Friday, January 5, 2024

On this day 05 January

A stairway but not THE Stairway

1977 05 January On This Day Jimmy Page traveling to Mexico & South America
  • 1969 Led Zeppelin - Los Angeles at Whisky A Go Go (day 4 of 4)

1969 Led Zeppelin at Whisky a Go Go


1977
Led Zeppelin spent January and February 1977 at Manticore Studios preparing for the next US Tour. The band's first show was to be Ft. Worth TX on February 27 but Plant came down with laryngitis.  The tour's actual start was in April. But then on 26 July 1977, Robert Plant's son Karac died, and Led Zeppelin did not perform again until 23 July 1979 in Copenhagen for a warmup for Knebworth.











Thursday, January 4, 2024

On this day 04 January

Jamming to nowhere, dammit.



1981 04 January On This Day Jimmy Page XYZ sessions


  • 1969 Led Zeppelin - Los Angeles at Whisky A Go Go (day 3 of 4)
  • 1981 Jimmy Page with Alan White & Chris Squire   XYZ Sessions 

  • 1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Whisky a Go Go

    1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin at Whisky a Go Go

    1981:
    Called by some the "supergroup that never happened", it was more the "musicians who recorded while messing around and never released the tapes". Jimmy Page, Chris Squire and Alan White jammed at Jimmy Page's Sol Studios and recorded the demos but it went no further. Jimmy Page went on to record his soundtrack for Death Wish II in 1982 and toured in 1983 for the ARMS concert series.  The band Yes reformed itself in 1983.

    Tuesday, January 2, 2024

    On this day 02 January

     The show must go on... please!!!

    1963 02 January On This Day Diamonds, featuring Jimmy Page acoustic guitar, released
    AUDIO: Diamonds (Jet Harris, feat. Jimmy Page acoustic guitar, John Baldwin bass guitar 1963) 

    • 1969 Led Zeppelin - Los Angeles at Whisky A Go Go (day 1 of 4)
    • 1973 Led Zeppelin - Sheffield England at Sheffield City Hall
    1963
    "Diamonds" was the first record that Jimmy Page played on (acoustic guitar), and also was the first time he recorded with John Paul Jones (then still John Baldwin). The song hit Number One in the U.K. just a month later, where it stayed for three weeks, and almost overnight JP became a hot item as a session guitarist.


    1969:
    Led Zeppelin opened for Alice Cooper, and was promoted as “featuring Jimmy Page, formerly of the Yardbirds". Jimmy Page was sick with the flu but went onstage anyway with a raging fever. The band could only perform one set and were docked in pay. Alice Cooper recalled that there were only about 100 people in the audience, since no one had heard of either him or Led Zeppelin at that point. Cooper also recalls tossing a coin to see which act would perform first.


    1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Los Angeles at Whisky A Go Go 

    1973:
    According to Dave Lewis, John Bonham and Robert Plant drove together to the Sheffield gig in Bonzo’s Bentley, which broke down. The two were forced to hitchhike in the rain the rest of the way to the show. Unfortunately – and coincidentally, given the 1969 show on this day - Robert took sick from the adventure and had a rough time singing. The next two days’ shows were cancelled while he recovered.

    02 January 2017 (Ross Halfin photo)





    ♪ Diamonds (Jet Harris, feat. Jimmy Page acoustic guitar, John Baldwin [not yet John Paul Jones] bass guitar] released 02 January 1963)
    ♪  Led Zeppelin (Sheffield England at Sheffield City Hall, 02 January 1973)

    Monday, January 1, 2024

    Sunday, December 31, 2023

    On this day 31 December

     Happy New Year!

    1968 31 December On This Day Jimmy Page on the road on New Year's Eve

    2015 Classic Rock "Best of the Year" cover

    2009 March Jimmy Page (Ross Halfin photo)






    ♫  BBC 2 Johnnie Walker interviews Jimmy Page 12/30/15 (MP3)

    Saturday, December 30, 2023

    On this day 30 December

     Dazed thinking 2023 is about over

    1968 30 December On This Day Led Zeppelin at Gonzaga University, Spokane WA
    AUDIO: a minute and a half of Dazed and Confused (MP3)
    • 1968 Led Zeppelin - Spokane, WA at Gonzaga University 
    1968
    The House of Gonzaga was the ruling family of Mantua, in Northern Italy, from 1328 to 1708. The most famous son was Aloysius Gonzaga, who was canonized in 1726. In 1729 Pope Benedict declared Aloysius to be the patron saint of young students. 

    Gonzaga University is a private Jesuit university located in Spokane, Washington, founded in 1887.

    As noted in today's post: The audience recording of Dazed and Confused from Gonzaga (9 minutes and 42 seconds long) was training for a number that would run much, much longer in later years.  According to Jimmy Page, the song had "all the movements of a classical symphony".  Note that Led Zeppelin performed Dazed and Confused  more than 200 times over the years, with the longest being nearly 45 minutes at The Forum in LA, 27 March 1975.





    Also in 1968
    Not on this day but interesting: In 1964 Jimmy Page, along with Big Jim Sullivan, had worked with PJ Proby on Proby's first studio album, I Am P. J. Proby. Four years later all four members of Led Zeppelin recorded together for the very first time -- but not on a Led Zeppelin album, on PJ Proby's final album Three Week Hero. The recording sessions took place starting August 1968 and the album was released in April 1969. Read more... 

    According to Proby in a 2012 interview by Corbin of Finding Zoso:
    "...we recorded that album, I think it was in two days. We even undershot, we recorded it with about thirty-five minutes left over, and so Roland yelled down, “Why don’t you all busket*? We shouldn’t waste the studio time.” I told the boys, “Y’all start picking and I’ll write as you pick.” So the three last numbers on the album, It's So Hard to Be a Nigger/Jim's Blues/George Wallace is Rollin' in This Mornin’, I just made up as the boys played."

    Jimmy Page - Acoustic guitar, electric guitar
    John Paul Jones - Bass guitar, keyboards, arrangements
    John Bonham - Drums, conga
    Robert Plant - Harmonica

    * Re: "busket": Roland must have said "busk it", meaning improvise.

    2008 Jimmy Page (Ross Halfin photo)





    ♪  Led Zeppelin (Spokane WA at Gonzaga University, 30 December 1968) 
    ♪  Jim's Blues (PJ Proby with Jimmy Page guitar recorded 1968 released 1969) 
    Note: PJ's first name was Jim
    ♪  Mery Hopkins medley (PJ Proby with "The New Yardbirds" released 1994) 
    Note: Proby calls out each member of the band, who then plays a little solo



    Friday, December 29, 2023

    On this day 29 December

     Getting ready for a new year


    2005 29 December Jimmy Page vacationing in Goa
    • 1968 Led Zeppelin - Portland, OR at Portland Civic Auditorium

    2007 Jimmy Page (Ross Halfin photo)

    Here's a link to a few of Ross Halfin's photos of Jimmy Page.