Re: Question of the day #3 (New P/P material)

["Rob O'Reilly" <roreill@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, 2 Nov 1997, Kevin Kreis wrote:

> But what I am mostly
> interested in is the style of music that they are going to play.  Jimmy has
> already said that their last album consisted of an orchestra and Egyptian
> ensemble that added to much of the music, but this time it is strictly
> guitar, bass, and drums.  I don't know about most of you, but the whole
> orchestra thing kind of turned me off to much of the new P/P material that
> came out in 94.  I always looked at Led Zeppelin as the guitar, bass, and
> drums kind of band...and maybe that is why I am so anxious about this new
> album. Sort of going back to their roots I take it.

I personally don't see Zeppelin as a guitar/bass/drums band, since a fair
chunk of the band's material (e.g. "You Shook Me," "Your Time is Gonna
Come," "Thank You," "Since I've Been Loving You," "Stairway to Heaven,"
"Misty Mountain Hop," "The Rain Song," "Kashmir," "In the Light,"
"Trampled Underfoot," much of the acoustic material, and everything off
ITTOD) doesn't fall into that format.

I'm rather skeptical about the motivations behind the supposed emphasis on
guitar, bass, and drums that's meant to be on the new Page/Plant album.  I
liked the addition of the orchestra and the Eastern overtones on "No
Quarter."  First, I liked how it sounded; the new songs needed some more
work, but some of the Zeppelin material (especially "Four Sticks" and
"Kashmir") sounded great in that format.  Second, I was pleased and
surprised that Page and Plant weren't pandering
to their audience by doing a Zeppelin-by-numbers and putting out
an album consisting of material that people tend to associate with
Zeppelin (i.e. songs built around blues-influenced guitar riffs with the
occasional acoustic song thrown in).  I was bothered by the lack of new
material on the subsequent tours, however, since it suggested to me that
they were playing it safe and going back on their assertions that their
reunion was not meant to be an effort to re-create Led Zeppelin.  And,
when I read comments from Page that the new album is going back to a
guitar/bass/drums format a la Zeppelin, I become even more concerned.  I
sincerely hope that they aren't consciously trying to make the album
"Zeppelinesque" or deliberately playing it safe.


  The question is this,
> do Robert and Jimmy still have it in them to put out material that will last
> a lifetime, just as the Zeppelin material has done over the past 20 years? I
> am not in any way trying to compare Led Zeppelin to Page and Plant, for
> there will never be another Led Zeppelin.  But does the heart of Led
> Zeppelin still beat as strong as it did 20 years ago?


Whether or not the new album will be any good and whether or not "the
heart of Led Zeppelin" still beats are, as far as I'm concerned, different
questions.  Page and Plant were not by themselves the heart of Led
Zeppelin.  To me, Zeppelin was a band in which the whole was greater than
the sum of its parts.  Plant' solo career definitely had its moments, but
he always had creative partners working with him.  Page's post-Zeppelin
career, meanwhile, strikes me as largely forgettable.  And while I thought
the new songs on NQ were nice, none of them struck me as being able to
hold their own against most of Zeppelin's material.  So in my mind, the
heart of Led Zeppelin is not still beating and has not done so since
Bonham died.  As for what the new album will be like, I've already
expressed my misgivings and have absolutely no idea whether it will be
comparable in quality to Zeppelin.



Rob