Jimmy Page revels in new Led Zeppelin re-masters

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By GREGORY KATZ - The Associated Press


http://i.imgur.com/n7zhNh9.jpg

LONDON (AP) — Jimmy Page started the project because he couldn't believe how bad Led Zeppelin sounded.

The legacy of the band he'd devoted much of his life to was being muddied by the way its classic studio albums sounded when reproduced on the ubiquitous MP3 players that are popular today.

Instead of accepting that future generations would have to hear a cramped, compressed version of Led Zep's sonic booms, Page has devoted several years to completely re-mastering the band's extensive catalog in a labor of love — "Physical Graffiti," which was released on Tuesday.

"This whole re-mastering process is a result of listening to Led Zeppelin on MP3. It almost sounds as if someone has got into the master tapes and done a really horrendous mix of it," Page said of the MP3 versions in a recent interview. "It just wasn't representative of what we'd done in the first place. So many textures were missing. The whole beauty of Led Zeppelin, the air of it, these instruments coming in here and here and over here, was just totally destroyed."

The re-mastering has taken several years, and the new editions include previously unreleased companion disks of outtakes, live performances and alternate versions of many songs. Page listened to hundreds of hours of tapes looking for gems. The 71-year-old guitar master, who wears his long silvery hair in a ponytail, is confident that the new versions will last and be easily adapted for the next round of technological innovation.

"At this point, we're prepared for whatever may come, as far as high-resolution digital," he said. "And we have the new versions on high quality vinyl, the CDs and digital. The object of the exercise has been achieved."

Page is part of a select group of British guitarists — Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards and a few others — who emerged in the mid-'60s to put a new take on American rock 'n' roll. They were for the most part self-taught, Page said, and the technology they relied on was primitive indeed: They would buy singles of American songs designed to be played at 45 rpm and played them instead at 33 rpm, the speed designated for long playing records, not singles.

Page listened to Elvis Presley's singles this way — to decode the guitar work — and Ricky Nelsonfek, whose session guitarist was the revered James Burton.

"The way we all learned was from records," he said. "You'd put on the 45, slow it down to 33, and try to work out these solos, note for note. That's it. Everyone learned that way, as far as I can tell.

"I'd save up my pocket money and get every Ricky Nelson single, because you knew James Burton wasn't go to let you down, ever," Page added.

[FBD]

awesome :tup: get out the ol tapes and do some turd polishing!

[Goofy]

Jimmy :bow:


awesome :tup: get out the ol tapes and do some turd polishing!

:-s

[FBD]

old recordings, they are turds. you have to polish the turds to make them acceptably listenable. :lol: I wasnt calling the music shite, just the recording quality thereof :dance:

in my studio, anything not tracked through the neve board is a turd, and I dont even want to fkn hear it :lol: I'm weird like that, I'll stop a song on the radio if its been tracked through one.... so for instance, when I hear Def Leppard's Hysteria or something...that sound is just unmistakable and I have to listen to it :lol:

[Muddy]

Jimmy :bow:



:-s

Don't worship him too much.. Yes he's a great guitarist. But he also is a plagiarist and not quite the god like creative genius everyone likes to label him with. 40 years he ripped off this guy and refused to give him the cred.. Finally they settled out of court.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazed_and_Confused_%28song%29

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazed_and_Confused_%28song%29)http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-targeted-for-plagiarism-20140519

http://www.hark.com/clips/qmqjfdsztg-howard-stern-exposes-led-zeppelin-as-a-farce

[Hal-9000]

Don't worship him too much.. Yes he's a great guitarist. But he also is a plagiarist and not quite the god like creative genius everyone likes to label him with. 40 years he ripped off this guy and refused to give him the cred.. Finally they settled out of court.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazed_and_Confused_%28song%29

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazed_and_Confused_%28song%29)http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-targeted-for-plagiarism-20140519

http://www.hark.com/clips/qmqjfdsztg-howard-stern-exposes-led-zeppelin-as-a-farce


The actual headliner in these claims was Willie Dixon and Whole Lotta Love. They took a riff, slowed it down, changed it and changed the lines then admitted to it. When you look at all of the great original songs Page wrote, these claims are no different that what Beck, Clapton and almost every other blues song writer did. They all borrowed from the source and it's still going on today.

The Taurus claim about Stairway to Heaven is funny. Plant wrote the lyrics on a plane and Taurus couldn't come forward for a alleged copyright violation against one of the most popular rock songs ever made? For over 40 years? Yeah :lol:


my point is...with 95% of Zep's stuff being original (and quite so when compared to other songs of the time), they were a band of innovation rather than 'thieves'

[DemonGeminiX]

Music is always derivative. Everybody is always ripping off somebody else. It used to be that everybody accepted it, as long as it wasn't too blatant. The whole "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" thing. Go listen to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica and compare it to Excel's "Tapping Into The Emotional Void". "Tapping" came first. Hell, even the Rolling Stones ripped off Lance's boy, Jay Ferguson's "Thunder Island" to come up with the "Start Me Up" riff. And you better believe those Mississippi Delta blues men were all ripping each other off back in the day.

[Hal-9000]

That's what boils my butt about the Zep claims...they write songs like Kashmir, Battle of Evermore, In the Light....and when they draw on old R&B songs, put their own musical style into the song...they get crapped on.

One could say that all British performers at one time or another burned the American blues scene...most of them readily admit it :thumbsup:

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Don't worship him too much.. Yes he's a great guitarist. But he also is a plagiarist and not quite the god like creative genius everyone likes to label him with. 40 years he ripped off this guy and refused to give him the cred.. Finally they settled out of court.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazed_and_Confused_%28song%29

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazed_and_Confused_%28song%29)http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-targeted-for-plagiarism-20140519

http://www.hark.com/clips/qmqjfdsztg-howard-stern-exposes-led-zeppelin-as-a-farce

Dont forget about LEADBELLY


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsgGNWlNAfA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kBX0K9nxPc

[Hal-9000]

well if you're gonna play a tribute song, may as well let it out :thumbsup:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oxoWenIThk

[DemonGeminiX]

Dont forget about LEADBELLY


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsgGNWlNAfA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kBX0K9nxPc

:lol:

That wasn't a ripoff. Leadbelly didn't write that song. That song's been around for a looooooong time.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

:hand: He recorded it first





















:dance:

[Hal-9000]

and to offset the discussion of who has borrowed what..they wrote plenty of songs that came out of a British blues, folksy, mystical and good ol hard rock place that will often be imitated, but never duplicated....their sound was just that, unique and creative



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0NFaQcTJsg

[DemonGeminiX]

:hand: He recorded it first

:dance:

Maybe, maybe not. But I know it's definitely not his.

[Hal-9000]

good example of a straight up burn....this is originally Blind Willie Johnson's song...check out Willie's version from 100 years ago and how Zep decided to play it :thumbsup:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJeGrLJ6dOI

[Hal-9000]

and perhaps my favorite Zeppelin song....you won't hear this arrangement anywhere else...the dudes had talent coming out of their butts, using a lot of styles over 10 albums





:( this always makes me sad


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4v-_p5dU34

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Maybe, maybe not. But I know it's definitely not his.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maid_Freed_from_the_Gallows

[Hal-9000]

It always amazes me how people like Edison are heralded as heroes, when he stole the majority of his big 'inventions'. Then someone like Stern takes a shot at Zeppelin for doing what most major performers have done, yet Zeppelin has this incredible body of original work that goes unnoticed.

[DemonGeminiX]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maid_Freed_from_the_Gallows

Yes, read the article, Porky. "Centuries old"... therefore, not his. Don't get me wrong, I love Leadbelly. But no one cares who recorded it first. It doesn't matter. Being first doesn't imply ownership.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Yes, read the article, Porky. "Centuries old"... therefore, not his. Don't get me wrong, I love Leadbelly. But no one cares who recorded it first. It doesn't matter. Being first doesn't imply ownership.

I did, I was saying he recorded it first. Thats what I thought you were disputing when you said "Maybe, maybe not".

[Hal-9000]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery :)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txv9cQrSvlU

[DemonGeminiX]

You're trying to say that because Leadbelly recorded a traditional song first, then Led Zeppelin recorded another arrangement some years later, then that implies they ripped Leadbelly off. I'm saying horseshit. How many people have recorded Jingle Bells on their very own Christmas album? Who recorded it first? Does it really matter? No! Absolutely not.

[Hal-9000]

I do believe that the writer/creator of the piece of music is the true owner. Everything after that is just changes in tempo and instruments used.

In those cases, it does matter who recorded it first IMO.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

You're trying to say that because Leadbelly recorded a traditional song first, then Led Zeppelin recorded another arrangement some years later, then that implies they ripped Leadbelly off. I'm saying horseshit. How many people have recorded Jingle Bells on their very own Christmas album? Who recorded it first? Does it really matter? No! Absolutely not.

Well, you could argue the guitar work is pretty similar

[DemonGeminiX]

Traditional songs have been around for centuries. No one owns them. No one has the right to.

[Hal-9000]

we sing this traditional song at Christmas time in our house :)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utkTmI8tMkQ

[Hal-9000]

before Hendrix, Clapton...I wrote it btw ^^








BrianWilliams-9000

[Noilly Pratt]

Here's an interesting place to listen to the originals of Zeppelin stuff, to chart which song came from where and it addresses Zep and plagiarism...

http://everyrecordtellsastory.com/2014/02/03/the-led-zeppelin-controversy-who-wrote-the-songs/

They were great at taking a song and making it their own - they took the blues and turned it to 11.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Traditional songs have been around for centuries. No one owns them. No one has the right to.

I own 'Happy Birthday' :hand:

[Hal-9000]

I wrote Jingle Balls....it was titled that originally in honor of our cold Canadian winters :tup:

[FBD]

Yes, read the article, Porky. "Centuries old"... therefore, not his. Don't get me wrong, I love Leadbelly. But no one cares who recorded it first. It doesn't matter. Being first doesn't imply ownership.

right, its not like we're talking about huey lewis saying WTF when he heard the ghostbusters theme :lol:

[FBD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kBX0K9nxPc

[FBD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5nSD26Kmpw

[Muddy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5nSD26Kmpw

Wow.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Dont forget about LEADBELLY


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsgGNWlNAfA


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kBX0K9nxPc



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5nSD26Kmpw

:huh:

[Muddy]

Git out of here with your ol' ransomware..

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Wachho talkin bout willis

[Muddy]

Nobody kicks it like Led Zep.. But god damn what a disappointment to realize how much shit they ripped off.. Not a whole lot better than the rappers, other than rockers usually play an actual instrument.

[FBD]

wasnt it already established that neither of these performing entities wrote this song? if that is the case, how is anything about it ripped off at all?

I mean, would I be ripping off anthrax is I covered Got the Time and played the bass solo the way frankie played it? I mean that's literally what you guys appear to be bitching about :lol:

[FBD]

:huh:
:lol: I'm not sure htf I missed you posting both those vids :dance:

[Muddy]

wasnt it already established that neither of these performing entities wrote this song? if that is the case, how is anything about it ripped off at all?

I mean, would I be ripping off anthrax is I covered Got the Time and played the bass solo the way frankie played it? I mean that's literally what you guys appear to be bitching about :lol:

It's not just this one song. It's about 10 of their biggest hits.. I use the word "their" very loosely.

[FBD]

stairway? :hand: where's your bar for this sort of thing? :lol: If you think that stairway sounds like Taurus, then you must agree on the Aussie court's butchered ruling about Men at Work somehow "having lifted" the kookaburra song and gave the family a millions dollar judgement merely out of spite.

I dunno, the one piece I read, some angry mofo wrote it :lol: The guy tries to assert that Beck wrote all this or that....but then there's that context of a bunch of people jamming... one person comes up with a li l riff groove and an entire song will fly right out of that....

its one thing if its pretty blatant like with the ghostbusters song, but its a slippery slope going back he said whatever 50 years ago about a jam session or two.


fact of the matter is, all you touch and all you see - is all what's going to go into the music you write. sometimes something's *that* close you toss it, but very rarely, unless its goddam verbatim you usually just say fuckit, I dont care if it shares a couple root notes with some other song.


you cant take a small section of root note progression and cry plagiarism.

whether Jimmy is sloppy or not doesnt really enter into that ;) although it does for some spite filled bastards it seems.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Are you saying Vanilla Ice didn't rip off Queen :lol:

[FBD]

:lol: that's a whole nother level of just reproducing a riff and using it in rap. I dont think that really applies because those guys just take samples of stuff.

thing is, there was not a lot of focus on this sort of thing back in those days...the sound compiled from the components was unique and it was good enough as far as a lot of people were concerned and having something with a similar root note progression isnt exactly a huge deal. (which is why the stairway one is BS.) adapting bits from old blues songs....cripes nobody else EVER did that :lol:

metal wouldnt exist today if none of that was done....blues formed the foundation of metal...

(really the only time that's happened with my bands is my buddy wrote a riff that sounded exactly like one of the riffs from DOOM...the original.....but the funny thing is he had never seen it or played it.)

[PorkChopSandwiches]

http://i.imgur.com/PbodhHM.gif

[Muddy]

Dazed and Confused? C'mon FBD.. Take of the tin foil hat and step out of the shelter, man! :lol:

[PorkChopSandwiches]

http://i.imgur.com/Zjm4CxW.gif

[DemonGeminiX]

I own 'Happy Birthday' :hand:

I sang Happy Birthday dozens of times in the past 6 months... and you didn't get a penny! No, you didn't get a penny! Nah nah nah-nah nah!

:nana: :dance:

[Muddy]

Better call Saul!

[Hal-9000]

It's all good..man







8-[

[FBD]

Dazed and Confused? C'mon FBD.. Take of the tin foil hat and step out of the shelter, man! :lol:

I thought it was common knowledge that one came out of the yardbirds stuff, jeff beck should have gotten some credit there like seeing Dave Mustaine's name on Kill Em All.

anyway....covering dead people's material, imho, you owe noone a single red cent.

someone that's still around, different story.

[Muddy]

As I said before. No one rocks it like zep. My only point is Page is not quite the rock god people have bestowed upon him.

[FBD]

hey, I'm guilty of MF'ing him a hundred times over for sloppiness in the past :shrug:

[Goofy]

My only point is Page is not quite the rock god people have bestowed upon him.

Yes he is :slap:


and that's all i'm saying on the subject :lol:

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Yes he is :slap:


and that's all i'm saying on the subject :lol:

:hand:

He's no Eminem

[Hal-9000]

:hand:

He's no Eminem

http://i.imgur.com/nOam28J.gif

[FBD]

:lol:

[DemonGeminiX]

Yes he is :slap:


and that's all i'm saying on the subject :lol:

:+1: