finally scanned my most prized possession
Zep Wars! / Plant - Coverdale - Page / Who's Zeppin' Who? From Rock World, June 1993
transcribed below, followed by my usual ramblings
PLANT COVERDALE PAGE
Who’s Zeppin’ Who?
Ex-Led Zep colleagues JIMMY PAGE and ROBERT PLANT do battle with comeback albums this month, with ex-Whitesnake DAVID COVERDALE filling Plant's boots alongside Page. In our eight-page special we interview the three leading players and analyse the Great Zep Wars.
Back to the Old School
When JIMMY PAGE and DAVID COVERDALE teamed up to cut a new album, we held our breath. Was this the saviour of British rock music or would it be a total embarrassment and end in tears? Rock World meets the new partnership in ebullient mood.
Blame it on the blues. It set them all on the road to fame, fortune and the birth of monsters. That's how James Patrick Page, Robert Plant and David Coverdale found themselves in 1993, shaking the tree of life and hoping to taste fresh fruit.
The blues inspired the young Page and Plant in the carefree, innocent Sixties. It led them to Led Zeppelin, a monstrous creation that brought them great success, joy, and sadness too. The same musical roots inspired David Coverdale, who would achieve his own celebrity in the ranks of Deep Purple and later Whitesnake.
In fact it was David, who made all the running with his own successful bands in the Eighties, while Jimmy and Robert learned to cope with the aftermath of the demise of Zeppelin. Then, as the Nineties dawned, Coverdale suddenly found himself at a dead end, with Whitesnake a spent force. Jimmy Page, after relaunching his career with a succession of singers, from Paul Rodgers to John Miles, would doubtless have preferred a reunion with Robert Plant. But the whimsical, recalcitrant and stubborn Plant could not be wooed back into the fold. For reasons which must be respected, even the offer of millions of dollars could not tempt him into an attempt to recreate the past glories of Led Zeppelin.
If they had done it eight years ago, it might have worked. But with everybody from Dread Zeppelin to Lenny Kravitz reworking the Zeppelin legacy in some form or another, the chances of a successful recreation by remnants of the original team have receded daily.
And so what are the superstars to do? They cannot sit idly by when they're itching to make music. The working partnership of Coverdale and Page might seem like a snub to Robert, but it was a move born of pragmatism and seems to have worked.
When we meet in Germany David wears a casual bright red suit, his blond hair flowing, and heavy silver bracelets jingling as he talks. A bloated looking Jimmy Page wears darker colours and looks like a Sixties’ relic in his raggy old jeans. Coverdale calls the PR work they're obliged to do: “a verbal diarrhoea tour.” But David is a pro. His stories have an amusing twist, especially when they are about David Bowie’s meanness when it comes to loaning a fellow rock star a cigarette. But first he tells us about his unexpected collaboration with Jimmy Page.
“For us it was simply do or die. If it hadn't worked it would not have been the end of the world. But, of course, we noticed that enormous expectations were being built up. It was fate that we met. I was in the depths of a personal and musical crisis at the end of 1990, when the world tour ‘Slip Of The Tongue’ was finished. I didn't know if I should continue at all. I took a break to clarify my next move. In January the following year I got a phone call from an agent who asked me if I was interested in working together with Jimmy Page.
My first reaction was ‘Yes - absolutely.’”
Jimmy Page had different plans originally. He was in the middle of working on a his second solo album. He was auditioning singers to find the ideal vocalist and became increasingly frustrated. “After listening to the 50th demo tape, I wanted to pack it in.” he recalls. But then the industrious agent got them together. Page and Coverdale were only nodding acquaintances. They only knew each other by sight.
“That's why our first meeting was so important. We had to find out if and how we would get on. We met in New York and after half an hour, we left the officials and went for a walk in Manhattan. And suddenly we had caused a little bit of traffic chaos; cars stopped and drivers wound down their car windows and asked if we were working together. At that moment we both realised that this was what we owed our audience. We had to present them with a real killer album. That was our only task. And I think we have done a good job” he says, taking a swig of beer. Coverdale has never lacked confidence.
image text: The way it was! A reminder of the halcyon days of the mid-seventies, when dinosaurs walked the earth and Zeppelin ruled the World.
Jimmy, however, is a bit more self-critical. “After all this time without a record or live presentation, I wanted to make a musical statement and prove that I am still there at my best.” For a while, only his faithful fans believed that. To call his last album ‘Outrider’ a success, is to be more than kind. And Page did not exactly shine on the guitar at the disastrous Led Zeppelin reunion gig for Atlantic Records a few years ago. It's different now. On this recording Jimmy sounds back on form, as one would expect from the inventor of heavy rock. His guitar work is powerful, sensitive and song-orientated. After their first meeting in New York everything went according to plan for this newly formed team.
They worked on a rota system. They spent some time at Coverdale's Lake Tahoe home, then, at Page's instigation, they went to Barbados.
“At the beginning,” Page reports, “we were both nervous. It wasn't what you could call a maiden voyage. We both had successful past careers. We agreed if it didn't work out after two weeks, we would shake hands and forget about it.”
But that never happened. On their first day in Tahoe ‘Absolution Blues’ was created. The next number was ‘Feeling Hot’. And so it continued. “It was great time to make this record”, says David. “We were both pretty nervous at first. We did not sit down and say ‘Let's write a Led Snake’ album. We have a substantial amount to offer without resting on former glories. It's easy to make comparisons but that's for the narrowminded. If it hadn't worked, it's likely no one would have ever heard of the attempt.”
left photo credit: Chris Walter/Relay. right photo credit: Andy Bradshaw
Eleven songs found their way on to the CD. Another five readily produced are kept somewhere in a studio safe. Nobody knows if there is going to be another one.
“One step at a time” says Coverdale. “If this is our only record, it doesn't matter. We've done it all, seen it all and survived whichever musical hula hoop was the current fad. But hanging on by one's fingernails? I'd find that sad. Ageing isn't a sin, mediocrity is. Fortunately, I think we've risen to each other expectations. It's all rock'n'roll. The two of us together generate a substantial amount of electricity. This music is flesh and blood, meat and potatoes rock!” Jimmy grins into the direction of Coverdale. “This is one show I’d like to see myself.”
Led it be...
Led Zeppelin authority and fanzine editor DAVE LEWIS analyses the career moves of the key ex-Zeppelin players, JIMMY PAGE and ROBERT PLANT.
These are exciting days for fans of the former Led Zeppelin front men. No sooner has Jimmy Page stormed the Top Five on both sides of the Atlantic with the ‘Coverdale Page’ debut album, than we find Robert Plant returning to the fray with a brand new album ‘Fate Of Nations’.
Pure coincidence or open warfare? Well, after all the controversy surrounding their careers in recent years, one could be forgiven for fearing the latter. As it happens, record company scheduling has a habit of throwing up conflicting release dates. Remember the famous occasion when all four ex-Beatles each had singles in the Top Forty, not long after their acrimonious split?
The current situation can be viewed as a direct result of Robert's decision to hold off on Jimmy's request in 1990 to reunite Led Zeppelin as a going concern, with Jason Bonham as their likely drummer. If he had said ‘yes’, it's likely that we'd now be discussing a Led Zeppelin reunion album and six dates at Wembley Stadium. Though a mouth-watering prospect, the reality of it would have done substantial harm to the group's historic image, if it had failed to live up to expectations. Plant's reluctance to turn the clock back, however, left Jimmy with no option but to search for another chest beater to work with.
So in a bizarre turn of events, enter one David Coverdale, the same Coverdale reviled in Zep circles as a second rate Plant clone, himself the subject of a vicious war of words in a vitriolic press battle with the real lemon squeezer not many years ago, when Robert was heard to call the Whitesnake singer a prat! Like countless other Zep devotees, I had grave doubts about this merger. But the end result has proved to be something of a rejuvenation for Jimmy Page. The Coverdale Page album is simply his best performance in years.
Throughout the Eighties, Jimmy seemed to meander around, half heartedly trying to regain the creative spirit that illuminated his former band. As an experiment, the 1982 ‘Death Wish’ sound-track LP proved he had retained that extraordinary edge to his playing. It deserted him, though, when he teamed up with Paul Rodgers to form The Firm. This was a serious mismatch, which did little to enhance either of their reputations, as they lurched through two very average albums ‘The Firm’ and ‘Mean Business’. Jimmy's 1988 solo album ‘Outrider’ was a step in the right direction, but compared to the grandiose production of ‘Coverdale Page’, it now sounds like a bunch of demos.
Those still complaining about the lack of a Zep reunion might like to compare the distinctly lacklustre Page/Plant collaboration ‘The Only One’ recorded for ‘Outrider’, against ‘Shake My Tree’[,] ‘Over Now’ or ‘Easy Does It’ from 'Coverdale Page.’
For sheer dynamic inventiveness the superiority of the latter tracks is quite striking. Whilst Coverdale could never spark off the sort of deep, emotional affinity fans have for Robert's singing, his performance with Jimmy is full of commitment, and there is a chemistry between the two that has certainly inspired Jimmy to turn in the sort of riff-laden grandeur that has been missing since the demise of Led Zeppelin.
Robert, meanwhile, offers up an eclectic collection of songs on his new opus ‘Fate Of Nations’, which emerges as something of an antidote to Zeppelin-ism. His own career has had its share of ups and downs over the past decade. It started comfortably enough with ‘Pictures At Eleven’, which managed to exorcise the Zep legacy without trading on former glories. The ‘Principle Of Moments’ continued the progression and even produced a surprise Top 20 hit single with the radio friendly ‘Big Log’. ‘Shaken 'N'Stirred’ was a difficult third album, finding Plant moving into unmelodic left-field areas that proved very uneasy on the ear. His career was then further confused by the success of ‘The Honeydrippers Vol.One,’ an R&B mini-album that spawned a Top Three U.S. single with ‘Sea Of Love’. Made strictly for fun, with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page guesting, it could easily have propelled him into becoming - as he put it himself - “an American Shakin' Stevens.” Instead he pulled the plug on any Volume Two, formed an entirely new band and resurfaced in 1988 with ‘Now And Zen.’ Happy at last to reconcile his past with the present, the album featured several Zep samples, plus Jimmy Page on two tracks. 1990's ‘Manic Nirvana’ contained some fine performances, but the mediocre moments suggested it was time for another re-think.
Now three years on comes ‘Fate Of Nations’. It finds Robert Plant in his mid-forties, moving away from the hard rock foundations of earlier years into a more mature style, often far removed from what we have come to expect. Quite what Guns N'Roses fans will make of his cover of ‘If I Were A Carpenter’ is anybody's guess!
It is, perhaps, final confirmation that Robert Plant's own musical expectations are now very different to those of Jimmy Page, and that a Led Zeppelin reunion would have been completely unworkable anyway.
But really...who needs it?
If it's riff inspired Zep melodrama that's required, look no further than ‘Coverdale Page’. If it's something a little more refined and mellow, Mr. Plant can serve up a cocktail of organic styles on ‘Fate Of Nations’. The only losers here will be those who turn away from either album because of prejudice. Or put it another way (and to paraphrase that famous Rolf Harris song)...if you listen very hard, the tune will come to you at last.
(Dave Lewis is editor of ‘Tight But Loose’, the Led Zeppelin fan magazine. If you'd like an issue, the new one is out now, and costs £3.50. Write to TBL, 14 Totnes Close, Bedford МK40 3AX)
The secret life of Robert Plant
The game is up. Robert Plant doesn't want to stride the pop fashion catwalk anymore. On his new album ‘Fate Of Nations’ he harks back to music he loves, from West Coast rock to the blues. The result is a happy Plant, and a great album. But the enigma remains the same, as CHRIS WELCH reports.
Robert Plant's passionate, emotional voice has roared and soared across the decades with sustained majesty. Since his years as a rock idol - a 20-year-old cherub in tight jeans with the voice of a demonic angel through to his present role as mature minstrel - he has kept both his power and dignity. And with a succession of challenging solo albums he has managed to maintain the balance between contemporary relevance and past achievement.
As the ex-lead singer with Led Zeppelin, a band that has now ‘gone mythical’ with the same rather frightening force that an atomic pile ‘goes critical’, he is still very proud of his past. But he has always kept his distance from the ceaseless pressures to revive the Zeppelin glory days. Hence a Coverdale Page album and not a Plant Page album. And hence a new solo album from Robert ‘Fate of Nations’ (Fontana), which succours Robert's own musical needs. The album marks quite a breakthrough and change of policy. For the first time Robert has worked with a producer, Chris Hughes, and he has been energised, too, by his association with Dave Bates, head of A&R at Phonogram who signed him to Fontana. The music was recorded ‘live’ using top players Charlie Jones (bass), Phil Johnstone (keyboards), and Kevin Scott MacMichael (guitars). Guest appearances by Nigel Kennedy (on ‘Calling You’ [sic]) and Richard Thompson and Maire Brennan on the song ‘Come Into My Life’ bring a few musical surprises in their wake.
Says Robert: “I’ve made a conscious effort to get away from all the ‘isms’[,] all the computer technology, all the self-conscious awareness of what's current and fashionable.”
Certainly his work on past albums like ‘Pictures At Eleven’ verged on the obscure. His last album ‘Manic Nirvana’ marked a readiness to deliver more of what the public wanted.
Robert's voice is well ‘up’ in the mix on ‘Fate Of Nations’ and he is very pleased with the results.
But apart from these obvious facts of music biz life, Robert still retains an aura of mystery, an undeclared feeling that he doesn't want to be tied down and he still seems the rover, who first began singing the blues as a restless teenager. Sometimes he'd like to walk away from the whole business of being Robert Plant, icon, and become another person, Citizen Plant of the Planet Earth. It's just one of the little secrets he let slip during a conversation, when he was both charming, ebullient and pleasantly rambling.
After all the dramas of his life and the pressures he has undergone, he retains his sense of humour and love of music. He's always up to date with the latest bands and hits and says his current favourite is Snow's Number One smash ‘Informer’, while his favourite band of the day is probably Pearl Jam. “They're a lot better than all those glam metal bands who were like Doris Day on speed!” he jokes.
“I’ve always been neurotic about my voice,” he said wryly. “I remember getting all these awards in the early Seventies and being voted Top Male Vocalist. I look at the awards now and think... ‘How did I ever do that!’ At the time I used to say ‘Keep the voice down in the mix - keep it quiet.’ With Zeppelin, part of the atmosphere was to get the voice weaved into the instruments. The music on my new album is probably as near - organically - in construction and thought process as I will ever get to ‘Ramble On’ and stuff like that. Consciously and intentionally, that's been my plan.”
But there's no doubt Plant has pulled out all the vocal stops. -; [sic] Yes I have put the voice up a bit, because it's the first time in however many albums that I've had a producer. I never had to kow tow to anybody before. Whether it's commercially viable or not, I always have to be 100 per cent obsessed with what I'm doing. I never really thought anybody would ever say to me: I think you are wrong! Nobody ever tells me I'm wrong, however wrong I am! But Chris has introduced me to all sorts of techniques in the studio, like being patient. And like not saying: ‘That's great, that'll do okay.’ I left a lot of vocals over the years that probably could have been improved upon, although I've always had a reputation as being a distinctive vocalist, and there have been a lot of people who have used my style as THEIR style. I've always believed that what counts most of all, is that the delivery is natural and impromptu. I couldn't imagine Howlin' Wolf dropping in line three on ‘Smokestack Lightning,’ know what I mean?”
Robert says he has learned a lot from working with producer Hughes and says: “I’m really grateful to him and for having an A&R man like David Bates too. Hellfire! Does he teach you how to suck eggs - Jesus Christ! I had to learn a lot of restraint on my own personality. I'm quite a volatile character y'know, and I've learnt that I'm not the only one who knows what's right, even though it's me singing and me writing the lyrics. It's been very interesting and I've enjoyed it.”
“A lot of the stuff that I do is about developing some sort of intrigue, musically, and maybe even career-wise. One of the tracks on the album is ‘Network News’, which I wrote about ‘Kuwait’, and the ridiculous propaganda machinery which Saddam and George Bush created. It was written just after the Gulf War. I have friends who went out there capping the oil wells, and laying new pipe lines. They tell me the desert is now an absolute mess, and it used to be such an important bastion of peace and nature…”
“A lot of people who were into Zep have grown out of their denim jackets and they're listening to Chris Rea. Makes you weep!”
Using new musicians has given Robert a fillip and in Canadian guitarist Kevin Scott MacMichael from Cutting Crew, he has found a like mind, into West Coast music and Moby Grape and Quicksilver Messenger Service. “That's the kind of melodic, trippy music which I really liked pre-Zeppelin. The other guitarist is Francis Dunnery from It Bites. So they have completely different styles. There are four drummers on the album. Horses for courses, dear boy!
“It sounds like I ought to be doing this, rather than doing something techno orientated, which I did tend to lean towards. But like to try new things and see how they fit me. As a singer there's no point in keeping the same persona forever and ever. You have to do things for yourself, not what everybody expects. I could not have kept the old line, like some Sixties' singers who eke out a living by treading the same old path. I don't know whether they cry at night or roll over in bed scratching their fat bellies and say ‘Hey, that's another farewell tour we pulled off.’ I've been to some of these reconstructions of youth and they don't really stick. I mean, rock'n'roll was always supposed to be something that came from the mind, heart and loins. You can't work with the same people forever and say: ‘Hey this is youth music!’[”]
One of the new songs Robert is most pleased with is ‘Come Into My Life’[.] “It's a major milestone for me to do a song like that. The girl from Clannad, Maire, is singing on it, with Richard Thompson from Fairport Convention playing guitar. The vocal is very reflective, almost like Marvin Gaye at the end. We also invited Nigel Kennedy who plays on the Arabic style track ‘Calling To You’. It's got guitar in the middle and a violin at the end. But on stage we'll probably use a guitar to do it, and play it with a violin bow!
“There is a lot of stuff around, and you have to find a way of being exposed to the music. In the Sixties there was no Radio 1, so it was word of mouth and trend. That's how Led Zeppelin came out of the underground scene. It was all a clannish thing, and that's exactly what is happening now. The other thing is people's vitality for music changes once they reach a certain age. It dulls off, so a lot of people who were into Zep have grown out of their denim jackets and they're listening to Chris Rea. Makes you weep to think about it! But there's a lot of crap out there, and a lot of stuff that's very promising. That's always been the case. There are people trying hard to be different and people who are jumping onto bandwagons. Some people just do it for the money. People say to me, ‘You could really make a killing here’. And I say, ‘Oh yeah, how would I do that? Ha, ha!’”
“There is a certain unreality about being a star and eventually fans lose the plot and move on to something else.”
We knew what he was talking about - a Zep reunion or at least a Zeppelin-esque album, but Robert smiles and explains.
“Before Zep, Jimmy Page was in groups and I was in groups, and after Zep, we went into different groups again. I love what we did together. Some of it was superb. I also remember some of the conditions it was created in - some of it not so good. But none of that matters really because Led Zeppelin is now a timepiece. But you have to move on in every respect. I sometimes think I could quite easily get up and go and leave everything, and end up in another part of the world as somebody else. Do you know what I mean? It is possible to leave this persona of a rock'n'roll singer.
I've done it before. I think I did it when my boy Karac died in 1977. I left Zeppelin completely. I left the mentality that you need to be a singer. My values changed then. It's just entertainment. It's the music that counts, not the burble that comes out of our mouths.”
“It's a bit late for Jim and Dave to go ‘All together now! But if it's getting Jimmy Page working again, then great!’[”]
But you like to entertain?
“Oh yeah, but you can do that socially. I don't intend not to be a singer for a long time. But I was thinking if I stepped to one side and walked down another street and changed all the ‘phone [sic] numbers and moved, it's quite an interesting phenomena. Cat Stevens did it y'know.”
But once you'd done it, there would be no looking back!
“Who knows? You could become a teacher, a gardener, a roadie for another group! There is a certain amount of unreality about being a star and eventually fans lose the plot and move on to something else. When they reach 40 they say ‘Oh yeah I remember them - the Little Angels. What happened to them?’”
Did Robert feel he reacted to events or did he shape them?
“Both I think. There is a lot going around me at the moment and people ask me for comments, but you can say what you like. You can create landmines for people. The Page Coverdale thing is great for questions!”
We were going to ask you about that...
“Fancy that, I thought you'd never come round to it! But we're only a couple of months behind the whole Rolf Harris explosion. Was I upset about him doing ‘Stairway To Heaven?’ No, not at all. I'll get me own back! Look, who cares? Trouble is, it's a bit late for Jim and Dave to go ‘All together now!’ although I think they are actually saying that.”
There was a pregnant pause while I digested this. What did Robert really think of the Coverdale Page album? Didn't it sound like a lot of Zeppelin riffs knitted together?
“Exactly. But when you write your comments, they won't be construed as sour grapes because you are just reviewing something. From my angle I am really glad to see that Jimmy has got the whole thing focused and that he's doing what he loves to do best. It's great for him and I don't mind what he does. I hope he goes out and has a really great tour and enjoys himself. There's no point in having any other opinion. That's it! There are thousands of other things to say, but the bottom line is, if it's getting Jimmy working, its [sic] great. And who cares if our albums came out at the same time? There's no conflict. My songs are as reminiscent of parts of Zep as his are, but perhaps not as blatant. I actually dislike doing interviews y'know, because the music is the music and everything else is just waffle.”
After intensive rehearsals Robert and his band start their European tour with Lenny Kravitz, and some festivals with Def Leppard and a spot at Glastonbury Fayre.
He's also done some filming in the Welsh mountains and in Southern Morocco for a documentary about Celtic warlords.
“I’ve been longing to sing on stage again, it's been so long since the last tour. I sang on stage with Fairport Convention at Cropredy Festival, which is a great gig. I love that New Age feeling with some really beautiful people - and a few old beer swillers in the tent!”
Robert has another special reason for getting out on the road again.
“We can do a couple of Rolf Harris songs!”
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bonus:
Every month we despatch a major rock star halfway across the world in return for them telling us all about the tape of favourite tracks they've compiled for the trip. To celebrate our first birthday, we decided to take a look back over a year of In Flight Entertainments...
ROBERT PLANT
TALK TALK: 'Laughing stock' JIMMY SMITH: 'Organ Grinder Swing' HOWLING WOLF: 'Going Down Slow' SNOW: 'Informer' LED ZEPPELIN: 'Houses Of The Holy' BLACK CROWES: 'Remedy' PEARL JAM: 'Ocean' VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: 'Lark Ascending' R.E.M.: 'Life's Rich Pageant' LENNY KRAVITZ: 'Are You Gonna Go My Way?'
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my thoughts:
“Who’s Zeppin’ Who?” is a wonderful choice of a title
They used the same photo of Robert three times and I completely understand it. The silent BLAME in those eyes.
"We also invited Nigel Kennedy who plays on the Arabic style track ‘Calling To You’. It's got guitar in the middle and a violin at the end. But on stage we'll probably use a guitar to do it, and play it with a violin bow!" — ah, Robert, thanks for casually dropping another reference to Jimmy in the context of this song.
"He's also done some filming in the Welsh mountains and in Southern Morocco for a documentary about Celtic warlords." — wait what??
Robert is bitter about Coverdale/Page as usual and does a half-arsed job at hiding it. Don't tell me he didn't know what he was doing when he spoke about people copying him.
Kudos to Chris Welch admitting his confusion. Aren't we all frequently confused when Robert speaks.
Jimmy managed not to say anything controversial and I'm a bit disappointed.