ROBERT PLANT GIVES EXTENSIVE INTERVIEWS FOR FORTHCOMING BIOGRAPHY

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Legendary former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant gave extensive interviews for a forthcoming new biography from HarperCollins, to be called ‘Robert Plant: A Life.’ The book is due for release this October in the U.K. and Canada and then next January in the U.S.

According to The Bookseller, author Paul Rees, former editor of Q and Kerrang! magazines, talked to Plant, as well as his key confidants for ’Robert Plant: A Life.’ The book will cover Plant’s career from his pre-Led Zeppelin days through to his celebrated collaboration with Alison Krauss, 2007′s ‘Raising Sand.’ That means fans shouldn’t be expecting any insight into more recent rumors of a possible Zeppelin reunion, in the wake of the band’s release of the ‘Celebration Day’ film.

“Robert Plant’s stature as one of the greatest frontmen of all time is without question and as fans of his music from Led Zep to present, we have long waited to publish his story,” Natalie Jerome of Harper Non-Fiction U.K. said in a statement. “This book is as close to Plant telling his own story in his own words as we’ve seen or heard to date.”

Plant’s band mate Jimmy Page collaborated with writer Brad Tolinski on a similar project called ‘Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page,’ released last October.

The singer known throughout rock as “Percy” recently announced his first U.S. date for 2013, an appearance at the inaugural JamBase Live Festival in July with his backing band the Sensational Space Shifters.

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Jones has rarely recorded as a solo artist since Led Zeppelin’s breakup, releasing only a soundtrack (for the 1985 film ‘Scream for Help’) and a pair of albums, 1999′s ‘Zooma’ and 2001′s ‘The Thunderthief.’ But he’s been active in collaboration with other acts — both as part of official partnerships, such as his 1994 album with Diamanda Galas and his work with Dave Grohl and Josh Homme in Them Crooked Vultures, and in a long list of appearances with artists including Heart, Brian May, Alice Cooper, Gov’t Mule and Peter Gabriel.

While it’s unknown how Jones’ work with Minibus Pimps will affect his ongoing opera project, it’s definitely of a piece with his overall approach to recording. As he told Happening Magazine in 1999, “I’m really not that interested in writing song-based rock.”

Asked why he decided to record ‘Zooma’ as an instrumental LP, Jones explained, “Obviously I don’t really sing myself and I don’t write songs, per se. I also knew that if I got a singer involved, I would stop being an instrumentalist and a composer and that I’d quickly turn into a producer and an arranger. I knew that’s what I’d do just by pure instinct and that my music would just fall by the wayside in that situation, and I just didn’t want to do that. . . . Also, right now, nobody else is doing instrumental rock at the moment, so I kind of have the field to myself.”

‘Cloud to Ground,’ which will be available on 180-gram vinyl as well as additional formats, is scheduled for a March 3 release.

John Paul Jones Forms New Group, Preps Album

Simone Joyner, Getty Images

While Jimmy Page delves into the Led Zeppelin vaults for an upcoming series of reissues, his former bandmate John Paul Jones is forging ahead with a brand new project.

Called the Minibus Pimps, Jones’ latest venture is a collaboration with Helge Sten, widely known among dark-ambient fans for his work as Deathprod. According to Fact, the duo’s upcoming LP, titled ‘Cloud to Ground,’ “will be a compilation of tracks recorded at a series of different live shows, exploring themes which connect the dots between ’70s prog-rock and the Norwegian new-music movement.”

Fact’s article adds that Jones and Sten worked with Kyma, a programming language and hardware system described as “a supercomputer for sound,” in order to “transform the sounds into clouds of seismic drone.” (The title track, for example, is described as a “monstrous duet for icicles and cathedral organ.”) Sten is quoted as saying the music contains “composed and improvisational elements on an equal scale.”

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from rollingstone.com

Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' Targeted for Plagiarism

As Led Zeppelin promote the extravagant reissues of their first three albums for an early June release, a lawyer representing deceased Spirit guitarist Randy California is claiming the hard-rock legends stole the intro for their 1971 single "Stairway to Heaven" from Spirit's 1968 song "Taurus." Attorney Francis Alexander Molofiy wants to prevent the release of the Led Zeppelin IV reissue when the time comes, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. "The idea behind this is to make sure that Randy California is given a writing credit on 'Stairway to Heaven,'" Malofiy said. "It's been a long time coming."

Led Zeppelin and Spirit, who had a hit with "I Got a Line on You," played four gigs together in 1968 and 1969 (shows at which Businessweek claims Spirit played "Taurus"). Led Zeppelin also reportedly played a medley of songs that included Spirit's "Fresh-Garbage" – a song that appeared on the same LP side as "Taurus" – on their first U.S. tour.

In an interview with Listener magazine published the year of his death, California said he felt "Stairway to Heaven" was a "rip-off." "The guys made millions of bucks on it and never said 'Thank you,' never said, 'Can we pay you some money for it?'" he said. "It's kind of a sore point with me. Maybe someday their conscience will make them do something about it."

Spirit and California's family have waited until now to challenge the song's authorship because they did not have the means to pay attorneys. At the end of California's life, he would play sitar at an Indian restaurant in exchange for food.

A rep for Led Zeppelin declined to comment for Businessweek's story, but Page discussed the band's history with crediting songwriters after the fact in a recent interview with The New York Times. When asked why the group waited to credit Willie Dixon for bits of lyrics and melody that made their way into "Whole Lotta Love," he acknowledged, "Within the lyrics of it, there's [Dixons's] "You Need Love," and there are similarities within the lyrics. Now I'm not pointing a finger at anybody, but I'm just saying that's what happened, and Willie Dixon got credit. Fair enough."

Reissues of Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II and Led Zeppelin III are due in stores on June 3rd. Each is available in a deluxe edition that contains a full disc of never-before-released studio takes and live tracks.

"..wants to prevent the release of the LZ IV reissure.."!! What an asshole!! I'm waiting for that reissue!! And if so, where did Randy California steal it from? Boo-freaking-hoo!! What about all those thousands of bands, that have clearly ripped off Jimmy Page/LZ?!!!! 

Video for Whole Lotta Love from boxset:

The Led Zeppelin reissue campaign continues in 2015, turning the spotlight on the double album Physical Graffiti. The deluxe edition of the group’s sixth studio album will arrive 40 years to the day after the original debuted on February 24, 1975. As with the previous deluxe editions, Physical Graffiti has been newly remastered by guitarist and producer Jimmy Page and is accompanied by a disc of companion audio comprising previously unreleased music related to the original release.

Certified 16x platinum in the U.S., the commercial success of Physical Graffiti was equaled by its critical reception. Generally regarded as one of the greatest double albums of all time, the original 15 tracks represent a creative tour de force that explores the band’s dynamic musical range, from the driving rock of “Custard Pie” and an acoustic arrangement of “Bron-Yr-Aur” to the Eastern raga of “Kashmir” and funky groove of “Trampled Under Foot.”

The companion audio disc that accompanies the deluxe edition of Physical Graffiti has seven unreleased tracks, including rough mixes of “In My Time Of Dying” and “Houses Of The Holy,” as well as an early mix of “Trampled Under Foot” called “Brandy & Coke.” All the unreleased companion tracks offer fans a chance to hear well-known songs from a different perspective, including the Sunset Sound mix of “Boogie With Stu” and “Driving Through Kashmir,” a rough orchestra mix of the band’s eight minute opus “Kashmir.” Also featured is “Everybody Makes It Through,” a strikingly different early version of “In The Light” with alternate lyrics.

Super Deluxe Edition Box

3 CD + 3 LP

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