Led Zeppelin Appreciation Thread

[Stadler]

I think it's important to note that a) it was a charity event (for Duran Duran's Andy Taylor) and b) Plant has recently softened on his reluctance over that song, and he attributes it to watching Ann and Nancy Wilson play it with Jason at the Kennedy Center. 

[Orbert]

Plant went through a period of not wanting to do Stairway to Heaven?  I mean, it makes sense.  Years after going solo and trying to establish other career directions, lots of people just want to hear Stairway.  Did he and Page ever do it, when they were doing their duo "un-led-ed" thing?

[hefdaddy42]

Plant went through a period of not wanting to do Stairway to Heaven?  I mean, it makes sense.  Years after going solo and trying to establish other career directions, lots of people just want to hear Stairway.  Did he and Page ever do it, when they were doing their duo "un-led-ed" thing?

I don't think they did.

His stated reason for avoiding performing it is that current-him can no longer relate to the somewhat gibberish lyrics that then-him came up with for that song.

[Orbert]

Interesting.  I'm reminded again of the controversy surrounding the lyrics to that song when it first came out.  Obviously the concept of buying your way into Heaven, or a stairway or other means of expedition, would offend some people.  As the story goes, Plant and Page were at Page's house, Boleskine House (former home of Aleister Crowley, said to have dabbled in the Dark Arts), and Page was playing the riff and the lyrics just came to him (Plant).  That's because the demonic spirits were speaking to him, and everyone knows that demonic spirits speak backwards, which is why you have to listen to the recordings backwards in order to understand what they're saying.  And if you listen to the lyrics to Stairway to Heaven backwards, you hear him singing the praises of Satan.  It all fits!

Or maybe it was just some gibberish words that Plant came up with which he can no longer relate to.

[Samsara]

I was so happy to see Robert Plant sing "Stairway to Heaven." If it ends up being the final time he does so live, very cool. He sounds great, particularly at his age.

I know it's not his favorite to perform, but he steps up and does things for the right reasons -- in this case, charity. He generally stands by his convictions, and I admire that.

[Stadler]

Plant went through a period of not wanting to do Stairway to Heaven?  I mean, it makes sense.  Years after going solo and trying to establish other career directions, lots of people just want to hear Stairway.  Did he and Page ever do it, when they were doing their duo "un-led-ed" thing?

I don't think they did.

His stated reason for avoiding performing it is that current-him can no longer relate to the somewhat gibberish lyrics that then-him came up with for that song.

To my knowledge, he never played it solo, and they only did it once as Page & Plant.  It's a regular in the Zeppelin setlist; Zeppelin has played five times since Bonham's death, and they played Stairway three of those times (Live Aid, Atlantic Ceremony, and O2; they did not play it at Jason's wedding or at their HoF induction). 

[hefdaddy42]

Interesting.  I'm reminded again of the controversy surrounding the lyrics to that song when it first came out.  Obviously the concept of buying your way into Heaven, or a stairway or other means of expedition, would offend some people.  As the story goes, Plant and Page were at Page's house, Boleskine House (former home of Aleister Crowley, said to have dabbled in the Dark Arts), and Page was playing the riff and the lyrics just came to him (Plant).  That's because the demonic spirits were speaking to him, and everyone knows that demonic spirits speak backwards, which is why you have to listen to the recordings backwards in order to understand what they're saying.  And if you listen to the lyrics to Stairway to Heaven backwards, you hear him singing the praises of Satan.  It all fits!

Or maybe it was just some gibberish words that Plant came up with which he can no longer relate to.

[Stadler]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/someone-bid-huge-amount-money-230648987.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=0_00

[ReaperKK]

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a biography of Led Zepplin?

[Stadler]

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a biography of Led Zepplin?

You want facts or all the dirt?  The latter is "Hammer Of The Gods" by Steven Davis.  The former? Harder, but probably "When Giants Walked The Earth" by Mick Wall.

[HOF]

I didn't realize this was a mystery, but it has apparently been solved.

Mystery of ‘Stick Man’ on Led Zeppelin album cover finally solved
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/09/style/led-zeppelin-album-cover-mystery-solved-intl-scli-gbr/index.html

[Stadler]

I didn't realize this was a mystery, but it has apparently been solved.

Mystery of ‘Stick Man’ on Led Zeppelin album cover finally solved
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/09/style/led-zeppelin-album-cover-mystery-solved-intl-scli-gbr/index.html

I saw that.  Isn't that neat?

[HOF]

I didn't realize this was a mystery, but it has apparently been solved.

Mystery of ‘Stick Man’ on Led Zeppelin album cover finally solved
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/09/style/led-zeppelin-album-cover-mystery-solved-intl-scli-gbr/index.html

I saw that.  Isn't that neat?

Old Lot Long could have never imagined that his likeness would one day be immortalized like that. You couldn’t have explained it to him if you were a time traveller.

[Samsara]

Waiting for the descendants of Lot Long to sue Led Zeppelin...

 

Cool that the mystery is solved though. I never really gave who the man was much though though, if I'm being honest.

Been a bit since I listened to Led Zepp IV. Gonna crank it now. 

[pg1067]

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a biography of Led Zepplin?

You want facts or all the dirt?  The latter is "Hammer Of The Gods" by Steven Davis.  The former? Harder, but probably "When Giants Walked The Earth" by Mick Wall.

I went through my big Zeppelin phase sometime in the '86-'88 range, and that included reading Hammer of the Gods.  I (then 19-21) was absolutely mesmerized and thought it was just an incredible read.  I didn't hear about all the alleged factual inaccuracies until many years later.  Whether factually accurate or not, it certainly was entertaining.

[HOF]

Not even sure why, but for some reason I was wondering if there were any high quality covers of Stairway to Heaven. Something that just modernizes the sound mostly. I came across an awful one by Dolly Parton and Lizzo, but this one by Mary J. Blige and Steve Vai is pretty good. Love her voice on it, and it’s even maybe a little more proggy than the original. But I do prefer the acoustic half of the song and kind of wish it hadn’t gone as over the top orchestral in the second half. Vai’s solo is also kind of meh. Interesting listen though.
 
https://youtu.be/dCGq_sowcts?si=4OHKLyaK3pOH-Fby

[ReaperKK]

To me the best Led Zep covers are done by Heart, not the most modern of bands but they kill it. I love this version of Rain Song:

https://youtu.be/FeiNnRINW_8?si=AhW56hTn3cq0KT_u

[HOF]

To me the best Led Zep covers are done by Heart, not the most modern of bands but they kill it. I love this version of Rain Song:

https://youtu.be/FeiNnRINW_8?si=AhW56hTn3cq0KT_u

Yeah, I know Heart do some good LZ covers. Ann Wilson has one of Stairway that is also really good, though it also veers a little too far into the orchestral territory in the second half.

[TAC]

Stairway To Heaven is one of those songs where no cover version is going to do it justice.

[DoctorAction]

Stairway To Heaven is one of those songs where no cover version is going to do it justice.

https://youtu.be/2u-PjvRyr0I?si=oS3lLKoaYs6x60aI

Except that Heart performance. Incredible. That song in front of that audience?! Watching Plant in tears and Page jumping about... Heart absolutely nailed it.

[TAC]

Stairway To Heaven is one of those songs where no cover version is going to do it justice.

Except that Heart performance. Incredible. That song in front of that audience?! Watching Plant in tears and Page jumping about... Heart absolutely nailed it.

Maybe I should watch it. 

[Orbert]

The Heart performance at The Kennedy Center was very good.  It was marred by the fact that they felt the need to cut out a verse or two.  I hate that.  Either play the song, or don't.  Fuck playing "most" of the song.

[TAC]

Maybe that's why Plant was in tears..

[DoctorAction]

Stairway To Heaven is one of those songs where no cover version is going to do it justice.

Except that Heart performance. Incredible. That song in front of that audience?! Watching Plant in tears and Page jumping about... Heart absolutely nailed it.

Maybe I should watch it. 

Have updated my post with a link

[DoctorAction]

Maybe that's why Plant was in tears..

 

[King Postwhore]

Maybe that's why Plant was in tears..

Any chance you've watched the performance?

[TAC]

Maybe that's why Plant was in tears..

Any chance you've watched the performance?

I stated earlier that I hadn't.

[ReaperKK]

The Heart performance at The Kennedy Center was very good.  It was marred by the fact that they felt the need to cut out a verse or two.  I hate that.  Either play the song, or don't.  Fuck playing "most" of the song.

It was edited for tv, the full song is on YouTube

https://youtu.be/LFxOaDeJmXk?si=IAmiBOWdAPcrZsD9

[King Postwhore]

Maybe that's why Plant was in tears..

Any chance you've watched the performance?

I stated earlier that I hadn't.

It's really well done. YouTube it. It's so well done.

[TAC]

I will.

[jingle.boy]

The Kennedy Center version, with Jason on the kit, is legendarily good.

[Stadler]

I don't care for hyperbole much, but that version of Stairway, in context, is about as good as it gets in terms of interpretive musical performance.   

Plant has talked about the reaction and in typical Plant fashion, "it's complicated"; I don't think it was the song itself, but rather the fact that what they created has spanned generations, and to see their friend's son doing that work justice...   it's a beautiful moment, and historically, Heart has serviced the Led Zeppelin material with the proper mix of reverence and extrapolation.   The main mistake - IMO -- of Zeppelin covers is that they play it too literal and too note-for-note.   The beauty and magic of Zeppelin when they played live was that it was fluid, it was interpretive, it was all based on feel, primarily the ebb and flow of the interplay of Page and Bonham. That was the special sauce.  IMO, Heart has done the best job of balancing that (though I've remarked that Matt Cameron nailed that essence in the live version of "Achilles Last Stand" at the Temple Of The Dog show I saw at MSG.

[Orbert]

The Heart performance at The Kennedy Center was very good.  It was marred by the fact that they felt the need to cut out a verse or two.  I hate that.  Either play the song, or don't.  Fuck playing "most" of the song.

It was edited for tv, the full song is on YouTube

https://youtu.be/LFxOaDeJmXk?si=IAmiBOWdAPcrZsD9

I didn't realize it had been edited, so thanks for that.  I've seen the link posted here and there and people raving about it, and I never bothered because I always get so annoyed with shortened versions of songs.

In that case, fuck editors who think it's okay to skip part of a great performance of an iconic song.

[pg1067]

The Heart performance at The Kennedy Center was very good.  It was marred by the fact that they felt the need to cut out a verse or two.  I hate that.  Either play the song, or don't.  Fuck playing "most" of the song.

It was edited for tv, the full song is on YouTube

https://youtu.be/LFxOaDeJmXk?si=IAmiBOWdAPcrZsD9

This isn't the full song, though.  It omitted:

"And it's whispered that soon
If we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn
For those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter"

[Orbert]

That sounds about right.  I remember singing along with it, and suddenly they were in a different place in the song.  I hadn't noticed an edit, but I suppose a really good editor could have hidden it.  I'm glad I didn't bother with the YouTube version, if it's still not the whole song.

So we're back to where we started.  It's an eight minute song.  Why cut out 30 seconds of it?  Why cut any of it, if the point is to honor those who wrote it?  Either play the song, or don't.