These Liner Notes Provided Courtesy of Steve Eidem
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Precious few broadcast documents of Led Zeppelin can be found, and until recently, none of them in an official release.
Theses BBC sessions capture the essence of early Led Zeppelin at its rawest and freshest.
For a perfection-obsessed studio group like Zeppelin, the concept of broadcasting ‘just so’ performances, improvised and mostly without overdubs, seemed like an extreme challenge. But in reality, it was the kind of challenge that early fans of Zeppelin could expect from the band … they were in league with those few performing artists who could do ten versions of the same song, roughly the same time length, and all of them still sounding radically different.
Led Zeppelin were essentially an improvisational band. The thrill for any attendant to their concerts was to get into a trip where nobody really knew where or how far they would be taken…
Because of their concert reputation, Zeppelin were always wary of how the media would package their image. The sixties radio broadcasts treated the artists as two-minute hit commodities. Led Zeppelin were there to break and transcend the traditional media treatment of those ages. None of the material released in this set was meant to go beyond the boundaries of the radio. Ironically, the studio and broadcast constraints actually concentrated the intensity of the Live Led Zeppelin Experience.
But first, let’s understand these performances in their historical context. Led Zeppelin selected the highly reputable John Peel’s ‘Top Gear’, and Chris Grant’s ‘Tasty Pop Sundae’ and Radio One’s ‘In Concert’ series for their British radio appearances.
The earliest Top Gear selection of sessions included in this set was recorded on March 3, 1969 and broadcast March 23. They had just finished the successful first US tour and were about to embark on a second Scandinavian tour. You Shook Me, I Can’t Quit You and Dazed And Confused are deliberately slow, minimalistic, compact and adventurous – pure bliss pastiche. So much so that the inexhaustible blues baggage inside Plant’s head lets him rework the songs using Nineteen Years Old from Muddy Waters as part of I Can’t Quit You and create new lyrics for Dazed And Confused. This was the first British broadcast test of Led Zeppelin – short but intense.
Chris Grant’s Tasty Sundae sessions were recorded on June 16, 1969 (broadcast June 22) – only three months later than the previous sessions – but there is a world of difference. They had started working on Led Zeppelin II and were about to start the third American tour. Adamant and more devastating than the March sessions, these also benefited from the use of overdubs. The Girl I Love, with its infectious riff and allusions to Sleepy John Estes (underlined by the heavy hammer of John Bonham and a fine Jimmy Page solo) was never officially released. Nor was a fiery Somethin’ Else. Communication Breakdown has a slow and provocative Just A Little Bit funky interlude.
The second John Peel’s Top Gear (recorded June 24, 1969, broadcast June 29) finds Led Zeppelin embarking on their most ambitious set ever, this time including two songs from the future second album and an unreleased track. What Is And What Should Never Be is heavily treated with echoing slide guitar and John Paul Jones’ most intricate bass lines, and also includes John Bonham’s broadcast gong debut. Travelling Riverside Blues is a Robert Johnson blues pastiche … Plant squeezes the lemon wrapped up inside a roller coaster of slide guitar workouts. But it is the first broadcast of Whole Lotta Love that really sweeps us into a tidal wave of sound. A radically different, perhaps even superior version compared to the second album release: Page gets straight into pure musical riffing while the pristine voice of Plant creeps over it, waiting for the rest of the group to set the stage on fire. The Theremin section leads to a uniquely dynamic wah-wah solo guitar break (extended two bars). A vocal-instrumental race finishes the piece.
After these extremely strong sessions, the group was ready to take a risk: the recreation of a typical June ‘69 Led Zeppelin concert in a radio broadcast and in front of a live audience … The Playhouse Theatre performance for the BBC Rock Hour (June 27, 1969) was a landmark that set standards for the presentation of Rock Music in the radio. And they were on top form. The dual introduction of Communication Breakdown and I Can’t Quit You contrasts with the slow mayhem of You Shook Me (highlighted this time by an extraordinary, moody organ solo by Jones). The apotheosis of How Many More Times has changed compared to early 1969 versions: no violin bow psycho-interlude here anymore … instead there is the ‘Bolero’ guitar solo and by this time, if you listen attentively, in the middle of the non-stop roller coaster. Plant recognises that he doesn’t know what he’s saying but he’s having a good time … a sharp and eloquent ‘Squeeze My Lemon’ (Robert Plant’s self-parody of the sarcastic, sour blues crying of the legendary Robert Johnson) caps the frenzy to keep the balance.
One of the fascinating aspects of Led Zeppelin is that in those days they performed as if every concert would be the last. And this is the reason why these sessions have aged so well … they sound as if recorded yesterday.
For the last session we will have to travel two years in time to John Peel’s BBC Rock Hour which takes place at the Paris Studios in London, April 1, 1971 (broadcast 4 April). This is probably the most famous of the group’s radio appearances, bootlegged a myriad of times and released in every conceivable form (including being spliced and edited together with fragments of the 1969 sessions!) It is a typical early ’71 concert, precisely in the middle of the British ‘Return To The Clubs’ polemic tour.
Highlights include previews of the Fourth album (eight months before its release) like Black Dog (including Bonham’s Out On The Tiles introduction), Going To California and the first ever broadcast of Stairway To Heaven. No applause greets the opening bars, just expectation from the very quiet studio audience. In this primitive version you can almost ‘see’ Page changing fretboards of the new double-necked guitar. There’s tension in the air in contrast to the distended frenzy of 1969. The magic moments are less visceral and more cerebral. Page’s Dazed And Confused has everybody flying high in a special spaced-out finale. An almost accidental, precise full stop after the psycho-Theremin frenzy of Whole Lotta Love is pure tight-but-loose.
The famed side of Led Zeppelin as cover group is well represented here: the medley of classics flows, starting with the group’s version of John Lee Hooker’s Boogie Chillun; Truckin’ Little Mama; Fixin’ To Die; That’s Alright Mama; and A Mess Of Blues enhanced with an excellent Jimmy Page guitar solo. The organ of John Paul Jones introduces Thank You, finishing a tight and compact (even if nervous at times) performance.
This double CD set is much more than just a compilation from the BBC Broadcasts. It captures the group in its heyday and it is an historical document and a tribute to music and Led Zeppelin’s integrity as musicians. Perhaps the sound quality of these recordings is not at the level of Zeppelin’s original releases … for some, this is Led Zeppelin warts an’ all. But technocratic perfection isn’t what really counts for us; we demand creativity and risk.
A captured moment of spontaneous creativity is worth more than a thousand hours of computerised perfection. And anyone can still find that creativity in these Led Zeppelin performances.
Luis Rey, London 1997
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CD One
1. YOU SHOOK ME 5:14
(Willie Dixon, J. B. Lenoir)
‘Top Gear’
Recorded 3.3.69. Transmitted 23.3.69
(Arc Music/Hoochie Coochie Music, BMI, adm. by Bug Music)
2. I CAN’T QUIT YOU BABY 4:22
(Willie Dixon)
‘Top Gear’
Recorded 3.3.69. Transmitted 23.3.69
(Hoochie Coochie Music, BMI, adm. by Bug Music. Contains sample of “19 Years Old” by Muddy waters, published by Watertoons Music, BMI, adm. by Bug Music)
3. COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN 3:12
(Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham)
‘Chris Grant’s Tasty Pop Sundae’
Recorded 16.6.69. Transmitted 22.6.69
4. DAZED AND CONFUSED 6:39
(Jimmy Page)
‘Top Gear’
Recorded 3.3.69. Transmitted 23.3.69
5. THE GIRL I LOVE SHE GOT LONG
BLACK WAVY HAIR 3:00
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, John Estes)
‘Chris Grant’s Tasty Pop Sundae’
Recorded 16.6.69. Transmitted 22.6.69
(Southern Music Publishing Company Inc., ASCAP)
6. WHAT IS AND WHAT SHOULD NEVER BE 4:20
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
‘Top Gear’
Recorded 24.6.69. Transmitted 29.6.69
7. COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN 2:40
(Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham)
‘Top Gear’
Recorded 24.6.69. Transmitted 29.6.69
8. TRAVELLING RIVERSIDE BLUES 5:12
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Robert Johnson)
‘Top Gear’
Recorded 24.6.69. Transmitted 29.6.69
(Flames of Albion Music Inc. ASCAP/King of Spades Music, BMI)
9. WHOLE LOTTA LOVE 6:09
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, Willie Dixon)
‘Top Gear’
Recorded 24.6.69. Transmitted 29.6.69
10. SOMETHIN’ ELSE 2:06
(Sharon Sheeley, Bob Cochran)
‘Chris Grant’s Tasty Pop Sundae’
Recorded 16.6.69. Transmitted 22.6.69
(Money Honey Music/Robert Cochran Music, adm. by EMI Unart Catalog Inc., BMI)
11. COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN 3:05
(Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham)
‘One Night Stand’ – Playhouse Theatre,
London. Recorded 27.6.69. Transmitted 10.8.69
12. I CAN’T QUIT YOU BABY 6:21
(Willie Dixon)
‘One Night Stand’ – Playhouse Theatre,
London. Recorded 27.6.69. Transmitted 10.8.69
(Hoochie Coochie Music, BMI, adm. by Bug Music)
13. YOU SHOOK ME 5:14
(Willie Dixon, J. B. Lenoir)
‘One Night Stand’ – Playhouse Theatre,
London. Recorded 27.6.69. Transmitted 10.8.69
(Arc Music/Hoochie Coochie Music, BMI, adm. by Bug Music)
14. HOW MANY MORE TIMES 11:51
(Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham)
Contains samples from ‘The Lemon Song’ by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, Chester Burnett published by Arc Music Corp., BMI/Sunflower Music Inc. ASCAP
‘One Night Stand’ – Playhouse Theatre,
London. Recorded 27.6.69. Transmitted 10.8.69
All songs published by Superhype Publishing Inc.
All rights administered by WB Music Corp. ASCAP unless otherwise indicated.
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CD Two
1. IMMIGRANT SONG 3:20
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
2. HEARTBREAKER 5:16
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham)
3. SINCE I’VE BEEN LOVING YOU 6:56
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones)
Not transmitted
4. BLACK DOG 5:17
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones)
Not transmitted
5. DAZED AND CONFUSED 18:36
(Jimmy Page)
6. STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN 8:49
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
7. GOING TO CALIFORNIA 3:54
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
8. THAT’S THE WAY 5:43
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
9. WHOLE LOTTA LOVE (MEDLEY) 13:45
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, Willie Dixon)
‘BOOGIE CHILLUN’
‘FIXIN’ TO DIE’
‘THAT’S ALRIGHT MAMA’
‘A MESS OF BLUES’
Contains samples from ‘Boogie Chillun’ by John Lee Hooker, Bernard Bestman, published by La Cienega Music Company, BMI; ‘Fixin’ To Die’ by Bukka White, published by MCA Music Publishing, a division of Universal Studios Inc, ASCAP; ‘That’s Alright Mama’ by Arthur Crudup, published by Unichappell Music Inc/Crudup Music. All rights admin. By Unichappell Music Inc, BMI; ‘A Mess Of Blues’ by Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman, published by Elvis Presley Music, admin. By R&H Music World, BMI
10. THANK YOU 6:37
(Jimmy Page, Robert Plant)
Not transmitted
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All songs on CD 2 recorded at the Paris Theatre, London 1.4.71 –
‘In Concert’ (Unedited)
All songs published by Superhype Publishing Inc.
All rights administered by WB Music Corp. ASCAP unless otherwise indicated.
Compilation and Mastering: Jimmy Page
Mastering engineer: Jon Astley
Artwork/Design: Andie Airfix at Satori.
Research: Ross Halfin.
Photography: Chris Walter/Photo Features; Penny Smith; Christian Rose; Barry Plummer; Jean Pierre Leloir; Claude Gassian; Hugh Crymble; Dick Barnet/Redferns
© 1997 Atlantic Recording Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
BBC Worldwide Music
The BBC word and logo are trademarks
Of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
A BBC Worldwide Music Production.
83061-2
