A few times a year, Mojo Magazine releases special editions usually devoted to one artist. The new Mojo "Essentials" is a guide to all things Led Zeppelin, with new reviews and reevaluations of their entire studio output, live records, solo projects, sessions, etcetera. I didn't get beyond the first two pages because those two pages gave me the idea for this mix.
There is a side bar highlighting ten of Jimmy Page's mid 60's session tracks, about half of which I had never heard before. So, I did some digging and put together a few rare gems and a few obvious tracks, hopefully for your enjoyment.
Please, we all know the stories about Jimmy's appropriation of riffs and melodies and his failure to give credit. Some of it was heinous---Richie Valens, Jake Holmes---much of it was no different than what many other beloved artists have done. If you feel like going on about that instead of enjoying the music, please start by explaining why no one got on Tom Petty's case for stealing The Animals' "Cheating" for "Breakdown" or the Small Faces for ripping off Willie Dixon on "You Need Love" two years before Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love." Taking five notes from The Yardbirds' "New York City Blues" and tacking them on to the first five seconds of "Since I've Been Loving You" on Zeppelin "III" isn't any worse than most every song on a Dua Lipa record ripping off something from the 80's. I could give more examples, but I'd rather focus on these tracks, and I hope you will, too.
I think this a fun 30 minutes, especially if you are a fan of Mr. James Patrick Page.
TRACKLIST:
My Baby Left Me- Dave Berry
Don't Turn Your Back On Me- Jackie DeShannon
Sweet & Tender Romance- The McKinleys
La Poupee Qui Fait Non- Michel Polnareff
Psychedelic- Johnny Hallyday
Bald Headed Woman- The Who
Two Lovers- Louise Cordet
Once In A While- The Brooks
The Last Mile- Nico
Keep Moving- Jimmy Page
9 comments:
We were in London a few years ago, and there was a rock clothing exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum we saw. They had one of Page's 70s stage outfits, and it was pretty hilarious how tiny it was. As an old girlfriend of mine would have said -- "he's a little feller."
cool mix some great stuff. Thanks Mr. Wood
This is great, thanks Sal!
Saw Zep only once, couldn't figure out how Pagey played with his guitar down around his knees (answer: sloppily, of course). Yeah, he appropriated some stuff, invented lots more. And where did Petty get that "rebel without a clue" line anyway... Westerberg should be getting a shit-ton of royalties...
Great idea for a mix. Looking forward to enjoying it.
Michel Polnareff scored a big hit with La poupée qui fait non way back in the 60's and it is still considered as a pop classic with great hooks. i encourage you to dig for his recordings which are mostly in the French language. As for Johnny Hallyday (real name Jean-Philippe Smet), he often recorded with British sidemen also including Mick Jones before he formed Foreigner. His recordings are of various quality as his career spans the 1960-2017 period but he was a big star in France. Still Psychedelic was a good B side complete with sound trappings of that era.
Cool! I regret I never got to see the Zep, either in their heyday or the brief reunion (or was that just one show, the one on the 'Celebration Day' CD?). Anyway, I've never seen Jimmy Page in concert and probably never will since he doesn't tour much at all.
But this summer I did finally get to see Robert Plant in a show for the first time, and it was a super rare case of me having very high expectations - but him (and Allison Krauss) actually exceeding them. I'll be treasuring that show in my memories in years to come when giants like these will finally leave the playing field.
Being born the year of the Song Remains the Same MSG shows, I obviously missed the mighty Zep. Caught Page/Plant on both tours and loved seeing my hero. I live in the greater SF Bay Area and just learned of a concert venue in the Oakland suburb of Concord that existed for a hot minute. Just for fits and giggles, I youtube'd the Concord Coliseum (the venue name) only to find this. The New Yardbirds just before the formation of Zeppelin with some early Zep nuggets? Thank you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3aZtYnAckY&pp=ygUidGhlIG5ldyB5YXJkYmlyZHMgY29uY29yZCBjb2xpc2V1bQ%3D%3D
Thanks for this!
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