Well, that settles it. No Led Zeppelin reunion, and that's all anyone ever cared about

Isn't it interesting that nearly all of the Led Zeppelin news coverage anywhere on Thursday was centered on Robert Plant's declaration that there was "zero" chance of another Led Zeppelin reunion? In case you missed it, that's what he told the BBC in the very last second of a six-minute chat aired on BBC radio Wednesday morning and was available online for listening all over the world.

It's what he said in the very last second, the "zero" chance comment, that stole the headlines. Because there's always been an interest in a Led Zeppelin reunion, no matter when the last one was, or how discouragingly bad the last one was, or how astonishingly good the last one was. But Robert's closed the door.

Jimmy admitted, in his separate interview, also broadcast April 23, that he's more surprised than anyone there's not been a reunion. Furthermore, he's not the one to ask about a Led Zeppelin reunion. He's only the guitar player. He's not the singer. You should ask the singer. And so they did, and the singer said no. It was an outright no. And as Brian Gardiner astutely observed on his site, this is exactly what he could have said a long time ago and saved us all some agony.

I'm feeling really badly for Jimmy now. I think he put a whole lotta stock in the inevitability that Robert would change his mind once again. It's possible Jimmy didn't want to get any kind of a studio or live project going again unless Robert was going to be the frontman. Luckily, John Paul Jones doesn't feel that way, and we've gotten Them Crooked Vultures, Seasick Steve, Minibus Pimps, I won't repeat myself...

What was really cool is the fact that neither of the two Led Zeppelin bonus tracks premiered by the BBC at the same time was anything ardent fans have ever heard before. (Correct me if I'm wrong!) Jimmy truly dug into boxes of tapes, and took two years doing it, to arrive at the best stuff there is. And so far, this is stuff that never leaked to the masses.

We've now heard a minute's worth of the Led Zeppelin III outtake "Key to the Highway" (none of the "Trouble in Mind" portion expected later) and learned it was recorded 30 minutes after "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper." It features Robert Plant singing through the same reverberating filter also heard on another studio outtake already distributed and well known among bootleg collectors. But it's a totally different melody, and the chord progression features a nice two-five turnaround seldom heard in the blues.

Representing Led Zeppelin II's bonus disc is a rough mix of "Whole Lotta Love" with an alternate vocal. This is nothing that came out with the multitracks when they leaked online in February 2012. Hmm, just over two years ago, which we can now surmise is when Jimmy started working on this remasters-plus-bonus project taking advantage of technological advancements of the past two decades since the first remastered Led Zeppelin CDs ...

And this is all in addition to the sweet first track of the live CD accompanying the Led Zeppelin remaster, which we can stream on Spotify now whenever we want.




Also, it was fun hearing Robert admit he was imitating the stylings of Steve Marriott on "Whole Lotta Love." Isn't it funny how Jimmy wanted Steve Marriott as the singer and instead got a Steve Marriott imitator? Not that Robert was a Steve Marriott imitator all the time. He says he was this for one three-minute song, then onto something else entirely different for another. Great point!

It sure would be nice hearing from John Paul Jones on these matters. I wonder why not.

Anyway, now that Robert closed the door to any future Led Zeppelin reunions, what impact will that make on whether Jimmy picks up a guitar again, in his 70s, and goes out there with somebody else?

Video for 1st Led Zep album showcases live audio, memorabilia galore

The first minute of audio from a previously unreleased Led Zeppelin concert in Paris 1969 is contained in a trailer posted online today for the upcoming expanded re-releases of the group's self-titled first album.

 

This official trailer also showcases a plethora of memorabilia from Zep's first year flashing by the screen, including photos from the era, ads, promo items and white labels from original, rare vinyl. Tickets and posters shown from 1969 appearances include US clubs such as the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles and the Boston Tea Party, as well as UK destinations the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Bath Festival. Another feature of the trailer is pieces of handwritten studio notes from the album's recording process.

As previously announced, Led Zeppelin's first album package comes out June 2 (June 3 in the US) with several different editions available. Packages developed for the second and third albums will be released are the same day, so similar trailers for those packages can now be expected.

One of the first people publicizing the link for the trailer soon after it was posted was John Davis, who was involved in the remastering project for these releases. On Twitter, Davis (@daftfader) wrote: "official trailer for Led Zep remastering project I just finished!" Also nearly as fast in sharing the link was the official Facebook page for John Paul Jones.

Minibus Pimps LP proves Jonesy'll do anything to progress in new ways and old

Say there is a new album featuring John Paul Jones. You'll never know what to expect. Come on, the guy's hard to pinpoint. The top session bassist and in-demand arranger in the 1960s, Jones has always been all over the map, arranging strings for the Rolling Stones and Dusty Springfield, playing bass for Tom Jones and Memphis Slim, and maybe even subbing in on bass for the Yardbirds in the studio (though he denied that vehemently when I interviewed him a dozen years ago).

The soundtrack to this post:

No matter what instrument or how daunting the musical task at hand, here is a man whose career has been defined by a constant (if not nagging) mantra of "Jonesy'll do it." There was the custom manufacture of a triple-neck guitar -- mandolin neck included -- exclusively to accommodate everything he had to reproduce simultaneously on live renditions of "Ten Years Gone" with Led Zeppelin, all while Jimmy Page was satisfied with two guitar necks at once. As a rule, Jones was always expected to handle bass duties even if it meant with his feet because his hands were otherwise engaged with other instruments. If there was a female call-and-response vocal part to cover at live shows, "Jonesy'll do it." This was demanding work!

Even apart from being a major contributing force in Led Zeppelin's songwriting and musicality, Jones persisted in finding time to dedicate his varied talents to discs by the likes of Roy Harper and Madeline Bell. Whatever the session called for, he's been there.

For instance: Need string arrangements on four -- count 'em, four -- of R.E.M.'s singles in 1992? "Jonesy'll do it."

If you were avant-garde singer Diamanda Galás in 1994 and you wanted to write a full-length album with somebody on bass who would also bust out a lap steel guitar to complement your unique voice, who else would you naturally turn to but the same guy who'd just co-produced the last Butthole Surfers album? "Jonesy'll do it."

The same guy composed three Spanish-language songs for a CD recorded by the Harp Collective called Amores Pasados, released in 1995. When that music resembled baroque from the 1600s, the question became inevitable: Is there anything Jonesy won't do?

While the decade proceeded, Jones's focus progressed. Frustrated that the perennial sideman hadn't been considered as a sideman for the widely acclaimed Page/Plant projects of the '90s, he concentrated on putting out two proper solo albums under his own name. On 1999's Zooma and the 2002/2003 release The Thunderthief, Jones really branched out, grabbing anything he could play, be it that triple-neck guitar, various keyboards, mandolin, ukulele, harmonica, koto, autoharp, mandola, yadda yadda yadda. By the second album, he wasn't even content with just instrumentals; he relented and even recorded his own lead vocals. (It really wasn't his first time singing lead on a John Paul Jones album; two cuts he sang on and cowrote with his daughter Jacinda made their way onto the 1985 movie soundtrack for Scream for Help, which was his first full-length solo project.)

Perhaps a more notable attribute on that pair of solo releases was Jones's demonstrated mastery of a burgeoning digital soundscape environment known as Kyma. This sort of thing was nothing he hadn't attempted even in the Led Zeppelin days. When music reviewer Julian Marszalek recently called to mind the mysterious droning intro to the In Through the Out Door track "In the Evening," Jones was quick to take credit for most of the sound. He boasted:

Oh, thank you! That was me! Jimmy put some guitars on it, too, but I did that on the Yamaha GX-1. I found this programme where you have all the filters on the edge where they break up and keep trying to do something else and they keep coming back again. Yeah, that was great, that.

Consider Kyma as just an updated way of achieving a seemingly unlimited array of sounds, which allowed Jones's 1999-2003 solo recordings to take on whole new levels. Thus, if asked to name an artist who at that time was providing a new kind of fanfare for the millennium, one proper response would have been, "Jonesy'll do it."

In 2005, Dave Grohl said he wanted the Foo Fighters' next album to be a double album harnessing the broad musical diversity found on Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti 30 years earlier. Jones, who found himself in Los Angeles for the Grammys anyway, hopped on over to the Foos' recording studio and wound up guesting on the album. Need piano on an acoustic song called "Miracle"? "Jonesy'll do it." Need mandolin behind the harmonica solo on "Another Round"? "Jonesy'll do it."

Once he'd sufficiently made the rounds in the bluegrass/Americana/old-timey music circuit, Jones was the natural pick to produce Uncle Earl's third full-length release. Their session for a hoedown fiddle number for cloggers called "Streak O' Lean, Streak O' Fat" saw Jones playing some barrelhouse piano while one of the g'Earls served as a Chinese-language square dance caller. Oh, and what about some excess hollering in the background too? "Jonesy'll do it."

The following year, whilst producing Sara Watkins's self-titled debut album, Jones overdubbed three of his own instrument parts -- electric piano, mandolin and bass -- all onto an original of hers called "Will We Go." Even with the great Benmont Tench of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers band at his disposal, Jones took it upon himself to lay down the keyboard parts on two other songs as well. He joined the three-part harmony chorus of Sara's catchy album opener, "All This Time," while his bass skills graced about a third of the album as well, once again proving, "Jonesy'll do it."

His next in-studio collaboration with Grohl was a writing and recording project conducted in secrecy throughout much of 2009, resulting in a "supergroup" (like it or not) called Them Crooked Vultures and an eponymous disc that was an hour-plus of heavy yet trippy alternative rock. For this release, his supply closet was stocked with an array of keyboards (including keytar) and basses, plus a lap steel guitar and -- why not? -- mandolin. Round things out with some backing vocals, and you've got yourself a job to do. But fear not: "Jonesy'll do it."

If you were California-born bluesman Seasick Steve, and you'd gone in a short time from busking in obscurity to being suddenly pronounced Mojo magazine's Best Breakthrough Act and a festival mainstay, what would you do to further your the whirlwind acclaim you've been experiencing worldwide? Might a little name recognition help push your next two studio efforts in 2011 and 2013? The first time, how about getting John Paul Jones to play bass on two songs and mandolin on another? The second time, how about getting him back to play on no less than nine songs, this time adding to the instrument mix some Hammond organ, backing vocals, and even (yes, it exists) lap steel ukulele? "Jonesy'll do it."

By no means is this a comprehensive list. For more of his session, production and arranging work back in the day, I could have recited the familiar (hackneyed?) litany of names like Lulu, Donovan, Herman's Hermits, Engelbert Humperdinck, among many others. Led Zeppelin aficionados have been reciting these credits of Jones's since the earliest Led Zeppelin press releases at the end of the 1960s highlighted his earlier achievements. Since then, other studio accomplishments of his ranged from working with Sir Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, Ben E. King, the Mission UK, Heart, Cinderella, Robyn Hitchcock, and under-appreciated New Zealand garage rock revivalists the Datsuns, whose Jones-produced 2004 CD Outta Sight/Outta Mind is a personal favorite of mine. Still, that less-than-comprehensive list represents the bulk of Jones's studio work available up until last week.

Bearing all of that in mind, whether or not you're aware of the operas Jones has been composing in his spare time, it was difficult to imagine what to expect when earlier this year the Norwegian indie label SusannaSonata announced the March 3 release of Cloud to Ground, a near 30-minute album featuring four live collaborations between Jones and fellow record producer Helge Sten (a.k.a. "Deathprod"). Together, they call themselves Minibus Pimps.

When you've long been conditioned to expect the unexpected, it may come as less of a surprise to realize this latest John Paul Jones album project resembles almost nothing else mentioned above. The Minibus Pimps album -- sold as a 180-gram LP that's packaged with a musically identical CD -- resides in a category all by itself, all but for the sheer fact that there's a lot of improvisation involved in the music.

Improvising is not a first for Jones by any stretch of the imagination, which anyone who's ever paid attention to any Led Zeppelin's live recordings could tell you. (In the above-referenced interview, Jones is quick to namecheck Zep's funk throwback "The Crunge" as their most avant-garde moment caught on album.) In the case of Minibus Pimps, improvisation is inevitable given their modus operandi consists solely of two skilled musicians battling each other in the live arena using not conventional instruments but stealth weapons of digital software. (There's that Kyma stuff again!)

This disc's four distinct titles were culled from live performances they'd made in multiple concert appearances. Here are eight observations about it after I've had a week to take it in.

1. Most (and hardly not all, right?) pictures of the album cover currently shown online include a yellow sticker that is actually part of the plastic shrinkwrap. Remove the shrinkwrap, and the sticker is gone. So that yellow bit is not really part of the cover art.
2. There aren't really any liner notes to speak of.
3. The artist/title/label/catalog number info on the spine, so it's not exactly repeating the feat pioneered by Zep's untitled fourth album.
4. They do list the song titles on the inside of the record. Side one of the LP consists of "Black Aurora" in four parts, 16 minutes total. It isn't obvious from looking at the vinyl where to drop the needle if you wanted, for example, to start with part 2 or 3 or 4. Discerning listeners can tell from listening where one part ends and the next begins.
5. The album's flip side consists of three separate titles: "Cloud to Ground," "Arc" and "Superbolt." At roughly four minutes each, these are about equal in length to the four parts on side one.
6. The US iTunes Store sells the album digitally, and that full album purchase is the only way iTunes lets you obtain "Black Aurora" in all its 16 minutes as one track. The remaining three songs can be acquired separately ($1.29 apiece) without the full album purchase.
7. The CD included in the LP package contains a total of seven tracks. Evidently, the decision was made to separate "Black Aurora" parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 into CD tracks 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The remaining three titles comprise tracks 5, 6 and 7.
8. As far as physical copies are concerned, I didn't check everywhere the Interwebz had to often, nor did I even bother my local record store. That being said, my limited comparison on pricing for Cloud to Ground persuaded me to buy mine from Bull Moose, an indie record shop located in Maine, thankfully with a Web presence. Unless I'm mistaken, they're offering the best deal for American consumers hoping to own a physical copy of this limited-edition release. On the Bull Moose site, the LP/CD package was available for $19.97. (Compare to upwards of $50 direct from the Norwegian label when you factor in international shipping to US customers!) Now, Bull Moose charges $3 for standard shipping, but there's a loophole: They offer free shipping for orders of $20 or more. The Minibus Pimps release falls three short of qualifying for free shipping, so all you have to do is find another product in their store priced between $0.03 and $3.00 and you can make out like a bandit. For my shipping-free purchase, I opted to invest in a 2012 Michael Kiwanuka single for the princely sum of $1.97. It's like the place was paying me to put another record in my shopping cart!

Minibus Pimps collaborator Helge Sten, who perhaps most famously worked in the past with the group Supersilent, comes across as an obvious Zeppelin fan. As evidence, I'll refer you to one particular remark he made during Julian Marszalek's joint interview with him and Jones published last month by online music publication The Quietus. Quoth the Deathprod mastermind:

"I think there's so much interesting stuff going on in all of their [Led Zeppelin's] music. There's so much variety and energy going on there and that's what sets it apart from so much other music."

At this point, I must clarify that I myself am no stranger to ambient and avant-garde music. Whenever it's late at night and I'm zoning out, or trying to lull myself asleep, or just simply winding down from an adrenaline-filled night where I've just played a live classic rock tribute gig and still facing a few more hours of driving before I'm home again, I'll tune my radio to WXPN in hopes that a show like "Star's End" or "Echoes" will provide a soothing soundtrack to complement my trip into Dreamland. However, for me, this Minibus Pimps album is a little more nightmare-inducing.

Maybe it's also the pain meds I've been taking to mask a back injury I mysteriously suffered last week. Or maybe I was just off-put by the pitch-shifting sounds my questionable turntable was making when I sought to embark on the record's maiden voyage. Or maybe I'm just plain sour (Sauer?).

But so far, I'm deciding to file this Minibus Pimps release away with Jimmy Page's 2012 archival release, Lucifer Rising and Other Sound Tracks. That particular mood doesn't often strike me, but I'll know where to go the next time it does.

If The Quietus's Julian Marszalek is to believed, he intends to "drop some mushrooms to [the album] and watch the Aurora Borealis." In that case, my only complaint would be the album's length. Is thirty minutes really enough to take it all in?

Moreover, does there remain anything musical Jonesy hasn't done?

Ushering in 2014, Jimmy Page announces future releases

"It's good news for the New Year," says a message posted Jan. 1, 2014, on Jimmy Page's website. "The first of the Led Zeppelin releases - comprising of Led Zeppelin I, Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin III and their companion discs - will be released this year."

(Editor's note: So the title of Led Zeppelin's first album is Led Zeppelin I, Jimmy? What's the title of the one after Led Zeppelin III?)

In the New Year's message, Page also:

• announces some solo material -- "I've also been working on some of my own material from the archives that will be unleashed in 2014."
• sends fans his well wishes -- "Hello there and Happy New Year to you all. I hope you are enjoying the holidays. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the support you've given the website." [www.JimmyPage.com]
• references a blues song when he closed with the words, "Let The Good Times Roll!"
• and signs the message with his name and autograph.

Coincidentally (or perhaps not), New Year's Day 2010 was when UK's The Independent caught Page admitting that he was already "a year behind" on a project with "lots of new music to present."

Page followed up in July 2011 by launching his website and using it twice in its first nine months to sell vinyl pressings of his past solo work. The first, Death Wish II, was a re-released soundtrack album Page had originally released on the Swan Song label in 1982. The second, Lucifer Rising and Other Soundtracks, contained instrumental solo material Page had recorded in the 1970s but had not released.

Walking into Clarksdale, the 1998 album he recorded with Robert Plant, marks the last time Page recorded a full album and released it within months. That disc will enjoy its 16th anniversary in April.

A literal interpretation of Page's remark today about future Led Zeppelin box sets holds that fans can expect one release this year, namely, what is presumably a 6-CD box set focusing on the first three Led Zeppelin albums, recorded in 1968, 1969 and 1970. The set would include the three albums in their original running order with as many as three additional discs of bonus material.

This year will then usher in the fourth intentional wave of rebranding and repackaging Led Zeppelin's studio material. Between 1990 and 1993 came the original self-titled 4-CD box set along with the Remasters, Box Set 2 and Complete Studio Recordings sets. A pair of single-CD sets, Early Days and Latter Days, followed between 1999 and 2000, later to be combined and sold as one. Mothership followed in 2007, offering a remastered look at an updated 2-CD summation of the group's studio tracks.

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.

Shop launching on Jimmy Page's official site to offer limited edition of 'Death Wish II' vinyl

Jimmy Page's 1982 soundtrack for the movie Death Wish II is to be rereleased next month in a limited quantity, a news item on the guitarist's official website has announced.

The Death Wish II soundtrack was the first album released by any surviving member of Led Zeppelin after the group disbanded in 1980.

It was 30 years ago on Sept. 15 that Page recorded an instrumental that was used as the film's main title sequence but was not available on the original soundtrack album.

That instrumental, an early version of the album's song "Who's to Blame" simply called "Synth Track," is said to be added to the track listing of the remastered soundtrack to be issued in October.

Page says the working title "referred to the initial guitar track performed on a guitar synthesiser with further overdubs with guitar synthesiser and melody lines from a Telecaster string bender."

For only 24 hours, the front page of Page's site features a clip of "Synth Track." He says he recently found a white label test pressing of it in his personal collection.

The release is also to include liner notes newly written by Page. He explains on his site:

In 1981, Michael Winner asked me if I would compose the soundtrack to Death Wish II. The songs with vocals were only going to appear in the film for a matter of seconds but I had recorded full versions of them anyway - which is how I ended up doing my first soundtrack and soundtrack album. I’ve re-released this because I wanted it to be available again.

Only 1,000 copies of the remastered Death Wish II vinyl are to be pressed, according to Page's site. They are to be sold exclusively through the forthcoming shop on JimmyPage.com. No plans have been announced for any other reissues at this time.

Page launched his first official site on July 14, saying in an interview published on it four days later, "I think this is the ideal vehicle to present my past, present and future work."

His recollections about Death Wish II, including a track identification log for "Synth Track," are part of the daily "On This Day" feature that keeps the site's front page fresh each day. "It looks random, but it isn't," he explained. "I love the idea that there will be a 'Splash' page everyday and nobody will be able to guess what's coming next."

Interview portends discouraging view on future live releases from Led Zeppelin era

By Steve Sauer

Unconfirmed rumors have it that a new legitimate, official release from Led Zeppelin is in the works. It would be the long-awaited video of Led Zeppelin's reunion concert, staged on Dec. 10, 2007, at the O₂ arena in London.

At that concert, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and Jason Bonham performed a two-hour stage show of Led Zeppelin material. There has been no official announcement of a DVD release, but rumors suggest such a release is forthcoming, with a possible shelf date much later this year.

Meanwhile, a new interview with producer Kevin Shirley about his past work on Led Zeppelin projects contains an overall discouraging view on the prospect of any future live releases of performances from the original Led Zeppelin era.

LedZeppelinNews.com contributor Wyatt Brake picks up the story with his own observations, originally posted to the discussion groups Royal Orleans and For Badgeholders Only:

There are several discouraging aspects to this interview.

1. The Zeppelin camp (at least as of 2002-2003) thought they had tons of live recordings to sift through in preparation for public release, and they (mistakenly) believed that these recordings were being adequately stored over the past 20+ years.
2. Kevin Shirley, who is now the Zepsters' go-to guy when it comes to this stuff ('03 DVD/HTWWW/Unledded/TSRTS) has declared to the members that 'there really isn't that much there' because the performances are unworthy of release. That's obviously a judgment call from a guy they now trust, and the judgment seems unlikely to be reversed because there's little desire - apparently even on Page's part - to delve in and determine if they agree with that determination. A convincing argument could be made that even without that declaration on Caveman's part that Page (the meticulous guy who gave us the original splice-a-thon of 1976 on TSRTS) would have come to the same conclusion, but now we might never know.
3. The confirmation of something we've long suspected - that Page's role as a producer and even as an "in the cutting room" overseer is over and done. From another KS interview that came out in 2007/2008 in the wake of the remastered TSRTS, we know that Plant was actually the one to 'take the lead on that release and that he was the guy sitting next to Caveman taking an interest in what was being done.
4. Hopes for an Earl's Court retrospective combining elements of all five (or at least the last three) nights, or a How The (Far) East Was Won, or a more complete Knebworth... all those things seem much less likely to come out in light of what Shirley had to say in this interview. Maybe we'll get an upgraded version of the 2003 LZDVD on Blu-ray, but aside from that, it doesn't leave me optimistic about more archive releases - especially about a release of Japan '71 or Bath '70.

New official release of 1990 Knebworth set forthcoming

"Wearing and Tearing" is a song Led Zeppelin never played in concert. A really fast-paced stomper, it was something the band laid down during their final studio recording sessions but didn't even release on their album. It finally came out almost four years to the day it was recorded, issued on the posthumous outtakes album Coda.

What a bummer it was not part of the band's repertoire in 1979! Led Zeppelin played two shows in England that year, at the Knebworth Festival in front of tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands. They were homecoming shows, the band's first in England in four years, and a lot had changed in that time. Members of the press were rife with suggestions that the band was overhyped and irrelevant in a culture that now favored punk music.

"Wearing and Tearing" was essentially Led Zeppelin's response to punk music. They just didn't issue that formal response at the time. We know there was at some point an intention to release "Wearing and Tearing" as a promotional single distributed exclusively at the Knebworth Festival. That never happened. For reasons never fully explained, the song was left off the album and excluded from their live set.

In 1980, and for reasons that were better explained, the band dissolved. And over the next 10 years, collaborations among the surviving members were sparse. One of those onstage moments, however, was a triumphant set performed by Robert Plant with an encore appearance by Jimmy Page. The date was June 30, 1990, and the setting was a familiar one: Knebworth. And, as if it were some inside joke, Page and Plant combined forces to perform a hard-rocking live version of "Wearing and Tearing" for the first time ever.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of this concert -- which also included Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Status Quo, Phil Collins, Cliff Richard with the Shadows, Genesis, Tears for Fears, Elton John, and Dire Straits -- the label Eagle Rock Entertainment is re-releasing moments from that Knebworth concert.

The double-CD set Live at Knebworth is slated to be released on March 23 (Update: There will also be an MP3 download version). Portions of this concert were originally available on the Polydor label in 1990. Proceeds from this 20th anniversary reissue, just like the 1990 concert itself, are to raise funds for the Brit School of Performing Arts and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy. The latter cause is the same charity that benefited from the Rockwell concert held in London last September, which included a three-song set from Plant, performing along with Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara.

Live at Knebworth includes two three songs from Plant's solo band, "Hurting Kind (I've Got My Eyes on You)," "Liars Dance" and "Tall Cool One," plus the encore rendition of "Wearing and Tearing" featuring Page. Images of both Page and Plant are pictured on the front cover of the album, although Page's name is curiously omitted in that place.

To remember 2007 reunion, Zeppelin fans make do without official DVD

"A Work in Progress" is a fan-produced assemblage of video clips shot near the stage during Led Zeppelin's 2007 reunion performance at the O2 arena in London. This homegrown release has hit trading circles in recent months without being available on any particular bootleg label.

It is being seen as a visual upgrade to a previously available video source credited to Third Eye Productions. Such is the assertion made in a description of "A Work in Progress" posted on the site Collectors Music Reviews.

A Work In Progress uses fifteen different angles to replicate what can be considered to be a professionally edited concert on DVD. The use of quick edits is able to capture the enormity of the event and to give much more visual information than the Third Eye [release] is able to do.

All of the videos used in this redaction are relatively close to the stage and offer many tantalizing close ups. The careful work is directed by a knowledgable [sic] Zeppelin fan who focuses upon the point of excitement and interested [sic] in any given song. It is a masterful work that moves the production values of the visuals from bootleg quality into a professionally edited live concert as it would have been presented in the nineties. The one camera missing is the roving eye camera used for the show and which appeared on newscasts which presents a more kinetic view of the show.

Presumably, footage caught by this "roving eye camera" is being reserved for the possible commercial release of this show on DVD at long last by the Led Zeppelin members. Preserving this concert with an eventual release is something Led Zeppelin fans have felt strongly about pretty much from the moment the show was announced, long before the planned show date changed from Nov. 26 to Dec. 10.

Two months ago, on the second anniversary of the concert, fans listening to syndicated radio host Carol Miller's daily installment of "Get the Led Out" heard an inside scoop about the possibility of a DVD from Phil Carson, a former Atlantic Records executive and confidant to Led Zeppelin. Now one of the board members of the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund, for which the concert raised money, Carson said:

"Well, they've got it [footage]. It's all really on multi-camera, high-tech, high-def, state-of-the-art stuff. They spent a fortune getting it done, and the board of the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund agree it should come out, and as far as they're concerned, they can do what they want with it. It's just a question of what the three guys decide."

As far as what thoughts Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Robert Plant have on releasing their celebrated one-off performance with Jason Bonham on drums, we have precious few on-the-record insights.

On June 16, 2008, the night Led Zeppelin picked up the Best Live Act award from Mojo magazine, both Page and Jones were in attendance and answered questions from BBC 6 Music about plans to issue a visual record of the concert.

Page's entire reported comment was:

"I hope so, one day, yeah."

That's all.

Not much more from Jones, except some insight into why the delay:

"Yeah, I should think one day the DVD will come out, but there is no hurry to do it. ... It was a special occasion, you know, and we really wanted that just to be it, really."

Really, Jonesy?

For now, fans wanting to relive the moment are making do with non-commercial releases like "A Work in Progress" and the Third Eye Productions disc, some of them possibly recognizing their own concert footage being used in the visuals.

And the Collectors Music Review description of "A Work in Progress" doubles as a pretty good run-down of the concert as it unfolded, even if the author raced through the end of the concert and thereby failed to capture the essence of "Kashmir," that Dec. 10 version rated by some witnesses as the best performance of it ever.

Despite their increasingly suitable bootleg editions, fans are still hoping someday all unofficial discs will be made obsolete by the release of an official concert video -- one that reporter Mark Cunningham, for Total Production International magazine, once offered could be superlative based on the images presented on the screen backdrop onstage:

The video production was essentially delivered by a three-way partnership between director Dick Carruthers (famed for his award-winning work on the 2003 Led Zeppelin DVD), video ‘scientist’ Richard Turner and graphics guru Mark Norton, the creative director at London-based agency, Think Farm.

The combination of their acutely intuitive skills resulted in what can only be described as a watershed moment in the relatively short history of large format live concert video production. The creativity applied to the merging of stunning graphic art and animation with Carruthers’ mind-blowing treatment of live camera feeds was incomparable. In fact, I’m confident that December 10 2007 will be remembered as the date when, for the concert video industry, everything changed.

Cunningham also reports that Carruthers operated a console, nicknamed "the Big Kahuna," "whose mysterious fascia echoed that of Lt. Uhura's control panel aboard the Starship Enterprise." With this gargantuan gadget, "Carruthers was mixing eight cameras for the live screen, although there were 17 in total, including two HD cameras, two HD minicams around the drums and three film cameras," Cunningham reports.

He also quotes Carruthers as saying:

"I was looking for a desk that would work in HD and SD, that also had DVE effects and would work live. The Kahuna had it all. ... It's an exceedingly clever beast and its four mix effect busses allow all sorts of different routing and panels, so I could do things like the three-way mix in 'Dazed and Confused.' In the past I've had to use multiple DVEs to do this kind of thing, but here it all was in one big desk with native HD resolution as well.

"Once I found the Kahuna and the shoot expanded for archive purposes, I knew we'd need to get an OB truck in and shoot on Hi-Def, so we hired CTV's OB9 with Jim Parsons at the controls."

I take it that, in layman's terms, it would suffice to say if this thing ever comes out, it would be rather phenomenal.

The 12 days of Zeppelin: Atlantic Records 'Time Capsule' contains two Zep songs, one from Plant solo

On the fifth day of Zeppelin, my true love gave to me:

Atlantic Records 'Time Capsule' box set

Here's an important compilation for music historians and a unique artifact for collectors. The Time Capsule is a box set that, between a sensible assemblage of essential music and a new 140-page book, tells a near complete story of the Atlantic Records label from 1947 through today.

A 45 rpm single included with the box set shows where it all begins. It's a reissue of "Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" by Stick McGhee & His Buddies. Aided by the promotion of Atlantic Records, this A-side went to No. 3 on the Billboard R&B chart during the fledgling record company's first year. It has tons of edge. Here was a controlled voice singing about his predilection for the heavy consumption of wine and tendency toward the after-effects, namely dancing, being unabashedly sloppy and carelessly ruining property. In one sense, McGhee's version released on the Atlantic label was sanitized from earlier versions. "Spo-dee-o-dee" was four syllables of nonsense intended only to replace one choice four-syllable obscenity that nowadays does make it onto records with a parental advisory sticker. Another singer's "Mah-mah" is a two-syllable substitution for a profanity of the same length. These terms may have simply been nonsense to Atlantic's mass audience in 1947, but those in the know realized what they were getting away with.

The song kicked off a tradition for Atlantic, that no matter what kinds of artists were going to be signed, or what genres their music would fall into, Atlantic would always be breaking new ground. And the label would refuse to go unnoticed. With names like Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin passing through Atlantic's artists ranks in the '50s and '60s, those tradition carried on. It was 22 whole years from Atlantic's founding before a young virtuoso guitarist by the name of Jimmy Page was forming a new band. When word reached Jerry Wexler, remarkably, that Page's new group was not going to settle for a contract with the Yardbirds' record label, Wexler jumped at the opportunity to sign Page without hearing a single note of material. The conditions of his agreement with manager Peter Grant allowed the group to retain all rights to its own image, recordings, releases -- everything. Wexler, having negotiated the deal and landed the band an immense deposit, passed on the duties of corresponding with this new group, Led Zeppelin, to Ahmet Ertegun.

Perhaps the least dispensable name in Atlantic's history, Ertegun was crucial to Led Zeppelin's success in that he could be a friend and a professional coach while also possessing the restraint to respect off-the-wall decisions being made by band members who might have been under questionable influence from time to time. Included as part of The Time Capsule is the DVD titled Atlantic Records: The House that Ahmet Built, released in 2007 as a tribute to him shortly after his death. Many portions were filmed with Ertegun participating while artists owe up to their debts to his professional judgment. For Led Zeppelin fans, two such moments in particular stand out from the DVD. One shows Jimmy Page facing Ertegun, telling him:

"Good for you to have, for sort of, letting us get away with certain things, and I'll give you a good example with the fourth album. Because, by that time, we were getting so much bad press over here and, you know, they were saying it's a hype and it's this and it's that because they didn't understand, for one moment, what we were doing. And so the reviews were crap, and so by the time it came to the fourth album, we said, 'Right. OK. This is what's gonna happen here. We'll put out an album with no name of the band on it, no nothing,' and just say, 'Here you are, take it or leave it.' Well, of course, it was the biggest album we ever had up to that point. But, you know, it could have been one of those things that was drawn out, 'No, the name's got to be on there, no.' But in the end, you did. 'OK, let's give it a shot.' And it was brilliant, you know. Thank you for that. It was good."

In another scene, Ertegun does some of the talking with Robert Plant, discussing the blues influence on Led Zeppelin. While Plant interjects a "yeah" several times, Ertegun tells him, "When you heard the black music on the radio, it got you. It not only got you, but you went into more depth of study. And it wasn't a study for you. That was fun." Plant adds, "It's an obsession for me. I love it so much, yeah." Ertegun says, "That's right. So, when you heard it, you became part of it, and it became part of you." Then Plant takes over: "We all were basing most of our skills on American musicians, and I was listening to your man, Ray Charles."

There are 168 tracks spread across nine CDs, and just like the label itself there is no one genre associated with this box set. Basically, if Atlantic released it, it's on here. There are recordings from all of the artists you would expect to see.

1. Ruth Brown features twice on the first disc, as does Ray Charles. Jazz men John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and Charles Mingus are included along with the Coasters, Professor Longhair and Big Joe Turner. And that's just disc one!
2. The second disc goes on to feature Ben E. King, Booker T. & the MGs, the Drifters, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Percy Sledge, Sam & Dave, Albert King and Aretha Franklin, but in the same breath begins to bring in white artists such as Sonny & Cher, the Young Rascals, Buffalo Springfield, the Bee Gees and the Vanilla Fudge.
3. The full force of the British invasion on Atlantic Records is felt with the opening notes of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" as Disc 3 begins. Then it's back to a still-vibrant Otis Redding before, a few songs later, tracks by the Iron Butterfly and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown display Atlantic's acceptance of psychedelic music as an art form. Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man" is the final track before, finally, the entrance of Led Zeppelin takes place. This is represented by no better than album one, side one, track one, "Good Times Bad Times." Now, the bar is set awfully high, but classic tracks by Blind Faith, Thunderclap Newman, Crosby Stills & Nash, the Allman Brothers Band, and jazz men Les McCann & Eddie Harris follow it up rather nicely.
4. There are more discoveries to come on the fourth disc, including the addition of Neil Young to the Crosby-Stills-Nash lineup for "Ohio," the Velvet Underground on the heavily layered "Sweet Jane," yet another Eric Clapton band, ELP, Yes, the Stones, Genesis, Bette Midler ...
5. What's this? Another Led Zeppelin song? "Kashmir" becomes the second Led Zeppelin track selected for The Time Capsule. There are also tracks from Abba, the Trammps and Foreigner.
6. After the era of disco has passed, tangentially mentioned here by the inclusion of the Rolling Stones' "Miss You" and Chic's "Le Freak," the Blues Brothers show up with their recording of "Soul Man." After this, the era of former group members going solo is ushered in, big-time. One minute, it's Pete Townshend with "Let My Love Open the Door," next it's "In the Air Tonight" with Phil Collins and "Edge of Seventeen" with Stevie Nicks. Then, before you know it, a post-Zeppelin Robert Plant is in with "Big Log."
7. Disc 7 has "Rockin' at Midnight" by the Honeydrippers, which features Plant on vocals and Jimmy Page on guitar. The disc closes with a track that once drove Robert Plant wild, "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles.

And so end the tracks of special interest to Led Zeppelin fans, although the chronological story continues with big hits by En Vogue, Marc Cohn, Mr. Big, Hootie & the Blowfish, Jewel, Brandy & Monica, Gnarls Barkley, T.I., Estelle featuring Kanye West, and Jason Mraz. The story hasn't ended either, which prompts curiosity as to why arbitrarily make this compilation after 62 years. But why wonder? Just experience it. Atlantic has given plenty of examples over the years of music worth hearing and enjoying, and this box set is the best and most complete testament to it yet to emerge.

The 12 days of Zeppelin: New Jimmy Page material now on iTunes

On the second day of Zeppelin, my true love gave to me:

'It Might Get Loud' as a digital download, available in this format for two weeks only and exclusively from

Have you been hoping for some new music from Jimmy Page? There has been some, and you can get your best glimpse of it starting today, with the first home release of the documentary "It Might Get Loud."

Shortly after Jimmy filmed his parts for the movie, he promised during an interview conducted in March 2008 that his first new material to be released this decade was forthcoming. Those who were able to catch theatrical showings earlier this year have heard Jimmy's skeletal compositions, "Embryo No. 1" and "Embryo No. 2."

The film is now available from iTunes, but you have to get your digital download of it within the next two weeks. After that, iTunes will cease to offer it for purchase, but beginning Dec. 22 it will be available through other vendors on physical media, in both the DVD and Blu-Ray formats.

Them Crooked Vultures U.K. broadcast this week

• The Aug. 29 set by Them Crooked Vultures at the Reading Festival was filmed and will now appear for those staying up Friday night past midnight. The 40-minute program begins at 12:50 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21.
• Them Crooked Vultures filmed a live set in front of a studio audience for Austin City Limits on Sept. 30 that is scheduled to be broadcast on PBS beginning Feb. 13, 2010.
• Copies of the debut album were sold in Hollywood last night after Them Crooked Vultures performed a surprise show at the Roxy. The album is now out in the United States.
  
  
• As of today, the disc is available almost everywhere. Only two more release dates remain in the future: tomorrow's in Sweden and the Dec. 2 release in Japan. Earlier plans for the Japanese disc to include a bonus track have been scrapped.
• Today is the last day for fans to send their burning questions to John Paul Jones for an upcoming feature in Uncut magazine.
  
• People playing "Rock Band" using Xbox 360 may now play along with "New Fang" by Them Crooked Vultures as the download is now available. There are already videos popping up online of people playing the song, such as the ones below.
  
  

Updates:

• Some live clips are emerging from last night's show at the Roxy in Hollywood. See below.
  
• The band plays the Wiltern in Los Angeles tonight, at the Fox Theater in Oakland on Thursday, at the Paramount in Seattle on Saturday, and at the Roseland Theater in Portland on Sunday.
  

Robert Plant spotted in crowd watching Scott Matthews

Robert Plant was spotted among Scott Matthews fans who turned up to see the singer-songwriter's sold-out tour opener, at the Glee Club in Birmingham, England, on May 19.

Matthews, who opened for Plant and Alison Krauss last year on their tour of Europe, dropped his latest album, Elsewhere, in the U.K. on Monday, with a single called "Fractured." The album has a U.S. release date of June 2.

As mentioned here months ago, Plant guests on one album track, "12 Harps," which bears a resemblance to the Simon and Garfunkel take on "Scarborough Fair."

Plant did not sit in at the Birmingham concert, which Rita Maman of the Express and Star reports was a gesture "allowing the singer songwriter to enjoy his deserved place in the spotlight alone."

Midlands entertainment reporter Dave Freak, however, couldn't resist typing up a lot about Plant's guest vocal on the album. He writes:

... album highlight "12 Harps," featuring a guest appearance by Robert Plant, is a drifting slice of gentle psychedelic British folk-rock.

"We sent Robert the track as he was rehearsing in Texas. He got back and said he was really up for it, and two months later we got him into the studio. It really worked, singing together in the same room. We sat in the studio, jamming, and that made me more relaxed, it was like karaoke," Matthews laughs.

"We got the song together in two hours. We kept one of the early takes, to get that spontaneous thing. I think it’ll be a track that'll appeal to a lot of people. It’s very much in the Led Zep mold. I still shake my head when I hear it. How did I pull that off?"

It's a subtle performance from Plant, currently in the throes of a creative renaissance since 2005’s Mighty ReArranger, 2007’s lauded Raising Sand, with Alison Krauss, and Led Zeppelin’s all too brief reunion.

"One thing that struck me about Robert's voice is how natural it is. He doesn't explore the high register anymore, I was interested in the baritone of it, that Johnny Cash resonance. I worked with that softer element of my voice too, and the two tones work together, that's why the song is so good," Matthews says.

The Led Zepper was an early fan of the songwriter after [producer Gavin] Monaghan invited Plant to his studio to hear a few tracks. The singer was so impressed with Matthews that he insisted he open the European leg of his Raising Sand tour with Krauss.

"I started shaking when he asked me, personally," Matthews recalls of an impromptu phone call. "Me? Supporting my idol? He's such a down to earth guy, which speaks volumes about him personally. He makes you feel welcome. And he's one of the best singers around – no-one is better than him. When you hear Led Zep I, II and III, the raw energy in his voice is frightening."

Elsewhere is the second new disc this year to feature guest vocals from Robert Plant. He also sings with Buddy Miller on one track gracing the album Written in Chalk by Buddy and his wife Judy Miller.

John Paul Jones-produced solo debut of Sara Watkins sounds great

A new album produced by John Paul Jones hits music stores and online retailers Tuesday, containing the solo debut of Sara Watkins.

Jones also plays a little bit of bass, a few keyboard instruments and mandolin, and why not a little bit of backup singing in for good measure. From a production standpoint, the John Paul Jones stamp is all over the 14 songs on this disc, but he limits his playing time to less than half the album. And what's more, you'd be hard pressed to find very much here that's reminiscent of his days in Led Zeppelin.

Most of the songs on this album are either slow or very soft, but the arrangements are appropriate. Having an ear like that of John Paul Jones was a huge asset to this record. The fact that none of these songs fades out makes it really sound less like a studio creation and more like a band performing for listeners' enjoyment.

Here's my track-by-track assessment, followed by some closing thoughts.

1. John Paul Jones is one of two harmony singers backing up Sara Watkins on the first track, "All This Time." The other is her brother and fellow Nickel Creek bandmate, Sean Watkins, who's also playing guitar. Greg Leisz plays a pretty steel guitar. Benmont Tench, the famed keyboard player for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, lends a delicate piano line, and Elvis Costello and the Attractions drummer Pete Thomas lays down a subtle drum line. Sebastian Steinberg plays a fine acoustic bass.
   
   The real treasure here, as on much of the album, is Sara's sexy lead vocal. There are few people who can make these words sound so sultry: "You're still in my cupboards. Get out of my cupboards. Get off of my walls. Get off." I mean, I think the only other time I've heard those words, it was my 90-year-old great-uncle having hallucinations. Sara makes it sound great, and because the song ends rather abruptly, it makes for a good opening track because it leaves you wanting more.
   
   
2. "Long Hot Summer Days" is the song that inspired my April Fool's Day joke last week. Sure, the tune has a similar chord progression to that good ol' traditional tune we Zeppelin fans call "Nobody's Fault but Mine," but songwriter John Hartford gave it a different melody and some lyrics about ways to blow off steam after a manual labor job in the sun.
   
   Sara Watkins and Rayna Gellert of Uncle Earl both play fiddle on the track. Billy Cardine is on Dobro. Sean Watkins plays guitar. Gillian Welch plays electric guitar. The bass is from Byron House and the drums from David Rawlings (Sara describes them as "caveman drums"). They are all responsible for the solid backing on this, and at the 4:22 mark one of the musicians even lets slip a "Whew!" It may have been Tim O'Brien, who sings backing vocals, but it's definitely not this writer. No, I'm really not on this album at all. If you still want to hear the track sung my way, you can -- at least until the cease-and-desist order is received. But forget all that because Sara's version is superb.
   
   
3. "My Friend" is a light song whose lyrics form sort of a prayer. This could easily be the companion piece to "Give Me Strength" on Eric Clapton's 461 Ocean Boulevard. Imagine the protagonist of that song was badly wounded and was praying for strength. In Sara's song, she is a female friend praying for hope and relief to come to him.
   
   What's especially neat is that both songs include that fine instrument known as Dobro, in this case played by Michael Witcher. Sean Watkins plays acoustic guitar, and Mark Schatz is on bass.
   
   
4. So far, three out of three tracks have had both Sara and Sean Watkins on them. So, other than the absence of Chris Thile, there hasn't been much different from a Nickel Creek album. And this track adds to the similarities. At right about this place on a Nickel Creek record, we'd be listening to an instrumental. Well, that's what happens here, four tracks in.
   
   "Freiderick" is the first truly upbeat track on the album too. Chris Eldridge opens the track by laying down the rhythm and chords on acoustic guitar. It has a spirited and folksy melody, sounding almost Celtic in nature. Sara Watkins takes the lead on fiddle, with Ronnie McCoury following her closely on mandolin. This one doesn't have either bass or drums.
   
   
5. Pete Thomas delivers a lovely 6/8 rhythm for "Same Mistake," the majority of which Sara Watkins sings as a duet with her brother. Sara also plays some smooth fiddle here. Greg Leisz plays steel guitar throughout but never dominates. Benmont Tench is back on piano for this track again. And our fourth bass player, Sebastian Steinberg, takes over on this track and the next.
   
   The song was written by Sara's fellow Largo regular, Jon Brion, who oddly doesn't appear on the track, although he does on four others, including the next two.
   
   
6. "Any Old Time" is a particularly catchy song, originally recorded by Jimmie Rodgers. I keep playing it over and over because it's so enjoyable.
   
   It's partly because of the backing band, which is the same as on the last track except with Jon Brion on an additional guitar in place of Benmont Tench on piano. This track provides the best instrumental playing on the entire album. Leisz lets loose on a great solo with some jazzy chord substitutions, and Sara follows up with an equally compelling fiddle solo. Leisz adds a great "choo-choo" sound in the last verse.
   
   Not only that, but Sara and backing vocalist Tim O'Brien do a great job singing it. It's a song of forgiveness and second chances that is sure to put a smile on any face and halt any further straying from this forgiving lover.
   
   Seriously, if you're thinking of downloading only one or two tracks from the album, this is one not to be missed. See also No. 12.
   
   
7. Remember John Paul Jones? We haven't heard him since the first track! Well, he's back playing bass on this Tom Waits song, "Pony." Now, the bassline is nothing like what he played on "What Is and What Should Never Be." In fact, all he's doing is playing single sustained notes on the roots of the chords. I'd be willing to bet his track was added only as an afterthought to provide a previously missing bottom end to this really subtle song.
   
   Sara Watkins plays ukulele on this track for the one and only time on the album, and steel guitarist Greg Leisz resumes his role in the background. Jon Brion and Chris Eldridge share guitar duties.
   
   
8. John Paul Jones plays bass again on "Lord Won't You Help Me," which stops just short of the three-minute mark. Sean Watkins plays acoustic guitar and sings harmony while both David Rawlings and Gillian Welch play electric guitar and sing harmony. There's an uncredited bass drum on this track. The guitar solo here could pass for one of Jerry Garcia's on Workingman's Dead. The song was also recorded by Norman Blake.
   
   
9. "Jefferson" is the second and last instrumental on the album. Sara Watkins takes the lead on most of this track with her fiddle. Ronnie McCoury plays mandolin. Mark Schatz delivers a heavy acoustic bass guitar, bowing it halfway through the song to great effect. And yes, you guessed it, Sean Watkins plays acoustic guitar.
   
   So, where's that other guy from Nickel Creek? Oh, he's on the next one!
   
   
10. It's on this track that Chris Thile makes his only appearance on the album, playing mandola. Sara Watkins plays fiddle again, and joining her on vocals are Jenny Anne Mannan and Luke Bulla. But here's where Watkins is singing her absolute best.
    
    The song is the spiritual "Give Me Jesus," handled particularly well in this three-part harmony setting.
    
    
11. "Bygones" opens with a pair of fiddles played by Sara Watkins and Rayna Gellert. The tune is dirge-like, almost medieval-sounding. One minute in, Sara's singing is joined by Aoife O’Donovan and Claire Lynch. Soon, John Paul Jones joins in on organ, specifically what sounds like bass pedals. Though his instrumental contribution to this song is so slight, it's an important part of what makes the song work. He strays from the roots of the chords and adds some intriguing counterpoint.
    
    
12. So, if "Any Old Time" was a must-download, "Too Much" is its little sister. And guess what, Led Zeppelin fans? John Paul Jones plays bass on it! Written by David Garza, this is a catchy lighthearted pop tune that would be destined for some radio airplay if only that entity known as modern corporate radio could stray from the latest Hollywood-created Disney sensation and give us something out of Nashville instead. But given the proper promotion, this should chase Raising Sand in the charts.
    
    Pete Thomas tosses in a rhythm on "Too Much" that couldn't possibly sound any more straight, but that's acceptable because that's how John Bonham played on "Black Dog" and "Kashmir," right? Don't forget that Thomas accompanied Jones on some of his solo work, so he knows a little bit about satisfying the guy who's producing this album.
    
    Sean Watkins on acoustic guitar combines with Benmont Tench on piano to create a simple yet really integral facet of this pretty little song. Jon Brion is on electric guitar and really shines on his solo and through to the end. Aoife O'Donovan returns to sing a little backup in the middle chorus.
    
    
13. "Will We Go," a danceable swing number, starts off with only Sara Watkins on fiddle and her brother on guitar. There's a gradual buildup throughout the entire song. Sara sings the first verse, and then John Paul Jones joins in on what is at first a very simple bassline. Chris Eldridge and Luke Bulla eventually contribute harmony vocals. At Sara's fiddle solo, Jones comes in on a separate track, playing mandolin, and his bass part becomes more complicated. Then, when the vocals return, Jones adds a third track; this time, it's a tasty electric piano, not unlike what he played on "Down by the Seaside." The buildup having been completed, the song ends with a cute little tag line, with Jones having the last laugh on bass.
    
    
14. The album's closing song is not only the slowest but also the sweetest, although it's a breakup song. To the tune of a line from U2's "All I Want is You," Sara intones, "When my thoughts no longer comfort you, and my heart no longer moves you, when my voice no longer soothes you, where will you be?"
    
    Jon Brion plays some lush tremolo-filled electric guitar that would make Link Wray blush. Sean Watkins adds support on acoustic guitar. John Paul Jones is responsible for bass, again, and piano. Pete Thomas limits his playing to the bass drum only.
    

The following applies not only to this track but to all 14 of them. Each of the instruments on this album sounds like it was carefully and deliberately chosen. Nothing is here that shouldn't be, and nothing is obviously missing either. This is to the credit of John Paul Jones, who obviously knew what he was doing when he put it all together. The fact that the original tunes are worthy of listening to at all, however, is to the credit of songwriter Sara Watkins, who has made a fine solo debut. My guess is she'll never want to make a record without John Paul Jones giving this much assistance!

Recording sessions took place in Los Angeles at Henson Recording Studios, and in Nashville at the Sound Emporium, engineered by Dave Sinko at both locations. He then mixed the tapes at Nashville's Studio 5. Eric Conn mastered the album at Independent Mastering LLC in Nashville.

Some past comments from Sara Watkins on her album and how John Paul Jones's involvement came to be can be found here.

Robert Plant guest vocal on Buddy & Julie Miller album now available

Robert Plant's guest vocal on Buddy and Julie Miller's song "What You Gonna Do Leroy" is now available for listening and for purchase.

The song, which can be heard in the embedded video above, is available not only on the Millers' album, Written in Chalk, but also as a $0.99 MP3 download.

Buddy Miller, who is recuperating from open heart surgery after a recent heart attack, conducted an interview that is used in an electronic press kit issued by his record label, New West Records (see below).



In the EPK, Miller describes how the collaboration with Plant came about. He says it started with a conversation during Plant's tour last year with Alison Krauss, on which Miller was playing guitar and singing backup:

"Robert just happened to ask, 'Oh, how's it going with the record?' And he said, 'Anything you want me to do? I'm glad to help out. So, I thought about it for a good half-second.

So, I brought out a bunch of mics on the tour, and -- I think it was in Toronto, we had a nice-sized dressing room. So, after our soundcheck at the venue, I asked the guys, 'Hey, can you bring stuff up to the dressing room?' And we moved the pool table out of the way and set up some mics, and he set up a couple of little drums and a bass, and we sang it live, and that's the way it went down. It felt great."

Lyrically, this song echoes the recurring theme present throughout Led Zeppelin's "The Lemon Song," "Black Dog" and "Black Country Woman." Here, again, is the lovestruck protagonist who brings home his hard-earned pay and gives it to the woman who turns around and gives his money to another man. She's spent his money, took his car. She didn't have to leave him a total disgrace. And the guy, all the while, takes it. He has all the evidence before him saying she's been seeing another man, and yet he can't seem to up and quit her. He admits he should have quit her a long time ago.

"What You Gonna Do Leroy," which bears a traditional country sound, adds some new specifics to the plight of the protagonist, whose name in this instance is Leroy. His woman is getting all fancied up to go to the grocery store when the cabinets were already full. And then there's no word from her by the middle of the night, and she hasn't gotten home. Then she announces she's going to leave home to stay with her mother for a week, but her mother can't confirm this. But instead of leaving this woman (or, perhaps, dumping this never-ending, nagging, doubting woman for another -- for instance, her sister), Leroy finds it sufficient to keep on loving her. His refrain: "Whatcha gonna do when you love a woman like that?"

Miller and Plant trade vocals on the track, sharing and trading off lines and verses. They are joined by fellow touring mates Jay Bellerose on drums, Dennis Crouch on bass, and Stuart Duncan on fiddle. Adding lap steel to the track is Gurf Morlix, who once said the following about Plant:

"My theory is if we could somehow remove Robert Plant from the fabric of time, it would therefore remove all the heavy metal stuck-pig-squealing vocals we've been subjected to over the years. Robert Plant was possibly the single most powerful influence on heavy metal. Now, I actually like Robert. I loved the first few Led Zeppelin albums a lot. I think he currently makes good music. He sings well, and is so at ease on stage. He seems very comfortable in his body. I have a lot of respect for Robert.

"We are, of course, speaking hypothetically about cause and effect. I don't think the effect would be all that good for Robert."

On a final note, I find the varying perceptions of Plant among these American musicians hilarious. For all the fun Plant attests to have playing with American musicians, it's funny to find out what they thought of him before they met -- such as in the case of Mike Seeger, who joined Plant and Krauss in recording the final track on Raising Sand. I'll never forget that Seeger told me he didn't know who Plant was before they met in the studio.