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If not reunite Led Zeppelin, what's Jimmy Page's next move?

Monday, September 29, 2008

Now that Robert Plant has quashed the rumor of his agreement to participate in a Led Zeppelin reunion, the rumor mill must find a new storyline to push.

And in this case, why not revive the one we were fed last week involving Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham?

After all, just because Plant isn't working with those three guys doesn't mean they're not working with each other, perhaps auditioning singers or maybe even already having identified their choice candidate.

A hint passed on to Led Zeppelin fans last week suggests that Alter Bridge singer-guitarist Myles Kennedy has become the boys' top pick in those much-ballyhooed jam sessions in England.

Hey hey, whaddya know? The Myles Kennedy rumor has now gone semi-mainstream, with entertaining Telegraph blogger Neil McCormick picking up on it! Also having written about it is Michael Christopher, music columnist for the Delco Times in Delaware County, Pa.

The mention of Kennedy's name in Zep circles last week was accompanied by a stipulation, assumedly conveyed to fans by insiders, that the Page-Jones-Bonham-Kennedy band would be a new project and not a Led Zeppelin redux.

If that's so, OK, fine. So, the band hypothetically puts out an album of originals. All new stuff nobody's heard before. How well does that go over in a live setting?

That resurrects another scenario previously discussed here: how classic artists can work to ensure their new music is appreciated by fans in a live setting, rather than be ignored as fodder for the proverbial bathroom break.

Still, even an aspiring new act that stars three members who will forever be indelibly linked to their past participation in Led Zeppelin has only one album's worth of original material under its belt. How could this act possibly conduct any kind of a tour without dipping into the Zep songbook for at least half the show?

Is it not human nature on the part of the musicians to want to play the songs that made them famous, and human nature on the part of the paying audience to expect to hear those songs?

And furthermore, is it not human nature to be disappointed if that expectation is not met? After all, this is the same fan base that crucifies Plant whenever he is seen as the lone holdout against a Led Zeppelin reunion, as he is no doubt currently being viewed in light of today's statement.

Plant's stance has definitely disappointed many fans who held a glimmer of hope that what happened in December 2007 could happen again, and soon.

So, if Page, Jones and Bonham have a project together that is not reuniting Led Zeppelin, how different can it be? Or, if you fit this into the context of history-resisting bands like Blind Faith and The Firm, how different must it be?

And what is the consensus on Myles Kennedy among readers of LedZeppelinNews.com?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Myles Kennedy would be a perfect fit.. I have really gotten into his band Alter Bridge as of late. He is very talented. He seems like a nice guy check out myles-kennedy.com seems very down to earth.

solerso said...

Yeah thats a perfect connundrum youve trapped us in. HMMMM is there any way out??? dear god help me!!! WAIT!! they could re-form led zeppelin, with.....A NEW SINGER! I know, that sounds like crazy talk, considering that the rock-n-roll industry is more loyal than the mafia...but since plant has bent over backwards to "distance" himself from zeppelin(read that as belittle, ridicule, mock and make numerous references to spinal tap), fans like me could care less if he even LIVES for another year, much less re-joins zep. In fact. Im so completely intruiged with the idea of Led Zeppelin with a new singer, I hope plant stays gone for good!

Anonymous said...

Solerso,
I couldn’t agree with you more.

As I have been saying for a while, Plant insults his Zeppelin fans on a regular basis and it’s nice to see that I am not the only one that sees this.

Doesn’t he know that it isn’t 1982 anymore?

Things go out of style and things come back in style, and Led Zeppelin is very much back in style these days.

People out there are tired of listening to bland, mundane music and want to hear more intricate, and polished music played by peopled that really know how to play.

The 80’s Punk and New Wave musicians attacked the better musicians because they could hardly play their own instruments. As history has shown, it has always been easier to tear down than to build up.

The people that used to make fun of Led Zep in the 80’s finally realized that THEY were the idiots for trashing Zeppelin, just because of their superior musicianship and their extended songs and solos.

What lasting impression did Punk & New Wave leave as their legacy….. Nothing.


Alas, I too am tired of waiting and this is the last slap in the face from Plant that I will take.

Bugger Off Plant……
and may the rest of your musical projects be as sour as you are to your fans.

Nuvo911

Andrew said...

Yes are now touring with a tribute band lead singer. This is all so pathetic, desperate, and wrong. I for one fervently hope that Zep do not go the same route. Fire up a large one and watch the DVD, that's my advice!

Anonymous said...

tHEY WON'T GO OUT WITH A FAKE SINGER AND CALL IY lED zEP. iF THEY DO GO IT WILL BE SOMETHING DIFFERENT. MAYBE TO SUPPORT JIMMY'S NEW ALBUM, AND THEY COULD THROW IN ZEP TUNES ON THE ROAD WITH A REPLACEMENT SINGER.

SO REMEMBER, NO MATTER WHAT, NO JOHN BONHAM - NO LED ZEPPELIN. PERIOD.

NUVO911

solerso said...

andrew why do i suspect that "fire up a large one and put in a dvd" would be your advice in any situation. and as for the "no bonham no band" guy, i guess we should all just lay down and die, and declare music to all finished now, right? get a life, i mean that leiterally, and it is still my best advice to page and jones.

Led Zeppelin Reunion


Photo courtesy of Simon Keeping

The surviving members of Led Zeppelin regrouped in 2007, with Jason Bonham on drums, to perform a year-end tribute to Ahmet Ertegun. Their widely praised concert was witnessed in person by fewer than 20,000 people. It is likely never to be repeated, and there are no announced plans to release the concert for home viewing. However, clicking the image above will bring up multi-cam footage of the entire Led Zeppelin performance as it happened on Dec. 10, 2007, at the O2 arena in London.

Many posts on LedZeppelinNews.com have centered on the possibility of a full-scale Led Zeppelin reunion, noting particularly the inaccuracies reported by the popular press.

Page


Jimmy Page stars with fellow guitarists Jack White and The Edge in this guitar documentary, directed by Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth"), which had widespread theatrical showings beginning in August.

LedZeppelinNews.com provided a review of "It Might Get Loud" at that time.

"It Might Get Loud" will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on Dec. 22 in the United States. Click here to pre-order on DVD or Blu-Ray. Prior to this, "It Might Get Loud" will be available on iTunes for two weeks beginning Dec. 8.

- What else should I know about "It Might Get Loud"?

- What else is Jimmy Page up to?

Plant


Just prior to the Led Zeppelin reunion concert in 2007, Robert Plant released the album Raising Sand with Alison Krauss. Their partnership has been the subject of much critical and commercial success, including victories at the Grammy awards two years in a row.

A follow-up to that album has been in pre-production, but Krauss's current priorities are new recordings and eventual touring with her signature band, Union Station. Progress on the second Plant/Krauss album is anticipated following the completion of the Union Station tour.

More recently, Plant entered the studio with famed U2 producer Daniel Lanois for some recording sessions, the nature of which has not been disclosed.

Following the breakup of Led Zeppelin, Plant went on to a rewarding career as a solo artist. He released six albums of his own between 1982 and 1993, two collaborative albums with Jimmy Page between 1994 and 1998, and two more solo albums since that time. Yet until Raising Sand, his biggest commercial success came in releasing an EP of classic cover material under the name The Honeydrippers.

- What else is Robert Plant up to?

Jones


John Paul Jones is now in one of the hottest and hardest rock bands, Them Crooked Vultures. The frontman, handling lead guitar and vocals, is Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters is on drums. As for Jones, he offers not only bass and keyboard but also mandolin, keytar, lap steel and whatever else is needed.

One album was released in November, and another is forthcoming. A tour of North America completed in November, and the band now heads to Europe in December and Australia in January.

- What's the latest on Them Crooked Vultures, the group featuring John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme?

- What else is John Paul Jones up to?

Jason Bonham


Jason Bonham, son of the late John "Bonzo" Bonham, does not take lightly the responsibility of carrying on his father's legacy. Having made a head start at drumming while he was a child, Jason is now passing on the same lessons to a third generation of Bonham drummers.

John Bonham's death in 1980 left such an impact on the surviving members of Led Zeppelin that they knew immediately they could not continue as they were. Yet Jason Bonham's familiarity with the band made him a shoe-in to join his father's bandmates on the few occasions reunion concerts have taken place.

This year marked the 20th anniversary of Bonham's most successful album release to date, the Platinum-certified disc The Disregard of Timekeeping released by his band, Bonham. To mark the milestone, he recently toured with a new band and played under the banner of "An Evening with Jason Bonham."

In the past, Bonham has also toured and/or recorded with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Foreigner, UFO, Paul Rodgers, Joe Bonamassa, Virginia Wolf, Airrace, Healing Sixes and Motherland. He also acted in the movie Rock Star and appeared on the reality TV show "SuperGroup."

- What's the latest on Jason Bonham?

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