On This Day 22 January

1973 22 January On This Day Led Zeppelin at Southampton University

• 1967 The Yardbirds - Sydney, Australia at Sydney Stadium
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Southampton,UK at Southampton University
• 1975 Led Zeppelin - Chicago, IL. at Chicago Stadium (day 3 of 3)

1971:
Note that the source for the one minute intro to Four Sticks (link below), with John Bonham's setting up the timing, may have been from a session at Headley Grange between 1970 December and 1971 January or from the 1971 February sessions at Island Studios in London.  Rumor has it that this and other outtakes were found in trash.

1973 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at soundcheck, Southampton University

1973 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Southampton University

1973 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Southampton University

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♪  Four Sticks / intro only (Led Zeppelin, rehearsal 1971) YouTube
♪  Dancing Days (Led Zeppelin, Southampton 1973) YouTube
♪  Full set (Led Zeppelin, Southampton 1973) YouTube

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

On This Day 21 January

Wanton music.  More, please.

1967 21 January Yardbirds at Sydney Stadium

1973 Led Zeppelin, Southampton England

1975 Robert Plant & Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Chicago Stadium

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Chicago Stadium

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♪  The Wanton Song ((Led Zeppelin, Chicago 21 January 1975) YouTube
♪   No Quarter (Led Zeppelin, Chicago 21 January 1975) YouTube

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

On This Day 20 January

What a voice.

1964 20 January On This Day Rocks The House by Etta James
Audio: Baby What You Want Me To Do SoundCloud

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Wheaton, MD at Wheaton Youth Center (unconfirmed rumor)
• 1975 Led Zeppelin - Chicago, IL at Chicago Stadium
• 1996 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - San Paulo, Brazil at Pacaembu Stadium

2012:
Before there was Janis, there was Etta.

The legendary Etta James was a musician Jimmy Page could admire for many reasons.  A hell-raiser who wasn't afraid to sing about sex in a period when the Beatles were still just wanting to hold hands, Ms. James wasn't afraid to tackle music and life in its fullest.

"The bad girls ... had the look that I liked," she wrote in her 1995 autobiography, Rage to Survive. ''I wanted to be rare, I wanted to be noticed, I wanted to be exotic as a Cotton Club chorus girl, and I wanted to be obvious as the most flamboyant hooker on the street. I just wanted to be."

She is remembered as a blues singer, but Etta James wasn't afraid to work in many musical genres, from gospel to R&B, and from jazz to ballads. She might have been a "bad girl", but her At Last has been used by many a bride walking down the aisle.

Brian Ray (a session musician and Paul McCartney's bass player) recalls Etta James at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1975.

"When I get there the band they got together was Rick Wakeman [Yes] on keyboards, John Paul Jones [Led Zeppelin] on bass, David “Fathead” Newman and “Pony” Poindexter on horns. I go to rehearsal and I’m just a kid, I didn’t know what I needed to do. I knew the material so I’m teaching them what I know and it’s coming together well, and in walks Jimmy Page and Robert Plant [Led Zeppelin]. They listened to a few songs and then Jimmy Page says “I feel like I’ve known you before, man. Like maybe in another life,” so I’m having an Aleister Crowley discussion with Jimmy Page, and they took me out to dinner in a chalet up in the Alps near Montreux."
~ Brian Ray, interview 2009

In 1984, coming back from hard times due to heroin abuse, Ms. James sang the national anthem at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, boosting her return to music. She was inducted into the Rock Hall in 1993, was awarded Grammys in 2003 and 2004.  She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Etta James died on this day in 2012.

1975 Led Zeppelin at Chicago Stadium

1975 Led Zeppelin at Chicago Stadium

1996 Page & Plant,  São Paulo Brazil

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♪  Baby What You Want Me To Do (Etta James, Rocks the House 1964) YouTube
♪  I'd Rather Be Blind (Etta James feat. John Paul Jones bass, Montreux 1975) DailyMotion
♪  When the Levee Breaks (Led Zeppelin Chicago 1975) YouTube
♪  Full set (Page & Plant, Hollywood Rock São Paulo, 1996) YouTube

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

On This Day 19 January

2001 19 January On This Day Jimmy Page attends Iron Maiden show in Rio

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Detroit, Michigan at Grande Ballroom (day 3 of 3)

1969:
Apropos of nothing, here are some excerpts from a June 1969 Guitar Player article on Jimmy Page I came across on Beat Patrol blog.

“Led Zeppelin’s music never duplicates itself,” [Jimmy Page] insists. “We might use the same pattern, but it’s always changing. By now a tune may be entirely different from when we first started. The only thing which will remain the same is the first couple of verses. Although we’ve got cues when we cut in, the idea is to get as much spontaneity as possible. But to get yourself out of trouble, you’ve got certain keys you can use to come in. Otherwise it can be chaotic. Usually we just start the song off and then go in different tangents, change it four or five times, and then come back to the original song.”

Jimmy wouldn’t call what they do during rehearsal a practice. “We jam,” he says. “Once we’ve got a number, everything is happy, but getting there is another thing. That is why it is so easy using an old blues number. You know it, and then you go on from there. I think most groups must have the same trouble.

“How original our work is depends upon how you want to classify it. You might say it’s 80% original if you want to exclude the words. In fact, it would be 90% original, because our numbers would be ten or fifteen minutes whereas the original number would only be three minutes long. So basically we are making it up all the time.”

Sounds like something Jimmy Page could say today.

2001 Jimmy Page and Iron Maiden auctioning autographed guitar

2001 Jimmy Page & guitarist/photographer Jimmy Appudurai-chua

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

On This Day 18 January

Everybody needs some Jimmy Page

1969 18 January On This Day Led Zeppelin at Grande Ballroom, Detroit

• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Detroit, Michigan at Grande Ballroom
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Bradford, England at Bradford St. George's Hall
• 1975 Led Zeppelin - Bloomington, Minnesota at Metropolitan Sports Center

1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Detroit

1975:
"Page has developed into an energetic, exciting performer, prancing about and exchanging knowing smiles with Plant while he tosses out a succession of stupendous solos, each more incredible than the one before."
~Free Press, 23 January 1975

1975 Led Zeppelin at Bloomington, Minnesota

1975 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Bloomington, Minnesota

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♪  Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (Led Zeppelin, Bradford UK 1973) YouTube

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

On This Day 17 January

I'd scream for Jimmy Page any time!

1967 17 January On This Day The Yardbirds in Singapore (published 2021)

1967 17 January On This Day The Yardbirds in Singapore (published 2016)

• 1967 Yardbirds - Singapore City, Singapore at National Theatre
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Detroit, Michigan at Grande Ballroom
• 1975 Led Zeppelin rehearsal Bloomington (Minneapolis) Minnesota  

1967:

The Raffles Hotel, declared a National Monument by the Singapore government, was named for the founder of Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles.  Built in 1887, by 1904 it was reported to be "the most magnificent establishment of its kind East of Suez". Its reputation continues today as a five-star destination hotel.

Raffles Hotel, Singapore

1975:
Led Zeppelin's 18 month sabbatical was over, and on this day in 1975 they were in Minneapolis rehearsing for the next night's gig. They looked to be having a good time. Neal Preston was there taking photos - some of Led Zeppelin's most iconic images were from that rehearsal.

1975 Led Zeppelin rehearsal for Minneapolis show (Neal Preston photo)

1975 Led Zeppelin rehearsal for Minneapolis show (Neal Preston photo)

1975 Led Zeppelin rehearsal for Minneapolis show (Neal Preston photo)

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

On This Day 16 January

Shocked to the point of apoplexy by Led Zeppelin!  Oh no! 

• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Sheffield,  England at Sheffield City Hall, Oval Hall
• 1973 Led Zeppelin - Aberystwyth, Wales at King's Hall

1973 article on Led Zeppelin schedule

1973 Led Zeppelin at Kings Hall in Aberystwyth 

 2004 16 January Jimmy Page & Joe Perry (Ross Halfin photo)

 2004 16 January Jimmy Page & Joe Perry relaxing after photo shoot (Ross Halfin photo)

2004 16 January Jimmy Page, James Brown, Joe Perry, Slash, backstage at House of Blues (Ross Halfin Photo)

2020

On this day in 2020, the release of my Sundragon amplifier was announced.

Based on the overwhelming response to the limited edition @sundragonamps amplifier, we produced a standard production model Sundragon amplifier.

The Sundragon Standard is a follow-up to the immediately sold-out limited edition

amplifier introduced and delivered in 2019. The Standard is a faithful recreation of the amp that I used on Led Zeppelin I and other notable recordings such as Joe Cocker’s With a Little Help from My Friends.

My original amp started out life as a Supro Coronado. After falling out of the back of the band’s van during an early pre-Zeppelin tour, the amp was restored and modified in significant ways. I realised that the sonic palette of his amp had changed to something new and unique.

After being shrouded in mystery for more than 50 years, I decided to share this extraordinary amplifier with the world.

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