Eddie Lombardi wrote:
IIRC, one or more of his ex-band members have intimated that he was rather dictatorial in those bands. In fact, I think Plant even said so himself around the time of Mighty Rearranger. Here is where "spin" comes in. It's been said Plant changed his bands every couple of years because he's ever moving onward, trying different things musically, etc. Then again, it's also been said that he's been trying to find another Led Zeppelin and once one of his bands shows its limitations, he drops it. In fact, I recall an interview in 2005 with the Ottawa Sun he gave while playing there in which he said something about not knowing if he could continue with Strange Sensation because he felt it had gone as far as he thought it could go. On the other hand, I believe it was his manager who was quoted when he joined Page in 1994 as saying that Plant spent his entire post-Zeppelin career trying to find another Page and not succeeding (I've mentioned this on FBO a couple of times), so it made sense to go for the real thing. This seems to be validated indirectly in some of Plant's remarks over the years about his individual songwriting collaborators (Blunt, Johnstone, Dunnery, McMichael, Adams). I also recall during the Now and Zen promos his hinted that he fired his 1982-85 band because they were all complaining about being too old for touring so he went for the younger group that backed him from 1988 to 1993. Of course, that may have been his sense of humor.I have to agree with you there re: Plants solo bands. I don't think any of them, at least in my eyes came close to the Zep magic. I think it has to do in part to them not really being bands per se. I never got the impression, although I could be wrong, that it was a band in the Zeppelin sense of four equal members. Plant was cleary the leader although he did collaborate.
I think out of all four of them the o2 gig had the biggest effect on Page and Jason in that order. It's pretty clear that night meant so much to Page. Not just because he was out there playing but that he was out there playing pretty good and because the band was back together. You are right that Page will not go back out there unless he can find that special feeling with a new band. Which IMO may ultimately be the downfall of the whole new project. It's not to say he should do something with a less than stellar band but it would be very easy for him to not see the quality the band he does have has because he would be comparing it to Zeppelin. I hope that is not the case.I really think the whole press myth of "LZ replacing Plant" has had more of an impact than we realize. If the new band does fall apart, it won't be because it's less than stellar because clearly Bonham, Jones and Page works well as a band. As for a singer, Plant may be unique, but there are others out there who can front such a band quite credibly. No, I think it will be because once Plant told them he wasn't going to work with them in the foreseeable future, they started looking for other singers.Then the press got wind of this and to sell copy/web hits turned it into this big "Led Zeppelin is replacing Robert Plant and going on tour" nonsense. The public viewed this as a cynical attempt by the remaining three members of Led Zeppelin to go get that 200 million on the table that Plant is rumored to have turned down. All three have stated clearly that their project will be different and not "Led Zeppelin" but the fake controversy sells more so the press ignored the reality and continued perpetuating the myth to the point where every second time a rock radio station plays a Led Zeppelin song now at the close of 2008, the DJ comments on how in 2009 Led Zeppelin are said to be going on tour with a Plant replacement, while Plant has gone off to sing country music. This is not something I made up, I've heard this now a couple of times on major stations. It's to the point now where the story has been repeated so often that it's widely perceived as what's really happening. No matter what the J's do, they will be perceived by many as trying to cash in. If Plant did relent and work with them again, he would be perceived as selling out or else giving in to the threat of replacement. It's a very bad situation that needs to be handled well or else the band will have no other alternative but to walk away and truly go their separate ways. Like it or not, I feel if this happens we will never hear another note played by Jimmy Page. Jones yes. Jason yes. Page no. And it won't be because he's got some "jilted lover" complex vis-a-vis Plant; it will be because the whole thing evolved into a no-win situation. The only path I see out of it is, as I've written, Plant to make a clear statement supporting them. You or others can bristle at the notion of him owing them or not. I personally think he does. Choose to differ if you want, but it won't change the reality of the situation Led Zeppelin is currently in. Perhaps in absence of a Plant statement, they'll have to wait until things have died down, make some individual guest appearances, let It Might Get Loud get out there and put Jimmy in the limelight again, and then do something.