Jimmy Page's instrumental composition follows familiar path

Jimmy Page's guitar instrumental "Embryo No. 2," as heard during the movie "It Might Get Loud," has already had a 10-year life. It debuted publicly onstage at a concert appearance in October 1999, when its title was later confirmed to be "Domino."

It is assumed that five months earlier, Page included "Domino" among instrumental studio tracks he recorded with drummer Michael Lee as the basis for what they hoped would be a new album with Robert Plant. The singer had just bagged a set of tour dates and set about to avoid touring on memories with Led Zeppelin, but Page was still doing whatever he could to re-energize Plant so they could work together again on some new collaborations. He was unsuccessful in recruiting Plant back into the fold, and life went on for them both.

The next time Page and Plant reunited for any great length of time was eight years later, with John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham, in a group billed as Led Zeppelin for a tribute concert to Ahmet Ertegun. Following this one show, Page, Jones and Bonham spent parts of 2008 rehearsing for a touring and recording group they hoped would also involve Plant. That group never came to fruition. It is believed that "Domino" was introduced during the rehearsals, as Page reveals he "played [it] with other musicians relatively recently, in the last year or so."

Toward the end of last year, the original drummer on "Domino," Michael Lee, died unexpectedly.

Now that the instrumental, retitled as "Embryo No. 2," makes an appearance in the movie "It Might Get Loud," he says he expects to revisit the piece during his next musical project, the details of which will probably be unfolding in another year or two.

On the Led Zeppelin discussion group For Badgeholders Only, one user joked today that "Embryo No. 2" will make the 12-minute Led Zeppelin composition, "Carouselambra," released on Led Zeppelin's final studio album 30 years ago today, look like "a mere ditty compared to this, huh?"

There actually is a model from Page's past for the path "Domino"/"Embryo No. 2" has taken over the past 10 years. This involves several coincidences, and it foretells that the piece, when completed in time, will be well worth the wait.

Page first conceived an instrumental "Swan Song" in about 1973 or perhaps even earlier. He rehearsed it with John Paul Jones and John Bonham at the time, but the track was abandoned during the Led Zeppelin years. Meanwhile, Page continued previewing segments of it live during their concerts, fitting it in during his solo guitar showcase of "White Summer" and "Black Mountain Side."

About three years after the track's original drummer had died, "Swan Song" underwent a new name change, to "Bird on the Wing," and made it onstage yet again, this time with Paul Rodgers during their touring for the ARMS concerts. Now it had words too, born out of the loose Page-Rodgers collaboration. It finally emerged in finished form on the Firm's first album as the beautiful "Midnight Moonlight." Only through collaborating with other musicians did this final product come about.

By now, Page must realize he can no longer wait for Plant to be involved. He may never come around again. Whoever Page's next Paul Rodgers is will hopefully bring a voice to "Domino"/"Embryo No. 2" -- and perhaps under a new, definitive title.

Jimmy Page foreshadows his next musical project in new interview

Tomorrow's theatrical premiere of "It Might Get Loud" in New York and Los Angeles allows people to hear the early workings of some new music Jimmy Page says is destined for a future project of his.

As Lemon Squeezings reported in April 2008, the movie contains instrumental numbers called "Embryo No. 1" and "Embryo No. 2." These are the first new compositions from Page released in any form since October 1999.

Now, Page tells Billboard magazine he intends to morph these, and other new tracks, into fully developed studio compositions.

In exactly what setting the "Embryo" pieces will emerge, Page didn't specify. But he did tell Billboard he had "played them with other musicians relatively recently, in the last year or so."

By this he might mean John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham, even possibly with Alter Bridge singer Myles Kennedy. It has been widely reported that those four considered assembling a band for some time last year, even to the point of rehearsing new music and eventually going out on tour to support an album release.

By the end of last year, that prospective band project was no longer being considered. Now, Jones has just debuted his new band, Them Crooked Vultures, reportedly after six months of rehearsals and studio recording. Page, meanwhile, seemed to have given no indication to his manager, Peter Mensch what projects he would be working on in 2009. Mensch said in an interview with MusicRadar this January, "F--- if I know" the direction in which Page's career would head.

Page now tells Billboard what's been going on and what he has in mind. "This year I've had quite a lot of things going on," he says, "sort of things relative to preparing for projects. There's a lot of groundwork that's been going into that so that I can be getting on with things next year. I really intend to be doing some playing and ... be seen, if you like. If you've got ambitious projects, they take time to put together if you're going to do them properly."

Page's last publicly disclosed comments on the subject came in June, as reported by the LA Weekly blog West Coast Sound. In that interview, Page said:

"I've got some new music. There's sort of little tastes and shades of it in the documentary. Bits. It's just a question of actually doing it now. Actually getting a project that I've had in mind for a while. I've just got to go and do it. Don't want to tell anyone about it. But, yes, I've got a big project I'm working on."

As for tomorrow's public premiere of his "Embryo" pieces in the film "It Might Get Loud," Page says he is excited. He's even hinting toward a future DVD release of the film packed with surplus footage of songs its starring guitarists played each other.

"It's inevitable there'll be a DVD on the horizon," he offers. "There'll be some extra stuff from the summit, that's obvious. I know there's another number I did. There was a lot that was played at the summit, that Edge did, I'm sure, and Jack. I'm sure there'll be a DVD, and I can tell you with a certain confidence there'll be extras because that's the way things work these days."

Theatrical release dates for "It Might Get Loud" in various U.S. cities stretch into October, and a U.K. premiere has been promised for this autumn. Sony Pictures Classic last year purchased widespread international distribution rights for the film, which has been screened at numerous festivals worldwide.

Update:

After watching "It Might Get Loud" in a theater twice today (Friday, Aug. 14), I couldn't pick out "Embryo No. 1" either time in the film. It's listed in the credits as having appeared very early on, but I listened for it twice and either missed it twice or it was not really there. Have any sharp-eyed readers spotted "Embryo No. 1" in the film?

Also, I was somewhat disappointed to learn that this so-called "new" composition, "Embryo No. 2," is a mere remake of the instrumental that was called "Domino" and included during a Net Aid set in October 1999 with Guy Pratt on bass and the late Michael Lee on drums.

If there was no "Embryo No. 1," and if "Embryo No. 2" is only an unfinished version of an instrumental track written 10 years ago, then perhaps Page isn't all that far into what he describes will be a "big project"!

Further update:

After my third screening of "It Might Get Loud," I realize "Embryo No. 1" is what's playing over the opening credits. Furthermore, it's what you hear in the background between seconds 25 and 53 on the trailer. Listen!

Jimmy Page mum on details of his 'big project ... that I've had in mind for a while'

In a moment of clarity the other day, Jimmy Page discussed the similarities, and differences, between guitars and women. As Lina Lecaro reports for the LA Weekly blog West Coast Sound, Page said:

"I've said that it's shaped like a woman, you know. You can touch it and caress it. The thing I haven't said, that I'll tell you now is: it doesn't ask you for alimony!"

Aside from this witty moment, West Coast Sound also relates good news for Jimmy Page fans who've been hoping to hear new music from the guy. (That is, more new music than just the "Embryo" pieces contained in the guitar documentary "It Might Get Loud" opening this August.)

Page hinted, "I've got a big project I'm working on." Of course, the guitarist was mum on the details, just like his Led Zeppelin counterpart John Paul Jones, who hasn't offered any further details in the past two months on his "secret" project now believed to be an album recorded with Dave Grohl and Josh Homme.

An announcement regarding Jones's project is anticipated soon, especially considering the fact that back in April he said he'd hoped "to be everywhere this summer" with the people whose names he failed to mention.

As for Page's "big project," he says, "I've got some new music. There's sort of little tastes and shades of it in the documentary. Bits. It's just a question of actually doing it now. Actually getting a project that I've had in mind for a while. I've just got to go and do it. Don't want to tell anyone about it. But, yes, I've got a big project I'm working on."

There's no word on the timetable for this musical project of Page's as of yet. Update: He told a WalesOnline reporter on Friday, "I'm taking a little bit of time off and then getting back into work thoroughly around December time and into the New Year."

Source of dismal assessment of Led Zeppelin reunion status offers murky clarification

So, more on those two seemingly conflicting quotes from Jimmy Page's manager that showed up on the Internet yesterday.

MusicRadar now offers an explanation pointing out that the BBC article providing the earlier quote from Mensch is actually dated Jan. 7, 2008 -- a year ago.

And therefore, MusicRadar surmises, the interview we were all reading yesterday must have been a year old and carry only information that has become obsolete through a year's passage of time.

So, MusicRadar argues, the correct explanation is that Mensch now says the possibility of future collaboration among Led Zeppelin's members is off the table. That's what he told them on the phone yesterday, so they consider the chance of this collaboration non-existent now, although it could have been at the time of Mensch's earlier interview for the BBC, whenever it was truly conducted.

But that argument doesn't exactly hold water with me, and here's why.

MusicRadar is right that the BBC article is dated Jan. 7, 2008, not Jan. 7, 2009. Good catch.

However, explain why the Peter Mensch interview clips were used in the most recent "Music Week" podcast on the BBC site. I downloaded and played it yesterday where this new podcast was displayed ever so obviously. It wasn't hidden in some year-old archive where I had to dig it up. It was right there.

If the BBC interview were really a year old, in theory, somebody would have recognized it. I would like to think I would have remembered coming across it only 12 months ago. I would like to think somebody at the BBC would have intercepted it before it were released for a second time.

There's no way the BBC would have purposely hoarded the interview for a full year before using it! What would the purpose of that be?

OK, now let's consider the content of the interview. BBC interviewer Matt Everitt refers to rumors that Steven Tyler was jamming with Page and Jones -- rumors that didn't exist before late October 2008. Peter Mensch also discusses the auditioning of singers, which wouldn't have happened by this time a year ago.

The BBC interview was probably conducted in November, or late October at the absolute earliest, circumstances mentioned in the interview suggest.

So I would think the 2008 inscription on the article's dateline was the result of a typographical error. As of yet, this has not been corrected. (Update: It was a typographical error, and it eventually was corrected. It now reads 2009.)

But as to why Peter Mensch would deny to MusicRadar having given an interview to the BBC, I don't know.

Maybe he gave the interview a month or more ago and didn't know what interview MusicRadar was referring to when it came up in yesterday's brief phone conversation.

We do have further reason to believe, however, that when MusicRadar's Joe Bosso called Peter Mensch yesterday for comment on the BBC article, the interviewer asked (pitifully) about a "Led Zeppelin" tour. Look, even MusicRadar admits the conversation went something like this:

JB: "Hey Pete, nice interview with the BBC, who's replacing Robert Plant, then?"
PM: "What interview? I haven't spoke to those guys for like four months or something."
JB: "So Led Zeppelin are not going to tour and record?"
PM: "No chance."

So, I guess that's what Peter Mensch was saying wasn't going to happen: a Led Zeppelin tour. Feh. Like we really needed clarification on that point.

But is it possible Mensch also means, by extension, there's no chance of any project involving collaboration between Page and Jones?

Because if that's what he means, then, well, that sucks!

As far as the comment that Mensch has no clue what Page will be up to in the event that this band with Jones and Bonham has already fallen through, that's saddest of all.

Somebody on the discussion group For Badgeholders Only has suggested that this signals the end of Jimmy Page's career once and for all. What a sad assessment if this is true.

Reports: Jimmy Page to release Santana-style album

This news originally appeared at the Web site for the newsletter "On This Day In Led Zeppelin History."

There is chatter that Jimmy Page currently has a new solo album in the works. This would be his first since the 1988 release of Outrider, which contained several original rock instrumentals, one new collaboration with Robert Plant, and the single "Wasting My Time."

The U.K. newspaper The Independent reported Aug. 27, 2004, that Page "is currently planning an album with guest musicians, along the lines of the recent Santana albums."

A blurb in a recent edition of Rolling Stone magazine provides further insight, stating that "each track would feature him playing a different, rare guitar" and that one ax rumored to have been owned by Chuck Berry has been provided by singer-songwriter Dan Hicks.

More details on Page's new project will be provided as they become available.

Since touring in 1988 for Outrider, Page teamed up with Whitesnake singer David Coverdale to write and record an album of new material, Coverdale/Page. This led to his highly successful 1994-1998 reunion with Robert Plant, including the Unledded album and video (finally being released on DVD this month), multiple large-scale tours, and 1998's Walking into Clarksdale, Page and Plant's first collaborative album of all-new material since Led Zeppelin's In Through the Out Door in 1979. In 1999 and 2000, Page toured extensively with the Black Crowes, releasing Live at the Greek, a two-CD live set of their concert material.

While a back injury has hindered Page's concert appearances since 2000, the guitarist has continued to make in-person appearances and work on various Led Zeppelin projects. These included the production of the Led Zeppelin live sets How the West Was Won and DVD, released simultaneously in May 2003.