Ха-ха! Все уже наверное подумали, что клуб сдох и махнули рукой, выбросили из памяти.... А Misty mountain hop жив, жил и будет жить! Лед Зеппелин форева, такскать.
Что же мы имеем? А имеем мы Роберта Планта в турне по городам и странам со своими the Strange
Sensation и новыми вещами из Mighty Rearranger. В силу некоторых обстоятельств я не берусь предположить, что читатели сего уж таки собирутся и поедут на концерт, но выкладываю расписание:
Sunday, April 22: Laugardalur Sport Hall, Reykjavik, Iceland
Sunday, April 27: The Scala, London (Exclusive BBC2 concert)
Wednesday, June 15: Providence Performing Arts Center, Providence, Rhode Island
Friday, June 17: Bank of America Pavilion, Boston, Massachusetts
Sunday, June 19: Borgata Hotel/Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Tuesday, June 21: Tower Theater, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania
Wednesday, June 22: Tower Theater, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania
Friday, June 24: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT
Sunday, June 26: Beacon Theater, NYC
Monday, June 27: Beacon Theater, NYC
Wednesday, June 29: Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN
Thursday, June 30: Chastain Park, Amphitheatre, Atlanta GA
Monday, July 4: Harbor Center, Portsmouth, Virginia
Wednesday, July 6: Molson Ampitheatre, Tornonto, Canada
Thursday, July 7: Meadowbrook Music Festival, Detroit, MI
Saturday, July 9: Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
Sunday, July 10: Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
Tuesday, July 12: Universal Lending Pavilion, Denver Co
Friday, July 15: Dodge Theatre, Phoenix AZ
Saturday, July 16: Las Vegas Hilton, Las Vegas, NV
Tuesday, July 19: Paramount Theater, San Francisco, CA
Thursday, July 21: Bayside, San Diego, CA
Saturday, July 23: Santa Barbara Bowl, Santa Barbara, CA
Sunday, July 24: Greek Theater, Los Angeles, California
Sunday, July 31: Villa de Mouros, Portugal
Saturday and Sunday, August 20-21: V Festival, Staffordshire, UK
Friday, August 26: Rock En Seine, Paris, France.

Мы имеем то, что имеем. Касательно меня и Роберта Планта: отношения у нас весьма сложные - от слепого обажания до полной ненависти. Всяко в жизни бывает. Но! Пропустить его концерт?! Батенька, вы наверное шутите! Итак, прямо перед первой датой в списке стоял уже прошедший концерт в Копенгагене. Вут туда и направил свои стопы ваш покорный слуга.
Маленький зал, красные ткани и дымящиеся благования выжимали из помещения то, что можно назвать французским словом "антураж". Не буду перечислять состав группы и в чём они были одеты, мой фанатизм ещё не дошел до таких высот. Но главная персона, Роберт, вызвал, как, впрочем, и всегда, смешанные чувства. К моему сожалению, ни одной песни из альбома Dreamland не прозвучало. Зато были новые темы из вот-вот выходяшего на прилавки музыкальных магазинов и "заправки за углом", как выразился Сам, альбома Mighty Rearranger. Сказать, чтобы меня как-то зацепило... Нээээ, не то чтобы. ИМХО Плант нынче лучше звучит в записи, и только в этом состоянии я его готов усваивать. Но вот старые песни... Пусть даже с новой группой, с новым настроением и всеми этими восточными обработками... Рулят, вставляют и торкают старые песни со страшной силой. И не выбить из меня этого никак. Лучше, чем было написано и спето во времена Led Zeppelin, даже Планту не сыграть и не спеть.
Качество звука было несравненно выше, чем на предыдущем концерте, где моя имел место быть. И не только технически... То ли для датской публики он стараелся больше, то ли звезды... НО звучал он несравненно более эмоционально и даже выдавал некоторые пассажи, возвращающие нашу память в дивные 70-е.
Опять мы мерзли на улице, опять возбужденно упали в нежные руки охраны, опять он пронёсся пулей и пропал в недрах чёрного автомобиля. Автограф мне не удалось получить вот уже во второй раз. Что, несомненно, подпортило впечатление от вечера. Но сейчас, выспавшись, отмывшись от пыли и суеты датской столицы и глядя на плотное расписание его турне, я готов его простить. Не мы первые, не мы последние ;)

Ещё новости. Теперь уже о печатной продукции:
LED ZEPPELIN UNCUT
According to BrandRepublic.com, Uncut, IPC's music and movie magazine, is
producing a special May edition devoted to the 40-year-long career of iconic
hard rock group LED ZEPPELIN.
This celebratory issue will be released with a choice of two covers, with one
featuring lead singer Robert Plant and the other featuring guitar legend Jimmy
Page (cover image).
Ждем с надеждой и потираем алчно ручки в предвкушении юбилейного выпуска UNCUT. Май не за горами, охота началась!

И на последок, о запоздавшей награде, всё же нашедшей своего героя:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Led Zeppelin got a "whole lotta" belated love from the
music industry in February, earning a lifetime achievement Grammy in recognition
of a career that changed the face of rock 'n' roll.

The English band was one of 10 performers, alongside the likes of rockabilly
hellraiser Jerry Lee Lewis, blues belter Janis Joplin and country crooner Eddy
Arnold, celebrated at a luncheon one day before the Grammy Awards


На сегодня всё. Не скучайте. Все живы!

Факты без комментариев http://lzep.narod.ru/facts/

Hmmmm.... Sovsem propal. Aveal v lichnoj zizni. No, navernoe, skoro pеojavljus'. Budem iskat'.

Длиннющая такая ... Интервью с Пейджем и Плантом. Наслаждайтесь!
The following conversations with Page and
took place over a period of two weeks. We began
over tea in Plant's suite at Chicago's Ambassador
Hotel. The talk continued 3 days later in Page's darkened
room. "It's still morning" he shivered, sitting, underneath
a blanket on his sofa. "We may have to talk for three
hours before I make any sense." The resulting interview,
from which most of this material is taken, stretched into
late afternoon. Page, a soft spoken man, apparently
preferred candles to electric light.
A visit to Plant several days later provided more material
and one final visit with Page on the plane flight to New York
supplied the remaining details.
It wasn't until Led Zeppelin's last American tour
in /73 that the media fully acknowledged the
band's popularity.
PLANT: We decided to hire our first publicity firm after
we toured here in the summer of '72. That was the same
summer that the Stones toured and we knew full well
that we were doing more business than them. We were getting
better gates in comparison to a lot of people who were
constantly glorified in the press. So without getting
too egocentric, we thought it was time that
peopIe heard something about us other than that we
were eating women and throwing the bones out the window.
That whole lunacy thing was all people knew about us
and it was all word-of-mouth. All those times of lunacy were
ok, but we aren't and never were monsters, Just good-time
boys, loved by their fans and hated by their critics.
Do you feel, any competition with the
Stones ?
PAGE: Naw. I don't think of it that way. I don't feel
any competition at all. The Stones are great and
always have been. Jaggers lyrics are just amazing. Right
on the ball every time. I mean, I know all about how we're
supposed to be the biggest group in the world and all, but
I don't ever think about it. I don't feel that competition
enters into it. It's who makes good music and who doesn't...
And who's managed to sustain themselves.
What motivates you at this point?
PAGE: I love playing. If it was down to just that, it
would just be utopia. But it's not. It's airplanes,
hotel rooms, limousines and armed guards standing outside
rooms. I don't get off on that part of it at all.
But its the price I'm willing to pay to get out and play.
I was very restless over the last 18 months where we were
laid off and worked on the album.
PLANT: There's a constant conflict, really, within me.
As much as I really enjoy what I do at home . . . I play on
my own little soccer team and I've been taking part in the
community and living the life of any ordinary guy, I always
find myself wistful and enveloped in a feeling I can't
really get out of my system. I miss this band when we aren't
playing. I have to call Jimmy up or something to appease
that restlessness. The other night when we played for the
first time again I found the biggest smile on my mouth.

PAGE: Chalk that off to Keith Richard's sense of humor.
I did what could possibly be the next Stones B side. It was
Rick Grech, Keith and me doing a number called "Scarlet."
I can't remember the drummer. It sounded very similar in style
and mood to those Blonde on Blonde tracks.. It was great,
really good. We stayed up all night and went down to Island
Studios where Keith put some reggae guitars over one section.
I just put some solos on it, but it was eight in the morning
or the next day before I did that. He took the tapes to
Switzerland and someone found out about them. Keith told people
that it was track from my album. I don't need to do a solo
album and neither does anybody else in the band. The chemistry
is such that there's nobody in the background who's so
frustrated that he has to bring out his own LPs. I don't really
like doing that Townshend number of telling everybody exactly
what to play. I don't like that too much. A group's a group after
all, isn't it?

PAGE: I may not believe in myself but I believe in what I'm doing.
I know where I'm going musically. I can see my pattern and
I'm going much slower than I thought I'd be going . I can tell
how far I ought to be going, I know how to get there, all I've got
to do is keep playing. That might sound a bit weird because of
all the John McLaughlins who sound like they're in
outer space or something. Maybe it's the tortoise and the hare.
I'm not a guitarist as far as a techcian goes, I just pick it
up and play it. Technique doesn't come into it. I deal
in emotions. It's the harmonic side that's important. That's
the side I expected to be further along on than I am now.
That just means to say that I've got to keep at it..
There's such a wealth of arts and styles within the instrument
. . flamenco, jazz, rock, blues... you name it it's there.
In the early days my dream was to fuse all those styles. Now
composing has become just as important. Hand- hand with that,
I think it's time to travel, start gathering some real
right-in-there experiences with street musicians around the world.
Moroccan musicians, Indian musicians - - - it could be a good
time to travel around now. This year. I don't know how everyone
else is gonna take that, but that's the direction I'm heading in
right now. This week, I'm a gypsy. Maybe next week it'll be
glitter rock.

PAGE: Are you kidding? God. you know what you can gain when
you sit down with the Moroccans. As a person and as a musician.
That's how you grow. Not by living like this ordering
up room service in hotels. It's got to be the opposite end
of the scale. The balance has got to swing exactly the opposite.
To the point where maybe I'll have an instrument and nothing
else. I used to travel like that a long while ago. There's no
reason I can't do it again. There's always this time thing.
You can't buy time. Everything, for me, seems to be a race
against time. Especially musically. I know what I
want to get down and I haven't got much time to do it in.
I had another idea of getting a traveling medicine
wagon with a dropdown side and traveling around England.
That might sound crazy to you, but over there it's
so rural you can do it. Just drop down the side and play
through big battery amps and mixers and it can be as
temporary or as permanent as I want it to be. I like change
and I like contrast. I don't like being stuck in one situation,
day to day. Domesticity and all that isn't really for me.
Sitting in this hotel for a week is no picnic. That's
when the road fever starts and that's when the breakage's start,
but I haven't gotten to that stage yet. I've been pretty
mellow so far. Mind you, were only into the tour a week.

PLANT: Nineteen years and never been kissed, I remember it well.
It's been a long time. Nowadays we're more into staying in our
rooms and reading Nietzsche. There was good fun to be had, you
know, it's just that in those days there were more people to
have good fun with than there are now. The States were much more
fun.. L.A. was L.A. It's not L.A. now. L.A infested with jaded
12-year-olds is not the L.A. that I really dug. It was the first
place I ever landed in America: the first time I ever saw a
cop with a gun, the first time I ever saw a 20-foot-long car.
There were a lot of fun-loving people to crash into. People
were genuinely welcoming us to the country and we started out
on a path of positive enjoyment. Throwing eggs from floor to floor
and really silly water battles and all the good fun that a
19-year-old boy should have. It was just the first steps of
learning how to be crazy. We met a lot of people who we
still know and a lot of people who have faded away. Some Died.
Some of them just grew up. I don't see the point in growing up.

PLANT: Well, I am. I haven't lost my innocence particularly.
I'm always ready to pretend I haven't. Yeah, it is a shame in a way.
And it's a shame to see these young chicks bungle their lives
away in a flurry and rush to compete with what was in the old days
the goodtime relationships we had with the GTOs and people like that.
When it came to looning, they could give us as much of a looning
as we could give them. It's a shame, really. If you listen
to "Sick Again," a track from Physical Graffiti, the words show
I feel a bit sorry for them. "Clutchin pages from your teenage dream
in the lobby of the Hotel Paradise/Through the circus of the L.A.
queen how fast you learn the downhill slide." One minute she's 12
and the next minute she's 13 and over the top. Such a shame.
They haven't got the style that they had in the old days... way
back in '68. The last time I was in L.A. I got very bored.
Boredom is a horrible thing. Boredom is the beginning of all
destruction and everything that is negative. Every place is
determined by the characters who are there . It's just that
the character rating at the moment has zeroed right out.
Of course, I enjoy it all, but as a total giggle. It's funny.
I miss it all the clamor. The whole lot. It's all a big rush.
>From the shit houses to the classiest hotels, it's all been fun.
>From the Shadowbox Motel. where the walls crumbled during the night
seven years ago, to the Plaza, where the attorney general staying
one floor above complained about me playing Little Feat records
too loud last night.

PAGE: NO. Otherwise I would have been totally destroyed
by the reviews of our last album, wouldn't I? You see,
this is the point. I just don't care. I don't care what
critics and other people think. So far I've been very,
very fortunate because it appears that people like to
hear the music I like to play. What more fortunate position
can a musician be in? But I will still carry on changing
all the time. You can't expect to be the same person you
were three years ago. Some people expect you to be and can't
come to terms with the fact that if a year has elapsed between
LPs, that means one year's worth of changes. The material
consequently is affected by that, the lyrics are affected by that
.. the music too. I don't feel I have to top myself at all.
It took a long time for this album mainly because when we
originally went in to record it, John Paul Jones wasn't well
and we had to cancel the time . . . everything got messed up.
It took three months to sort the situation out.

PAGE: I guess we are our own executives now, aren't we? Listen,
give us time with Swan Song. You'll be surprised. We've got
some good things lined up. I think the Pretty Things LP
is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. We're executives and all
that crap, but I'll tell you one thing the label was never
right from the top Led Zeppelin records. It's designed to bring
in other groups and promote acts that have had raw deals in the past.
It's a vehicle for them and not for us to just make a few
extra pennies over the top. That's the cynical way of looking
at a record company. People have been asking me whether
I'll be doing any producing for the label. I don't know.
I'm just too involved with Zeppelin. I was offered a chance,
a long-standing one too-to produce Freddie King. Which I'd love
to do. But I need time to work on it.

PAGE: People always say that amidst their search for The Next
Big Thing. The only real woomph was when the Stones and Beatles
came over. But it's always said, " The business is dying!" I
don't think so. There's too many good musicians around for
the music business to be sagging. There's so many different styles
and facets of the 360-degree music sphere to listen to.
>From tribal to classical music, it's all there. If the bottom
was to sag out of that, for God's sake, help us all.
If there was never another record made, I think there's enough
music recorded and in the vaults everywhere for me to
be happy forever. Then again, I can listen to all different
sorts of music. I don't really care about The Next Big
Thing. It's interesting when something new comes along,
a band of dwarfs playing electronic harps or something,
but I'm not searching. Look at Bad Company and the Average White
Band. Those guys have all been around in one form or another
for a very long time. How many of the new ones coming
through have really got a lot of substance? In Britain, I'm
afraid there's not much at all. We've got to deal with Suzi
Quatro and Mud. It's absurd. Top Ten shouldn't be crap, but it is.

PAGE: It came together really quick. It was cut very shortly
after the band was formed. Our only rehearsal was a two-week
tour of Scandinavia that we did as the New Yardbirds.
For material, we obviously went right down to our blues
roots. I still had plenty of Yardbirds riffs left over.
By the time Jeff [Beck] did go, it was up to me to come up with
a lot of new stuff. It was this thing where Clapton set a heavy
precedent in the Yardbirds which Beck had to follow and then
it was even harder for me, in away, because the second lead
guitarist had suddenly become the first. And I was under pressure
to come up with my own riffs. On the first LP I was still
heavily influenced by the earlier days. I think it tells a bit, too.
The album was made in three weeks. It was obvious that somebody had
to take the lead, otherwise we'd have all sat around jamming
for six months. But after that, on the second LP, you can really
hear the group identity coming together.
PLANT: That first album was the first time that headphones
meant anything to me. What I heard coming back to me over the cans
while I was singing was better than the finest chick in all
the land. It had so much weight, so much power, it was, devastating.
I had a long ways to go with my voice then, but at the same time
the enthusiasm and spark of working with Jimmy's guitar shows
through quite well. It was all very raunchy then. Everything was
fitting together into a tradernark for us. We were learning
what got us off most and what got people off most, and what
we knew got more people back to the hotel after the gig.
We made no money on the first tour. Nothing at all.
Jimmy put in every penny that he'd gotten from the Yardbirds
and that wasn't much. Until Peter Grant took them over,
they didn't make the money they should have made. So we made
the album and took off on a tour with a road crew of one.

PAGE: So many people are frightened to take a chance in life
and there's so many chances you have to take. You can't just
find yourself doing something and not happy doing it.
If you're working at the factory and you're cursing every day
that you get up, at all costs get out of it. You'll just make
yourself ill. That's why I say I'm very fortunate because I
love what I'm doing. Seeing people's faces, really getting off
on them, makes me incredibly happy. Genuinely.

PAGE: I'll give you a gamble. I was in a band, I won't give
the name because it's not worth knowing about, but it
was the sort of band where we were travelling around all the
time in a bus. I did that for two years after I left school,
to the point where I was starting to get really good bread.
But I was getting ill. So I went back to art college.
And that was a total change in direction. That's why I say
it's possible to do. As dedicated as I was to playing
the guitar, I knew doing it that way was doing me in forever.
Every two months I had glandular fever. So for the next
18 months I was living on ten dollars a week and getting my
strength up. But I was still playing.
PLANT: Let me tell you a little story behind the song '"Ten Years
Gone" on our new album. I was working my ass off before joining
Zeppelin. A lady I really dearly loved said, "Right. It's
me or your fans." Not that I had fans, but I said, "I can't stop,
I've got to keep going." She's quite content these days, I imagine.
She's got a washing machine that works by itself and a little sports-
car. We wouldn't have anything to say anymore. I could probably
relate to her, but she couldn't relate to me. I'd be smiling too much.
Ten years gone, I'm afraid. Anyway, there's a gamble for you.
PAGE: Ill give you another one. I was at art college and started to do
sessionwork. Believe me, a lot of guys would consider that to be
the apex- studio work. I left that to join the Yardbirds at a third
of the bread because I wanted to play again. I didn't feel I was
playing enough in the studio. I was doing three studio dates a day
and I was becoming one of those sort of people that I hated.

PAGE: Certain sessions were really a pleasure to do, but the problem
was that you never knew what you weregonna do. You might have
heard that I played on a Burt Bacharach record. It's true.
I never knew what I was doing. You just got booked into a
particular studio at the hours of two and five thirty. Sometimes
it would be somebody you were happy to see. other times it was,
"What am I doing here?". When I started doing sessions, the
guitar was in vogue. I was playing solos every day. Then afterwards,
when the Stax thing was going on and you got whole brass sections
coming in, I ended up hardly playing anything, just a little
riff here and there .. . no solos. And I remember one particular
occasion when I hadn't played a solo for, quite literally, a couple
of months. And I was asked to play a solo on a rock & roll thing.
I played it and felt that what I'd done was absolute crap. I was so
disgusted with myself that I made my mind up that I had to get out
of it. It was messing me right up.

PAGE: I have really good memories. Apart from one tour that
nearly killed us, it was so intense, apart from that
it was a great group to play in. I've never regretted anything
I've ever done. Any musician would have jumped at the chance to
play in that band. It was particularly good when Jeff and I were
both doing lead guitar. It really could have been built into something
exceptional at that point, but unfortunately there's precious little
on wax of that particular point. There's only "Stroll On"
from the Blow-Up film-that was quite funny-and "Happenings Ten Years
Time Ago" and "Daisy." We just didn't get into the studio too much
at that time. Obviously, there were ups and downs. Everybody wants
to know about the feuds and personality conflicts . I don't think
that it ever got really evil.. It never got that bad. If it was
presented in the right way, maybe a Yardbirds reunion album
would be a good thing to do someday. Somehow I can't see Jeff doing
it, though. He's a funny bloke.

PAGE: Yes, it was owned by Aleister Crowley. But there were
two or three owners before Crowley moved into it. It was also
a church that was burned to the ground with the congregation in
it. And that's the site of the house. Strange: things have
happened in that house that had nothing to do with Crowley.
The bad vibes were already there. A man was beheaded there and
sometimes you can hear his head rolling down. I haven't
actually heard it, but a friend of mine, who is extremely
straight and doesn't know anything about anything like that
at all, heard it. He thought it was the cats bungling
about. I wasn't there at the time, but he told the help,
"Why don't you let the cats out at night? They make a
terrible racket, rolling about in the halls." And they said,
'The cats are locked in a room every night." Then they told
him the story of the house. So that sort of thing was there
before Crowley got there. Of course, after Crowley there
have been suicides, people carted off to mental hospitals...

PAGE: I didn't say that. I just said I didn't hear the head roll.

PAGE: The unknown. I'm attracted by the unknown, but I take
precautions. I don't go walking into things blind.

PAGE: Yeah. Well, all my houses are isolated. Many is the time
I just stay home alone. I spend a lot of time near water.
Crowley's house is in Loch Ness, Scotland. I have another house
in Sussex, where I spend most of my time. It's quite near London.
It's moated and terraces off into lakes. I mean, I could
tell you things, but it might give people ideas.
A few things have happened that would freak some people out,
but I was surprised actually at how composed I was. I don't really
want to go on about my personal beliefs or my involvement in magic.
I'm not trying to do a Harrison or a Townshend. I'm not interested
in turning anybody on to anybody that I'm turned on to .. .
if people want to find things, they find them themselves. I'm a firm
believer in that.

PAGE: There's nothing about Zeppelin in there at all.
The artist spends his whole time masturbating over the
Stones in that book, doesn't he? The Stones in drag and
things like that. When I first saw that book, I thought,
aw, this is really great. But when I really started to look
at it, there were things that I just didn't like. People can
laugh at this, but I didn't like to see a picture of Ray Charles
driving around in the car with his arm around a chick.
It's tasteless. But the guy's French, so what can we say?
Ray Charles is blind. What kind of humor is that? They may
be his rock dreams, but they. sure aren't mine.
Out of all the guitarists to come out of the Sixties, though
Beck. Clapton, Lee, Townshend and I are still having a
go. That says something. Beck, Clapton and me were sort of
the Richmond/Croydon type clan, and Alvin Lee, I don't know
where he came from. Lester or something like that. So he was never
in with it a lot. And Townshend, Townshend was from Middlesex
and he used to go down to the clubs and watch the other guitarists.
I didn't meet him, though, until "I Can't Explain." I was doing
the session guitar work on that. I haven't seen Townshend in years.
But I suppose we've all kept going and tried to do better and
better and better. I heard some stuff from Beck's solo LP
recently that was fucking brilliant. Really good. But I don't know,
it's all instrumental and it's a guitarist's guitar LP, I think.
He's very mellow and Beck at his best can be very tasty.

PAGE: Oh. Eric. Fucking hell, Eric. Yes, I saw him with his
new band and also at his Rainbow concert. At least at the Rainbow
he had some people with some balls with him. He had Townshend and
Ronnie Wood and Jimmy Karstein and [Jim Capaldi. "Pearly Queen"
was incredible.. And I would have thought that after that, he would
have said, "Right, I'm gonna get English musicians." Ever since
he's been with American musicians, he's laid back further and further.
I went over to see him after he'd done his Rainbow concert and it
wasn't hard to sense his total disappointment that Derek and the
Dominoes were never really accepted. It must have been a big
thing for him that they didn't get all the acclaim that the Cream did.
But the thing is, when ,a band has a certain chemistry, like the Cream
had .. . wow, the chances of recreating that again are how many
billion to one. It's very, very difficult. The key to Zeppelin's
longevity has been change. We put out our first LP; then a second
one that was nothing like the first, then a third LP totally
different from them, and on it went. I know why we got a lot of
bad press on our albums. People couldn't understand, a lot of reviewers
couldn't understand why we put out an LP like Zeppelin ll,
then followed it up with lll with "That's the Way" and acoustic numbers
like that on it. They just couldn't understand it.
The fact was that Robert and I had gone away-to Bron-Y-Aur cottage
in Wales and started writing songs. Christ. that was the
material we had. so we used it. It was nothing like, "We got
to do some heavy rock &roll because that's what our image demands..."
Album-wise, it usually takes a year for people to catch up with
what we're doing.


А конец в комментах. Не поместилась(. Оч хорошая статья, из ранних, ещё цеппелиновских.

Купил почти 2 года назад книжку в Лондоне, и все никак руки не дойдут прочитать целиком
Но отрывками интересно..

(В самом верху обложки плохо видно - Peter Grant там написано)

отредактировано: 23-08-2004 11:03 - Rikki Nadir

http://cc.bstu.by/~e018103/STAIRWAY.HTM

Есть пара рок-н-ролльных прописных истин. Первая: все девки после концерта сначала достаются вокалисту. Вторая: вокалист должен быть круглым дураком. На самом деле, если вдуматься, то эта схема работает и для джаза, и для оперы, только там люди более пафосные и в подобном не признаются.
На всё есть ответ. И почему девки, и почему не интеллектуалы. Голос певца проникает в такие глубины подсознания самки, которые позволяют ей переться через любые доисторические джунгли на случку. А второе - настоящим певцам голос даётся оттуда, откуда лучше и не спрашивать. И транслируется через их невеликий интеллект такое, о чём лучше не знать. Так зачем им мозг, слабый и человеческий?
Поставьте первый альбом Led Zeppelin на проигрыватель (кто с винилом - повезло), я знаю, что "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" вы или не слышали ни разу в своей жизни, или слушали много-много раз. Ничего не значащий текст про любовь. Просто советская попса какая-то. "Кроха, я от тебя свалю". Но вы понимаете, о чём я говорю - откуда у 19-летнего пацана, не знающего в своём Бирмингеме перебоев с горячей водой и Чернобыля, этот инфернальный кошмар в голосе? Чья рука сжимает этим голосом вам все чувства и рвёт сердце на куски? Ну не в этом же длинноволосом кудрявом красавчике дело. А в том, кто дал ему этот голос и транслирует через него космичесий ужас бытия и космического же одиночества. Ангелы не в счёт - они на работе. Ему там наверху скучно и страшно, вот Он и развлекается, давая ни с того ни с сего голос таким, как Роберт Энтони Плант. Когда остальным, ликующим со своим оцифрованным вокалом, остаётся просто удавиться.
Игорь Мальцев,
газета "Третья Столица"



Если вам везёт в жизни и вы видели запись выступления Планта/Пейджа/Бонэма/Джонса на датском телевидении 1969 года, вас наверняка поразила нездешняя мощь, которую транслирует худой парнишка в водолазке - How Many More Times. Пока ещё играет Пейдж, пока ещё долбится об свои барабаны Бонзо, всё нормально, но когда этот открывает рот, происходит нечто. Самое малое - получите свою дозу мурашек по спине. Нет, человек так не может.
Это же понял когда-то монстр звукостудий, гитарист на все руки, продюсер и самый великий музтусовщик Британии Джимми Пейдж. Он пригласил его работать в состав, который остался после окончательного разложения гордости британских островов - группы Yardbirds. Ещё долго после этого на вопрос, почему Пейдж разошёлся с Джеффом Бейком, он отвечал одинаково - Because he's an asshole. Так они поехали зарабатывать концертами по Скандинавии - как группа The New Yardbirds. До свидания, папины мечты о сыне-бухгалтере. Не всегда путь к большим деньгам лежит через чужую кассу.
На первой пластинке нового состава, который должен был, по мнению легендарного покойника Кита Муна, просто рухнуть вниз, как свинцовый цеппелин, Роберт Плант поёт не только традиционную (считай подворотную) балладу про кроху, от которой все валят, но и блюзы Вилли Диксона ("You Shook Me", "I Can't Quit You Baby").
С блюзами, сдаётся, получилось не всё гладко. Сейчас бы кто-нибудь обязательно написал, что это блюз на стероидах. Есть данные, что хвалёная британская музкритика пластинку встретила не так восторженно, как теперь ей самой кажется. Люди консервативны по природе. Но блюз сам по себе сугубо нетрезвая музыка, так что можно сказать, что они только добавили в кровь этого рода музыки немного амфетаминов. Заодно придумали heavy metal. Никогда впредь хэви не был так близок к породившему его джазу. Но у кого-то ещё хватало нюха и слуха, и группу пригласили на джазовый фестиваль в Ньюпорте.
И никто ещё так страшно и тяжело не играл блюз. Свинцовый дирижабль, оказывается, был тяжёлым совсем в другом смысле, чем замыслил барабанщик группы Who Кит Мун.
Роберт Плант изначально использовал свой голос совершенно банально - как музыкальный инструмент. Любой синтезатор отдыхает. Пока тебе ещё не исполнилось лет 25, ладошка, через которую тебе с неба транслируется благодать и Божий дар, не оскудевает.
Добра она была и в возможности представить новый мужской абрис - ангельски безупречной красоты, тонкий и златогривый, один из первых идолов гомомоды - Плант до сих пор выслушивает от журналистов скользкие вопросы о сексуальной ориентации. И любит женщин от всей своей львиной души.
Все концертные туры LZ - сплошной лом рекордов и разрушенных гостиничных номеров. Иногда к музыкантам приходит начальник гостиницы и говорит: "Вот этот телевизор я уже давно хочу выкинуть в окно. Будьте так любезны, бросьте его сами - вот как раз и журналисты собрались". А Плант, покуда его согруппники скупают наркотики и швыряются мониторами, скупает гостиничных проституток и вокально их пользует.
Плант всегда любил такие группы, как Love, Moby Grape, Bufallo Springfield, а также блюзмена Роберта Джонсона, который по легенде продал душу дьяволу. Легенда увековечена в фильме Уолтера Хилла "Перекрёсток". Свои кельтские корни он запустил в тексты, которые начал писать для песен Цеппелина. Если Джимми Пейджу можно кокетничать с магией и тащиться по чёрным обрядам английских колдунов, почему бы уроженцу сельской местности Хэйлсовен не пытаться вспомнить что-нибудь из генетических записей своего народа?
С другой стороны, LZ не показывались на телевидении, не выпускали синглов и нагнетали мистическую ауру, может, и не специально.
Для второго альбома Плант как-то слишком легко и непосредственно написал классные тексты для песен "Thank you" и "Ramble On" - послушайте их. Это написал мальчишка. Ровесник Децлу и миллионам других бессмысленных и бесполых, над которыми никогда уже не раскроется та самая ладошка Бога. Через много лет на трибьютной пластинке он споёт свою детскую песенку с Тори Амос. Её сейчас поют Duran Duran и прочие, написавшие собственные отличные песенки. "Спасибо". Он говорит спасибо блюзы и лично Дж. Р. Толкиену за поэтическое вдохновение. Чёрт с ним с вдохновением. Его голосом говорит сама любовь, даже когда речь идёт об очень жестоких вещах. Девчонки стоят очередь к гримёрке. За страдание. Вот это жизнь.
Он рано женился - какого чёрта жениться в двадцать лет? Морин Уилсон - жена и мать. Дочь Кармен Джейн и сын Карак. Ранние браки редко бывают счастливыми. Потому что человеку ещё много надо узнать, многое понять и многое пережить, чтобы он мог отвечать за своих близких.
Певцов это не касается
Они писали третью пластинку на курорте Bron-Yr-Aur (также название их песни), где ещё маленьким Роберт Плант бегал с кудрявой, надо полагать, головой. Цеппелин неуклонно поднимался, покуда великий английский проект Beatles шёл ко дну с треском, как свинцовая подводная лодка. Интересно, как тогдашняя публика, уже понявшая, что такое LSD и перешедшая к беспорядочным половым сношениям в свингер-клубах, восприняла народную песенку "Виселица" в исполнении ВИА "Свинцовый дирижабль"? А псевдотрадиционную пейджевую кантри-балладу с педалью wah-wah - "Tangerine"?
Даже если бы они выпустили вот эти три пластинки - LZ - I, II, III, - Роберт Плант остался бы в музыке навсегда, как Моцарт - Сальери, Мусоргский и Кортни Лав. А ведь была ещё и четвёртая пластинка с неизбывной "Лестницей в небо", которую уже просто запрещают играть в гитарных магазинах Америки.
В России всё не так, поэтому здесь все чайники играют на гитаре "Дом восходящего солнца". Пластинка, которая погрузила группу в ещё больший мистицизм, - здесь на обложке вместо имён было четыре оккультных символа. За много-много лет до того, как Принц, а затем Мерилин Мэнсон стали себя обозначать символическими закорючками. И несмотря на то, что на диске есть такие тяжёлые хиты, как "Black Dog", "Rock And Roll" или "When The Levee Breaks", именно "Лестница" стала визитной карточкой группы на века. Sic transit: известно, однако, что любимой песней самого Планта на этом диске является "Going to California".
В 1973 году они уже побили рекорд покойной группы "Битлз" по сбору зрителей и покупке билетов. В том же году у Роберта Планта стал пропадать голос. Прозвучал первый звоночек. Небо даёт часто понять людям, на которых свалился Божий дар, что кто дал, тот и взял, собственно. Но группа успевает выпустить альбом "Houses Of The Holy", на котором лучшими песнями были композиции басиста Джона Поля Джонса - "No Quarter" и "Rain Song". Через много лет певец Плант выпустит свой собственный диск - на пару с Джимми Пейджем, да так его и назовёт "No Quarter" - "Пощады нет".
На эмблеме собственной фирмы грамзаписи Планта/Пейджа/Джонса/Бонема, которая называлась "Лебединая песня", изображён сам голый Роберт Плант, только с крыльями. На самом деле это была часть картины Уильяма Римммера и называлась она "Вечер, конец дня".
После того как вышел двойной диск "Physical Graffiti", продажи дисков группы стали феноменальными. Возродился интерес к первым дискам, и они все шесть в одно время оказались в хит-параде "Billboard". Советский журнал "Ровесник" писал о "Physical Graffiti" гадости, называя диск "Физические надписи на стенах".
Визитка диска - Kashmir. Плант потом, когда снимет с себя добровольный обет не играть цеппелиновские песни на сольных концертах, будет играть и петь именно её. Для тех, кто забыл, как она звучит: включите телевизор, сериал "Агент национальной безопасности" - основная тема - это слегка перелицованный "Кашмир".
Тут прозвенел ещё один звоночек - на греческом острове Родос Плант с женой попадают в автокатастрофу, от последствий которой Плант не мог избавиться два года.
Когда в марте 76-го LZ выпускают диск "Presence" с мощной "Achilles' Last Stand", всё сводится к тому, что пора уходить. Они становятся мишенью для адептов панк революции и от них уже попахивает динозавровым помётом. Роберт писал вокал для этого диска прямо в кресле-каталке. И согласно моей теории Божьего дара до завершения гениального периода в его жизни оставался один год. Обычно после 25 лет люди ранга Роберта Планта приобретают профессионализм и теряют всё остальное, что шло через них из глубин Вселенной. Как предупреждение о завершении высшей милости Роберт Плант потерял ребёнка - младшего сына. От какой-то инфекции.
Когда они выступили на фестивале Небуорт в 78-м, реакция критики была сдержанной. Ни в плюс, ни в минус. Ещё бы, для критиков Melody Maker и NME уже не существовало иной музыки кроме панка. Тем не менее LZ делает ещё одну попытку - в студии Бенни Андерсона, на последнем этаже здания в центре Стокгольма. На одной песенке альбома "The Through The Out Door" слышен самолёт, который разворачивается над столицей Швеции.
7 июля 1980 года они сыграли последний концерт в Берлине. И "Цеппелин" закончился.
После смерти ударника хэвиметаллического труда Бонэма от перепоя Плант начал играть с группой Honeydrippers. Добавив к музыкантам барабанщиков Кози Пауэлла (земля пухом) и Фила Коллинза, он начал сольную карьеру диском "Pictures Of Eleven", где песенка "Like I've Never Been Gone" была вполне достойна дирижабля.
Считается, что голос его почти как раньше, но это не совсем так. Чудо завершилось, потому что у каждого чуда есть определённые рамки. Пришло ремесло, исчезло безумие. Мне нравятся его диски с Джимми Пейджем - "No Quarter" и "Walking Into Clarksdale" - в них есть кайф. "Кларксдейл" в заглавии диска - это городок такой, где жил блюзовый гитарист Роберт Джонсон, который, говорят, продал душу дьяволу, чтобы так играть, как он играл. А прожил он не очень долго, как Моцарт.
Тот, кто живёт долго после чуда собственного таланта - воплощённое напоминание о ладошке Бога, которая то висит у тебя над затылком, а то и вовсе не висит.
А с женой он всё-таки развёлся. Не стоило так рано жениться? Его новые женщины - певицы Аланна Майлс (Alannah Myles) и Найма Ахтар (Najma Akhtar). На вопрос, что его больше увлекает - секс, наркотики или рок-н-ролл, он обычно отрубает коротко и ясно - футбол. Ему уже не девятнадцать.
С 1999 года играет с группой Priory Of Brion, не на стадионах, как легенда рок-н-ролла, а по клубам, как простой музыкант. В Россию должен был приехать с новой группой Strange Sensation.

З.Ы. Символы они себе не придумали, а выбрали по какой-то книге(наверное Пейдж постарался, точно не помню).
З.З.Ы На концерте с группой Strange Sensation я был)))))

Согласен с мнением автора, что голос у Планта пропал, и не разделяю восторгов по поводу его постцеппелиновсуих альбомов.

отредактировано: 22-08-2004 20:53 - Rider

From one of their first-ever shows opening for Vanilla Fudge (Dec. 1968), the west coast of Canada became almost a second home for Led Zeppelin early in their career. As the group's popularity grew, they chose the city of Vancouver to launch their 1970 and 1971 North American tours. The highly successful appearances became legendary for local fans. As previously explored in our "Spotlight" features, the summer of 1971 contained some unfortunate incidents (Milan '71, followed by their North American tour opener in Vancouver '71 - see these for further background info).
The concert in August '71 was perhaps too successful, with promoters not suitably handling the enormous crowd - which would return to haunt them in their following tour in 1972. Growing popularity of groups like Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones etc., found themselves in the transition to a new "arena rock" era. However, uptight city officials were not yet ready to accept this level of fan frenzy. Thousands stormed the gates at the Pacific Coliseum in '71, unable to get tickets to the sell-out show, resulting in some arrests, injuries and damage.

Upon the group's 1972 return, the city of Vancouver simply refused to grant a license for the show. "They've had difficulties in other cities and difficulties here before", Mayor T. Campbell told the press on June 13, 1972. "The chief of police was afraid there was going to be trouble and that his men wouldn't be able to handle it." Before a final decision was made, Vancouver city council had met with the P.N.E. board of directors and Concerts West (promoters of the tour). The mayor also said that all rock concerts for the rest of the year would be considered individually before performance licences were issued.

The stunned promoters were forced to offer refunds to the sold-out show scheduled to take place in less than a week. "This decision could mean the cancellation of the entire tour", said a spokesman for Concerts West. "Led Zeppelin planned to use Vancouver as its base for an eight-city stretch."

But, there was light at the end of the tunnel... Two days later on June 16th, 1972, a last-minute solution was revealed: "LED ZEPPELIN ANNOUNCEMENT - Due to a freeze on rock concerts in Vancouver, Led Zeppelin announces that a second show will be held in the Seattle Coliseum this Sunday (June 18) at 8:00pm. This is a make-up for the City of Vancouver and all its Led Zeppelin fans. Tickets for the cancelled Vancouver show will be honoured at the Seattle Coliseum. So come on down and experience a killer of a show". Sold out concerts in Seattle June 18 and 19 were among the best of the tour, without major incident or problems.

When the group returned back to North America in May 1973, their overwhelming success was stunning, even to the band. Their fifth album, Houses of the Holy was an instant top seller and fans packed every show. A record breaking attendance in Tampa further propelled the band into super-stardom.

"THANKS FOR THE FAITH...."

A two year absence from Vancouver seemed to have calmed city officials and Led Zeppelin was set for a triumphant show on July 18, 1973 at the Pacific Coliseum. Fans recall the hot summer evening and the great anticipation of seeing the biggest band in the world. Unfortunately, bad luck would continue again this night and cut short the show.

John Bonham kicked off the intro and the band launched into Rock and Roll to the delight of the crowd. Sometimes a shaky start, it was a solid number this time with Plant's voice fairly strong as well. "been a long time, a long time... lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time. It sure has.... and you know it!", he added to the thankful fans. Though incomplete, a fair audience tape gives a taste of the experience.

A loose, punchy and playful bass carries Celebration Day as Bonzo and John Paul Jones jam throughout. Page crunches away at the riff and solo while Plant holds his own - easily a rival to the version on the Song Remains the Same soundtrack. Continuing into Black Dog, the excitement continues. [hear a clip of Celebration Day]

"Vancouver, good evening! I've gotta apologize about last year, but I believe one or two of you made it across the border - thanks for the faith."

As Page begins the melodic guitar intro to Over the Hills and Far Away, the familiar blast of firecrackers rings in the arena. But despite the stupidity of a drunken fan, Zep plays another impressive run.

"Alright!", he cheerfully exclaims to the roaring fans. "We really must try to maintain some seriousness about this, although we always try to give out a vibe where everybody's smiling. We'll play our balls off if you promise - no firecrackers. You can have our balls, we don't want your firecrackers", he proclaims. "Here's John Paul Jones, talking about balls...", who launches right into an upbeat Misty Mountain Hop.

Jimmy Page carries through a gutsy Since I've Been Loving You, performing in a trance-like state. There's no doubt the band is "on" this night!

Dry ice and smoke drape the stage like a London fog as the ethereal No Quarter begins. Every Led Zeppelin show is different and the jazzy improvising and jamming on this version contains some great moments. An unfair and scathing review in the Vancouver Sun criticized the show and failed to find many positive observations: "There were some good things about the concert, John Paul Jones' bubbly keyboard work made N.Q. interesting", wrote reviewer D. Stanley. [sample clip of No Quarter]

The group would continue through The Song Remains the Same and Rain Song, which fell victim to the unpredictable and temperamental Mellotron. "JPJ's use of the mellotron (an instrument that imitates a string section) was good until it broke down", said the Sun. "Too bad, because Page was doing some nice supportive work on his double-neck guitar."

A small commotion in the crowd interrupts an intense jam during a 25 minute Dazed and Confused. "take it easy... take it easy... easy.... easy..", Plant urged. But once again, the band played on. The haunting violin bow passage and fierce jamming were contrast to Stairway to Heaven which followed. It was another solid performance and was greeted by the crowd with rousing approval. [hear a clip of Stairway]

"Here's something with just as much power and intensity", Plant said as he introduced John Bonham's 20 minute Moby Dick.

"LED ZEPPELIN HAS LEFT THE BUILDING...."

But what follows has become a bit of a mystery... . A newly discovered tape I've uncovered reveals a humble "Vancouver, good night" by Plant as the band left the stage, with the eager audience cheering for encores - there would be no encores this night. The show was brought to a sudden conclusion with a shocking stage announcement by one of the promoters. The roaring crowd was quickly brought to deafening silence: "Ladies and gentlemen, Led Zeppelin has left the building.... please stop for just a moment. They're trying to get Robert Plant to a hospital. Please very orderly try to cool it with the traffic while we try to get the limos through the traffic. We have to get Robert Plant to the hospital in the next few minutes. They said to thank you, you've been an unbelievable audience... we apologize....thank you Vancouver." [hear the stage announcement]

Apparently, Plant was given a "spiked" drink while backstage during Moby Dick, causing him to fall ill. The unusual circumstances causing a premature ending the show happened only a few times in their career, luckily. Despite the unfortunate early finish, Zep's highly anticipated return to Vancouver was a highlight of their 1973 performances.

Хм... Где активность? Почему не постятся участники? скромничают.... Эх.
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