Led Zeppelin Readies New Book For Anniversary

This one will be big: a giant Led Zeppelin history to celebrate the band's 50th anniversary. Pre-order at the link inside the tweet. Called Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin, the 400-page book details the band’s history with lots of photos. Many of the photos are previously unpublished, so there's some real history to learn here. This is going to be cool!

Photo: John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page photographed in May 2018 with their working draft of the book "Led Zeppelin By Led Zeppelin". Published in Oct. by @ReelArtPress to celebrate fifty years since the formation of the band. Pre-order here: https://t.co/kMdbJEDy2x pic.twitter.com/3GnYcfMt4p

— Led Zeppelin (@ledzeppelin) June 8, 2018

Comments

[Him]

SEMI-ON-TOPIC RANT TO FOLLOW (and, yes, I am yelling for some reason):

Jimmy Page is like a modified McDonald's commercial: "Still Lovin' It."

I know, I know. This photo book isn't all him. But, geez, every time I see Page these days I start to grimace. Time to move on and create something new . . . like Jones and Plant. Love what they do (Them Crooked Vultures rocked) or hate it (not everyone likes the groovy Plant of new), they are out there making music and adding to the cultural discussion. Page? Promises, promises . . . why do I believe? Believe what (with apologies to Naked Eyes)? That he will produce something that comes close to The Firm or, on a bad day, Coverdale/Page or Page & Plant.

And let me be a bit more fair: if this was something coming out after a long hiatus of new stuff, music or otherwise, I would be jazzed. But it isn't. Re-releases from Page, new music from Jones and Plant, the awesome _How the West was Won_ and _Celebration Day_. Oh wait. Page is promising to release new music . . . and a new version of _How the West was Won_. What is there possibly left that you can add to your legacy without diminishing it?

The guy is crippled by his mighty past (playing and plundering, rocking and ripping off, take it all or leave some). You might wonder if he is gun-shy or if the well has run dry. But the past always offers up a new gurgle from a dead horse, and certain segments of their fan base lap up the corpse bloat gas like it is an elixir. It ain't. We all love Zep. We have their music.

Move on, Page. You have a finite amount of time left on this marble. Give us something to make us smile. Rock our arses off. Or play a banjo with a violin bow. I don't care at this point. Just give me something.

Oh, will I buy the book? At 70 bucks, it seems like a fair price. But how many coffee table books does one music fan need? I already have the Motley Crue and Van Halen ones, not to mention the coffee table book about coffee tables (the other two are on top of it).

[Shawn]

The FIRM I keep forgetting this great album. I hear you HIM - something is just not right in the Page camp.

[Him]

The Firm is that two-off band that deserved to be much more. Imagine: the combo of Page, Rodgers, Slade, and Franklin digging into the past and also serving up something fresh back in the 80s. And Franklin, for all his hair, is an under-appreciated cog in some truly monstrous releases. Slade? Well, he jumped right back into AC/DC when Rudd decided to think about dirty deeds.

The self-titled album sags here and there; the second suggests at least one or two of them was already walking out the door. But their catalog still hold up where it counts. I play that first one ever year or two and then go: "Damn. Why not this instead of that?" Or why not XYZ? Does anyone remember the promise of that aborted attempt to get Page going again? Alas, Squire is dead. So there is another route to something new that Page squandered.

[Metalboy!]

Haha!! You make me laugh, HIM!

Page doesn’t have to do anything ... Just listen to everything all the way through from the first album to the very last note of “In The Evening”.

Though, I’m with you on the hopes of him doing something new, I would really be surprised if we get anything new from him, or if we do, anything that’s any good. That’s because “In The Evening” was the last good song they and he ever did.

The solo projects and supergroups they’ve all been a part of pale by comparison to the almighty Zeppelin.

Motlëy Crüe? Van Halen? Those people are mere baggage handlers for Page and wouldn’t hesitate to carry them if he asked and why shouldn’t they? He created the frickin’ template for ‘em. I dare say (and challenge anyone to dare say otherwise), those bands would not exist without Zeppelin. And Zeppelin would not have existed without Page.

There’s a reason Richard Branson offered them 16 million to do a one-off reunion not too long ago and not those other bands you mentioned or ANY other, for that matter.

And if you have to ask what that is, well, let’s put it this way ... Louis Armstrong once said, “If you gotta ask what ‘it’ is, you’ll never know.”

p.s. Something to remember ... Rumor has it all were in for the Branson funded reunion except Plant, who declined, continuing to be the thorn in Page’s side for the rest of his life.