Anything in the Vaults?

[Buddy Boy Page <traders55@xxxxxxxxx>]

Here's an article from the Toronto Sun website, in
which Page talks about this thwarted plans to compile
a live chronology, accompanying video, and alternate
mixes of studio cuts.  Thanks Robert.

Thursday, March 2, 2000 
Page's Zep plans thwarted
By PAUL CANTIN
Senior Reporter, JAM! Showbiz

 Led Zeppelin fans salivating for a reunion or
retrospective live compilation shouldn't blame
guitarist Jimmy Page for the fact that neither has
transpired. 

 In an exclusive phone interview Thursday with JAM!
Music from New York, Page said he has proposed a live
album and video chronicling the band's touring history
and has even entertained the notion of reuniting with
Zep's surviving members -- singer Robert Plant and
bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones (drummer John
Bonham died in 1980) -- but he has met with resistance
each time. 

 "I have been trying to motivate something, even just
(Page and Plant) together, for like the last 15
months. If I can't manage to pull that off ...," a
disappointed-sounding Page said, adding he most
recently discussed performing together for the Net Aid
charity concert. 

 "I have employed every scenario that I thought
somebody could respond to, like writing new material,
to having a vehicle to just go and play, which was Net
Aid, to doing this, doing that, proposing this,
proposing that. 

 "It just wasn't to be for Robert. He just couldn't
see a way to do anything. I don't see how it is going
to come together. It might come together in everybody
else's mind, but all I know is I can play really well,
and John Paul Jones can play really well and we can
play really well together. 

 "But I don't know. I am going to leave it to
everybody's imagination, then ... I'm telling you it
is hard enough to get Robert motivated. Let's not
start talking about Led Zeppelin reformations. If you
can't get the singer and the guitarist to play
together, or if the guitarist can't get the singer to
play, what the hell? There's no point in considering
things any further." 

 So the hope of a Led Zeppelin reunion sounds dim? 

 "Oh, I don't know. I don't know," Page said. "But I
have made no secret of the fact that I have no problem
with John Paul Jones, and I would love to play with
him at some point. Never made a secret of that." 

 So what about Plant? 

 "I don't know. You'll have to ask him these
questions." 

 Page recently oversaw the compilation of "Latter
Days," the newly released second volume of a Led
Zeppelin "best-of," which he said he hopes will
introduce a new generation to their music. Online
music retailer Musicmaker.com is also issuing a
downloadable live collaboration between the guitarist
and the Black Crowes. 

 And aside from his enthusiasm for those new projects,
he spoke at length about the idea of a Led Zep live
chronology and accompanying concert video -- an idea
he first proposed back in the early-'80s. 

 "I would find it a good project to do, that is as far
as the live stuff," he said. 

 "And like the Beatles ("Anthology") thing that came
out, we have got different versions of all the same
songs. Different versions that there are mixes of,
alternative mixes to the whole fourth album that were
done at Sunset Sound, of which the only one that
surfaced out of that was 'When The Levee Breaks,' so
you know the quality of what they must be like." 

 He first proposed the live album and footage around
the time of the release of "Coda" -- Zep's compilation
of unreleased tracks -- in 1982. 

 "I had a concept with the footage we have, going back
to the Royal Albert Hall in like, 1970, all the way
through to Knebworth, which was '79. That encompassed
all the first album stuff right up through 'In Through
The Out Door'," Page said. 

 "Along the way, we had Earl's Court and this one and
that one. It could have been a fun thing to have tied
that up with the live performances that went with the
visuals." 

 Again, the killjoy on that project was Plant. 

 "At the time that I had proposed doing it, (Plant)
wasn't keen on it coming out, this is way back in '80
or '81," he said, adding he still sees the need for a
better representation of what Led Zeppelin was capable
of in concert. 

 "The band was finished. We had lost John Bonham. What
was out there as a testament of the band's work in
1980 or whatever was (the live album) 'The Song
Remains The Same.' In 1990, what was the thing that
was out there as a live testament? 'The Song Remains
The Same.' 

 "In the year 2000, what is the thing that is out
there as a testament? 'The Song Remains The Same.'
It's about time for the song not to remain the same --
something with a bit more imagination." 

 Page's major fear is that he would spend hours in the
studio mixing and compiling the project, only to have
it rejected by one of the other band members. 

 "After a while, you can't be wasting time with
people," he said. 

 "I am not going to spend a lot of time, putting
together a chronological live album with the footage
that could go with it, and all the rest of it, and
then find nobody else wants it to come out. 

 "There is stuff (worth putting out), but I'm not
going to be doing it to find that other members of the
band are going to be silly about it. I would rather
spend time with my family and children than hours in
the studio, if everyone doesn't feel the same vibe
about it. 

 "It is hard work trying to get these people motivated
sometimes. I've just got other things to do. Not
better things to do, but things of equal importance ,
both musically and personally. My time is precious to
me." 

Copyright © 2000, Canoe Limited Partnership. All
rights reserved