Led Zeppelin

[judgenothing]

Thanks for the suggestion Carlton. Other than Time Passages & Year Of The Cat, I'm not too familiar with much of Al Stewart's songs. Maybe I need to give him a decent chance to impress me.

[Carlton]

Time Passages & Year Of The Cat

Al's 2 "commercial" albums. Each is a very good album but he has an extensive catalog that is pretty fantastic IMO.

[judgenothing]

I just found out that Alan Parsons produced Time Passages & Year Of The Cat. And wow...never knew this about Love Chronicles:

It was notable for the 18-minute title track, an anguished autobiographical tale of sexual encounters that was the first mainstream record release ever to include the word "fucking". It was voted "Folk Album Of The Year" by the UK music magazine, Melody.

So Carlton, out of all of these albums, which one should I definitely start with?

Bed-Sitter Images (1967)
Love Chronicles (1969)
Zero She Flies (1970)
Orange (1972)
Past, Present & Future (1973)
Modern Times (1975)
Year Of The Cat (1976)
Time Passages (1978)
24 Carrots (1980)
Live/Indian Summer (1981)
Russians & Americans (1984)
Last Days Of The Century (1988)
Rhymes In Rooms (1992)
Famous Last Words (1993)
Between The Wars (1995)
Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time (1996)
Down In The Cellar (2000)
A Beach Full Of Shells (2005)
Sparks Of Ancient Light (2008)

I apologize for getting my own topic slightly off topic.

[Carlton]

It was notable for the 18-minute title track, an anguished autobiographical tale of sexual encounters that was the first mainstream record release ever to include the word "fucking".

Pretty racey for '69 wouldn't you say? And the vocals are very distinct on that particular line. Unlike "Star Star" by the Stones from the same era.

So Carlton, out of all of these albums, which one should I definitely start with?

Bed-Sitter Images (1967)
Love Chronicles (1969)
Zero She Flies (1970)
Orange (1972)
Past, Present & Future (1973)
Modern Times (1975)
Year Of The Cat (1976)
Time Passages (1978)
24 Carrots (1980)
Live/Indian Summer (1981)
Russians & Americans (1984)
Last Days Of The Century (1988)
Rhymes In Rooms (1992)
Famous Last Words (1993)
Between The Wars (1995)
Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time (1996)
Down In The Cellar (2000)
A Beach Full Of Shells (2005)
Sparks Of Ancient Light (2008)

While I'm a big Al fan and own them all, I don't think you can go wrong with any of them. Past, Present & Future is a particular favorite. It's probably the next most commercial album after YOTC and TP since it contains the concert staples, "Roads to Moscow" & "Nostradamus". My next favorite would be Last Days of the Century. It's got my all time favorite anti-lawyer song on it - "License to Steal". I recall reading somewhere that Al wrote it after several dealings with record company lawyers. Between the Wars also stands out. I don't find any of the albums to be 'throw-aways'. Seemed Like A.... is probably the weakest since it a compilation of B sides and demos that saw a limited release for mostly the fan club. All the albums are very consistent and very much distinctive Al Stewart albums. Much of his catalog was out of print until last year when the entire lot was re-released with bonus tracks. Happy Listening!

[buell]

Haven't we already settled that "Kick out the Jams" in 1968 included the offensive word?

Unless "MFers" is a different word than "fucking" . . .

[Carlton]

Haven't we already settled that "Kick out the Jams" in 1968 included the offensive word?

Unless "MFers" is a different word than "fucking" . . .

Maybe KOTJ was overlooked by the writer of the blurb Robert quotes because it got censored pretty quickly. To my limited knowledge, Love Chronicles was never altered/censored in any way. I've got vinyl copies of both the UK and US released versions and the line is the same on each. Or could be the blurb writer was more impressed with Al's very plainly spoken line

"......Asking for nothing back from me
You gave yourself unselfishly as a part of me
And where I thought that just plucking
The fruits of the bed was enough
It grew to be less like fucking
And more like making love "

than the screamed and slurred MCF shout out.

The entire lyrics can be found here http://www.alstewart.com/lyrics/lovechronicles.htm

[judgenothing]

Jimmy Page, The Edge & Jack White

http://www.sonyclassics.com/itmightgetloud

[judgenothing]

A brass Chinese gong once owned & used by John Bonham is set to fetch up to $125,000 at auction. The gong, which features 2 painted Chinese characters, has been put up for sale by Bonham’s younger sister & will be auctioned at Bonhams in Los Angeles on June 14.

Bonham used gongs for dramatic effect by having them set on fire during performances. Fellow Zeppelin star John Paul Jones said: “He did that more or less every night. His roadie Mick Hinton had to set it on fire. I think he used lighter fuel & it was quite dangerous.”

[judgenothing]

More on "It Might Get Loud": (in theaters 8/14)

On choosing what songs to teach each other & jam on-

Jack White: We just threw out ideas. One might selfishly say, well if I'm gonna play Led Zeppelin, maybe it could be "In My Time Of Dying." That kind of thing. It'd be easy, you know, more commercial if Jimmy taught us to play "Stairway to Heaven" or something. But we were trying to find common ground where we all could feed off of it & see where it went.

On how their relationships with their guitars are like love affairs-

Jimmy Page: I've said that it's shaped like a woman, you know. You can touch it & caress it. The thing I haven't said, that I'll tell you now is: it doesn't ask you for alimony!

JW: I think if you picked up a girl as much as you picked up a guitar every day, they might get annoyed. The guitar doesn't say, hey, get off of me, ya know?

On numbers they performed not seen in the film being included in a future DVD-

Davis Guggenheim: Yes. There are a lot of them.

Song titles?

DG: I can't tell you. We have to still discuss which ones we want in there.

Hints? Artists?

DG: Led Zeppelin, U2 & The White Stripes.

On Page's appearance at The Roxy to see White's new band, The Dead Weather last week-

JP: To be honest with you, to go & hear Jack was such a treat. I really got the whole thing of what he was doing. What they were doing & how well they were playing.

Was there ever a chance of him joining TDW on stage?

JP: Why would I do that? What they were doing, one song, one carried to another followed by another & the whole thing was shifting like a kaleidoscope. It was absolutely amazing. They didn't need me in all of that.

On The Edge-

JW: I met him in a hallway once with Loretta Lynn & that was it. But I always respected what he was doing. I'm a big lover of his techniques. He has his own niche that nobody else has. He basically invented that infinite guitar, that style that keeps repeating. Those sounds are really being done, not looped.

JP: That's the great thing about having done this because I have so much more understanding of how he did it & how he shapes & how he crafts. He's like a scientist, a sonic scientist.

On Page's current musical endeavors-

JP: As far as new music, yeah, I've got some new music. There's sort of little tastes & shades of it in the documentary. Bits. It's just a question of actually doing it now. Actually getting a project that I've had in mind for a while. I've just got to go & do it. Don't want to tell anyone about it. But, yes, I've got a big project I'm working on.

[judgenothing]

Today (July 15th) is Jason Bonham's 43rd birthday!

Who else remembers this song from the summer of '89?

"All that I can do is wait for you...just wait for you."

[judgenothing]

At the age of 13, Jimmy Page appeared on Huw Wheldon's All Your Own talent quest program in a skiffle quartet, one performance of which aired on BBC TV in 1957. The group played "Mama Don't Want To Skiffle Anymore" & another very American-flavored song, "In Them Ol' Cottonfields Back Home". When asked by Wheldon what he wanted to do after schooling, Page said, "I want to do biological research" to find a cure for "cancer, if it isn't discovered by then".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0tAOIQiz-8

[judgenothing]

John Paul Jones new band:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Them_Crooked_Vultures

http://www.myspace.com/crookedvultures

In other news, Jimmy Page's eldest daughter Scarlet Lilith Eleida Page married Tom Brown this past Saturday the 8th.

[judgenothing]

Jimmy Page is insisting the future of Led Zeppelin depends on his former bandmate Robert Plant - because they can't continue the group without the lead singer.
Plant recently sparked speculation he may reform the band once more for iconic U.K. music festival Glastonbury this summer, after admitting he'd been in talks with organizer Michael Eavis, but he has continually dismissed reports they will regroup. He said: “I’ve just been talking to Michael. There’s place for me there, but I have no idea who with.”
Page is planning to work on new music this year, but despite making it clear he'd welcome a Led Zeppelin reunion, he refuses to carry the band's moniker without Plant's involvement.
He says, "You'd better ask Robert Plant what the future of Led Zeppelin is. Musicians can always play together but I don't think you can go out with a band called Led Zeppelin if you haven't got the original vocalist."