Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Led Zeppelin In Their Forever Book! Wow!


One of the easiest books to read or browse through, this fabulous coffee table publication tells an interesting tale about the guys who composed the incredibly successful rock song, *Stairway To Heaven and other staggering hits.

Thick at 220 pages and priced at a sale for S$15, I just grabbed it with another similar one about the other rock group, Rolling Stones. Of quality print, biographical and associated pictures of the four guys who made it through to the struggling end, Led Zeppelin (above) first gathered during a 1968 London space to become one of the world's biggest bands at an almost unprecedented level of success.

Contents are simply pegged and formatted into four parts, Dazed and Confused, Electric Magic, The Song Remains The Same, A Whole Lot of Love. Then there's the important Discography where L.Z. fans can browse through with eternal contentment the list of recordings, albums and awards this group would have harvested during their years of performing.
From Yardbirds to Led Zeppelin (not 'Lead'avoiding mispronunciation) the electric four went on to receive, World's Top Band at a London award. But the road to stardom is never easy, with slippery shocks along the way. What with heroin addiction, the passing away of a son and the death of one member, a whole lot of love, a Live Aid concert and other positive factors helped to heal the battle scars of Rock Zeppelin. 

Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonzo Bonham are saluted page after page in this forever book (it never ends). And it's not outdated. 
Published in 2009, the featured and worth-duplicating images include Robert Plant with Alison Krauss and another with Nelson Mandela. There's another with Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis performing Whole Lotta Love. 


                                          Celebration Day 2012.

That's it. The book is what it is, an illustrated biography. Can't reveal more cause this posting is not a book review. I'm about half way through and have yet to check the rest out...

The content of this original post is copyrighted. 

Please click under Comment Page below to read Mr Michael Bangar's experience with Led Zeppelin and Brenda's interpretation of Stairway To Heaven.

Disclaimer:
There is no intention to promote the book or use its copyright photographs for financial gains since this post is just a book reader's love to share pop music stories.

*Jerry Fernandez' book title, To Be A Rock But Not To Roll, comes from a line in the song.

Images: From the original book. 
Published by Transatlantic Press 2009.

LIVE VIDEO ABOVE: By YeOldeRock.

4 comments:

MICHAEL BANGAR (RHYTHMIST SILVER STRINGS and OTHER SINGAPORE GROUPS) said...

Hi brother Andy,

Myself, a big fan of the band. I watched on You Tube when President Obama presented the three surviving members (as you know their drummer John Bonham died in his sleep - apparently choked naturally) their Kennedy Centre Awards. MC Jack Black called them, The Greatest Band of All Time. I think The Greatest Heavy Metal Band would have been more appropriate.

I am a nobody in this huge worldly music business, but I don't agree with Mr. Jack Black. The title of Greatest Band Of All time must be bestowed upon the Beatles as all great music experts and critics would agree.

But coming back to L.Z., I can't think of any other band to give the number 2 title to, number 2 to the Beatles, that is. All LZ albums are excellent pieces of music. Coupled with the way each band member excelled at their respective instruments, (like bassist John Paul Jones who played excellent keyboards too).

They took heavy metal from The Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience (the inventors), pushed it into a new direction and opened it up to the world. Many bands tried to follow in the foot steps but few succeeded. Their monster hit, STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN, was voted the The Song With The Best Guitar Solo Ever. Strangely they never had a Top 40 Single in any music chart. All their great music was released in album format, not in Singles format.

The late 60's and 70's were the era of record albums. Albums with huge sales even found their way to the singles charts during that era.

How Led Zeppelin was born: after their last US tour, The Yardbirds, Keith Relf, Jimmy Page, Paul Samwell Smith and Jim McCarty (guitarist Jeff Beck had already left by then) were in the doldrums and splitting up.

Lead guitarist Jimmy Page who had so much musical ideas in store was asked to go check out a group called, The Band Of Joy. Impressed he offered singer Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham to join his new band. Then he called his old time recording sessionist buddy John Paul Jones to join. They completed their remaining US dates as The New Yardbirds.

Then The Who drummer Keith Moon passed a serious comment to them: "If you guys don't make it, you are gonna come crashing down like a lead zeppelin (The Hindenburg). They decided it would make a great name but took out the 'a' in lead. That's how the band got its name.

The rest is great music history. And you know what brother Andy, as soon as I see it, I'm gonna buy this book for my collection.

Cheers, my friend.

BRENDA (UNI.) said...

Thank you for introducing Led Zeppelin's STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN to me. It's amazing! I finally had some down time today to listen closely to the lyrics and the instrumental solo. On first listen (and then subsequent listens with help from comments and Wiki ha ha), I thought the beginning beats sound like a church hymn (so did the title, cause terms like 'heaven' calls to mind biblical references) and was wondering who the lady and the piper in the song are meant to represent.

At first I thought it might be a commentary on religion/rationality, cause believing "all that glitter is gold" is Utopian which take leaps of faith to sustain. I am also wondering if it is an eco-critical comment on mass consumerism/nature; the lyrics keep on giving and giving the more I wonder and I felt myself really getting into it due to the intelligent songwriting!

I understand that music is a phenomenological experience and it is often personally meaningful; I love the call to listen hard to find the truth. I love that the song expects its listeners to understand its literary and mythological - fairy queen and all that references - and that the lyrics which says that they "stairway can be found among the whispering winds" makes me favour the idea that this band is commenting on how the universality of life (of other living things such as animals and plants) has been relegated as less important to humans because of the ability to think. (At the close, we are all the same?)" still wondering ha ha.

It seems like the truth lies in regaining respect for other creatures that share this ecosystem and relativising humans' place in his world. I am not sure if I am reading too much into it (or reading right!) but had enjoyed the song very much, thank you. :)

nallly utuber said...

Was anyone at the Boston Gardens on the night of January 6, 1975 when fans trashed the place while waiting for Zep tickets to go on sale? I was there. Just want to see if anyone else remembers that night. The concert was then cancelled by Mayor Kevin White the next day and the night made front page news the next day in the Boston papers. He also banned the group for 5 years from playing the Gardens.

jamie utuber said...

Interesting Choices

stairway to heaven - led zeppelin
bohemian rhapsody - queen
hotel california - eagles
comfortably numb - pink floyd
coma - guns n roses
dream on - aerosmith
penny lane - the beatles
baba o riley - the who
sympathy for the devil - the rolling stones