that what so many people are talking about is the packaging, the technical details of the digital downloads, the shipping/delivery dates, the songs that should have been included or will be included on the companion discs.

Where’s the music in all that?

Led Zeppelin II Companion Disc

"The material on the companion discs presents a portal to the time of the recording of Led Zeppelin. It is a selection of work in progress with rough mixes, backing tracks, alternate versions, and new material recorded at the time."

Even before I put the disc in the player, I’m reminding myself of the above statement by Jimmy Page. The track listing is almost the same as Led Zeppelin II but not quite. Mr. Page’s choices of songs alone will reveal much about his musical intentions for us. I look forward to the new insights. 

♫

RP’s voice is surprisingly more melodic than I recall. Am I hearing things that weren't there before or is it because of quality?

Oh this is fun, this is different! Hearing the parts without the whole! And my brain is supplying the parts that aren't there!

Insights into song construction. Wow. How music gets put together to make a whole is a mystery to me so this is awesome.

Oh what fun it all will be – prophetic! All these years of enjoyment have been fun and it doesn't end!

What a remarkable gift this is - no band has to share rough mixes with the world. Led Zeppelin's rough mixes are better than most bands' finished music!

This is truly an instructional disc, isn't it.

No lyrics! Thank You! I love this (lyrics aren't my thing). But I can also see how much this song was meant for RP's vocals. It doesn't stand as an instrumental as much as other LZ songs do.

Gotta admit JPJ’s keyboards are the best part of TY as an instrumental.

How often do we ever get to hear of bass and guitar in harmony? Makes it special to hear it now.

Yeah, then I get the solo – PLAY it man! And he does play with the guitar. Goofing around a bit there.

That tone. I’d like to interview JP and ask him how he chose different tones. The when/where/why of the different voices of his guitar.

He’s like a ventriloquist

Lyrics-free music! Again it’s really so clear when the instruments are supposed to be accompaniment to the vocals rather than standing alone as instrumental. That's never been so obvious to me before. This is amazing. I’d like to hear every LZ song without vocals to understand the interplay.

Oh oh oh. Ramble On – one of my most favorite. But this version missing the lovely voice of that guitar.

OMG – I’m realizing that this whole disc shows in such a damn dramatic way just how much JP’s guitar voice made a difference to the music. Duh! All of these tracks lack the Magick I seek in the sound! This is definitely an instructional disc for me!

I always love hearing Bonzo sing out his counts.

La La is just so damn much fun. It is so not LZ and yet Zep at the same time. I could see JP, JPJ and Bonzo deciding to have fun while waiting for Robert to get back from lunch.

Remasters 2014 Report: Led Zeppelin II

I gotta tell you, this reporting on the remasters is hardly a chore.  I can call it "reporting" but we know what it really is - indulging. 

I've been waking up in the morning with the music in my head. It’s become the soundtrack to my life.

As before, this report is a first impression, written while I listened to the remaster for the first time.

Led Zeppelin II

I’m struck anew with the immediacy of the remasters. 

The original genius pulls out of the archives the sound that he hears in his own mind.  How amazing is that?

Whole Lotta space cadet! Haha – I remember now what I was doing when I first listened to this album back in the day. [censored censored censored]

Geez – if anyone walked in the room and saw me now they’d think I was nuts with this big, silly grin on my face. That's probably just what I looked like back then, too.

I don’t want to listen to the music I want to be IN the music.  A good recording lets you do that.

Each one of them had such a tremendous ability to put expression into the music. Bass, drums, vocal, guitar – all of it individually and then expressing it together.

The change of phrase. Another way of saying something musically with the slippery slide of the guitar - it is what is and could never be otherwise.

I listen to the voice without trying to understanding the meaning of what Robert's singing. Heck, half the time it seems he's just making up words anyway. But that makes the voice an instrument, not a song.

I so get into the music that it seems the songs are over before they're hardly started. That’s why I love the live stuff – the long, long, long delivery.  

The weight of the words isn't greater than the weight of the other instruments – that’s one extraordinary difference between LZ and others

That tone of guitar in The Lemon Song solo. Somehow it is Jimmy the sound is coming directly from, not his guitar. 

I get those fingers on the strings as if I was right there. What is it about the sound that makes it seem that way?

And then the little guitar comments on Robert’s vocals. Just little asides.

The juice – baby baby baby

And that little squeakiness tone to the guitar. Sly humor there.

Happiness no more be sad. This music.

Love the organ ending, JPJ with just the quiet chords, the fade out, then coming back. What crazy mind comes up with that?

There in the middle of Heartbreaker my heart breaks not with grief but just sheer pleasure

Then back to business.

Not for the first time I wonder if anyone has ever counted up how many different tones JP gets out of his guitars

Sometimes the guitar comes in and I don’t realize for a second that it’s not a human voice.

Ramble On – no doubt some kind of masterpiece. No ordinary music, just loaded to the top with Magick. One of my absolute favorite LZ works. Great light and shade. The different guitar phrases just knock me over. I like that little tappy tappy stuff Bonzo does sometimes. Thing is… even though Dave Grohl kind of sucks cause he shouts the lyrics, I like the Foo Fighters version at Wembley better, but then maybe it was JP who was better for that song then.  I'm not discounting that.

The bass balance on this album seems pretty high to me (I haven’t changed any settings from the first two remasters). I like it just fine.

This studio album is a good contrast with LZ live. It’s much more constrained. Of course, maybe it's because I still haven’t replaced my speakers and can’t turn UP THE VOLUME.

I love Robert on harmonica. He gets the same expression as he does with voice. And the weird voice on Bring It On Home gets me every time. I forget who he's emulating, doesn't matter. Nice echoey sound on this and you get sucked in and then they get BIG. Light and dark, baby! And then tweet!

WHAT??? It’s over already????

I’m definitely hearing stuff on the remasters I wasn't hearing before.

Remasters 2014 Report: Live at the Olympia

It was not so easy waiting two days to listen to the companion disc to the first album. But I made myself do it because self-discipline is part of the Music, of all the Arts, and of Magick as well.  And because it's going to be a long, long time till the next three remasters come out.

As before, this report was written as I listened to the music.

Led Zeppelin I Companion Disc - Live at the Olympia 

I love that the show opened this way.  In your face showing off how good these guys are.  Bam bam.  Bam bam.

Dammit, my speakers are ruined.

Robert Plant’s voice so young – he’ll get even better than this later years but he's already there, on the top.

Recording’s a little uneven – sometimes JPJ’s bass is right in your face, sometimes it’s Robert. Who cares.

JP’s guitar so clean. Still reflecting the tightness and technical excellence of his session playing, but he’s starting to break loose. Not like later, but you can hear him being pulled off into the ozone.

HOW does Robert still have a voice at all today? What awesome lungs. Seriously.

It is so amazing that JP could make himself sound like multiple guitars without benefit of a studio.

Do people even realize how different this music was? That the guitar wasn’t just an accompaniment to the vocals anymore? All bets were off!

Live recordings back then – not such great quality, but you've got the loosy-goosy freedom of a live performance that a studio recording never really has. Magick in it all, just different, because one’s a capture of a practiced, perfect ritual, the other is a messy Work in progress.

I love how the audience responds. Lucky dogs.

The boys were like elite marathon runners – putting out maximum effort for miles and miles of music.

How can a human being do that on a guitar? The guitar isn't a musical instrument any more but instead is a physical extension of the soul’s desire.

So strange hearing a quiet audience at the first notes of D&C!

It is 84° in my house and yet I just shivered.

It seems to me that D&C is a completely different song every version of I hear. That time in Paris still takes place somewhere far, far away from this planet, though.

There I go again. Goosebumps.

Bonham so in tune with the music. Not merely a rhythm keeper but a music creator along with the others.

Whatever gave Robert the brilliant idea to sing counterpoint to the guitar? Simply beyond extraordinary.

Sexual assault with sound.

This is crazy-making music. Crazy is good.

Oh the voice of that guitar – that crawling, seeking, huge, nasty thing.

This is so not the studio!

Get your mind out of the gutter. Not mere sex – it’s so much more. Push the music, push life, push reality. Spread the wings. Fly to the sun and beyond.

Like telling the story a new way each time but in the language of emotion made sound.

No announcer butting in! I automatically cringed but it wasn't there!

How brave, how cheeky, how much confidence and joy to try a new note, a new pause, a new rhythm, a new chord, a new progression in front of witnesses. And pulling it off.

Oh I surely did trash the speakers two days ago. Must replace can’t go on with them like this, but no stopping the music.

Can blues be any darker, slower, richer, sleazier? Can anyone survive such exposure of the soul?

I forget I’m listening to a voice and a guitar. They weave in and out so perfectly, I hear a musical message. My heart follows willingly, not even caring where I'm being taken.

No wonder some people think there’s something evil in this music. I actually know of  a few who could only blush if they really listened to what’s going on here. But they can’t hear what it is, only what they fear. A pity.

Geez – you have to just laugh with joy at some of this. Unbelievable. And it’s just crappy blown speakers! Of course I’m laughing!

Ain't you never been shook? Oh!

How BIG they were. Filling the heavens with joyful sound!

Drums and voice were the original music. Yet all alone Bonzo made music with drums. Not just rhythm – he made music. He brought down the lightning and the thunder and then he mocked the gods with their own pounding footsteps as they strode across the quivering earth hunting for what he'd stolen from them. We love him because he had no fear. Hearing him shout as he hammers it out – where is the fire to throw our sacrifices on, to dance around, naked and sweating?

How Many More Times can I be blown away by this music? It doesn't matter. I willingly throw myself on the flames.

Love how there’s a touch of Whole Lotta Love snuck in there towards the end.

Can you believe they’d go out and do this night after night?

Why in the world do they call what these guys did “playing”? It’s as serious as a heart attack. Oh yeah, Art Attack.

Remasters 2014 Report: Led Zeppelin

I'm taking it slow, letting it sink in. I'm not wanting to dive into all this music, but savor it for the wonder that it is. Accordingly, my reports will come out slowly - over days, not hours.

These reports will be thoughts that come to me while listening to each disc for the first time. Your experience may vary. That's okay. Just let the Magick in.

Led Zeppelin

The immediacy of the sound, so clean, crisp and lively. Extraordinary. Begs me to turn up the volume again and again. This music is hard on speakers.

A song ends and I feel like I’ve been slapped in the face: Earth to Lif! Earth to Lif! So taken away. The music transports me to another plane of existence in another universe.

Jimmy Page’s concept, grabbing the listener by the musical short hairs with extraordinary balance of light and shade, is so well executed.

I heard detail and nuance of sound I’ve never heard before. I felt depths of musical emotion beyond what I have loved for over 35 years.

The guitar was right there!

I could practically hear Robert’s heartbeat.

No wonder their music has held up for so long. It will hold up forever.

How could it be that it makes me want to weep? It’s joy I feel, and gratitude – not only for this music being put out into the world, but for this renewed connection with its essence.

Oops. I’m blowing out my speakers. Oh well, I needed better ones anyway to do this music justice.

Jimmy Page’s guitar has a voice of its own that is just on the edge of language. It is a perfect expression of emotional language. Sweet, nasty, a spear to the heart.

John Paul Jones can tickle those keys, dammit!

The thing about Robert’s singing is that he doesn’t sing. He plays a musical instrument of voice. His range is beyond belief, and I don’t just mean that he can hit the high notes. A shriek, a grunt, a sigh, a whisper that wets the panties. There’s never been a singer who did what he did then – not even the Robert Plant of today.

Dazed and Confused is extraordinarily other-world eerie - even this one without the long solo. Or maybe it's not other-worldly after all - not for the first time I think this is what whales sing to each other in the depths. Aliens, nonetheless.

It’s like I’m hearing it all for the very first time. Zowie!

Majesty. Magery. Magick.

Has there ever been four musicians creating on that level, so in synch with each other? And they’d been together such a short time at that point!

Your Time is Gonna Come – I laughed out loud with the pleasure of the irony. Their time came and it's still coming, like a never-ending musical orgasm.  Pity those who ever doubted.

Had I ever heard really heard that subtle singing of the guitar before?

The sharpness of the tabla of Black Mountain Side – you can feel the hands slapping the drumhead.

The energy! You could power a whole city with the creative and psychic energy of one album!

What an incredible relief it must have been for Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones to know they’d never have to go back to playing sessions again.

So damn professional. So tight. But loose.

I’m a Jimmy Page fan before even being a Led Zeppelin fan, so having his guitar speak to me so clearly, so expressively, is like an answer to a deep prayer I hadn’t known I was praying.

This remastering leaves anything done before right in the dust. No comparison. No question. Sit up world, pay attention. This is what music is supposed to be about.

There is something about the guitar coming in to How Many More Times before the Bolero section that that just shatters me. And then after the Bolero section – my gawd. Talk about leviathans of the vast spaces between stars…

And then I have to laugh at Robert’s being exhausted after eleven children. How can you not love this stuff?

There never will be another Bonzo. I’m so thankful we had him for as long as we did.

Content of first 3 albums and companion discs

The Futility of Want

"Seems pretty unlikely, doesn't it?”
~Jimmy Page, October 2012 interview response to a reunion question. Mr. Page pointed out that the reunion concert had been five years prior and that if there was a chance they were reuniting, people would have heard about it.

“..just look at the facts: The O2 was seven years ago… there hasn't been any movement so it’s unlikely. It is what it is.”
~Jimmy Page, April 2014 BBC Radio 4 interview response to a reunion question.

Mage Music 82 

We never seem to change, do we? We who love the music of Jimmy Page are a greedy bunch. We want more, more, more – no matter what the man himself has to say about it.

Makes you wonder, doesn't it - why can’t we just use Magick to get what we want?

Sad news, friends: Magick isn't going to work if it is used on someone else to control them. There are no love potions that will make someone love you if they don’t already want to. There are no spells that will force a person to submit to your will. Contrary to what every sword-and-sorcery fantasy will tell you, it is futile to use Magick to get what you want by attempting to change someone else. If you keep trying, you are doomed to failure.

The power you get from Magick is to change your own reality. This may make it seem like Magick is a small, pitiful thing but it isn't. New discoveries in quantum physics are finally catching up to what humans have always known: A sentient being shapes the Universe by paying attention to it.

That is, frankly, damn powerful.

But did you notice:  It's not attention to other people and what they are or aren't doing - it's attention to the Universe. That’s where the energy of Magick is.

Attempting to change someone else is just spending that energy to build an insurmountable obstacle for yourself. You're trying to control something you have no control over. It’s like flooring the gas pedal and just spinning wheels. You use up fuel but you don’t get anywhere and you may end up by trashing your car. You have to work with the reality you've got, not try to impose your wants over the reality of others who have their own desires and will.

Feeling frustrated lately? You’re spinning wheels, my friend. Stop trying to change people around you. Use Magick to change your own reality.


But you still want that reunion!

If sheer numbers alone were sufficient to make Magick happen, then you’d think that there would be another Led Zeppelin reunion tomorrow because there are millions of us out here wishing and hoping for something just like that. Sure, we've got remasters coming but does that mean we are satisfied? No way. We want more.

But hey, Jimmy Page himself says it is unlikely we’ll see anything like O2 again. That doesn't mean there will never be a reunion, but Mr. Page is a realist. A good Mage has to be. Jimmy Page would be the last person to underestimate the power of one, but he also knows that as powerful as he is, he can only change his own reality and not that of anyone else.

So what would a reunion take? Nothing less than the desire of all parties to change their individual realities in tandem, to hold the same desire with the same will. With that, a reunion concert or tour would then be the ritual that would allow the Magick to shine through. The music we all hunger for insatiably.

While “all parties” includes you and me, obviously the most important participants in such a Work would be the musicians. But... just because they are really, really good at what they do and are key to the ritual doesn't mean that they can change how Magick works. Even Jimmy Page can't do that.

 

Co-creation 

Anyone can change reality with Magick to some degree or another.  A powerful Mage can create a big change in his reality that affects a lot of people who are open to the Magick.  But ritual of a band the caliber of Led Zeppelin requires co-creation: choosing alignment of desire and will to a common goal -- not just being on stage at the same time.

I have previously posted in this blog about how emotions control automatic biological processes, which in turn close or open the Mage to the energy of the Universe and thus to Magick. When it comes to co-creation this means that if any one party to a co-creative Work has no joy in it, if all parties are not in alignment of desire and will, then the desired reality is not going to happen, no matter how much any one (or the millions of us) want it to.

For some things in this world it doesn't matter if a group of people want to drive the same car, or even take the same road when they desire to reach the same goal at the same time. But if the process is Magick, if the ritual is music, then there had better be agreement on the fundamentals of means and path, because it's everyone's foot on the same gas pedal, everyone's hands on the same steering wheel.

So the chance of a reunion is what it is: unlikely. You can figure out why without knowing anything more than what you've read here.  It's futile to want something you have no control over.

Led Zeppelin Remasters

You can get your pre-order buying done right now at http://www.ledzeppelin.com/buy/  The Remasters will be released June 2, 2014.  You will at some point be able to order on Amazon as well.

Lots of choices! (Note image is not a live link. Use THIS to see ordering options).

Jimmy Page NEWS: Remastering back catalog

Peter Mensch, the manager of LED ZEPPELIN guitarist Jimmy Page, told the U.K.'s Sunday Times that the legendary axeman is holed up in a west London studio "remastering every LED ZEPPELIN LP."   More....