Celebration Day Vinyl

If you live in Canada, or are visiting in the next week or two, it appears you get a chance to buy Celebration Day on vinyl before anyone else. For reasons unknown, the Celebration Day vinyl boxset release has been postponed at least twice now, with Amazon citing a late February release date to those who had pre-ordered it. However, last week reports started to come out of Canadian fans that some stores that sell vinyl had the Celebration day box set. While first thoughts are that some store let it slip early, one fan in Montreal reports buying at, as well as a Toronto fan who found it at Sunrise in downtown Toronto. Add myself to the list, who purchased the 3-LP set at HMV on Younge Street in Toronto, just a few blocks up the road from Massey Hall, where Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience was playing Thursday night.

[caption id="attachment_2230" align="alignnone" width="442" caption="The three LP Celebration Day box set."][/caption]

The set comes with a 14 page booklet and each LP has a cardboard cover, as well as a paper dust cover to protect the record while inside the hard cardboard cover.  Each cardboard album cover has s a yellow clock-face in red background, consistent with the cover art on one side. It has the words "Led Zeppelin" at the top, the LP #, the Swan Song logo  at the 9 and 3-o'clock postions respectively, and  the words "Celebration Day. Recorded live December 10, 2007 O2 Arena London" at the bottom.



The other side has the Swan Song logo with "Led Zeppelin Celebration Day" in the classic Led Zeppelin font in a circle in the middle. Underneath that is the LP #, and the track listing for that LP.



The LP label has the same patterns on them, with the song listing being on side 2 of the albums. The Swan Song, Atlantic and Warner Brothers logo appear on the track listing side of the vinyl.



Soundwise it sounds good, although I don't run equipment nearly good enough to say much other than there's no obvious flaws.  Each instrument is pretty clear in the mix.



Just don't put it on the couch when the cat is sleeping:

The Always Stylish Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page s set to appear in an ad campaign for designer John Varvatos' 2013 Spring/Summer Collection. The campaign will also feature guitarist Gary Clark Jr.

The first ad, directed by noted photographer and film director Danny Clinch, features Clark playing and singing When My Train Pulls in London's Rivoli Ballroom, while Page, stylish in a suit and tie, is driven to the club, and seen entering it.

Celebration Day Guitar Book

Alfred Music has released a Celebration Day Guitar Tab book. The book "presents authentic guitar TAB transcriptions of the 16 classic songs that make up the (Celebration Day) set."

The book is a compilation of studio versions of the songs Led Zeppelin performed on their Dec, 2007 concert at London's 02 arena, not tabs of the songs as played on that evening.

Celebration Day Guitar Tab is available through Alfred Music, at Amazon or likely through your local music store.

Ultimate Classic Rock Awards

Led Zeppelin's Celebration Day won two 2012 Ultimate Classic Rock Awards: Best DVD and Best Live Album.

The Ultimate Classic Rock Awards are voted on by readers of the website, Ultimate Classic Rock.

The Celebration Day DVD won as "2012's DVD of the year," gaining 36.51% of the vote.  The next closest was Iron Maiden's En Vino with 10%. Robert Plant's Robert Plant and the Band of Joy: Live from the Artists Den gained a .92% of the vote.

The audio album of Celebration Day won "2012's Best Live Album," with 40.72% of the vote.

Heart's Stairway to Heaven on iTunes

iTunes music this morning released Heart's version of Stairway to Heaven as performed by the band, with Jason Bonham and backed up by 2 choirs, on Dec 3rd at the Kennedy Center Honors Gala. It was broadcast on boxing day, Dec 26th.

You can get the file for 99-cents on iTunes.

It appears at this time that no other songs from that night have been released.

While you are there, don't forget to subscribe to the Ramble On Radio podcast.

In 2004, Heart re-released their 1977 album, Little Queen on CD. The release had, as a bonus track, a live version of the iconic Led Zeppelin song, recorded in 1976.

Here's heart at the Kenendy Center Honors, performing Stairway to Heaven

Happy 69th Birthday Jimmy Page

I had discussion this past year with some guys forming a Led Zep tribute band. While it never panned out, I spent a number of weeks digging into the guitar playing of eight Led Zeppelin songs, and casually learning/relearning about six more. Even for an old Led Zeppelin fan like me, who has played guitar for 40-years and learnt the instrument on the stylings of Jimmy Page, it was eye-opening.

On the Song Remains the Same, an incredible piece of musical composition, he plays this one lick. It's just a note really, except he bends the note 2 1/2 tones, from a B to an E, then brings it back down in staccato shots half a tone at a time: E! D#! D! C#! C! and back to B. It's simple in essence, I could teach it to a beginner, although it takes some physical strength to bend a note 2 1/2 tones on a 12-string. But it's also brilliant, pure musicianship required to make it sound like anything at all.

The catalogue, especially after the third album, is full of examples. There was virtually no wasted notes: if Jimmy Page played it, there was a reason for it.

On his 69th birthday it's worth pointing out that after a lifetime of playing, in my late-40's I'm still discovering the mysteries of what Jimmy Page did in his 20's and early 30's. I'm still finding magic in the notes he created.

Happy 69th Birthday Jimmy Page. For all of it, and for all that is still to come.

On the Occasion of John Paul Jones Birthday

Happy Birthday to the quiet man with the bass that roars and rock'n'roll's premier mandolinist, John Paul Jones, who is 67 today: