Inside the Atlantic Records Vault

Over the years, Atlantic Records collected a vast assortment of material. While we can easily imagine the tapes lying around, a priceless amount of music sitting in some vault, waiting for someone to notice what they have. But we don't think so much of pictures.

The images have been scattered about in dusty and moldy warehouses, relics of the pre-Internet age when photography was integral to selling music, and the photographers — names like Irving Penn, Annie Leibovitz, Lee Friedlander and Robert Mapplethorpe — went on to become nearly as famous as the subjects they captured and defined.

Warner Music Group, which now owns Atlantic, is scouring "nearly 100,000 boxes," of photographs, "from warehouses around the globe."

Included in what has been found so far:

a series of unpublished black-and-white shots of Led Zeppelin in the studio in 1969 by Jim Cummins. The intimate collection by Mr. Cummins, who was an Atlantic photographer, portrays a group of young rockers before they became hugely famous and includes a rare image of Robert Plant, the band’s singer, playing the acoustic guitar.

Expect the pictures to be made publicly available sometime in the future as Warner looks to monetize it's collection.

More here.

Now Appearing...

on Tight But Loose

Tight But Loose is the premier Led Zeppelin website and magazine.  Dave Lewis started TBL in the 70's and, although he took a break after the death of John Bonham, has been doing it ever since.

So it is an honour to have my words printed on Dave's web server, as he uses a modified version of the JBLZE review I posted here. Scroll down the page until you see Centre in the Square, Kitchener, Ontario:

“Kitchener,” says Jason Bonham from the stage, bowler hat much like his father would occasionally wear perched on his head, “is very special to me. The background picture on my phone is of my dad in Kitchener.”

Meanwhile, it's worth mentioning that Tight But Loose issue #27 has been out about a month. Chock-a-block full of information about Robert Plant's Band of Joy, Jimmy Page by Jimmy Page, Jason Bonham's tour, Black Country Communion and 30 years since the death of John Bonham.

If you're a fan, then it's a must have. You can order it here, but check out the whole website: you never who you might find there.

Sucker Punch Using When The Levee Breaks

When Zack Snyder debuted the trailer for his upcoming action fantasy, Sucker Punch, starring Vanessa Hudgens from High School Musical fame, it featured Led Zeppelin's When The Levee Breaks. The song, however, wasn't expected to make the final cut due to licensing issues, Snyder told the audience at Comic Con in July.

It did, in fact, disappear from teasers that followed. However, Levee reappeared this week when the first feature trailer was released.

It doesn't look like my cup of tea as a movie, but you have to admit, When The Levee Breaks works great on it:

Lid Magazine: Jimmy Page Edition

About a month ago I was perusing the usual Zeppelin related web sites and newsgroups, when I noticed Lid Magazine was putting out an edition with a Jimmy Page feature. What’s more, they were offering the magazine with a choice of four covers: Jimmy Page, Marlon Brando, Andy Warhol and Daido Moriyama. By the time postage was in and rates were exchanged, it cost me $31 Canadian.

I closed my laptop and thought to myself, did I really just pay thirty-bucks for a magazine?

I did. It arrived yesterday and what a magazine it is.

Lid Magazine is a fine arts magazine, featuring never seen before photographs and art. It is entirely in black and white and printed on photographic paper. It is, in short, a beautiful magazine. The all black and white gives it an elegant presentation, the pictures (and it is mostly pictures) are outstanding. If you, like me, think the world has lost some dignity and elegance in the last 30 or 40 years, you will love this magazine.

Lid Eleven features photographic stories on each of the cover subjects, with few words to let you know what you are seeing. In Jimmy Page you get a double feature: a piece on his new pictorial autobiography, Jimmy Page by Jimmy Page, and an interview of Page by photo editor Dave Brolan.

The interview with Page is strictly related to his book, the choice of photographs, the process involved &tc. It is also the longest textual portion of the magazine. It is a magazine of few words, and the majority of them are in the Brolan/Page interview.

The feature on Page’s book is the meat of this edition, where this fan gets his $30 worth of magazine. Lid is a natural fit for a feature on Page’s upcoming Genesis Publication book. The high quality photographic reproduction on thick paper gives a hint of what the Genesis publication will be like. The twenty-one photographs, plus proof sheet from a Yardbirds photo session, are all new and of stunning quality. Favourites: Oakland ‘77 playing the acoustic, with cigarette (below); same show holding the double neck over his head; 1975 shot of him playing his Theremin; a 1977 shot of him “in the garden behind the Swan Song office”; an alternate take of the famous Knebworth photo shoot; and two backstage shots, at different venues, in his white poppy suit.

Two photographers whose pictures are included, Michael Zagaris and Kate Simon each pen a short piece on meeting and photographing Jimmy Page.

If you can find it, Lid Eleven is a great magazine and well worth picking up.