Re: VH1 Legends thoughts

["Rita DeVries" <kashmir@xxxxxxxx>]

As usual Hugh is right on . I agree with him 100% . For a Zep fan
,narration was 
wasted.We could have used more music and less talk about their private
lives.I have to say that, overall, "I was disappointed ".

- ----------
> Personally, I was disppointed in the special - I guess I'd let my hopes
get
> too high with all the rumours (wish fulfillment dreams?) about Earls
Court
> footage of full songs & the like. While I thought Steven Tyler's
narration
> was good, I found myself wishing he'd shut the fuck up for at least few
> seconds while some of the live video was playing, so we could hear it.
> 
> Overall I thought it was an adequate but unnecessary overview of their
> career - I mean, I think *most* people tuning in to watch a show like
this
> know that Zep came from the Yardbirds, were the most popular band of
their
> era & overdid it on drugs, drink & sex. Letting some of the video footage
> tell the story in terms of music would have been MUCH better that a fast
> blow-by-blow account of their years as a band, obviously for us
hardcores,
> but also, I think, for the average viewer. As it was, the hour was
> superficial and packed with stuff we've all seen.
> 
> OK, but whining aside, I will say that the '73 outdoor clip, the Nassau
> Coliseum stuff and the longer clip of Plant at the NYC '70 press
conference
> pleased me greatly. Also the one bit they played from Australia '72 - way
> better quality than I've ever seen of that footage - was awesome. Just
that
> brief clip of R&R showed so much evidence of JPJ & JB's *awesome* ability
> as a rhythm section. Who was it who said on the list the other day that
JPJ
> was overrated as a bass player? You don't know shit, pal!
> 
> In response to some of Jean's comments -
> >High living, violence, destructive tendencies, drug use--all are openly
> >admitted.
> 
> I found it *very* interesting that Page's heroin use was mentioned, and
it
> makes me wonder if Jimmy did indeed approve the final cut - I guess he
must
> have, but if he did then this counts as the very first time the word
> "heroin" has been used in conjunciton with Page in an "authorized"
context,
> at least to my knowledge.
> 
> >there was no interview footage of Page or Plant more recent than pre-No
> >Quarter.
> >interview with Jimmy is actually at
> >least four years old (I know someone on this list will be able to put an
> >actual date on it--it's pieced together from an interview I have at
least
> >part of somewhere--Outrider?).
> >Does anyone recognize the JPJ interview, or his look?  Are his comments
also
> >from an old tv appearance?
> 
> I might be wrong, but the interview footage looked very familiar to me
too,
> and I *think* it's from that multi-part PBS special on rock & roll that
> they did a couple years ago. There was extensive Page, Plant & Jones
> interview footage in that and this seemed like more of it.
> 
> >It's as if
> >they decided to make this program at the last minute, and cobbled the
whole
> >thing together out of archival footage.
> 
> Bingo. It's a cheap shot, quickie promotion to help sell CDs. WHY can't
we
> get a decent video documentary on this band, for Chrissakes?
> 
> >Texas Pop Festival footage?  Am I the only one
> >that brief clip was new to?
> 
> This was from a documentary film on the festival that is in circulation -
> unfortuantely the clip they showed was about the *only* section of the
> Zep's appearance in the film that's worth beans. Most of the footage is
> shot from a great distance from the stage, out of focus, and in the film
> most of the time you're hearing Zep play "Dazed", the camera is focusing
on
> people in the crowd.
> 
> Anyway, I found the show somewhat anticlimatic - the "WLL" video has more
> cool clips in it, really - and I was also amazed at the lack of advance
> publicity - if I wasn't on this list I woudn't have even known it was
going
> to be on. I endured lengthy stretches of VH1 all week hoping to catch a
> promo for the Zep Legends show, and didn't see a single one. And it was
> b'cast here in Seattle at 5:00 pm, with our local TV guide only listing
it
> as "Legends" - no Zep mention - and even the daily newspaper listing only
> printing it as "Legends - Zeppelin" in VERY small print. What gives? Was
it
> completed too late to promote it much?
> 
> - Mr. Prox
> 
> 
> -----
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>