The Making of Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin

[MUSIC]

Hey, mama said the way you move Gonna make you sweat Gonna make you groove

[MUSIC]

I'll try and shake that thing Gonna make you burn Gonna make you stay

[MUSIC]

Hey babe, when you move that way Watch honey drip, can't keep away

[MUSIC]

I can't do it I can't I can't I can't that bit there that's just come in the tiny bit I can't do it I can't do it my brain will not make sense of that you need the jump on I'm doing the drums

I wonder when they did it if they did it go have they did a lot of it live didn't they yes but I wondered if they did it like like whether he sang

Yeah without the drums yeah underneath it yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah because you you were talking before we started about how like

obnoxious the timing is on this how like how like weird and crazy

Yeah it hurts it hurts your brain it's it's it's like it's like Toronto it's like it's like algebra

I don't have anything wrong with algebra you like you get that beat I love algebra

and welcome to the monster shop I'm Chris I'm Neil we're doing Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin

we've been talking about doing this for ages yeah yeah we actually said we're gonna do fat at the land at some point as well

we're probably this is this is probably when we should be doing fat at the land by Zepprodigy and how different record is it suddenly does hit me

like how many podcasts out there how many people do you know definitely and probably do prodigy next week yeah yeah yeah I mean they're both massive aren't they?

yeah of course they are which brings me on to a thing I guess a confession about this album that I like as a teenager yeah I like big nasty

like slayer and exodus and testament and anthrax and then and then just as I was rolling out of that I went into Swedish death metal

yeah and all through that I was listening to bolt-froger and napalm death and do you know what I mean brutal truth and I this

this would have been very cool I would have I remember countless times sitting in the pub in Ashby, Della Zouche

yeah and there would have been an old man with the beard yeah telling me what I would have a my brutal truth t-shirt

obviously many would have been saying can I even read what that says yeah can't hear what they're singing yeah stupid yeah what you want

and then he'd wander over to the jukebox and he put like black dog on yeah right and then and immediately I was like get lost

you get lost I will you old man music I would never listen to your old man diastrates and you and you led Zepplet doll never ever listen to you to that

and it really weird it's going to really I guess like put me off it and and he probably like a decade later yeah yeah yeah

you know and it would have been for me the Rolling Stones yeah and absolutely I would still remember it to this day

you're absolutely falling in love with the Rolling Stones and just spending the entire day just going through the Rolling Stones back at

love the 60s and and like you beggars bang queer and all I just absolutely fell in love with it and then building this

I don't know this kind of love of that time that the music that came out of that time and how I don't know I guess how it came from a

different era when like it felt like albums and music was treated differently you it wasn't free it like today's albums and today's music is kind of very

much a it's not even a commodity but it's it's a thing it's a thing that you do to do to sell something else right yeah it feels like the

general public are kind of less bothered about the you know the obsession that musicians go through and back in the 60s and 70s was

this kind of golden era for me where you know and album was a big deal I like like this art well this particular album was in the front

page press it wasn't melody maker and it was in the music news but the fact that the Zeppelin we're going to do a new album that was huge

front page news and and where they were going to record the Kardashians that's that's the way that the general public

yeah lap all of that up or somebody to do with the Royal family or whatever the way they lap that up you know that's that's what this was this

it's these with these guys were rock stars actually rock stars yeah yeah where they were you know really important to culture it's

incredible and I was reading I've been in I've been a children's party today Chris in Birmingham you survived the children's

party I did I dropped off the child yeah and then I went I went you'll be really proud of me I went I ran

around the corner and there was a HMV yeah and I didn't buy any records really three records up that surprises me

and then I remember I thought if I buy these Chris is going to take the piss so I put them back and then I went and sat in

in a coffee shop what were they just that interest I found what Lee crew doctor feel good yeah this one

Led Zeppelin four yeah or entitled as it's officially called and what was the other one oh um

I was uh it was the repressive appetite for destruction because I've got the original of that but I've

not got the rep honestly you want to you want to you want to one isn't good enough you know one more

no I go want to look at but I didn't I put them back but I went and sat in uh in the coffee shop right so

I'm sitting in the coffee shop and I thought I'll in the HMV no run the corner from there you know I forgot

it was one of the star water stones sometimes though they don't know I don't know it was a star books he

cost I don't even look at I just walked to the thing and said Earl Grey and Lady Grey yeah Lady Grey

please and I sat in the corner and I was reading about the album you know I'm starting to look at

doing this this blog about album art and I thought I wonder who did it and I wonder who got involved

in it so I'm reading about it and the first article that I found started to talk about how the record

label told the band they couldn't do it so that essentially they said that releasing an album with no

distinguishable um like marketing so we didn't say Led Zeppelin anywhere on it yeah yeah

the album itself didn't have a title and the band just came up with these like runes these cymbals

yeah represent these memories yeah and and and literally all they did like the record label you

know wanted to do big thing they wanted to do you know posters and all this stuff and in some of the

music I think it was a melody maker um they put the the cymbals on there but didn't it didn't say

anything else it's literally imagine like a quarter page imagine like a full page and a quarter of

that is just a like a blank white square with the symbol in the middle yeah it doesn't say anything

else so no one knew what they were oh that's cool it's just really cool and and I read that the band

were like like railing against the music press that we're still giving them um because the band

really struggled with the press they weren't taken seriously no the what the lulu the sorry this is

yeah going through the interviews because we're obviously putting these you'll rip these interviews

from YouTube and put them in there in the show listing the the people doing the news they don't take

them seriously they don't and then you hear the record and you go these are the best musicians

around yeah but yeah and you don't see you don't see that you just see you just see kind of like

like like misbehaving naughty boy rock star they were misbehaving they were really bad

behaving loads definitely were but yeah it was it's incredible and they they were reacting to

the press saying bad things about them and they've got and we've not got any in here but there's

some lovely clips on YouTube about literally arguing with interviews yeah where the interview will

say something like you know you know you're not very good are you you know or you know why did you

choose to do this or why did you not do that you know the you know and and the the band reacting

you know like really really defensively yeah which I don't know isn't it sort of fueled it maybe

yeah but we talked about this last week where you know there's this the rock stars you kind of assume

that they're just you know they're not questioning themselves but when you see that you know it's

just phenomenal and you're opposed yeah to see them like reply back with just this well

you know so we're just going to release the music on we're not going to say who who it was

we're not going to say who it came from and we're going to see see if it's else so let's let's

let's remove us from the equation and let's see how the music does well yeah yeah yeah and it's

I just I don't know yeah but today you think oh yeah yeah genius move yeah but I imagine at the time

I don't know I just think it's phenomenal and that's the thing you forget is the world at the time

yeah you know let's Eppel and kids wear let's Eppel and shirts out they might not have even heard

developed it heard as well but they wear their shirts because it's cool and yeah they weren't for a while

were they there was the thing where I think I think maybe all of these kind of legendary artists go

through this but there's a point in time where you know they're not the zeitgeist and there's a

generation of musicians that have sort of railed against whatever that thing was yeah which is

you know the big kind of metal stuff in this case that you were talking about earlier but what you

have got is when you let go of that and discard that and you listen to this record as a piece of art

because that's why as soon as I listen to I'm like this this isn't just music to me this this record is

it's hard and if you'd have you know I mean Dan Dan Baker or why do I talk about probably

everywhere it's not real um let's up in one of his favorite bands and Jimmy Page is one of his

favorite all-time guitarist when he was a kid it's my inspiration for him I never knew that

and and and you know he'd talk about Jimmy Page with reverence yeah of course the guitar play

and I'm like I don't even know what the first is makes me just I didn't play live ones he's all right yeah

and and then you listen back to this and you go remember that it was it was at the time remember

it was along it wasn't yeah you know of course they're not going to do what Nuno Betting Court does and

or you know like Steve Vile wherever it's not that kind of thing and and then you but you go back

and you listen to to the stuff and you think no no this guy has a wrote this guy because I think

Jimmy Page was almost a bit of an orchestrator of the grid yeah yeah you're right it's almost like

he's got the roadmap of how this whole piece of artworks he's got the kind of full canvas if

you like and he's and he's putting the paint where he wants it and he's you know in all the bands

are conscious all the members of the band are conscious me doing their bit and fulfilling their role

but it's almost like it feels to me like Jimmy Page is almost like just just kind of eaking it out

of everybody a little bit and he kind of knows the map knows the way the way it's going to go and

there's a little bit we're going to do later which which is him talking through stairway and it's

exactly that you know he knows right from the start how this thing's got to come together what it's

got to do was kind of a whole piece of art and everyone's going to contribute to it in in particular

ways the vision he was he was kind of the main producer or would you say producer he was to yeah

he was yes I think there were people around that maybe engineered but well he had this vision

of what this thing needed to be he he's he's credited as the producer for I think all the

definitely now I think he knows I see so yeah I mean he had engineer there were engineers in fact

there's some lovely this lovely bits from his engineers where yeah that clash of yeah he's

vision against what what the engineers were doing at that time because there was some there's a lot

of unconventional things particularly the levy breaks yeah and the drum recording yeah so the drum

recording was and this quite famous now but it was this thing in a stairwell yeah and mics round

it and I don't know how much extra stuff they put on afterwards but you can almost hear a delay

yeah you know what it like it's got a delay on it well it's going to be but it's got reverb you know

you can hear the room you get the delay yeah just because of how long it takes the sound yeah in a

big space you kind of get that automatically the thing that I think is is difficult right now is that

that's that was so impactful everyone copied it yeah so so now when you talk about it's like oh yeah

yeah I know that yeah yeah it's not a big deal but at the time to do something like that was

phenomenal and to focus on drum sound yeah you know the drums were just the drums you know I mean

to go I mean I could say this but like if you if you listen to the Beatles albums yeah you know the

that gets strung up by all the Beatles fans but you know the drums don't have that same focus so to

give up that the focus on the production and the sound of the drums to make them do that yeah

the same is to be said across the whole album I think in the the tone and the production I mean it's

thin of but of its time right so it's not you know super thick and you know 20 layers of guitars

and the drums like John Bonham's drumming is so there's so many like flourishes and details

to it but at no point do you feel any one instrument overpowering another it's phenomenal to me because

you don't like you some records when you listen to and you can hear you know when you especially when

I think you've read a lot about it and you know you spent time I guess analyzing albums you

you can see when the producer's ducking stuff yeah you think oh okay yeah yeah they're pulling that

down so they can hear this and and you think oh that's clever and you know this album for me you don't

know everything's what it's I'm supposed yeah you don't but it's it feels really organic it you

don't feel like somebody's been in there with a fade or I'm going oh I'll move that down and I'm

moving yeah I mean it kind of feels like it was just meant to be it was you know that nobody's

mucking around with fade and stuff but everything's got it's got its got its time in the limelight if

you like so that's a really it's another really interesting thing about this and the first this is

it's headly granger's chord isn't it the yeah headly granger's the there was the house they lived in

this like like albums we just covered before which I you know I love I'm gonna have to do this at

some point is higher house and recording I think but that was it isn't that because you didn't you've

to spend time at rock field haven't you yeah but it's but it is but that's a you've got you know a

place where you where you live if you like for a bit and then a place where it's then a studio where

you record right as a couple of complexes there okay yeah and there's a few residential studios

that are like that yeah where they've got accommodation and the studio on the same side yeah but it

feels very much like this was they're in the house and then they're fighting the right spaces in

the house but this was another one where they used the rolling stones mobile recording studio this

kind of van if full of gear if you like on on coasters or casters that they just kind of rolled around

yeah and yeah they it's interesting in the interviews hearing them talk about previous albums

where they it was in hotels yeah and they said it felt like a conveyor about so you would you

would get there into the studio hotel yeah you know studio hotel studio yeah and you just this

this kind of repetition and he was quite structured and and to have them in the house together where

you said you're all said it's and it feels really organic where you know stuff is happening yeah

but it's not planned it's not it's just like oh I mean you know I mean you would go into the rehearsal

space and somebody would be working on something so it would just be really haphazard that you know

somebody was working on something and and somebody else would come and sit next to them and

develop that do you know what I mean and I think it really shows through to me this doesn't in

in in for this record particularly and the other thing that got me just before we dive into

a couple of interviews is had so much I wanted to say about this record it's very strange isn't it

is the is the the idea that I had it in my head yeah that's particularly when you think about

stairway yeah and the ones that are really lush down in yeah that there's loads of like other

musicians and session players and like someone comes in into his orchestration and all that yeah it isn't

isn't his John Paul Jones with some recorders yeah I just I love I love the fact that you they chose

a record it's like a least cool one of the biggest rock and roll by ever walk the planet

right now stick a record on it yeah but because I thought it was a melanchron I've always thought

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah and it's not it's real live record of recorders recorders yeah there you go

um slip not are going to get records down next but it's them it's it's it's it's it's just it's just the

band there's no I don't think there are any external players on it I don't think there is somebody

just backing yeah I was going to say there might be there might be an extra vocalist but I think in

general it's all kind of done by the band and this is the thing is that Jimmy Page was a kind of

studio stalwart wasn't he he was someone who understood the process who you know he kind of

knew the full the full works really and I think that that shows when when this band I suppose

you know he's almost kind of got the control of it isn't he he's almost running the thing's

room I think so yeah so the the artist I was looking for was Sandy Denny Sandy Denny she does

backing vocals yeah I don't I think she's the only yeah I don't think I don't think they they

were very tight as I don't think they brought other people I always had it in my head that it was

like you know the stones thing where they go to Abbey Road and then they've got all the Abbey Road

string guys that come in to do the stringy bits and all the and there's none of that I don't yeah

there's none of that I don't think so I I'm just looking for I can't find anything that they've

done I think that was on a on a on a on a studio album I think that's it yeah it's just I did an

yeah capturing them just her so I think I think it's probably the first person to sort of listen to

his Robert plan yeah and there's one interview that we've carved into three uh-huh

and I think it's just worth listening to each bit because one is talking about the sort of you

know developing a lead up to the band and then the other part about kind of being in in the band

and what the band's about and that sort of thing and I just think he's he speaks about in a really

interesting way let's listen I was drawn to the lights because I came like so many kids out of my

generation and Brit became from a kind of very gray post-war you know the kind of the residue of

a lot of pain and strife so I suppose kids in the mid fifties in Britain were just starting to

wake up after the you know parents coming back from the war or you know being attracted to the

footlights and the entertainment and the smell of a venue and the kind of the anticipation in a crowd

I love that I thought that was an amazing thing you know because I've I've been a music fan

and a fan of all things that are interesting and occasionally unique all my life so I'm always

a member of the audience and an entertainer and there's people like him all around there's like

Robert plan eagie pop yeah yeah the people that love it like love it you know the whether whether

they were doing or not there's still be huge lovers of music regardless you know I when I when

I was shooting gigs a lot I would be in with the camera with the camera being rocksity a lot and

then you kind of come out of that and I would be because you're doing it a lot you the car pop would

get really busy and I don't want to spend 45 minutes sitting in the car so I would I would kind of

hang around right at the end and almost run to the car just as I would get in the car because of

the curfew at rock city was when Alice Cooper's show came on planet rock yeah so I would almost

always head back to Alice Cooper and he was a it reminds me hugely actually of Joe from

deaf leopard right they both got this this absolute passion for for music and their knowledge is

phenomenal so not only would they have these incredible stories about people you know they would

also you know I guess expose you to music that you would prior to your generation right yeah yeah

you know we we talked about music that influence does and we talk about that that teenage effect

right so the music that's big and popular when you're a teenager yeah that's the stuff that's your

stuff yeah um but what I think is incredible is discovering the the stuff that's out of your

generally like do that makes sense yeah it makes sense yeah and it's I mean it's never there is it

it's later on yeah yeah it's later when you get to it you come back to it I suddenly have them

with with with that's happening you know um I want to ask you a question as well yeah

uh do you know Wayne's world yes what's their way to what year was it oh 1993 to 1992 um but it

just hit me that that 1992 for me was right in the middle of the big hair metal thing the well

that was cut for me that was in my teenage peak I see right that's where the music that came out

probably between like 86 and 90 I don't defy probably like 93 94 that that was the stuff that's

really influential yeah so I say yeah Wayne's world came out yeah in that time so that was a big

a big thing I really remember it clearly yeah and I remember um and then like making fun of stairway

yeah yeah and it you know what I mean it was it was that with this strange isn't it because because

that's one of those ones were it's that overplayed it was I read about it this morning and it was the

the the reason it was in there was this kind of over it was overplayed it was you know it was played

over and over and it made me think I was and I posted a few but they but they but they but they

revere queen being an upset yeah it's strange which is almost like it's just it's comedic wasn't it but

yeah you know I posted a few times this week about this and it's you know does does something being

overplayed um diminish shit shit somehow right does it does it have that effect because

like for me discovering Led Zeppelin late yeah I feel actually quite I mean I didn't hear this being

overplayed to be ideal you know this none of this stuff for me was was was stuff that was played when

I was a as a teenager my mom would have played this and queen but what you do is you inherit the

perception that it was yes and then and then that's almost tarnishes you experience of it so we're

gonna place their way in a bit and what you want to do is just do a quick like two or three minute

meditation before yeah so pause the podcast and then do that get that idea of your brain yeah do

that stop stop stop the judgment stop the worry and all preconceptions of stairways of heaven

let go of and just listen to how incredible it is made me think what is the most overplayed I mean

not from from for me it would probably be like uh would be something from Gunter Rose is probably

yeah not in charge of mine yeah not heaven's door be something like that I think that was there was

just everywhere Linus Miracet probably they were but that that stuff that would have been played in

the early like late eighties no nineties for me and like for you probably a bit later yeah would have

been been been later um but it's it's funny is that and then like tell you well they're black album

for me that's probably like you know end of sandman and stuff yeah that they're for me it's like

soup when I hear end of sandman I kind of cringe a bit I'm like yeah just make it stop and it's

a great song yeah yeah but it's it's just yeah exactly yeah this and so so it's a stairway for me

it's not overplay I know people say it is and it was probably yeah but it's not for me I really yeah

I for me like discovering some of this stuff yeah it's I don't know I feel we're a bit privileged yeah

hopefully yeah yeah so the next part of the the it's the same interview thing yep is is Robert

Plant talking about um the experience of being in Led Zeppelin and it's that's really cool because

yeah you get the you know you get the idea that is rock stars and it's mucking about it's all that

but actually they really care about their craft as well yeah and I think that you know that what

was saying earlier the media didn't get that bit and they didn't communicate that they were really

serious about their music the best of it is that our time initially when the whole thing was opening

up was there were no charts there were no maps there was no structure there was no conditioning

we were flying by the seat of our pants into this thing there were many people around us especially

from the Bay Area San Francisco there were fantastic bands musical units but we had no there was no

etiquette developed yet there was no the last thing we were was a good bet to have on a talk show

or anything like that you know it was a a time to be proud of our music and also

now I know now the way that everything's gone look where we are you know in Warner Brothers in the

home of once upon a time Atlantic records and all the great stuff there were no rules things were

being developed and and the journey there was no nobody could plot it it was just what do we do now

well maybe we'll play somewhere bigger you know I mean it was just like kids going from

playing in the youth club behind the church to play in small clubs the acceleration into

another place was crazy interesting interesting about the experience of being a part of that world

is because it's such a it's a different age there's a different era as it is a long time ago and

I don't know I wonder if he sits now and thinks back you know because he's obviously been

out of the Led Zeppelin thing doing his other things yeah of course yeah longer than he was probably

in Led Zeppelin doing the Led Zeppelin thing yeah I always think about that to do with like Paul McCartney

and yeah people like that as well where it's like well really that Beatles thing was a very very

short period of time yeah yeah he's done a lot of other stuff since then I do know I'd not

thought about it you're right but the stones is the other way around stones is like that that's

what they've done that's it forever yeah I mean Mick Jagger's gone off and done a few things

key for which has been some pirate films but they've always they've always done the rolling stone

thing and that's been their life whereas you know I think maybe it was the death of John Bonham

that was the kind of thing yeah that was hard to place him I don't know but yeah I think yeah

that's that's what that's what I've read about over the past week or so yeah yeah yeah

everything that that's kind of what put the thing yeah that kind of ended them as a band yeah yeah

but it's it's the influence and the impact yeah of of the band yeah yeah so the the albums that came

out and but it's have the band themselves and the things that they did and you know the impact that

they had on the bands that that kind of came after and we're doing doing stuff yeah you know you

gotta say that that that you've almost got like the bad boy rock and roll stuff and that that surely

influenced like the you know the twisted sisters and the motley crews and then you know you you know

that they grew up on their Depline and so you know idolizing that the band and the that focus

that they had on an album and what you're doing a probably black saboteur I would have thought you

know what was the what was the the podcast we did a couple of weeks ago where it was about um you

know the band coming from America to go to the home of Led Zeppelin and the home of these bands that

they that they was locked up yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I can't remember who was it was it was one

of the big hand yeah it wasn't it like love hate yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah it was sort of

faster pussycat it was one of those two you're one of the two yeah yeah yeah but yeah no you're

right yeah where it was that they wanted to come and see the world of Britain the world like

where whereas the others are going let's go to you know California it goes straight yeah yeah yeah go

to the pussy what was he called pussycat club is always called no it was called the cathouse cathouse

that's the cathouse got that from the um that's somewhere else I've been everyone googling the

pussycat claim that rating their eyebrows go no but the um yeah the thing the thing about that is the

they were there with that as you've said those bands from that era absolutely like worships

Led Zeppelin yeah the Beatles and the who and you know bands like that it's hard I think it's it's um

it's kind of hard to imagine a universe without it you know it's it's one of those can I do some

facts yes I've got I've not I've not got that well I've got some facts let me tell you some I've not

got that many facts so it was released on 8th of November 1971 um untitled which we've discussed

the record company were not approving of no the genre what genre is it this is the problem you see

because what I hear yeah is blues folk yeah rock plug yeah that's the four genres I hear yeah but

Led Zeppelin is constantly called metal heavy metal it's not it's not even close to have it black

out of heavy metal yeah this was not even close I don't think even close to heavy metal it was it

I would describe it's kind of hard it's hard rock and blues yeah that is focus stuff in there as well

that's the bit for me you listen to this Led Zeppelin 4 and you go well that's a folk song it's a

folk song with with a couple of heavy bits it's they were criticized aren't they for Led Zeppelin 3

for too much acoustic stuff and people said they were copying other yeah yeah yeah the band is popular

at the time but yeah so genre wise um there's not many people better than him do me a page to do that

though that you know that kind of really picks yeah yeah yeah 12 stringy stuff and the mandolin stuff

and it's kind of twangly jangly yeah it's got a beautiful sound awesome um I guess the point is

that the genre for Led Zeppelin is just they're just not no just not just not not genre for for

they're almost like early queen without the pop stuff yeah a little bit with a with a with a

kind of searing American vocalist you know another band where you can't genre them they're not you

don't know it's like a box like they it's like they you can't draw a box around no no no yeah you

but what what I do here with Led Zeppelin is a British a group of British lads very British

American music yeah yeah that's what it feels like so really I was like they're tones very British

yeah yeah yeah yeah you can tell it now you can tell it's been produced in in a country house in

England yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that production of it is but but yeah it's really

interesting they've got that American sings with the American accent there's the American kind of

kind of sort of rock and roll blues kind of thing yeah yeah yeah yeah I thought of it like that yeah

I'm sorry you're going I was going to say I'm going off somewhere else yeah it's short 42 minutes

which we've discovered is the best time of albums eight songs 42 minutes the best albums are short

yeah you don't want you don't want to I'm not a big fan of the long enough you double album make

I don't know you're going to do like a melancholy aren't we're going to still be listening you know

week later um I don't think I've ever listened to melancholy from start to finish no ever not even one

side not even one oh yeah yeah yeah I would have listened to half yeah but not the whole thing no

not the whole thing from end to end no it's too long I've fallen asleep I might have had to eat or

something between um it was released on Atlantic Records but they didn't pay for it oh really

the band paid for it because they didn't want the pressure of the record label um that's crazy

record well that's why they were able to do it with all labels says oh can't do that

oh we're playing for it yeah basically do it won't yeah screw you we do what you want

you know that that's well that's amazing recorded at headly grange yeah it was also recorded

at island studios where is there strange that oh I don't know that it's a good question it costs

wallsy types sort of plays track I don't know I feel I feel like I should know that and I don't

well when we do the next interview we should google it and find out or forget

why that's what I'm supposed to go there wouldn't it one of us will need to go to the toy list as

well someone someone someone's doing a headly grange tour aren't they that's got that's got to be a

thing sure you reckon yeah this is where John Bonham did his most I don't do Gavin and Stacey

too they do Gavin and Stacey tours of of thinking about the island the Barry island for our American

I've never seen for our American listeners of which there were many yeah according to us there

yeah Gavin Gavin just look up Gavin and Stacey on the YouTube it's got James Korns in it

you know he's got James Corden he we it's a little bit disappointed that you've sent back

has he come back yeah yeah I don't like I don't like I preferred it when he was in America

produced by Jimmy Page yeah so he sold producer I think yeah so well so I had some

so I had probably had people about doing the buttons yeah he had lackeys do it yeah he would

shout at people go and do tapes I'm sold 37 million copper skewed 37 million of anything is a lot

yeah 37 million like smarties yeah that's a lot isn't it yeah there is a million albums out 37

million people yeah went to a record store and decided they were going to buy it yeah which is

utterly insane yeah absolutely insane and they had no advance to payback no they had no

advance to payback for the for the making of that record I don't think so so from what I read the

one was that the record company put it out yeah but very much reluctantly yeah they were like this

isn't going to sell I'm not going to go anywhere he's got stupid record cover yeah he got stupid

ruins well I mean you're all stupid you can just imagine like a cigar sitting back in his chair

and stupid boys stupid long hair stupid changeliggy stars do you know what I mean and they want to

tips they wanted to hold a rosy yeah yeah and and they so I read they were not impressed at the time

and the band just told me to get lost yeah which I I really like well that we are we're not going

to finance this one we'll do that yeah I also hadn't realized and probably people are going to

scream at me for this one because I'm not this is not on my fact sheet but it's something that I read

earlier but the band came from the yardbirds yeah yeah yeah yeah and then and then just kind of got

oh I'll bring my mates in and yeah kind of carry on when the yardbirds ended I I mean it is before

like my time I'm 50 this year so for those of you a bit older this is probably common knowledge

but I didn't know that I wasn't something like yeah and I know I keep too much of your page

quite a lot but he was that he was always around the studios of that era so even if he wasn't in

the band chances are we'd replayed a lot of stuff that you know we wouldn't realize you know this

I used to I love that of the other um this is common with the stones whether we just random people

in the studio playing stuff and and there's no there's like there's no credit anywhere but

there'll be an interview of Mick Jagger saying something saying oh yeah yeah we had you know

yeah he was yeah still things down the road yeah so he just came in and did singing or playing or

but and it's just I love that kind of the same thing happens in a lot of six scenes yeah you know when

you've got like like the Bayer the thrash to through the Bayeri there's tons of yeah where they were

just people in the studio playing and they'll have played like the drummer on an entire song will be

not the album not the band drummer and it won't be in the credits won't be anywhere I'll just be

on what he was there so you put that down I absolutely love all that mixing desk is credited as a helios

console which is a new one on me I'm not familiar with helios that they've got they've got a really

uh vibey and then man it's a manual it must have been manual at 1971 yeah yeah on the stuff that I've

got the UAD stuff that's not what helios preamps and stuff compressors is down on my fact sheet as a

universal audio 1176 I thought that came a bit later I'm not sure it's a bit I I wouldn't ever

seem much compression was on this it doesn't feel doesn't feel very compressory um

yeah the track when the levy breaks had the bonham's kit in the mansion stairwell and the

mics dangled all over the place which is yeah stuff of legend doesn't it it is it's so so I guess

copied yeah yeah but it wasn't them was it that's the thing is that that was a totally like

mad thing to do um album sales let zeppelin one 15.8 million let zeppelin two 21.9 million

let zeppelin three 13.7 and this is when the press were given them a hard time yeah you've copied

and blah blah blah um 13.7 million still a lot yeah you know what I mean if I if any if you if anybody

listened to this is in a band and you certainly said do you know what I'll buy 13.7 million albums

off you you'd snatched their arm off but the press at the time we're giving them a hard time for

that let zeppelin four 36.8 million copies um houses of the holy 17.7 physical graffiti 13.4

here a lot of people have a bad perception of physical graffiti I quite a lot yeah people I think

people who who are musicians yeah love it it's their favorite right that's really interesting that's

really interesting um but yeah I quite like it I saw some negative comments online when um we posted

about it a couple of months ago um and then the album sales the more record I don't know no I don't

say no I don't know um this album so let's up in for 23 times platinum certification from the RIA

yeah which is bonkers induction to the Grammy Hall of Fame um but you can see why with those numbers

why that why stay at stairway would have got that um radio play the radio play but also that

reputation but I was too big it's too it's too commercial it's too popular it's too overplayed

it's too yeah yeah when you talk about those numbers can I talk about other albums that were released

in 1971 go for it aqua lung by jethro toll gray album sticky fingers by the Rolling Stones gray album

who's next by the who and imagine by John Lennon oh my gosh and that's a big year isn't it that yeah

masters of reality by black Sabbath yeah it's just not isn't it that time you know they're magical

I mean every year there are there's grain record to be in released and I think just some years I've got

just something in the water yeah yeah yeah 71 yeah just crazy um it's that I think of

fantastic um some of the stuff is from legend really but black dog was inspired by a black dog

wondering around the studio like a black labrador really you just think what what yeah yeah

because you assume it's it's the depression thing yeah yeah yeah yeah but yeah so I read it was

inspired um so robert plantellarics were inspired um from an actual labrador which is which is

pretty pretty cool um they shunned standard media afterwards so there was a whole bunch of

standard promotion that the record label would typically like them to do in the band didn't do any

of it um they were known for so that's why they've got the mythos oh yeah that's why they've got the

possibly the kind of mythical status because they didn't go out and do it they they had a really

fracturous relationship with the press and the media so they just chose not to do it so there were

all these things were you know that you got no album you had to go on talk shows and you had to go

into all these things and they just hated it so they didn't do it and they were just like we're

just going to go on tour yeah and that's what they did they did they told more and bigger and better

and that's what they did they were just like well people want to see us they'll show it to me yeah

we'll they can come and see us we're not going to go and listen you know not going to go and have

some interviewer you know ask us stupid questions um which I and she showed some confidence I said

confidence I actually I think it's almost an integrity it's kind of like we you know that's not

what we do you know we're not going to do that and so they chose not to what did I get to down here as

well um oh yeah the media and television so that was another one isn't it though you don't hear

well hardly anything but famously there was an immigrant is it immigrant song there was there was

used on um school of rock yeah which was like a white light so tiny clip of these on there so

so historically it was really carefully licensed yeah but it was on Wayne's World right in 192

yeah um but the next one like a rock and roll uh stairway to have it was oh of course because it's

in the story lines the film isn't it now since like 2010-ish well it was it's a rock and roll was

used on a Cadillac commercial apparently in 2003 which was read it's a real outlier yeah but then

from 2010-ish you've seen a few so it's a black dog was used in Argo when the levee breaks is used

right at the end of the big short all right um and then let you say immigrant song um as well so

you know let me go a bit yeah I think so yeah but I think kind of similar to the pink Floyd

boys it's just I've had enough yeah jump me I've fed up of people that's just do what you want

and I kind of get the feeling like they've just gone you know pay somebody you deal with it you

deal with it make sure we get paid I don't want to have the conversation anymore um you know

is that you know when you stop wanted to have the fight isn't it really so um the reviews were

interesting I think um looking back now the reviews are all like 5 out of 5 10 out of 10 best album

in the world ever at the time it wasn't at the time there was still uh critic it was still mostly

positive but um if you go back and have a look in the way back machine so if you look if you search

now for like what these neither the uh music press said about it and super positive and lots of

i guess modern magazines have written about it yeah yeah but at the time it wasn't quite as popular um

well not uh you know um uh yeah there was critique yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah and I think all the

acceptance was I think it was partly to do with the fact that they just shunned the media yeah

and they were just like we're just not gonna do it yeah so the media are like yeah we talked about

this with deaf leopard as well where when um there was that one journalist yeah who was angry

because he felt they were a best mate and then they went to the US and got really popular when they

came back he'd been writing all of these hit pieces saying they've sold out and they're terrible yeah yeah

um I think that was there was definitely an element of that yeah yeah yeah you know where the band

just had this really bad relationship with the media in general um remasters and and reissues it was

quite a few of these bits and lots of them there for these yeah yeah the big ones in 2014 where it

it kind of got re re done um where there's some alternate mixes on their unreleased tracks

I could deluxe edition thing yeah and super deluxe box sets and all of that stuff but um and it's

not terrible yeah I think but I think for some of these like 1971 obviously done to analogue tape

yeah uh yeah the masters and stuff that were taken from that would have been of the time yeah right

and so the chance to go back and pull that media off the tape probably for one last time right

pulling off those studio masters and um get them into um to pro tools or whatever uh yeah I like that

and then I don't think they ruined it I'm sure people are screaming at their um uh the wireless

sets about that but um I'm not I I don't like remasters really I don't I'm not a big fan of it

but I've not said that before I think I think I think they did an all right job yeah

you know they they have do you know who else does you know it's just a brilliant job of this stuff

and that is Steven Bloody Wilson who stole our idea for a podcast um but yeah Steven Wilson does he

does a lot of this stuff doesn't he who do uh famously he's worked with um he definitely did a lot

of the jethrow tall stuff jethrow tall yeah he's but he's I think he's really um he's got that

that feel for this of, you know, just how far you push a remaster and without it sounding like

a Greta van Fleet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you know where I'm going with that? We should talk about Greta van Fleet.

As well. And that's it really. That is everything I've got on my fact sheet. I do want to talk about Greta van Fleet.

Yeah. Do you want to do that now? Do that a bit? What do you think? Because I wanted to talk about Robert

Pludden's voice a little bit. Oh yes, I'd like to talk about that as well because he talks about that

in the interview. Yeah. Shall we listen to him? Listen to him. Listen to him talking about it.

Then we can talk about it. Then we can talk about the Greta van Fleet. Well, you know, the

thing is a voice is not going to, it's a muscle. It's a funny shape thing anyway.

Yeah, I had a lot of trouble with my voice along the line. I was in Australia once.

El Melbourne, I remember waking up and we'd sold out a kind of some huge stadium.

The stage was on wheels, so they got it so that if we had 10,000 people, that was fine. But if it was 12,

they could wheel the stage back with a tractor pulling it and then back and then back and then back.

And as the day went on, more and more people arrived and I couldn't speak. And I went to a doctor and

he hit me with some adrenaline and stuff like that. And I turned several shades of different colors

and slid down the wall, covered in perspiration and sang the gig. Now that's the last thing a singer

needs to do, the damage that you can do. One time I went to see a voice specialist in London, in

Harley Street. He was pretty high-brow. He had a desk with a little button underneath so as you

walked in, he hit the button and the curtains all closed to round you and he had a kind of dish on

his head and put a camera down my throat and he said, he said in six months time, your voice won't

even be able to show signs of surprise. He said, it's over. And that was 28 years ago. So, I mean,

the number of times you think you've had it, you think it's gone. And there's quite a lot of singers

who were so hard on themselves that they did lose it forever.

Yeah, the thing is, when you hear about people like over time, you've got those big, powerful

rock vocalists like Bono, John Bon Javie, Elton John Liven, you know, they've had like medical

issues with their voice and straw with it in some way. And you just think, he's, you know, Robert

Plants still, I don't know if he's still wailing quite so much because he was, but then he's

probably not quite got the range, but he's still, I think he's still doing it.

It's a unique voice, I think. You know, and he, yeah, you're right. There are these

vocalists that they feel inimitable.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is where Greta van Fleek came in last time.

But they do. I mean, I mean, if you were to go back to the '70s and '80s, you know,

there were probably a lot of people trying to imitate his voice. But I don't think anyone managed.

Not that range. It's phenomenal. The guy can get right up there. I mean, even rock and roll.

I've tried to play and sing that and it's right at the top of my register.

I'm really squawking to get it. But yeah, you're right. And I think, you know, age kind of comes

to us all right, you know? And it has that impact on your body and your body changes. But,

yeah, we talked about John Buonjavi, didn't we? Yeah, yeah, previous shows.

Someone said the other day about, I think it was a response to one of our posts.

Oh, it was. It was the first time I've heard someone say it and they said, "These days is

the best Bonjavi album." Yes. Yes, one of your favourites, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah. And I've never heard anyone say that before.

Some writing album, isn't it? It's a very rich song. But they had a house for that one.

John Buonjavi owns many houses. I really love the way the authentic and genuine way he dealt with

his voice. They just kind of said, "Actually, I've, you know, this is what's happening."

Yeah. And so until, you know, until we can solve it, yeah, they're trying to tour and trying to

do things until we can figure this out, you know? I don't know. I just think he nailed it. I think

there's a point where you, I guess you can't keep doing the same things, you know? And you've got to

deal with it, how many? But, you know, it's easy to say it, but when you're John Buonjavi,

or when you're Robert Plant, you know, that's you. That's your identities wrapped up in that

wayling that you do. So when you can't do that anymore, you become useless, right? What are you if

you're not that persona of that person? So I get it. I totally get why people, or why vocalists

struggle to come to terms with it. It's phenomenal. Yeah, it's a part of that thing, isn't it? Yeah,

you're right. Yeah. Which does bring me on to Greta Van Fleet. Yeah. I find it fascinating. I've

find it absolutely fascinating. On one hand, that enough time has gone by that a band can sound

just like leather. They sound really, I mean, so similar to Led Zeppelin. But enough time has gone

by that it's okay. Yeah, yeah. There's a whole audience that are picking that up. As if, and they've

never heard Led Zeppelin. They don't know that there is a Led Zeppelin. They don't know that they sound

similar. And it struck me as I was thinking about how to talk about this today, as, yeah, it was

preparing for the show. Because there's also, they're not unique in that, right? So they're very

sponsored sound like ACDC. Yeah. And they've taken, they've clearly been influenced by and clearly

care about their music and have replicated it in such a way. Yeah. But with a certain level of

individuality and originality to make it unique to them. Yeah. I guess the question I'd got was,

is it intentional? Yeah. You know, was it? The thing with Greta Van Fleet is there's so many

like unique elements to Led Zeppelin. Yeah. Right. From the musician ship to vocals, drumming.

And Greta Van Fleet imitates almost all of them to me. Right. There is a,

you know, the probability of a band's just forming and sounding like Led Zeppelin out of happenstances,

just, I'll really, you know, and, you know, it just made me kind of think, well, is it,

the malicious is the wrong word, right? But what's the driver behind it, you know? Because when

you listen to interviews, I remember it's been put to Greta Van Fleet directly, they were kind of

going, no, there's no imitation. We're not, you know, we're not even fans, we're not, we're not,

that's, that's, yeah, we don't think we sound like Led Zeppelin at all. Yeah. And then go back to

the house and see the shrine. Yeah. Well, yeah. And who is it that sounds, I'm trying to think

who's it sounds like ACDC? Oh God. Who's it? I mean, there have been bands that have imitated the

style of that era and also the kind of hair metal era. So is it airborne and steel panther?

That's it. Yeah. Airborne sounds at the ACDC. That's all the thing. Even the darkness to a certain

extent. Yeah. It's really interesting because the like, like, I was going to, I don't know, that's

the kind of 80s more 80s sort of. Airborne are really, they're really interesting because they sound

like ACDC. Yeah. They make no bones about it. They're like, we love it. We absolutely love ACDC.

And we wanted to be ACDC. So that's what we did. And we wrote our own songs and they sounded like ACDC.

And we, you know, that's just that's who we are. Yeah. That's our background. We idolized them and

that's who we are and we, you know, we love that music and that's what we wanted to do. Yeah. Yeah.

So that's where we are. Yeah. And I think I'm okay with that. Yeah. I'm totally okay with that.

What you're, what it feels like you're getting at is there's some level of stylistic intellectual

property here where there's been a line crossed. That's the sense that I'm getting in that in that

if you acknowledge it, it's all right. But you know, if you copied a song, you copied some notes,

that's really frowned upon. Yeah. You get very told off of that. You go to court and all that. He

do. But you don't get it if you start if it's stylistic. You don't get it if it's, you know,

you sing, you sing like that person. You have a similar vocal style to that. I think it's just,

it's just for me. It's, it's too close, you know. And you know, and I'm sure, you know,

that people will have their own opinions either way. But for me, it was just this,

I kind of thought they're a great band. If you listen to Greta van Fleet, they're fantastic.

They're brilliant live. And you just think, well, do something else. You know what I mean? Just do.

You must have your own style in there somewhere. But the other thing, the other thing that hit

me, actually, as I was thinking about this, was this clearly still a demand for Lodemplin. If a band

can sound like them and have a massive following and, you know, sell new albums and, you know, pack out

events. Please car. Oh, yeah, there's a police car. We've not had a police car, right?

Yeah, I don't know if that'll come through the mics, but it doesn't seem to get through anymore.

No, but I, you know, I think it just shows you the pent up demand for them, you know, but I guess,

I don't know, I don't want to, I don't want to believe that they did it maliciously. Yeah,

you know, I mean, oh, I know, let's copy. You know, we've got a singer who sounds a bit like Robert

Plant. Let's totally copy the sound. I don't, I don't want to be that guy, but um, um,

it's big close. It is too close for comfort. What's next? Right. With his two interviews left. Yeah.

And obviously the first ones were with Robert Plant. Yeah. And the second one is with Jimmy Page.

Oh, and the like two. And I don't know what order to do them in, because one of them, the idea was

that we'd play the interview and it's all about stairway and then we'll play stairway. Yeah.

Afterwards. Okay, yeah, should we do that? Should we do that now? I like that. Okay, let's do that now.

I wanted to try to put something together, which started with quite a fragile, exposed acoustic guitar,

it playing in sort of style of a poor man's bourre by a park, that sort of aspect. As far as

the instrumentation goes, there are going to be, uh, uh, there's recorders to the early part,

which gives it sort of slightly medieval feel. That was an idea of John Paul Jones's to put the

recorders on, um, and he played the recorders. One actually had the idea of a stairway. I wasn't,

that wasn't necessary. I wasn't thinking recorders. I was thinking more the texture of actually the

electric piano. The idea of stairway was to have, uh, a piece of music, a composition whereby it

would just keep unfolding into more, uh, more layers and more moods and actually the whole intensity

of the, or subtlety of the intensity of the overlay of the composition would actually, uh, accelerate

as it went through on every level, every emotional level, every musical level, and so it just keeps

opening up as it, as it continues through its sort of passing. This was during the period that we

were at Headley Grange that, uh, the thing was put together. It was slightly complicated to be doing

this whole thing without a vocal, because at the time there weren't any lyrics and this is the,

this was the backbone of what the song was going, was intended to be and the, the whole of the running

order from beginning to the end was sort of mapped out. It was tricky. It was a tricky thing to do

because there's a lot of music and changes in it. I remember during that period Robert was, he

was sort of sitting down leaning against the wall and he was just sort of writing. I never forget

that image of him doing that. We do a run through of it from beginning to end with the, uh,

guitar opening, as we all know, and then Robert comes up and starts to, he starts to pitch in and

sing and I tell you he had to, it must have been 90% of the lyrics were already done. One of the cardinal

rules when I was a studio musician was that you didn't speed up and I was keen to do something which

had an acceleration to it not only from the musical point of view but from the lyricist

so that the whole thing would start to gain a momentum as it went through so it wasn't just a monotone

piece and by that I actually mean that it would, that it would subtly speed up. So you're breaking

the number one cardinal rule. The solo was to have something like a sort of fanfare so it's a

definite transition. It comes in with a, with a fanfare to introduce this solo and the solo is

just going to saw right through. It was a very inspired time for all of us at the time that we were

living in the Hadley Grange as a residence, eating, sleeping, making music. That's what we were doing

day after day after day and it sort of tells when you hear the fourth album but you know stairways

are sort of byproduct of it for all of that but you know it's obviously been quite substantial.

And as a milestone for later it was really an inspired period of time. It sort of shows a

like the last equality of this music over all these years is the fact that everyone's playing so

honestly and with such conviction that it sort of shows.

[Music]

There's a lady who showed all of Glitter's is gold and she's buying the stairway.

Yeah, when she gets there she knows if the stars are all close with the words she can get what she can.

And she's buying a stairway here. There's a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure

because you know sometimes words have to be read, being a dream by the road. There's a song bird who sings

sometimes all of us ought to miss him.

[Music]

There's a feeling again when I look to the west and my spirit is crying for the day.

In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees and the voices of those that look.

Oh, it makes me wonder.

Oh, it really makes me wonder.

[Music]

And it's winter that soon if we all call the tune then the pie will lead us to reason.

And the new day will dawn for those who stand long and the forests will echo and laugh too.

[Music]

If there's a bustle in your head home, don't be alone there.

It's just naysprinkly for the make queen.

Yes, there are two paths you can go by but in the lower.

And there's still time to change the road you're.

[Music]

Your head is a midhead and won't go in case you don't know.

The pie is first calling you to join him.

You're late and can you hear the wind blow and it's you alone.

Your stairway lies on a good friend with you.

[Music]

And there's still time to change the road you're.

[Music]

And there's still time to change the road you're.

[Music]

And there's still time to change the road you're.

[Music]

And there's still time to change the road you're.

Cool.

Listen to that beautiful tape is gorgeous in there.

I didn't know about the tempo.

Oh, you tell me that we're discussing this before the show ended.

The song speeds up.

Yeah.

But you don't really notice until the last step.

That's what you kind of do.

It feels more energetic.

It's got this kind of energy rises and gets more complicated.

You think, oh yeah, that makes sense.

But then when you said there is a different tempo at the end to the beginning, it blows your

mind a little bit.

Myles off.

Myles different.

Yeah.

So a good exercise for those who wish to.

The first is listen to the headphones on because the stereo, the Wiiza stereo is incredible.

The recorder is in your right ear.

Not a melaton.

Not a melaton, no.

No, actual recorder.

So if you're a teacher and you're teaching year six students.

Get them on this.

Get the record as that, get them on.

And the other bit is play it from start to finish and then restart it immediately so you

can hear that mark difference.

It wasn't until you said, have you ever done it and I thought, no, I've never, I don't

think I've ever just straight agon, gone, gone back again.

And it's start.

Unbelievable.

It's like totally different, different song really, but you don't notice it because it goes

on such a journey.

I love that about Jimmy Page, say that that was totally purposeful.

The whole thing was planned, you know, not just like played by feel, but actually mapped

out in his head and then executed like that is, I think that's kind of what makes him a

bit of a genius.

Yeah, the whole song's architecture.

Yeah.

But to have been architected, that makes sense, so that, you know, lots of songs like this.

And I think Pink Floyd did this a lot.

It was almost done by feel initially and then, oh, that's where it's going.

And then, and then architected it, if you like, this to have been architected and designed

and written, if you like, in his head and then played.

Yeah.

But they just mind boggling that someone can have that vision in their brain and then be

able to execute it.

I just think it's absolutely phenomenal.

Production's really interesting on it as well.

There are bits in there that are quite, if you listen to it with headphones, there are bits

in there that are quite boomy on the acoustic, which modern producer would have, you know,

I mean, totally swamped that.

You know, you wouldn't, you just wouldn't get there.

You wouldn't get that kind of, um, but I think that, I think there's a bit of that.

It's a bit purposeful because they're very overpowered actually.

It's not loom-y almost.

It's kind of this, this bit where it kind of almost drones on the kind of the, the deeper

notes of the acoustic, which I think is, I think partly the room, possibly I'm not sure,

but, um, yeah, you, uh, modern producer wouldn't, wouldn't get it.

But it reminds me massively of some of the early, uh, stones recordings.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, you can hear, not only can you hear the studio.

You can hear people moving, like you can put your headphones on.

And there are people, like, putting, picking things up and putting things down, you can hear

stuff happening in the studio.

Now modern producer would have just, you know, a pop rock could have, yeah, my language

have got a yoke all that out, but it gives you this connection to it, yeah, it kind of feels

like, oh, that's why I love it.

I love it a little bit.

It's like authentic, isn't it, gives you this.

It puts you in that space, which, you know, I think modern music is missing.

Really is.

So perfect, everything is triggered and perfect and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and clicked.

And it's just, I don't know, there is just something super special about music, is it?

That's not music.

That's, that's products.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, you say it's not, yeah, but you say it's not music.

I mean, it clearly is.

It's different.

It's different.

It's different.

It's different.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And a different, you know, I guess it appeals to different people.

But, you know, to me, this is, there's just something incredibly special about this era

of music.

And, you know, like, for me, it's albums like this.

It's like, you know, beggars, banquet, and, and let it bleed.

And that, the stuff that was happening around that time, it's just incredibly authentic.

And you probably never, as much as I was talking about Greta van Fleet, you know, having

a similar style, this, that authenticity is just, it's not the same.

This is different point in time.

You know, it's, it's, it's different point in time.

We didn't talk about the recording of the album, of this album and the way a large part of

it was done live.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It wasn't like done layer after layer, you know, they were just all get together in the big

room.

Yeah.

And record.

And I think you can hear that.

Yeah.

You absolutely.

I mean, there's a bit.

And a comment was in the last one.

I think it's in the next one.

I think it's in the same page interview, which we'll play in a second, where he talks about

Robert Plantz.

You know, all of these songs were mapped out and recorded without any vocals, not even a

guide.

So, so the music was down.

Yeah.

And then Robert would be kind of writing the words as it was happening.

Yeah.

So, what you, what the way I would ordinarily write a song is you write the song, you pop

the lyrics on and then you track it and then join the tracking process.

You put the basics down.

Yeah.

You never kind of vocal guide, so everyone in the band knows where they are.

Yeah.

But that bit wasn't done.

There wasn't vocal lines.

There wasn't really vocal melodies.

It was purely instrumentation.

It's very easy.

It's very easy.

The vocals layered on.

What is this thing?

And that's, you've got to be good.

Do you?

She reminds me of, we talked about Mike Patton last week about coming in and the album being

done.

Yeah.

And you're having to write the, you know, the lyrics and the melody for these songs.

Yeah.

And that bit where they're sort of like, okay, you just made that bit long as well.

No, yeah.

No, that's it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we'll be in the pub.

Tell us when you're ready.

But yeah, you're right.

The genius of being able to do that, I just think is incredible.

Yeah.

Really is.

And the band to be able to go and do that without the vocal track.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a real vocal track to work to.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Absolutely incredible.

I mean, yes.

Yeah.

Well, so is the fear, the fear in the band way.

You say, oh, no, there's no, we don't want to do a guide vocal.

You just got it.

You need to know where you are.

It's the drummer art.

The drummer's no idea what's going on the last of the time.

What city are you in?

What songs are we doing?

What's happening?

Shall we play that interview then?

Yeah, let's do that.

This is the last interview for the one, and then we'll talk about next week.

Sleepy bed time.

We're definitely going to do...

Prodigy.

Oh, wait.

I don't know.

Let's go on with it.

It had been said that at this house, which is in Hampshire, the Fleetwood Mac, had rehearsed

there.

Not recorded, but they'd rehearsed there.

So that ticked box number one, for me, that you weren't going to get neighbor problems.

You know, you can make sort of noise and not have that sort of restriction to mess it all

up.

So you could sort of get a flow of music going.

The second thing was that you could actually stay there.

I don't know what other groups would stay there.

I don't think too many.

But it did have accommodation within the main house.

So that sort of ticked another box that we could actually sort of stay there.

So in effect, it seemed to become like a candidate to be able to do this idea, or fulfill this

idea, whereby the group would all stay in the same premises, eat there, sleep there, make

music there, and then you could just bring in an auxiliary truck, mobile recording studio,

which actually at the time happened to be the Rolling Stones one.

And then sort of just get on with it, get on with the job.

I think it is a fusion of all manner of ideas, but the fact of having everybody living in

the same place, and sleeping there, et cetera, and just being able to evolve all of these musical

sort of concepts and deliveries.

You get something which is so extreme from, say, levy breaks, which is so, it's the intensity

of it, the many of it, the threat of it, is the density, the darkness of it, is to sort

of turn the coin and then have something which is really caressing like the going to California.

You know, and it's a really, really intimate close-up picture, so these whole things were able

to be accomplished within this working atmosphere.

Often the role came out, more or less, came out of thin air, and so did the battle of

ever more.

I mean, from my side of it, anyway, the Mandalink, because it was written on the Mandalink, there

were various things that happened like that, in fact, that we were reteaning stairway

to heaven there.

And it was tricky going through it without having any sort of sung verses to it, and while

we were going through it and everyone was learning it, the Robert was writing the lyrics.

In the same room, he was sitting down there writing and having any eventually came to the

microphone and started singing, and it was like, wow, it's just really, we're really onto

something here, because his lyrics were superb on it.

But it was a place really inspired, you know?

And that whole, that whole approach of having gone there, to live the music, to work the music,

to create the music, was the right thing to do for Led Zeppelin in that point of time.

Well, it was complex, and this idea of having the fragile acoustic guitar opening it up, and

then as it comes in, you've got electric piano and the electric 12 strings in stereo.

And the whole thing starts to unravel, and the layers start to unravel as it goes on.

There's a momentum to stairway as well, and it's all really intentional to have this,

and actually, from the first point of the opening guitar to what's going on at the end of it,

the last verse, all that it says. You have Robert, you know, singing at the end after the solo,

all that section. Well, there's an increase of tempo, you know, it's got fast, and the whole

object of the exercise, to have this thing, that would almost be like an orgasm, meaning.

Each and every one of us in the band is distinctively new, you couldn't fail to know that the work

that we'd done, because we were such fine musicians, all of us in the blend, it was substantial work.

And I think that's the bit that got my go earlier about the idea of the press, not appreciating the

graft and the ability and the skill of these musicians. They just saw the rock star and the

telly being thrown out the window in there. I think what they saw was a bunch of lads that didn't,

they were not giving the press the respect that they felt that they deserved. And it wasn't from

anything other than, I just don't think that they, Jimmy, I just don't think they were that kind

of people. They were not the kind of people that were great with the press. You know, some people

are, some people are just so good. Your paddy is a brilliant example of this, you can plunk paddy

in front of anybody on the planet. And you'll have whether they were like, you know, the lowest of

the low cleaning the floors to the kings and queens of the planet paddy, you could have a brilliant

conversation with them, right? And he would be phenomenal. Some people are just, my boss is like that,

and you could put them anywhere, you put them on Mars and they spark up a conversation and be able

to interact with them and be like, but there are some people that are not. You know, for people

that have liked that and have those skills, there are people that just don't. And I think that

led Zeppelin with that, they, I mean, they were not those kind of people that were great with

the press. And rather than the press kind of going, do you know what? Yeah, okay, these guys are

great artists and great musicians, but, you know, quite clearly are not, you know, like media trained,

I suppose it would be today, you know, they just, you know, it was almost this fight, you know, between,

they felt that it was like the band or the press or nothing, and we don't care about them,

when actually I think it was just more, they were not at ease having those kind of conversations,

you know, and I would, it would feel, you know, listening to, to, to, to page, particularly talking

about the, the albums and the art and the, and the vision, having someone asking you questions about,

you know, have you just copied another band? Yeah. You know, I can, I totally can empathise with how

that would be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It felt like a personal attack on you. So I get it, I really do.

I was going to say, I think it's changed, but I'm not sure it has, particularly, but

no, is what it is. Yeah. Yeah. But I, I, it's interesting, I do think they're a band that the media

seems to remember better now, like the press today has a far, fond of relationship with Led Zeppelin

that they ever did back in the '70s, which is bonkers, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely bonkers.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Right. Oh, yeah, that's us. Oh, we done. So we, we, we need to, uh,

set the land. We did say if I had the land, didn't we? I mean, how jarring is that coming from the back

of the, the, the 70s? Yeah. To the 90s dance. Yeah. I think that's another band that are not particularly

genre friendly, the prology. No, no. They're kind of crossover, aren't they? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, they crossover. They are a bit. They, they, certainly, that era there were.

Jealty generation wasn't so much. Jealty was definitely. That was, it was the aftermath of the,

of the rave, the acid house they had seen. Uh, this was trip hop. This was, you know, that kind of thing.

Everybody loved fat at the land. Yeah. Like metalheads loved it. Exactly. We, we, we, we all

absolutely fell in love with this. I mean, I would listen to, to slayer, Metallica, mega death,

prodigy. Yeah. You know, and I remember going to Red, I was at Reading and, um, I'm trying to think who,

uh, yeah, so, uh, Guns and Roses played their first gig in the UK for like 20 years. Yeah.

I'm prodigy. We're on the same bill, but it was like, um, uh, puddle of mud. There's a bunch of

kind of old, old rock bands we're playing. Yeah. And then prodigy. Yeah. And that, do you know what I mean?

And they're slip not played. Yeah. Yeah. But it's still fun. Yeah. It's just crazy, isn't it? There

are so few bands, I think that, that, that managed to, I think because you tend to find with a dance

lot, yeah, it's one or two people. Yeah. And then prodigy was a band. Yeah. Yeah. That was a load of them.

Was the tone. I think the tone of their music was guitar. It wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Not going to get guitar is the wrong description of it, but it had that edge, that kind of distorted

edge to it. I die and towards. Remember when they did, um, download, you know, the metalheads lost

their mind. Yeah, I think it's bonkers how, because that's the reaction you get right. They're like,

oh, they're not metal. So the metal crew don't work, you know, they're famously not, you know,

territorial, if you're like a very territorial about, you know, they're not metal. I'm not listening

to them kind of thing. The prodigy we just accepted. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I, and I,

looking back at it, I can't, I can't, I don't understand how, why, no, maybe it was the image.

There's a lot to do with the show. Yeah. That kind of bad boy. Yeah. Yeah. That kind of, you know,

yeah, I don't, it's weird. I'm looking forward to digging. I don't know much. I know the album really

well. I know Liam Howell. I've watched a few documentaries about Lee. Very clever, man. Yeah,

it's awesome. I watched, I watched a documentary on him learning how to race bikes. I'm eager to

find that's if he's on YouTube still. That was awesome. But I don't know much about the production. I

don't know where it was made. I don't know who was involved. I get the impression it was very

homegrown. You'd have thought so. Yeah. And it was very, because there were Essex boys when they're

breaking. Yeah. So, so yeah, I'd expect it was very much Liam's the mastermind, if you like. Yeah.

The other guys have got their kind of roles to play the character thing. So it's almost like,

who dances? Somebody, somebody, somebody's credited on the album. It's a dancer. As a dancer.

He's not Keith Flint, is it? I don't know. I've got to go back. I know he was he was vocals later,

but I think in the early days, I'm sure. Yeah, I don't know. But they influenced a whole bunch of

bands after, right? Oh, God, who did Propane Nightmare? I'm looking forward to this one. This is

going to be really cool. I listened to it. So I listened to the album through this week.

Yeah. On the CD, I've still got the original CD. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it kicks. It's a great record.

It's got, um, it's got a real slam to the production. Yeah, yeah. And it's, it's really cool. I,

do you know, I, I remember playing Quake 3 online on a modem, on a dial up modem. Yeah.

With this in my headphones. Yeah. And that, you know, back in the days of MP3s. Yeah.

Probably, I do, I bet the MP3s, I listened to came off the same CD that I listened to this week.

I'm so cool. So cool. Anyway, I think we're done rambling. We're done rambling. So, um,

yeah, I was going to say something, but I don't know what I was going to say here. So we just,

let's just go. We should come up with, I listened to a few more, I listened to the more podcasts

this week. People have got a sign off. And they do, they do like a closing, you know,

thanks for, you know, thank you listeners for enjoying another podcast. Thank you for spending

time. Yeah, we got that. We got monster shop or monster, we got all that. That's the big,

yeah, you've mastered that. Haven't you? Yeah. We need like a, like a jack anoree kind of

voice. You know what I mean? Just like, yeah. We said, here's what we learned. Yeah. What,

would we learn? I don't know. Jimmy Page and Robert Planet, Dead Sound. Dead good, aren't they?

Yeah. Dead good. Yeah. I wonder how, I wonder how many other people produced their own albums

in, was that a common thing? I feel the need, I feel the need to go and check that out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But it's been good. I've enjoyed this about Led Zeppelin. Again, a band I discovered way after

really enjoyed it. And it's been really cool to dig into how the album was made and all that stuff.

And I'm excited for the product you next. See you later. See you.