Robert Plant announced the details today of his upcoming album with the Sensational Space Shifters. Called lullaby and... the Ceaseless Roar, the 11 song album was produced by Plant and will feature 9 original songs written by Plant and the band. The album will be on Nonsuch /Warner Bros. Records and will be released September 9th.
"It's really a celebratory record, powerful, gritty, African, Trance meets Zep," says Plant, who has been playing two songs from the album on his current tour, the traditional folk song Little Maggie and a Sensation Space Shifter original, Rainbow. Nonsuch has released YouTube videos of the album version of both songs today. Meanwhile, Rainbow goes on sale tomorrow at digital outlets as the albums first single.
You can preorder the album in three packages at Nonsuch records: LP+CD+MP3+Art Print ($40.00 US); CD+MP3+Art Print ($18.00 US); or on lossless Flac files ($13.00). If you pre-order any of these
packages now, you will get a digital download of Rainbow.
Tracklist
1. Little Maggie (Trad. arr. by Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
2. Rainbow (Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Tyson)
3. Pocketful of Golden (Plant/Adams/Baggott/Camara/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
4. Embrace Another Fail (Plant/Adams/Baggott/Camara/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
5. Turn It Up (Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
6. A Stolen Kiss (Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Tyson)
7. Somebody There (Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
8. Poor Howard (arr. Plant/Adams/Baggott/Camara/Fuller/Tyson - Derived from Lead Belly's Po' Howard)
9. House of Love (Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
10. Up On The Hollow Hill Understanding Arthur) (Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
11. Arbaden (Maggie's Baby) (Plant/Adams/Baggott/Camara/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
There have been three videos released, but each seems to be set to play in different regions. Here they are, however, and enjoy which ones you can. First is a promo trailer for the album, then Little Maggie and finally Rainbow:
Monday, June 23, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
New Robert Plant Song: Rainbow
During Robert Plant's current tour of Europe he has been playing a new song that he has announced as being from the new album. Here is Rainbow, by the Sensational Space Shifters on Monday in Tallinn Estonia:
As well as Rainbow, Plant has been playing the classic folk song Little Maggie, and has said it will be on the upcoming album on Nonsuch records:
Plant's current tour continues through June in Denmark, Germany, France and Ireland before finishing off at Glastonbury on the 28th.
As well as Rainbow, Plant has been playing the classic folk song Little Maggie, and has said it will be on the upcoming album on Nonsuch records:
Plant's current tour continues through June in Denmark, Germany, France and Ireland before finishing off at Glastonbury on the 28th.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Release Day
Yesterday, the newly remastered editions of Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II and Led Zeppelin III were released to stores, although many fans were reporting as early as Friday and Saturday that online orders had arrived (and one poster at FBO posted that he saw the albums on the shelf at a record store in Ohio late last week). The albums come in standard and deluxe editions, with the deluxe editions featuring previously unreleased material.
The albums, both standard and deluxe can be purchased as files at various online sites, including iTunes and Amazon
If you prefer shopping in-store, your local store should have the CD of each edition, LP of each edition, and the box set featuring LP, CD, a high definition download and a booklet. As well, HD Tracks is selling standalone hi-rez files.
Myself, I started with the iTunes files and will add physical releases, likely LPs, as family gift giving opportunities arise (that is to say kids, Fathers Day is coming up, and my birthday is not that far off). As for the bonus, previously unreleased material, it is mixed:
The bonus material from the second album
, backing tracks and alternate mixes of the songs on that album mostly, is weak. It has some interesting moments to be sure, but how many times will you listen to Living Loving Maid without vocals? or Ramble On that's musically pared back a little? It's not the material is bad, it's that the interest level for it will be low for most fans. Highlights are Heartbreaker, with an alternate solo and Whole Lotta Love, stripped down and groovin'. Could do without the aforementioned vocal-less Living Loving Maid and Moby Dick minus the drum solo. And don't miss Keys to the Highway/Trouble in Mind, a dynamite acoustic blues, Page and Plant at their finest.
The bonus material on III
is much stronger with truly alternate versions of songs, and one complete new song. Gallows Pole gets the stripped back treatment, much as Ramble On does, however, this time it works exceptionally well. The alternate take of That's the Way is just as lovely as the original and Since I've Been Loving You will blow you away all over again. A completely different version of the song, it's almost as devastating as the original. Could do without an instrumental version of Out on the Tiles and Friends. Don't Miss Lala, instrumental though it is you get the band rolling through a number of ideas and a rollicking Jimmy Page solo.
The bonus material on the first album
is different than the above, as it is a live show from Paris Olympia October 10, 1969. The band were young, new fresh and raw in 1969, playing hungry and playing with ferocity. Dynamic and, at times, undisciplined, Page could be brilliant and sloppy in the same musical phrase, Plant electric, exciting and wildly off note all at once. That is to say they were fantastic, but less polished than they would later become. This particular show is a good one, but the sound really is just a notch or two above bootleg quality. All in though, I absolutely love this recording, faults and all. (But don't take my word for it, ask Lif what he thinks of the first album re-issue)
While personally I am looking more forward to the later albums (IV, Physical Graffiti, Presence and In Through The Out Door), this is a good start, and should keep me in Led Zeppelin mode through to Christmas (because there is nothing better in life than a Led Zeppelin record under the Christmas Tree or for your birthday).
-->
If you prefer shopping in-store, your local store should have the CD of each edition, LP of each edition, and the box set featuring LP, CD, a high definition download and a booklet. As well, HD Tracks is selling standalone hi-rez files.Myself, I started with the iTunes files and will add physical releases, likely LPs, as family gift giving opportunities arise (that is to say kids, Fathers Day is coming up, and my birthday is not that far off). As for the bonus, previously unreleased material, it is mixed:
The bonus material from the second album
, backing tracks and alternate mixes of the songs on that album mostly, is weak. It has some interesting moments to be sure, but how many times will you listen to Living Loving Maid without vocals? or Ramble On that's musically pared back a little? It's not the material is bad, it's that the interest level for it will be low for most fans. Highlights are Heartbreaker, with an alternate solo and Whole Lotta Love, stripped down and groovin'. Could do without the aforementioned vocal-less Living Loving Maid and Moby Dick minus the drum solo. And don't miss Keys to the Highway/Trouble in Mind, a dynamite acoustic blues, Page and Plant at their finest.The bonus material on III
is much stronger with truly alternate versions of songs, and one complete new song. Gallows Pole gets the stripped back treatment, much as Ramble On does, however, this time it works exceptionally well. The alternate take of That's the Way is just as lovely as the original and Since I've Been Loving You will blow you away all over again. A completely different version of the song, it's almost as devastating as the original. Could do without an instrumental version of Out on the Tiles and Friends. Don't Miss Lala, instrumental though it is you get the band rolling through a number of ideas and a rollicking Jimmy Page solo.
The bonus material on the first album
is different than the above, as it is a live show from Paris Olympia October 10, 1969. The band were young, new fresh and raw in 1969, playing hungry and playing with ferocity. Dynamic and, at times, undisciplined, Page could be brilliant and sloppy in the same musical phrase, Plant electric, exciting and wildly off note all at once. That is to say they were fantastic, but less polished than they would later become. This particular show is a good one, but the sound really is just a notch or two above bootleg quality. All in though, I absolutely love this recording, faults and all. (But don't take my word for it, ask Lif what he thinks of the first album re-issue)While personally I am looking more forward to the later albums (IV, Physical Graffiti, Presence and In Through The Out Door), this is a good start, and should keep me in Led Zeppelin mode through to Christmas (because there is nothing better in life than a Led Zeppelin record under the Christmas Tree or for your birthday).
-->
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Review: California Breed
It's an easy temptation to compare California Breed
to it's predecessor, Black Country Communion. To look upon Glenn Hughes and Jason Bonham's new power trio as BCC minus Joe Bonamassa and Derek Shirinian, as their debut album as the fourth BCC studio effort. Easy, but wrong. A far better comparative would be Hughes 70's power trio, Trapeze, with the California Breed album slotting itself musically in a natural progression after 1970's Medussa and '72's You Are The Music... We're Just the Band.
California Breed is in fact exactly as advertised, a power trio of the old school. As much as the narrative on Black Country Communion was a band out of the 70's, there was always something about that story that rang false. California Breed is far closer in feel and mood to a 70's band, with the twist that guitarist Andrew Watt often sounds straight out of the 90's grunge movement.
The problem is, the power-push rhythm section is missing the tempering quality of Bonamassa, his instinctively melodic lines that make sense of the rhythm sections natural inkling to roll with power for the entire album. While Watt is a good guitar player, he is too inclined to join the raucous fun, with the end result being an album that is thunderously rockin' and entirely forgettable.
That's not to say that there are no softer moments, no ballads. But even the ballads, such as All Falls Down and Chemical Rain, are driven by a distorted guitar instead of defaulting to an acoustic (Breathe being the exception, using an acoustic throughout). The Ballads however, along with Sweet Tea, despite it's obvious similarity with Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love, and Spit You Out are the albums highlights.
The problem falls in a number of heavy (as in plodding) numbers that sound more or less alike and are meaningless, loud and otherwise boring: The Grey; Days they Come; Strong; Invisible and Scars are interchangeable and boring in spite of their volume.
The reality is I want to like this album, I like Glenn Hughes and, as a loyal Led Zeppelin fan am cheering for Jason Bonham to do well. I want to like this album, but I just can't. It has it's moments where it's good, but it has far too many that detract from the good within. I want to like it, but I know the truth is, having reviewed it, I will probably never listen to it again.
-->
to it's predecessor, Black Country Communion. To look upon Glenn Hughes and Jason Bonham's new power trio as BCC minus Joe Bonamassa and Derek Shirinian, as their debut album as the fourth BCC studio effort. Easy, but wrong. A far better comparative would be Hughes 70's power trio, Trapeze, with the California Breed album slotting itself musically in a natural progression after 1970's Medussa and '72's You Are The Music... We're Just the Band.California Breed
is in fact exactly as advertised, a power trio of the old school. As much as the narrative on Black Country Communion was a band out of the 70's, there was always something about that story that rang false. California Breed is far closer in feel and mood to a 70's band, with the twist that guitarist Andrew Watt often sounds straight out of the 90's grunge movement.
The problem is, the power-push rhythm section is missing the tempering quality of Bonamassa, his instinctively melodic lines that make sense of the rhythm sections natural inkling to roll with power for the entire album. While Watt is a good guitar player, he is too inclined to join the raucous fun, with the end result being an album that is thunderously rockin' and entirely forgettable.
That's not to say that there are no softer moments, no ballads. But even the ballads, such as All Falls Down and Chemical Rain, are driven by a distorted guitar instead of defaulting to an acoustic (Breathe being the exception, using an acoustic throughout). The Ballads however, along with Sweet Tea, despite it's obvious similarity with Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love, and Spit You Out are the albums highlights.
The problem falls in a number of heavy (as in plodding) numbers that sound more or less alike and are meaningless, loud and otherwise boring: The Grey; Days they Come; Strong; Invisible and Scars are interchangeable and boring in spite of their volume.
The reality is I want to like this album, I like Glenn Hughes and, as a loyal Led Zeppelin fan am cheering for Jason Bonham to do well. I want to like this album, but I just can't. It has it's moments where it's good, but it has far too many that detract from the good within. I want to like it, but I know the truth is, having reviewed it, I will probably never listen to it again.
-->
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Book Review: Lisa Robinson -There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll
"Jimmy Page wore a pink satin jacket."
The first lines Mick Jagger said to Lisa Robinson, quoting her work to her side-stage at an Eric Clapton concert, mark Robinson's style of criticism. In her own words: "I never felt like a "combatant," or reporter; I felt like an ally." Robinson is a music critic because she, like the acts she covers, loves the music. She's a fan, not a cynic and her "defense attorney" approach to writing about bands ingratiated her with a closed group like Led Zeppelin.
Robinson travelled with Zeppelin on their 1973, '75 and '77 tours, as well as attended Knebworth in '79. She reported for Hit Parader, where I used to read her tour accounts as a teenager, and, more importantly for the band, in England for New Music Express. Robinson was one of the select few journalists allowed inside the Zeppelin bubble.
In her book, There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll, (available now from the usual book sellers) Robinson recounts her career. In Chapter 2 she gives us look at her time With Led Zeppelin, from her second time seeing them in Jacksonville, Florida in 1973 she was a fan (she recounts a disappointing first time seeing Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden in 1970):
If you are planning to read There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll for the Led Zeppelin content, however, you will be disappointed. Other than Led Zeppelin, Robinson travelled with or spent significant time with The Rolling Stones, John and Yoko, David Bowie, The New York Dolls, The Ramones, Patti Smith, The Clash, the Sex Pistols, U2, Eminem, Kanye West and Lady Gaga (did I miss any?). The book covers all these artist and more. It is a sharp, interesting and often fun read, but it is not a Led Zeppelin book.
The first lines Mick Jagger said to Lisa Robinson, quoting her work to her side-stage at an Eric Clapton concert, mark Robinson's style of criticism. In her own words: "I never felt like a "combatant," or reporter; I felt like an ally." Robinson is a music critic because she, like the acts she covers, loves the music. She's a fan, not a cynic and her "defense attorney" approach to writing about bands ingratiated her with a closed group like Led Zeppelin.
Robinson travelled with Zeppelin on their 1973, '75 and '77 tours, as well as attended Knebworth in '79. She reported for Hit Parader, where I used to read her tour accounts as a teenager, and, more importantly for the band, in England for New Music Express. Robinson was one of the select few journalists allowed inside the Zeppelin bubble.In her book, There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll
, (available now from the usual book sellers) Robinson recounts her career. In Chapter 2 she gives us look at her time With Led Zeppelin, from her second time seeing them in Jacksonville, Florida in 1973 she was a fan (she recounts a disappointing first time seeing Zeppelin at Madison Square Garden in 1970):
... it was exciting, complex and majestic... I heard strains of blues and American roots music and a combination of everything from the 1960s Eastern-influenced British band Kaleidoscope to the acoustic, hippie-ish Incredible String Band, to Willie Dixon... They were bigger and more complex than Pink Floyd or Cream.She recounts all her tours, and recounts the key people she dealt with, including Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Bonham, the latter of whom she says, "Drunk, he was a madman... sober, to me, he was a sweetheart - articulate and a gentleman." She did interviews, snippets of which she provides and recounts stories of the road. She was in the room during Bonham's somewhat famous rant about Karen Carpenter winning the Playboy magazine best drummer award, and was in the plane, at 25,000 feet, when Richard Cole pulled a gun to settle a dispute between Jimmy and a reporter from the London Daily Express, a reporter Robert wanted to make nice with because his father read that paper.
If you are planning to read There Goes Gravity: A Life in Rock and Roll
for the Led Zeppelin content, however, you will be disappointed. Other than Led Zeppelin, Robinson travelled with or spent significant time with The Rolling Stones, John and Yoko, David Bowie, The New York Dolls, The Ramones, Patti Smith, The Clash, the Sex Pistols, U2, Eminem, Kanye West and Lady Gaga (did I miss any?). The book covers all these artist and more. It is a sharp, interesting and often fun read, but it is not a Led Zeppelin book.Thursday, April 24, 2014
The Led Zeppelin Podcast #56
Thanks to Tight But Loose's Dave Lewis (www.tightbutloose.co.uk) for coming on today's program. I talk to Dave about the re-issues, Robert and Jimmy's comments on the BBC yesterday, Dave's books and his magazine, Tight But Loose.
You can download the podcast at Podbean or Spreaker. If you go to Spreaker, be sure to follow the episode.
You can also subscribe on iTunes. If you subscribe via iTunes, be sure to leave a review.
-->
You can download the podcast at Podbean or Spreaker. If you go to Spreaker, be sure to follow the episode.
You can also subscribe on iTunes. If you subscribe via iTunes, be sure to leave a review.
-->
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Zero Chance of Led Zeppelin Performing Together Again
It's all I've ever asked of Robert Plant. Stop being clever and cute, and answer the damn question in a straightforward manner. It's been clear for a long time Robert Plant doesn't want to perform with his old bandmates again. Fair enough, but when asked, he gives cute answers like "I'm free in 2014." Just this weekend, someone was asking me what was happening with a Zeppelin reunion, and mentioned that line about Plant being free. Except, he never was, not really.
So when Robert was on BBC this morning and was asked, point blank, "What are the chances (that you'll perform live again)," his answer of "zero" was a welcome moment of candor.
Jimmy Page also had an interview released on BBC this morning, and when asked the same question, Page was more philosophical:
"Oh, I know it's a wish fantasma." '
"Not true, no hope?" he was then asked.
"Well, should we be not living in hopes and dreams. Should we just look at the facts. The O2 was seven years ago... and there hasn't been any movement so it's unlikely. I certainly don't want to be exhumed to do it."
Not wanting to let it go, the interviewer continues. Would you do a one-off gig like Glastonbury? Page sounds a little exasperated at this point. "I'm not the one to be asking... I don't sing. I'm a guitarist... I'm sure people would love to hear it, but it's quite clear what the situation is. There's no point in asking me hypothetical questions. It is what it is. And it is seven years since the O2, and I'm more surprised than anybody else that there hasn't been a Led Zepeplin (tour)."
A couple of weeks ago, when I discussed the Michael Eavis comments re: Glastonbury on the podcast, (which, cough cough, you can download here, or listen to here, or here) I hit all these points: it's clear Robert has no interest, possibly even less interest now than ever. Jimmy's getting older, he's 70 now and John Paul Jones is 68.
As well as the interviews, and possibly more important, the band released two musical clips: 1-minute of the Whole Lotta Love alternate master (the answer is, it's very different) and the blues classic Keys to the Highway, an acoustic blues which was recorded immediately after Hats Off to Roy Harper in 1970.
The Jimmy Page interview can be steamed here, Robert Plant here, Whole Lotta Love heard here and Keys to the Highway here.
-->
Jimmy Page also had an interview released on BBC this morning, and when asked the same question, Page was more philosophical:
"Oh, I know it's a wish fantasma." '
"Not true, no hope?" he was then asked.
"Well, should we be not living in hopes and dreams. Should we just look at the facts. The O2 was seven years ago... and there hasn't been any movement so it's unlikely. I certainly don't want to be exhumed to do it."
A couple of weeks ago, when I discussed the Michael Eavis comments re: Glastonbury on the podcast, (which, cough cough, you can download here, or listen to here, or here) I hit all these points: it's clear Robert has no interest, possibly even less interest now than ever. Jimmy's getting older, he's 70 now and John Paul Jones is 68.
As well as the interviews, and possibly more important, the band released two musical clips: 1-minute of the Whole Lotta Love alternate master (the answer is, it's very different) and the blues classic Keys to the Highway, an acoustic blues which was recorded immediately after Hats Off to Roy Harper in 1970.
The Jimmy Page interview can be steamed here, Robert Plant here, Whole Lotta Love heard here and Keys to the Highway here.
-->
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)