Led Zeppelin thread (because they're awesome)

[thecolorsblend]

They played a one-off reunion show back in December 2007 and they're finally releasing it on video and CD. I've had, shall we say, "recording of illegitimate origin" of this show since about 48 hours after it was performed but you just can't beat the upgrade in sound quality that comes from a professional recording. They were on fire when they played this thing and it shows.

Even so, I've been in love with this band for years... but I listen to this performance and I think I can understand why even the band members themselves view it as Led Zeppelin's swan song. Plant's voice has been hoarse for years. It's simply not the work horse it used to be. As for Jones remains a machine but Page... I dunno. His guitar solos just aren't as dexterous as they were back in the glory days.

I'm grateful to have this thing, don't get me wrong, but this is not a bad way at all to say goodbye. Breaks my heart in some ways since I'd wanted a quality reunion show like this for years (as opposed to some of the ghastly one-off reunion gigs they performed in the 80's) but all good things have to end sooner or later.

[James Stocks]

The only reunion I've seen was the 1985 LIVE AID performance, which was heart breaking to put it mildly. Never really payed much attention to reunion shows, but a new album would get my attention. I was surprised by how well the new Van Halen album turned out, Dave's voice likewise wasn't the same but they got their groove back and just played some good tunes. I can understand Led Zeppelin might not feel up to doing new work, as some musicians would prefer to move on instead of trying to reclaim an old glory. I think the members have done admirable work since 1980 at least. I've enjoyed some of the Plant/Krauss work.

[thecolorsblend]

I'll try to not give you both barrels and just say that, much as I love his work with Zep, Robert Plant is a monumental prick. Seriously, the man has no peer when it comes to outright prickitude. His non-Zep stuff has mostly been schmaltzy crap in my opinion. When he's not busy doing acoustic covers of Whole Lotta Love, he spends way too much time shit-talking his own legacy. It'd be funny if it wasn't so sad. Van Halen were at least willing to let bygones be bygones. I've heard good things about their newer stuff even from people who you'd think would have an agenda to bash it. Plant isn't so mature. He can't completely let go of his past but he'll be damned if he'll completely embrace it either.

Because he's a prick.

[non_amos]

Has this Zep DVD come out yet or about to come out? And since you have it from 'other sources' will it be worth the price? As for the new Van Halen album, it actually came out back in February if I remember correctly. I have it & still listen to it. It was actually a pleasant surprise. No 'Van Hagar' in sight! In other words, no synthesizers. And don't listen to Sammy, the album is solid. Sorta reminds me of their 1st album back in the day. No, I wouldn't call it that good but I probably would call it similar.

[thecolorsblend]

Has this Zep DVD come out yet or about to come out? And since you have it from 'other sources' will it be worth the price?

Release date is 11.19.2012. As to being worth it, depends on your standards. Zeppelin is one of those bands where I have pretty much zero objectivity. I think it's worth buying but then again, if it was possible, I would give Jimmy Page my credit card info and tell him to just ding it anytime something new comes out. So take all this as you will.

What I will say is that it's good to hear some of their songs with the benefit of modern keyboard technology. Don't want to sound like George Lucas here but Jones was constrained by the technology of his time. Live performances of stuff like Kashmir or No Quarter, good though they may have been in their day, suffered from being played on such primitive keyboard equipment (Mellotron in the 70's and that cheesy midi thing from their one tour in 1980). They sound a lot closer to how he originally wanted on Celebration Day and I'd argue it's for the better (as far as his playing is concerned anyway).

As for the new Van Halen album, it actually came out back in February if I remember correctly. I have it & still listen to it. It was actually a pleasant surprise. No 'Van Hagar' in sight! In other words, no synthesizers. And don't listen to Sammy, the album is solid. Sorta reminds me of their 1st album back in the day. No, I wouldn't call it that good but I probably would call it similar.

I don't think latter day Van Hagar is so bad. I'm one of those who thinks "Van Halen" has Roth as the front man; anything else is a different band as far as I'm concerned. But once you starting thinking of Van Hagar as a completely different band with a similar lineup... well, a lot of the music is still mediocre but it makes appreciating the genuinely good songs easier.

It is rather telling to me though that "Me Wise Magic" from their greatest hits CD was recorded, what, five or six months after Hagar quit/got fired but it sounded like it could've been on the follow up to 1984. Love or hate the guy, Roth pushes that band into a very specific type of sound and nobody else has shown any ability to do that.

[James Stocks]

It is rather telling to me though that "Me Wise Magic" from their greatest hits CD was recorded, what, five or six months after Hagar quit/got fired but it sounded like it could've been on the follow up to 1984. Love or hate the guy, Roth pushes that band into a very specific type of sound and nobody else has shown any ability to do that.

Spot on about "Me Wise Magic", it's almost like a decade never passed. I think Stephen Thomas Erlewine said it best:

a duel for attention between David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen. Where Sammy enabled Eddie's ambitions, Diamond Dave unleashes the guitarist's id, taunting him to play faster, harder, tougher, then fighting for space between unwieldy riffs.

As for Van Hagar, I don't mind them too much since Sammy's range allowed the band to move to different territory that wouldn't have worked with Dave and some of it was pretty interesting. However, I think they went too far into power ballad territory to a point where Sammy started to sound like a dork without a sense of humor (and when he tried humor, he became a bigger dork). How many songs can Sammy talk about yearning/feeling love before it gets boring and seem no less formulaic as other power ballads of the mid-to-late 80s?

[thecolorsblend]

It is rather telling to me though that "Me Wise Magic" from their greatest hits CD was recorded, what, five or six months after Hagar quit/got fired but it sounded like it could've been on the follow up to 1984. Love or hate the guy, Roth pushes that band into a very specific type of sound and nobody else has shown any ability to do that.

Spot on about "Me Wise Magic", it's almost like a decade never passed. I think Stephen Thomas Erlewine said it best:

a duel for attention between David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen. Where Sammy enabled Eddie's ambitions, Diamond Dave unleashes the guitarist's id, taunting him to play faster, harder, tougher, then fighting for space between unwieldy riffs.

Yep. Is it one of their confirmed classics? Probably not, and probably only because of the timing and circumstances of its release. Had it been released ten years earlier or ten years later, people would be talking about it to this very day... proving once again, I suppose, that timing is everything with this stuff.

As for Van Hagar, I don't mind them too much since Sammy's range allowed the band to move to different territory that wouldn't have worked with Dave and some of it was pretty interesting. However, I think they went too far into power ballad territory to a point where Sammy started to sound like a dork without a sense of humor (and when he tried humor, he became a bigger dork). How many songs can Sammy talk about yearning/feeling love before it gets boring and seem no less formulaic as other power ballads of the mid-to-late 80s?

I tend to agree with a lot of that but I've long suspected that if Balance had been released in the mid/late 80's note-for-note as it is right now by any other band, people would regard it as one of the all-time rock classics. Released as it was by Van Hagar during arguably the pinnacle of that Seattle stuff... well, I understand how it could've dropped off so quickly.

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