Any Port In A Storm

Recorded Live at The Old Rectory, Student Union Building, Southampton University, Southampton, England - January 22, 1973.

I recently downloaded this bootleg in an attempt to find some decent live recordings, and seeing as I'm the most sceptical bootleg listener ever I didn't have the highest of hopes but Any Port In A Storm is super fantastic. This is mainly because it was recorded by Jimmy as a possible official live release, so the audio quality is amazing and it has enough crowd noise to make you feel warmed by it. (That's might not make any sense to anyone but me.) There's plenty of Robert banter and the inclusion of Dancing Days makes this recording just that little bit special.

I'd highly recommend you download it from your preferred source. It's widely available, but please remember it's a bootleg, DO NOT pay for it! Bootlegs are not supposed to be for sale, they're supposed to be free to us nerds fans.

~Miss K

Jonesy's Revelations - Part 1

I'll keep trying, even if you're not laughing...





Mr Woo

The Adventures of Percy and Pagey - Part 1

Something silly that just came to me.

Learning to play Led Zeppelin

There's a shop in Peterborough, imaginatively called Peterborough Music, that is a haven for musicians and wannabes alike.

After having drooled at the Burns Brian May Red Special for £649, the Jimmy Page cherry sunburst Gibson Les Paul for £369 and various acoustic bass guitars, I perused the music books for something slightly more affordable.

I found a book with around 10 Led Zeppelin songs to learn, accompanied with two CDs of instrumentals and guitar-less tracks but it was nearly £20.... so instead, for £15, I bought this:


It's a guitar 'songbook' of all Led Zeppelin's tracks from their first five albums, excluding those which weren't written by them. Missing are "I Can't Quit You Baby", "The Lemon Song", "You Shook Me" and "Bring It On Home".

The chords appear to be slightly simplified compared to tabs and chords submitted by people online for the same songs but I don't think it makes them sound too different.

There are no tabs apart from on "Stairway to Heaven", which is kind of understandable given the complexity of most of the songs and the apparent level of guitar ability the book is aimed at.

I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to play along to the best of the first five albums, assuming it can be found somewhere - Amazon says it'll take 4-7 weeks to deliver!

Mr Woo

Talking between songs

I watched the first three hours of the Earl's Court video recently and I noticed how much Robert talks between songs - mostly to himself but occasionally to the band. It's much better than just leaping on stage, whacking out a full set before bowing out for the night. You'd feel much more of a part of an experience if the band actually appeared human during the gig, I think.

My favourite bit, not actually from that gig, is at the end of No Quarter recorded in Seattle in 1977. On this he says:

"Well I guess it's a funny thing to tell you that when you're deaf in one ear, but do you know what's happened? It's clear again! It's the strangest cure I've ever known."

There was also one point I think on the Earl's Court gig where Robert says something about "There's always the Eighties!" - if only he knew...

Mr Woo

Podcast

Last night Miss K and I decided we should record some live commentary along to Led Zeppelin's back catalogue in order of release. However, it quickly descended into a semi-drunken podcast/commentary of The Song Remains The Same film on blu-ray.

Queue over two hours of guffaws, confusion, admiration, buggeration and wine-fuelled adoration of the greatest band there has ever been.

Miss K knows a lot more of the back story and behind the scenes stuff than I do, which is why I'm a bit quieter. We will probably end up doing more podcasts - one per album - and I'll be a lot more involved at that point.

So whether you listen to it along with the DVD or on its own, we hope you enjoy our waffling. Let us know what you'd like from future podcasts as this is a bit of an experiment.

I accidentally stopped the recording about 6 mins in so there are two files here:

Link to Part 1

Link to Part 2

Mr Woo


(Please don't sue us, Jimmy)

Darlene (I love you)

One of my favourite Zeppelin tracks is a lesser listened-to ditty called Darlene.

Originally recorded for In Through The Out Door, it was omitted, (along with Ozone Baby and Wearing And Tearing) due to time-restrictions and was only brought to the light of day when Coda was released in '82. It's a highly overlooked song due to it being on "the album that no one really listens to" but I urge you to give it another try for five good reasons.

1. Page. On this song, his riffs and solos are perfection. The riff has that catchy, bouncy quality that makes you want to dance, or at least nod your head in time depending on which is more your style. The two solos are smooth and reasonably lengthy, but not so long that they take away from the jive-quality of the number.
2. Jonesy. This is a wonderful stage for Jonesy's piano playing to take form. He goes from bluesy to almost-honky-tonk in a matter of seconds and can I just say two words? Piano solo. Not many songs can pull of a piano solo, but Darlene does.
3. Robert. For a song that's main lyric is simply "Oooh Darlene", Robert manages to make you feel like you're listening to some of the most important lines in history. He sings every "oooh" slightly differently to the next and manages to sound raspy and bluesy, yet smooth and rock n' roll at the same time. Plus, I love the nod to Don McLean's American Pie with the line "With a pink carnation and a pickup truck.".
4. Bonzo. Now, I didn't actually notice this until recently, but I tend to be drawn to songs that Bonzo had the most credit for. The Ocean being the most notable. He seems to like his riff-driven simple yet powerful songs and I think Darlene is a perfect example of that.
5. 2 in 1. Led Zeppelin seem to be very good at creating one song out of two. A lot of their songs start out in one style and then slowly flow into another and Darlene has an aspect of that.

So go give it another listen, please and see what you think.

~Miss K