No love for Jimmy Page at the Oscars

A week ago, after the umpteenth post in a row on this site about nothing but Them Crooked Vultures, somebody commented that Lemon Squeezings had in effect become a news site for developments on that band.

Feeling sorry for that person who wasn't getting a steady Led Zeppelin fix over here at LedZeppelinNews.com, I started putting some more stuff up at OnThisDayInLedZeppelinHistory.com right away.

In the past week, there have been new posts about Jerry Wexler signing Led Zeppelin to Atlantic Records in 1968 and turning operations over to Ahmet Ertegun, the band proceeding exactly one year later to begin recording music for a third album in a row, and John Paul Jones reflecting on the band's BBC sessions during an interactive online interview in 1997.

While I felt sorry for this one disenchanted reader of LedZeppelinNews.com, I felt even more sorry for Jimmy Page, the member of that band who put it together from day one, lingered in the studio to put onto tape the sounds in his head, painstakingly mastered the tapes again and again through the years to make sure they fit his vision, and sought time and time again to do something a little more for us unworthy fans.

Like last year, when he wanted to assemble a new band. We now know that it fell by the wayside.

Ever since his last bout of rehearsals and planning came and went without any fruit, Jimmy's been out of the limelight for a little while. Some of the reason is he hasn't done much to put himself in the limelight, but another part of it is because the film "It Might Get Loud" didn't make the big splash I thought it deserved.

I've seen three public showings of this film, twice on opening day in New York City and once in Washington, D.C., a little while after it opened there. Of those three showings, only the second, a noontime showing in Greenwich Village, was packed. Energetic people in the theater burst at the funny moments, and they waited patiently during the film's exaggerated lulls for the next thing to grab them by the arm and entertain. It was a thrill to see so many people so into this movie.

But for the third public showing I attended, I was the only person in the theater. Sure, I suppose downtown D.C. mid-day on a weekday is a thriving metropolis, but not the kind that has people flocking to the cinema at that time. Everybody was busy. I couldn't even coax a friend of mine, a closet U2 fan who works for one of the government agencies, to skip work for a couple of hours and watch his favorite guitarist and mine share the silver screen.

I don't think this film had the crossover appeal it was destined to have. Maybe the upcoming DVD/Blu-Ray releases, and the online release preceding that, will make it easier for people to know of it, enjoy it, talk about it, recommend it and really make something of a sleeper hit out of it. I think generations to come should be watching this film.

The sorrow I feel for Jimmy Page was enhanced today when I noticed some news outlets are reporting "It Might Get Loud" has been overlooked by the Academy Awards in nominating films to the documentary category. Director Davis Guggenheim's previous work, "An Inconvenient Truth," may have picked up an Oscar, but "It Might Get Loud" evidently won't share that fate, which is regrettable.

True, the Grammys overlooked Led Zeppelin in the '70s, and that didn't hurt anybody, so there's really nothing to sweat here. Yet this is a different day and age. Most of the Led Zeppelin news these days is from Them Crooked Vultures, whose members have signaled they're in for round two. Robert Plant earlier this year created waves, picking up five Grammys with Alison Krauss and then creating enough momentum to earn a second wave of sales.

Now, although a follow-up album by Plant and Krauss has stalled, and Plant's fit not to be on tour right now or have any particular album to peddle, his bluegrass turn of the past few years still manages to get acclaim from all directions:

• National Public Radio has just named Plant and Alison Krauss's album Raising Sand one of the current decade's "50 Most Important Recordings."
  
• Furthermore, Crawdaddy contributor Angela Zimmerman now believes that the work by Plant and Krauss has, in retrospect, totally overshadowed the possibilities of a Led Zeppelin reunion.

That just has to be eating at Jimmy Page.

Now, can it be the right antidote to coax him into action again and generate some new music for people to hold up and appreciate?

Update, 4:45 p.m.: Ah! I did not see this until just now, but similar thoughts were posted three weeks ago by Matt Patterson, a National Review Institute Washington Fellow and the author of "Union of Hearts: The Abraham Lincoln & Ann Rutledge Story." His remarks are also reflective of the sentiments I expressed here on Sept. 2, in my post "Do musicians ever really retire?"

Them Crooked Vultures U.K. broadcast this week

• The Aug. 29 set by Them Crooked Vultures at the Reading Festival was filmed and will now appear for those staying up Friday night past midnight. The 40-minute program begins at 12:50 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21.
• Them Crooked Vultures filmed a live set in front of a studio audience for Austin City Limits on Sept. 30 that is scheduled to be broadcast on PBS beginning Feb. 13, 2010.
• Copies of the debut album were sold in Hollywood last night after Them Crooked Vultures performed a surprise show at the Roxy. The album is now out in the United States.
  
  
• As of today, the disc is available almost everywhere. Only two more release dates remain in the future: tomorrow's in Sweden and the Dec. 2 release in Japan. Earlier plans for the Japanese disc to include a bonus track have been scrapped.
• Today is the last day for fans to send their burning questions to John Paul Jones for an upcoming feature in Uncut magazine.
  
• People playing "Rock Band" using Xbox 360 may now play along with "New Fang" by Them Crooked Vultures as the download is now available. There are already videos popping up online of people playing the song, such as the ones below.
  
  

Updates:

• Some live clips are emerging from last night's show at the Roxy in Hollywood. See below.
  
• The band plays the Wiltern in Los Angeles tonight, at the Fox Theater in Oakland on Thursday, at the Paramount in Seattle on Saturday, and at the Roseland Theater in Portland on Sunday.
  

Them Crooked Vultures to play one more gig prior to U.S. album release

The debut album from Them Crooked Vultures, now out in some parts of the world, still has one day to go before it can be sold in North America. Fans in the Los Angeles area can catch John Paul Jones and his bandmates at the Roxy in Hollywood tonight for a surprise show announced only today although it was rumored for the past few weeks.

Tickets to today's show must be purchased on site; limit two per person. Customers must enter immediately after purchasing tickets, and there is no re-entry. It hasn't been stated what time tickets go on sale or what time the show is -- just that you won't be allowed to line up before 2 p.m.

As previously announced, Them Crooked Vultures will play at the Wiltern in Los Angeles tomorrow, on the day of the album release. At least three more U.S. shows are scheduled -- in Oakland, Seattle and Portland -- before December, when the band heads back across the Atlantic for some shows in continental Europe and a U.K. tour.

Them Crooked Vultures issue 'New Fang' for video game format

Want to bang on the drums like Dave Grohl, slide your way across a fretboard or sing like Josh Homme, or handle a bass like John Paul Jones? On Tuesday, you ain't gotta wait no more.

While Jimmy Page says he opposes licensing his music for video game consoles, the supergroup starring his former Led Zeppelin bandmate has green-lighted adding its new single to the game "Rock Band."

"New Fang," one of them newfangled, newfangled tracks off the debut album by Them Crooked Vultures, will be available for download beginning Tuesday, Nov. 17, to be implemented into the Xbox 360 video game.

The band issued a statement today explaining the reason for this decision. It reads:

"Them Crooked Vultures are keenly aware of the different ways in which modern music fans digest new music and are therefore especially happy to be able to offer the first single from their self-titled debut up as a downloadable 'Rock Band' game track on the same day the album goes on sale."

The track will sell for $1.99 in the United States, £.99 in the United Kingdom, and €1.49 in Europe. Xbox 360 users can also use 160 Microsoft Points for the download.

"New Fang" will be also available for "Rock Band" on the Wii platform beginning Nov. 24, which will require 200 Wii Points for the download. Playstation 3 users can look forward to playing with "New Fang" beginning Dec. 3.

The "Rock Band" format has generated 60 million paid downloads since its launch two years ago, on Nov. 20, 2007.

Uncut prompts fans to submit interview questions for John Paul Jones

Uncut magazine has announced the John Paul Jones will participate in the "Audience With" feature, which allows fans to submit questions to be answered by their favorite musicians.

Get your questions ready and send them to Uncut by Nov. 17. Don't forget to include your name and location with your questions!

The best questions, and John Paul Jones's answers, will be published in a future issue of Uncut.

Rolling Stone gives Them Crooked Vultures album 3.5 of 5 stars

Rolling Stone, the chief magazine leading the pack of the music media's offenses against Led Zeppelin from 1969 onward, is now having to figure out how to deal with John Paul Jones in the digital age.

A review by Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield, appearing in the latest issue of Rolling Stone and online now, gives the disc by Them Crooked Vultures 3.5 stars out of a possible 5 but starts off in the magazine's traditional snarky manner:

"Ladies and gentlemen, Them Crooked Vultures — the second-best band John Paul Jones has ever been in!"

When you count up the number of bands Jones has ever been aside from Led Zeppelin, it becomes evident Sheffield hasn't heard of Mutual Admiration Society, the John Paul Jones Orchestra, the backing band of Diamanda Galas, or Jet Harris and Tony Meehan's band. Clearly, Them Crooked Vultures ranks sixth behind all of those.

But seriously, Sheffield can't keep his mind off Led Zeppelin in his review. Overwhelmingly, when he hears Them Crooked Vultures he thinks of Led Zeppelin.

Coming from Rolling Stone, comparisons to Led Zeppelin could be a good thing or a bad thing. Ever since the days when John Mendelsohn, Lester Bangs and Lenny Kaye were tepid or downright spiteful in their reviews of the group's initial albums, certain authors in the magazine -- including Cameron Crowe, Stephen Davis, Andy Greene, Mikal Gilmore and David Fricke -- have forced a reappraisal of Led Zeppelin in Rolling Stone's pages over the years.

The year 2004 represented a big shift in the re-analysis. That year:

• Led Zeppelin was ranked one of "The Greatest Artists of All Time" (coincidentally, Them Crooked Vultures drummer Dave Grohl, then with the Foo Fighters, authored the piece for Rolling Stone that called Led Zeppelin "the perfect combination of the most intense elements: passion and mystery and expertise").
• The selection of Led Zeppelin's U.S. Tour of 1973 as one of "The 50 Moments that Changed the History of Rock 'n' Roll" was an unexpectedly apt pick.
• Not to place at least six of the band's compositions in "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" or the band's 1973 tour would have been a travesty; half of the six were on Led Zeppelin II.

At any rate, Sheffield makes the following comparisons between Them Crooked Vultures and Led Zeppelin:

• During "Elephants," Them Crooked Vultures succeed in "basically crunch[ing] every riff on Led Zeppelin II into seven dizzy minutes," Sheffield asserts.
  
• He says Jones's bass line on "Nobody Loves Me & Neither Do I" sounds "as nasty as 'Out on the Tiles.'"
• "Reptiles," he says, sounds like "a sly update of 'South Bound Suarez.'"
• He even wants Josh Homme's voice to sound like Robert Plant's, but it sounds more like Jack Bruce's in Cream.
• Sheffield compares Homme's guitar playing to that of Led Zeppelin's guitarist: "He does deliver loads of Jimmy Page doppelgänger solos, just to prove he can."
• Throughout the album, Jones reminds Sheffield "he's the bass man who helped give the world 'Black Dog.'"
• Finally, Sheffield says Homme and Grohl "are old hands at this kind of thing," having had "excellent Zeppelin homages" on the Queens of the Stone Age album Songs for the Deaf.

It's just interesting, now, that the magazine that didn't want anything to do with Led Zeppelin is now the magazine that can't seem to get enough Led Zeppelin. What's more, Rolling Stone has trouble giving even a 4 out of 5 rating to a band it insists is so reminiscent of Led Zeppelin.

Update: Oh! I totally forgot my initial point in posting this! John Paul Jones told me in 2001 he hated when people compared his solo work to Led Zeppelin songs and approached him with the question, "Don't you think that's a little Led Zeppelin-inspired?" His answer to them was always, "Don't you think Led Zeppelin was a little John Paul Jones-inspired?"

And check out who's on the cover of New Musical Express! See how Josh Homme and Dave Grohl appear to tower over John Paul Jones.

John Paul Jones proclaims Them Crooked Vultures now 'the best band in the world'; he hopes for second album, says Led Zeppelin won't be calling him back

John Paul Jones, in an interview published today by Australia's Nova 91.9 FM, says that for the second time in his life as a musician, he finds himself in "the best band in the world." Them Crooked Vultures has now taken Led Zeppelin's position as the world's best band, Jones says.

The full context of his statement comes in an in-depth interview that touches on the vows of silence under which the band labored all year to create the album now streaming online and soon to be released commercially, the reasoning behind the secrecy, his satisfaction with both of his bands, and the fact that he no longer expects to work with Led Zeppelin.

Unlike at least one other recent interview with Jones, there was no mention during this one of the group with Jimmy Page and Jason Bonham that did not come to fruition last year after being heralded by the press as a second coming of Led Zeppelin with a singer other than Robert Plant on vocals. Today's interview focuses solely on the events since this February, when Jones began working with current bandmates Josh Homme and Dave Grohl, and comparing the impetus behind their music with that of Led Zeppelin's from 1969 to 1979, when that band was releasing albums and, according to Jones, was the world's greatest.

"I always try to be in the best band in the world, I promise myself," says Jones. "I'm obviously very proud of the Zeppelin legacy, and I'm hoping I'm keeping the spirit alive with this band."

In some real ways that deal with the music, he does seem to be. "There are so many parallels with the old Zeppelin days," says Jones. "We're making music that we want to make. You're not thinking, 'What's going to sell? What is everybody else going to like?' We're making music for ourselves, and Zeppelin was exactly the same. We never thought, 'What's the new record going to be like?' We just got the songs together. It's all an organic process. None of it's manufactured."

It seems to be the exception and not the norm in the current climate of today's music scene. Jones agrees: "To my ears there's not much around that actually excites me, and this music that we're making excites me. So I assumed it might excite other people too. That's the only way you can think of it."

Furthermore, this is the first time Jones has felt this way about a band of his since Led Zeppelin's breakup in 1980, so why would he want the feeling to stop with the release of this album? Why would he want to make this disc his sole statement with Them Crooked Vultures?

He says he'll be ready to head back into the studio with Homme and Grohl, and he'd rather fight off the Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age than not work with those two again right away. Jones testifies, "I hope there's maybe going to be another album. I don't have a band that's going to call me back – the other two do. But they're going to have to fight me for them because we're having a bit too much fun at the moment."

And there it was: Jones slips in that he won't be anticipating any future work with Led Zeppelin. The window of opportunity for that to happen has firmly shut, Jones affirms. There really is, as LedZeppelinNews.com anticipated not long ago, no reason to believe. Who's going to be at Glastonbury with Robert Plant? Not John Paul Jones and, therefore, not Led Zeppelin.

Jordana Borensztajn's interview with Jones carries so much more, though, than one member's de facto denial of a Led Zeppelin reunion. As for the reasons Them Crooked Vultures kept its existence the secret it was for months and months, Jones says, "We kept it quiet so there wasn't all the speculation and the pressure. There was enough pressure between ourselves to do a really good record, and we did try to impress each other. ... We just wanted to get on and concentrate on the music."

The best part of touring this new material prior to its release, says Jones, was that nobody in the audience was familiar with it and, therefore, was uniquely capable of giving honest reactions to hearing the music in a live setting for the first time. "To have an audience just stand there and listen, and take it all in – it's just amazing," says Jones. "They're reacting really, really well and it's new for them because normally they would have heard the record first and know the lyrics. It's a new experience which they look like they're enjoying and they sound like they're enjoying, certainly." Talk about taking a risk! And yes, Led Zeppelin was always known for taking those.

Jones on the band's sound:

"When people ask what it sounds like, it sounds like me playing bass and Dave playing drums and Josh singing and playing guitar. It's very obvious. It's just us -- it's straight ahead, it's very honest and it really rocks. It's multi-layered and sounds fantastic. We love it. We play it and we're like, 'Wow, this is really good.' ...

"Josh is great. You know those old competitions in magazines where they show you a familiar object from an unfamiliar angle and you have to guess what it is? That's how Josh seems to look at life. He just looks at it from a really unfamiliar angle and it's just so refreshing. ...

"And Dave is just a killer drummer – a bass player's dream. And he's a great musician. He listens, he's very enthusiastic, very excitable, he drinks a lot of coffee and there's a lot of laughter and a lot of joking all the time. It's a very nice position to be in, I have to say. ...

"We all listen to each other. With the experience [we have], nobody has to explain anything to anybody else. If something's not working, everybody knows it's not working. And also, when you're with experienced musicians, you can fail. You can try something out knowing that it might now work."

There's one other comparison Jones makes to Led Zeppelin, and that has to do with the fan reaction. The fact that the music is not "manufactured" but is made just to please the musicians themselves greatly affects whether or not fans too will like it. As Jones says, "This music that we're making excites me, so I assumed it might excite other people too."

He and his bandmates suspected their individual names had some drawing power but weren't sure exactly what effect that alone would have on public interest, on creating enough demand to fill clubs and excite festival audiences when the audiences knew not what to expect.

"We knew we would create some sort of splash and it would be noticed but you never really know the circumstances," Jones says. "It's the same as Zeppelin. People would say, 'Did you realize when you were writing "Stairway to Heaven" what a huge song it was going to be?' Well, not really."

He describes Them Crooked Vultures concerts like this:

"Our shows are extremely loud, and slightly terrifying. We love doing them. Nobody shouts out Zeppelin numbers or Queens numbers or Foo numbers at our shows -- nobody does it. And that's refreshing. They're here for us. In fact, none of us have played any covers in rehearsals or jamming and we're very, very happy with that."

This writer must fess up to shouting for Jones's post-Zeppelin instrumental "Spaghetti Junction" as a request between songs at the 9:30 club in Washington, D.C. To my ears, Grohl may have teased "Moby Dick" between songs that night, but Jones didn't sate my palate for "Spaghetti Junction." Instead, he sated it with the band's new album plus other new material perhaps destined for that second Them Crooked Vultures album Jones has now publicly expressed interest in recording.

After all, he says there's no band from his past that will be calling him back. And you can take that to the bank.