ZepFest Updates

There's a little bad news coming out of camp ZepFest, as previously reported speaker Richard Cole will not be in attendance at National Harbour in Washington DC next month. According to the organizer,  "couldn't work out travel to accommodate all."

Dave Lewis, of Tight But Loose, will be there, however, and he will have his new book, Feather in the Wind - Over Europe 1980. You can pre-order by emailing Dave, davelewis.tbl1@ntlworld.com, and request a copy or copies be reserved to be picked up at his ZepFest display.

Dave, meanwhile, has been busy both putting together the book and the latest edition of Tight But Loose, #29. Featuring a preview of Feather in the Wind, a look back at Stairway to Heaven 40 years later, a review of Anna Nicole: The Opera and a listen through of the new Black Country Communion album with Glenn Hughes. If you don't already subscribe, you can do so here.

Finally, a technical note. Last week I posted a video of myself playing my Led Zeppelin I 8-track, which I received from ZepFest during their 12 daze of Zepmas giveaway (to tie this whole post together, the question I won on was, how many editions of Tight But Loose are released every year?) I have no idea why the video simply won't work on YouTube, but it won't. I have tried editing, re-uploading &tc. But there is something wonky with the codex, and I am not a video guy. It does not matter very much, it was a silly little video. If you have tried to watch the video, my apologies, but you didn't miss very much.

Anthony "Top" Topham: "A pre-Zeppelin album exists..."

In May 1963, Keith Relf and Paul Samwell-Smith left The Metropolitan Blues Quartet and joined Chris Dreja, Jim McCarty and lead guitarist Anthony “Top” Topham to form a new band, The Yardbirds. Sixteen year old Topham was a high school friend of Dreja.

In September of that year, Topham left the Yardbirds at his mother’s insistence, who was concerned about her 16 year old son spending his nights playing in the clubs. His replacement, Eric Clapton, would use the Yardbirds as a springboard to international acclaim and success, as would Clapton’s successors, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.

In an interview with Guitar International, Topham claims that is not the end of his story flirting with fame. In 1968 JImmy Page was remaking The Yardbirds in his own image, creating the band that would become Led Zeppelin. According to Topham, he was contacted to play in the band:

Well this is what happened, in 1968... I received three telegrams, which I still have, from Peter Grant and Jimmy Page, expressing an urgency to get in touch with them, one of these said “great news for you.” I called them... and I spoke to Jimmy who I saw reasonably regularly. He said he wanted to reform under the name of the New Yardbirds and hit America, and asked if I would be interested.

Wait for it, I said no.

Topham also claims there was an early, pre-Led Zeppelin I album, under the name of The New Yardbirds:

Also, it’s a fact that a pre-Zeppelin album exists under the name the New Yardbirds, and includes much of the same as early Zepp. I believe this has never been released.

The idea of Topham being in Led Zeppelin and of an early album is new information in the Led Zeppelin narrative. It is unknown whether, if the album actually exists, it is with the members of Led Zeppelin, a Yardbirds album with some variation of Keith Relf, Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty playing, or a group of musicians previously unknown. What is known, however, is that the last lineup of The Yardbirds performed a number of songs that would find their way onto Led Zeppelin I, so the The Yardbirds recording this material can’t be discounted.

The Top Topham interview is not just about the sixties, and is an interesting look at the player who didn’t become “One of the legendary Yardbird guitarists.”

Led Zeppelin I - on 8 Track

At Christmas time I won, courtesy of ZepFest 2011, an 8-track of Led Zeppelin's first album. I did promise at the time that I would post on it. Well, I took my sweet time, but you do have to understand, t took me a while to find an 8 track player I liked. C'est La Vie.

Here's my first ever home produced video of me trying out my Led Zeppelin I 8 track.



Click here for information on tickets for ZepFest 2011.
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Update. The video is not currently working. I don't know why, but t will be a day or more before it's corrected. I will post to twitter when it is updated