Multiple Led Zeppelin box sets to arrive in 2014

Individual box sets of newly remastered Led Zeppelin's audio catalog, along with bonus materials, are to be released at different points throughout 2014, Jimmy Page said today when asked in London.

"Each of the albums has been remastered, but it also has a companion disc with it," the guitarist told broadcaster Nicky Horne for Team Rock Radio. "Each disc will give a really intimate picture of the group."

They were in London, where Page was taking part in the Classic Rock Awards because not only was he presenting an award, but also Led Zeppelin was receiving one.

Film/DVD of the Year went to Led Zeppelin's DVD "Celebration Day," the playback of the band's triumphant 2007 reunion show, also in London.

Horne began his four-minute Q&A session with Page by asking him for some recollections about that concert. Before long, Horne switched gears and asked for some follow-up on the Led Zeppelin remasters.

They made news when Page's answers began to provide more specifics about the nature of the releases. For one, he said the work is already complete on the sonic aspects of the box sets. He explained that each album's companion disc would contain goodies such as alternate mixes and alternate takes.

As an example, he said Led Zeppelin III would appear in remastered form, as part of an individual box set, and on its companion disc we will find an alternate version of their blues number "Since I've Been Loving You."

"There's an incredible version of that," he said. "It's very raw in its approach. It's quite dramatic. It's cool."

Page did not divulge any other previously unreleased material that could be expected, so as to maintain the element of surprise.

When asked when the box sets would be released, Page could not point to any precise date. He stressed that they would be released not all at once but separately over time.

Acknowledging last year's remarks that these releases were to have started happening in 2013, and that the current year is almost over, Page said, "I'd rather hoped it would come out this side of the new year, but it will come out in the new year."

Then he trailed off and said something about it possibly not even being ready for this time next year. I chose to ignore that part, and you can too. The audio is available courtesy of Team Rock Radio's Soundcloud page.



On a side note, I'm sorry for the sporadic nature of this so-called "News" site; this is only the second news alert I've written this year. I am pleased to report that while I'm not doing as much writing, I am doing a lot of playing. Musically, that is.

Twice last year and once this year, I toured with the band Get the Led Out, filling in for one of their members. This enabled me to travel a bit -- Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin -- helping to replicate Led Zeppelin's studio recordings in a live atmosphere, much to the appreciation of eight separate crowds. One of the outdoor shows in Ohio this past summer may have had the largest audience I've ever seen.

U.S. tour dates announced for Robert Plant; June-July for world music tour with Sensational Space Shifters

Robert Plant has new words today on his musical direction or "path," a word he always preferred over "career" anyway. Contained in a press release announcing his June and July U.S. tour dates with the Sensational Space Shifters are these words:

"Keep it fresh, spin the bottle, dig deep, embrace the past - visit it - celebrate it - but don't build a home in it."

Yeah, it sounds like something Plant would say. It helps to understand why so much of their concert has been taken up by playing Led Zeppelin songs. The evidence is on the official live releases he's recorded with them, available as downloads or physical CDs. Just check www.robertplantlive.com.

His 2013 touring band, the Sensational Space Shifters, is fresh off a month of dates in Australia and New Zealand, not to mention Singapore, one destination that never came through for Led Zeppelin back in the day. The Sensational Space Shifters are a reconfigured Strange Sensation, the backing band that accounted for Plant's 2001-2007 output -- up to his collaboration with Alison Krauss and the Led Zeppelin reunion.

The Strange Sensation backed Plant on the albums Dreamland and Mighty ReArranger as well as many performances, including for the WOMAD audience. Since then, guitarist Justin Adams recruited riti player Juldeh Camara from the Gambia. Also coming from that country with experience in sabar drumming is Dave Smith, a jazz drummer and orchestral percussionist said to have "Ginger Baker-like energy." Meanwhile, guitarist Skin Tyson and bassist Billy Fuller played in the 2010 project Men from Mars, recording "in the hills of Snowdonia" a self-titled album available for download at Bandcamp. Keyboardist John Baggott has been composing for TV and film.

Plant's press release reveals that he was a "timid English boy" early in his teens, growing up in a "sanitized shelter." He grew immensely, finishing out his teens having just become a quarter of the lineup of Led Zeppelin.

An array of sonic influences continued to develop Plant's singing throughout the years, not the least of which is the music of the Mississippi Delta: "a world of field holler, despair, Levee camp and chain-gang moans; of Saturday night fish-fry and Juke Joint foot stomp."

Plant has also learned "from the sounds of Southside Chicago Electric Blues; of Griot mantras from West Africa; from Louisiana Dance Halls; Greenwich Village Folk hangover; Haight Ashbury indulgences; Moroccan medina breakbeat; the early English radical techno materials, Texas two-step and Bristol Dubstep."



The Sensational Space Shifters and Plant, this June and July, are coming to the United States to play 21 cities spanning both coasts and a few in between. Fifty years after being that "timid English boy," Plant is "drawing from a lifetime of adventures, tracking the dark, beautiful resonator." While speculation about any kind of a possible Led Zeppelin reunion can be put off for the near future, it's said that "Plant follows his heart and lifts his voice higher and joyous ever away."

What the press release doesn't indicate is whether they'll be unveiling any new music at this time. UPDATE, 2:34 p.m.: A publicist for Plant says the set list has yet to be determined and added "no new record [is] scheduled to be released." Tour dates follow, after the jump:

Led Zeppelin field questions at New York press conference

Led Zeppelin's three surviving original members gathered for a question-and-answer session in New York today, promoting their concert film "Celebration Day."

The film, which captures their 2007 reunion concert as Led Zeppelin, is set to be released in theaters for a limited time next week before Blu-Ray, DVD and CD editions are released in stores in November.

During the press conference, Jimmy Page said part of the reason they decided to go forward with their reunion concert at London's O2 arena was because they hoped to overshadow previous reunion concerts that hadn't gone as well as planned.

"We just really wanted to get it right and go out there to play to people who maybe never heard us, who had heard about this reputation and what we were about, and basically go out there, stand up and be counted for what we were," said Page.

John Paul Jones spoke about the chemistry the band felt instantly upon rehearsing again for the first time in all those years. "The feeling was there," he said. "It clicks again. You don't have to work at it."

Referencing a Funkadelic song, Jones added, "Once the fingers got going again, the brains followed, as did our asses."

Robert Plant praised the efforts of drummer Jason Bonham, who filled in for his late father on drums. "I think we were really propelled by Jason and his enthusiasm," Plant commented.

Plant dismissed the possibility of Led Zeppelin playing live again in the future, even though he heralded their collective performance in 2007. "I think that night back then, we were just hanging on for dear life, watching each other," he said.

"We were so happy that we were actually getting it right and really enjoying it and taking it beyond what we thought we were about that night. There were moments in it where we just took off and pushed off into some place. The responsibility of doing that four nights a week, for the rest of time, is a different thing."

Jones expressed similar comments about the feeling onstage. "There was an immediate feeling of relief, of course, that we actually got through it and did well," he said.

Page argued the possibility of any further Led Zeppelin reunion has decreased because so many years have passed since their gig. "At this time four years ago, we'd have been rehearsing to get to the O2," Page said.

"In December, it'll be five years since the O2, and so that's a number of years have passed in between, so it seems unlikely if there wasn't a whisper or a hint that we would do -- get together to do something or other, even two years ago or whatever, seems pretty unlikely, doesn't it?"

Carol Miller, host of the syndicated radio show "Carol Miller's Get the Led Out," and producer Denny Somach, were among those who attended today's press conference. Photos provided by Denny Somach.