Daniel Lanois sneaks Robert Plant into L.A. studio for recording session

Robert Plant's presence in the Los Angeles area two months ago was apparently for more than just some sightseeing.

LedZeppelinNews.com has learned that the former Led Zeppelin frontman was also pulled into a recording session by famed producer Daniel Lanois, whose credits include some "unforgettable" U2 albums, a solo career and a current band project making waves in that area, Black Dub.



Around early October, Plant and Lanois recorded some demos with Black Dub's lead vocalist, Trixie Whitley. At 22, she is a singer-songwriter who plays piano and drums. She has lived in New York and Belgium and has followings in both places.

Best of all, Whitley's Facebook page now confirms Plant as one of the musicians with whom she has worked, along with Vernon Reid, Me'Shell N'Degeocello and her late father, "Big Sky Country" singer Chris Whitley.

A session drummer involved in the recording says he isn't sure what plans Lanois and Plant may have in store. "I honestly don't have too much to say other than we're making some demos," Steven Nistor tells LedZeppelinNews.com.

Nistor is often the go-to guy for whatever drumming needs Lanois has. Among other things, he can be seen backing Lanois during an April 2008 appearance on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson."

Arctic Monkeys get the Led out backstage

"It feels like the last couple of months in dressing rooms we've not listened to much other than Led Zeppelin," the lead singer and guitarist of the Arctic Monkeys tells Spinner.

"That gets played every day," continues Alex Turner. "It's a constant."

Maybe that has a little something to do with the fact that they recently had a member of Led Zeppelin opening for them in concert.

Back in August, the Arctic Monkeys released their third studio album, Humbug. The disc was produced by Josh Homme, John Paul Jones's bandmate in Them Crooked Vultures. When the Arctic Monkeys played at the O2 Brixton Academy on Aug. 26, their surprise opening act was Them Crooked Vultures.

Letter: Vultures concert in Oakland disappoints

The following letter to the editor has been submitted by a first-time writer to LedZeppelinNews.com. With his permission, it is printed here.

Hi Steve:

I read your site pretty regularly, as I've been a huge Zep fan since my teen years in the 70's. Great job, thanks, and keep up the good work!

I attended the Them Crooked Vultures concert at the Fox Theater in Oakland last night, and while I hate to say it, I was pretty disappointed. Hell, maybe I'm just starting to show my age, but I felt thoroughly bludgeoned after listening to 2 full hours of this audio assault. The musicianship was first rate, of course; Jonesy was in fine form, Grohl was amazing on drums, Homme was economical & efficient on lead guitar. However, Homme is definitely a one-note singer, and has absolutely no charisma as a frontman. There was a great deal of sameness and pitch to most of the songs as well.

Must admit, we had terrible seats (rear balcony), so perhaps the show sounded much better elsewhere - but there was just no melody in these songs. It was great seeing John Paul and Dave enjoying themselves, and I'm sure true metal heads will be happy with this music, but for me, wow...an acoustic instrumental or piano solo here & there would have been nice, if only to give the ears some momentary piece.

I saw J.P. Jones play with Mutual Admiration Society a few years back in San Francisco; gotta say, that show was immensely better than what I heard last night. Just wondering if I'm really missing something here.

-Greg Whelchel

San Jose, CA

In my reply to Greg, I asked whether he had purchased or listened the TCV album prior to attending his concert. He also gave me some more background and opinions:

I'm a hard-core Zeppelin fan - I even suffered through most of those dreadful Robert Plant tours in the early & mid 80's before he finally came to this senses and started tossing in a few Zep numbers every show! A prima donna to be sure, but ya still gotta love ol' Rob. I skipped the Page/Plant shows in the late 90's, didn't like the way Jones had been treated during "Unledded", so that was my protest of sorts.

To your question:

I had only watched some YouTube clips of TCV, as well as the footage from your site prior to the show. The CD was being sold at the show for $14 and they were even giving away $2 off coupons, so a great deal there. A kid next to me had purchased the CD and loved it - said he had played it 4 straight times on a long drive to the show, in order to memorize song lyrics and learn all the song titles - now that's dedication! He was also a big Josh Homme fan, so that kind of fit, and he seemed to love the show. I thought the first two songs of the set were awesome, "Nobody Loves Me and Neither Do I" was the first one, but I don't recall the second. After that, seemed like an awful lot of repetition. Just too loud, Josh spoke to the audience a few times but I never could make out a single word of anything he said...I'll get the CD and develop a more informed opinion, I think.

I see where you play in a Zep tribute band - we have a good one in the Bay Area, Heartbreaker. The Plant/Jones/Bonham impersonators are just amazing, but their Jimmy is a little too surly & grumpy and his guitar skills are a little inconsistent. The guy who does Plant even looks like him, if Rob had ever gone to a gym anyways.

-Greg

Well, for one thing, Greg doesn't seem to be alone. Other Zep fans are also having trouble swallowing this band, which the music critics say sounds very much like Queens of the Stone Age. Fony Fontana posts on For Badgeholders Only today:

Reaction to TCV on Zep boards

I am a little bit amused by a lot of reactions on several zeppelin boards on the TCV album. For some it's obviously a giant leap from to what they are used to. Some reactions on RO are kinda like 'I don't like this modern attempt to raw rock music' to 'I don't listen to loud music anymore..' Really? And these are Zeppelin fans? Come on! Jonesy is probably just a few years older then a lot of these guys and he still likes to play LOUD music.

A lot of people obviously haven't been paying attention to QOTSA and what Josh has been doing. I think he is one of the last innovators in the genre with his 'Robot Rock Riffs'. The TCV album isn't really that far removed from QOTSA. But I guess if you are not used to that, this album is probably a lot to get used to.

I am totally loving this album. And to some: don't act your age, pull out your earplugs and rock out!

Cheers Tony

Well, I happened to be one guy who didn't need to know much of anything by Queens of the Stone Age first, before I raved about the band when I saw them live in Washington, D.C. The sound killed my ears for 24 hours, that's for sure. And I couldn't make out many of the words either, but that's not a problem for me; I'm pretty much a music-first guy anyway. What captured my attention the most was the chemistry that exists between Grohl and each of his bandmates. (And Alain Johannes with Homme.)

Now that I have their CD, I can't wait until the next time I hear "Warsaw" live again! As a matter of fact, my iTunes pre-order came with two official live cuts as bonus tracks. Does anybody know which show they're from (Lowlands, I believe)?

Second Them Crooked Vultures album promised in interviews

So, is it unanimous? Them Crooked Vultures should make a second album? I'll round up what the band says in just a moment ...

This thing I got on iTunes this Tuesday morning is hot. I am so proud to be able to tell my grandkids someday that I was at a show on the first Them Crooked Vultures tour.

(And when they say, "Who?.......")

Well, how about that second album? Who's ready?

John? Hell yeah, John Paul Jones wants a second album. This is only the best band he's ever been in, or so he says. Wait, did he just compare his current project to Led Zeppelin -- and TCV wins? He can't be serious!! In case you missed it, check out what he said. Here's the highlight, though:

"I hope there's maybe going to be another album. I don't have a band that's going to call me back – the other two do. But they're going to have to fight me for them because we're having a bit too much fun at the moment."

That's what John told Australia's Nova 91.9 FM as published Nov. 10 and summed up here. He'll have to contend with Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters before there'll be another Them Crooked Vultures. The one group has "fighters" in its name. Oh well, Jonesy seems up for the challenge anyway.

OK, what about those other guys in the Vultures? What do they have to say about it?

Josh? Yeah, he's in. Here's the scoop:

"I can't wait to make another record [with Them Crooked Vultures] because in the end, it was so much easier than it should have been and honestly, it's the hardest record I have ever made. You have to climb Everest eventually."

That's what Josh told the Herald Sun, also Australian. This dude's obviously in.

So, if my tally is correct, we have two out of three, which is a majority but not binding unless it's unanimous. So, what's our lone holdout, Dave Grohl, have to say -- now that he knows what his bandmates would like?

(Wow, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones are bandmates! I love reciting that! Let's just say he's not the only one to have dreamed about it.)

Dave?

The answer comes, this time, not from Australia but from Canada: Alan Cross of "the world's largest global newspaper," metronews.ca, poses his open question to the band whilst seated with them at Homme's Pink Duck Studios in Los Angeles.

How far can they take this? Dave props himself up against some pillows on the sectional. A big grin spreads across his face. "As far as it will go."

For those of you keeping score, it's a tie game. They've all now admitted, at least once each, that they're in for round two.

So, the question is no longer: Will there be a second album? There will.

The question becomes instead: Will it be right away, or will they be doing separate projects first?

No love for Jimmy Page at the Oscars

A week ago, after the umpteenth post in a row on this site about nothing but Them Crooked Vultures, somebody commented that Lemon Squeezings had in effect become a news site for developments on that band.

Feeling sorry for that person who wasn't getting a steady Led Zeppelin fix over here at LedZeppelinNews.com, I started putting some more stuff up at OnThisDayInLedZeppelinHistory.com right away.

In the past week, there have been new posts about Jerry Wexler signing Led Zeppelin to Atlantic Records in 1968 and turning operations over to Ahmet Ertegun, the band proceeding exactly one year later to begin recording music for a third album in a row, and John Paul Jones reflecting on the band's BBC sessions during an interactive online interview in 1997.

While I felt sorry for this one disenchanted reader of LedZeppelinNews.com, I felt even more sorry for Jimmy Page, the member of that band who put it together from day one, lingered in the studio to put onto tape the sounds in his head, painstakingly mastered the tapes again and again through the years to make sure they fit his vision, and sought time and time again to do something a little more for us unworthy fans.

Like last year, when he wanted to assemble a new band. We now know that it fell by the wayside.

Ever since his last bout of rehearsals and planning came and went without any fruit, Jimmy's been out of the limelight for a little while. Some of the reason is he hasn't done much to put himself in the limelight, but another part of it is because the film "It Might Get Loud" didn't make the big splash I thought it deserved.

I've seen three public showings of this film, twice on opening day in New York City and once in Washington, D.C., a little while after it opened there. Of those three showings, only the second, a noontime showing in Greenwich Village, was packed. Energetic people in the theater burst at the funny moments, and they waited patiently during the film's exaggerated lulls for the next thing to grab them by the arm and entertain. It was a thrill to see so many people so into this movie.

But for the third public showing I attended, I was the only person in the theater. Sure, I suppose downtown D.C. mid-day on a weekday is a thriving metropolis, but not the kind that has people flocking to the cinema at that time. Everybody was busy. I couldn't even coax a friend of mine, a closet U2 fan who works for one of the government agencies, to skip work for a couple of hours and watch his favorite guitarist and mine share the silver screen.

I don't think this film had the crossover appeal it was destined to have. Maybe the upcoming DVD/Blu-Ray releases, and the online release preceding that, will make it easier for people to know of it, enjoy it, talk about it, recommend it and really make something of a sleeper hit out of it. I think generations to come should be watching this film.

The sorrow I feel for Jimmy Page was enhanced today when I noticed some news outlets are reporting "It Might Get Loud" has been overlooked by the Academy Awards in nominating films to the documentary category. Director Davis Guggenheim's previous work, "An Inconvenient Truth," may have picked up an Oscar, but "It Might Get Loud" evidently won't share that fate, which is regrettable.

True, the Grammys overlooked Led Zeppelin in the '70s, and that didn't hurt anybody, so there's really nothing to sweat here. Yet this is a different day and age. Most of the Led Zeppelin news these days is from Them Crooked Vultures, whose members have signaled they're in for round two. Robert Plant earlier this year created waves, picking up five Grammys with Alison Krauss and then creating enough momentum to earn a second wave of sales.

Now, although a follow-up album by Plant and Krauss has stalled, and Plant's fit not to be on tour right now or have any particular album to peddle, his bluegrass turn of the past few years still manages to get acclaim from all directions:

• National Public Radio has just named Plant and Alison Krauss's album Raising Sand one of the current decade's "50 Most Important Recordings."
  
• Furthermore, Crawdaddy contributor Angela Zimmerman now believes that the work by Plant and Krauss has, in retrospect, totally overshadowed the possibilities of a Led Zeppelin reunion.

That just has to be eating at Jimmy Page.

Now, can it be the right antidote to coax him into action again and generate some new music for people to hold up and appreciate?

Update, 4:45 p.m.: Ah! I did not see this until just now, but similar thoughts were posted three weeks ago by Matt Patterson, a National Review Institute Washington Fellow and the author of "Union of Hearts: The Abraham Lincoln & Ann Rutledge Story." His remarks are also reflective of the sentiments I expressed here on Sept. 2, in my post "Do musicians ever really retire?"