{"id":7941,"date":"2026-01-09T11:26:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T11:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/jimmy-page-plant-zeppelin-yardbirds-session-work-98812\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T11:26:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T11:26:50","slug":"jimmy-page-plant-zeppelin-yardbirds-session-work-98812","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/jimmy-page-plant-zeppelin-yardbirds-session-work-98812\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Page: \u201cThe Holy Grail is yet to be discovered\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This article originally appeared in Uncut’s December 2014 issue<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Click here to subscribe to Uncut<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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This article originally appeared in Uncut\u2019s December 2014 issue<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Jimmy Page\u2019s standards, 2014 has been a surprisingly busy year. He has overseen the launch of a lengthy Led Zeppelin reissue campaign, published his autobiography and even teamed up with designer Paul Smith for a range of limited edition Zeppelin scarves. Next year, he promises, there will even be the prospect of new music. <\/p>\n

\u201cTime sometimes passes quite quickly,\u201d he tells Uncut. Page will be 71 in January, but he looks in remarkably good shape. With his bronze tan, white ponytail and wide smile he resembles an old school Hollywood star recently returned from the south of France. Dressed in black, and taking occasional sips from a glass of sparkling mineral water, he is animated as he answers your questions on subjects ranging from deep Zeppelin album cuts to the prospect of a Yardbirds reunion, his formative musical inspirations and his extraordinary session work from the 1960s. <\/p>\n

Page even responds to Robert Plant\u2019s claim \u2013 in these very pages \u2013 that he suggested reuniting with his former bandmate for an acoustic project\u2026 \u201cIt\u2019s just spin,\u201d says Page. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s productive in any shape or form to what he\u2019s doing or what I\u2019m doing.\u201d Now on with your questions\u2026<\/p>\n

Reliving all of the wonderful moments from this cannon of music, which moment took you by surprise the most?
Michael Des Barres<\/em><\/strong>
A lot of it you think, \u2018Well this might possibly happen, that might possibly happen.\u2019 But I\u2019d say as far the manifestation of it went, it was getting the first gold disc for Led Zeppelin, for Led Zeppelin 1. You were fully aware of gold discs and things like that, with artists that you were personally endeared to along the way, American artists. Suddenly everything that we\u2019d done, all the work etcetera etcetera, we had broken America I know, but the fact is that gold disc I was so symbolic to everything for me, that was a major thing. It would have been a surprise if I had thought about it a year earlier maybe, because I wasn\u2019t still in The Yardbirds, do you see what I mean?<\/p>\n

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Would you please show me how to play \u201cBlack Dog\u201d? It\u2019s been bothering me for a long time.
Brian May<\/em><\/strong>
Well, I\u2019ll have to then if Brian\u2019s asked! What are the chords for \u201cBlack Dog\u201d? It\u2019s in A, and then it sort of goes to an E chord but then while it\u2019s snaking around it, it has some sort of little triplets that take you back into the A. So, yes, it\u2019s tricky. You just have to sort of know how to count it.<\/p>\n

Is there one guitar you\u2019ve had that you feel is more magical than the rest?
J Mascis<\/em><\/strong>
I think most people would think it\u2019s a 59 Les Paul because I bought that from Jed Walsh who insisted that I buy it off him in 1969, and I go into the second album with that. So \u201cWhole Lotta Love\u201d is done on it, and I also played it at the 02. Same guitar. I\u2019m pretty loyal to my guitars you know, but then they\u2019re pretty loyal to me to. But there are a number of guitars. There\u2019s also an acoustic guitar that all of the first four albums were written on. So I mean that\u2019s quite an important one. But as far as the one that people got to see then it\u2019s the 59 Les Paul. How many guitars do I have? I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know! But I think the answer to it is, more than I can play at any one point in time. Even though I do have double necks so I can try and play more than at one time!<\/p>\n

Why has it taken you so long to put your autobiography together?<\/strong>
Christian Parker, Shoreditch<\/strong><\/em>
I was doing other things at the same time! One of the things that slowed it up was knowing, say, there was a photo session in the past, in the Seventies, and knowing that there were contact sheets. Maybe the images are now with agencies, but not the contact sheets. So I wanted to get into the contact sheets, and that wasn\u2019t necessarily always so easy to do. There were also certain photographs that I wanted to get, but I didn\u2019t remember who the photographer was. It just took time to piece it all together. But however long it took, I knew that nobody had done an autobiography in photographs. As it goes from 13 through to 70 years of age, it\u2019s got a whole history of a working musician. All the changes that go on are almost chameleon-like but nevertheless they\u2019re driven by this one thing \u2013 which is a passion towards music. That was the challenge: to do something that had never been done before but which just unfolds there more you go through it.<\/p>\n

What new projects are in the pipeline and when can we expect to hear them?<\/strong>
Derek Murphy, Dublin, Ireland<\/strong><\/em>
I\u2019ve been involved in some other epic projects. I\u2019ve got all the Zeppelin remasters finished, for all of the albums, so they\u2019ll be coming out, staggered release. I also got material for a \u2018what happened in this day in history\u2019 for the website, it\u2019s all stockpiled. So things will be coming out in healthy instalments, which then allows me to focus on musicians and music that I want to be seen to be doing next year. I hoped I could do it this year, but I can\u2019t. It\u2019s too much. I don\u2019t want to have to contract musicians and then go, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I\u2019ve gotta go over to the States for a month to do some promo.\u201d I want to start generating the passion within all of the musicians that I\u2019m working with, and we\u2019re going to go through like a rocket. It\u2019ll manifest itself next year. <\/p>\n

Can I tell you anything about it? Well, I\u2019ll be playing guitar. That we can all guarantee. And I won\u2019t be singing. Is it song based? I want go out there and play music from all the way through. I did a solo tour in 1988. I did exactly the same thing then. You know, I\u2019ve only had one solo album out, really. And one single in 1965. So I haven\u2019t really tried to sort of flood the market with my own stuff! I want to get out there and play exactly what it is that I\u2019ve got in mind here to do, including new material. But there\u2019ll be really some good surprises in there. I think people want me to go out there and play. They know all the sort of stuff that I can do. I can play in many sorts of categories because we\u2019ve seen that with Led Zeppelin, all the acoustic stuff, and this, that and the other. That\u2019s exactly what I would do.<\/p>\n

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Are there any plans to release any more experimental music?<\/strong>
Bruce Yardley, Leeds<\/strong><\/em>
I tell you what is coming out which I\u2019m really excited about this, it\u2019s the mix that I did of Lucifer Rising but I\u2019m leaving the guitar on it, it\u2019s got like a 12-string, because that is the guide guitar that\u2019s showing me where I\u2019m going to do the overdub. This isn\u2019t what got sent to Kenneth Anger, because I didn\u2019t want hardly any guitar at all, there\u2019s only a little bit of guitar at the end, guitars coming in more across it but the mix is really, really superb, I\u2019m really proud of it. And I\u2019ve got some experimental music that was done with bow and Theremin which is like, hang on to your seats because it really, really is something else, it\u2019s disturbing. I\u2019ve got like home stuff that I did at the same studio or equipment that I did the Lucifer Rising on, with that whole guitar textures and overdubs and I think people want to hear that. They want to know what it was I was doing. I\u2019ll show you what it was like and what I was doing and you\u2019ll see. That\u2019s coming on the website. Vinyl.<\/p>\n

Who inspired you to play guitar?<\/strong>
Maryann in California<\/strong><\/em>
Lonnie Donegan inspired everyone because he made it look as though it was possible to do. But who really moved it out of just playing acoustic to electric was all those people that were playing in the 1950s, really. Initially, it was the rockabilly style guitar, Johnny Burnette Rock & Roll Trio. When you heard that it was just something that inspired you so much to want to play out of the box, because it\u2019s so abstract the guitar playing on that. Scotty Moore\u2019s guitar playing, Cliff Gallop, Jonny Neats, all of these people, they gave me the inspiration\u2026 If you heard them you were infected by them, if you listened to it, then you were just seduced by it. That was what was going to write the whole of the manual for use as much as anything else. <\/p>\n

Then The Beatles opened it up for bands to write and down here in the south it was the Chess catalogue more than the Tamla Motown. There was this great fusion that had gone on from rock though the blues and all that wonderful music, that Chicago blues movement, really, that went on Vee-Jay and Chess. All that stuff was so exhilarating.<\/p>\n

Where did you buy your records when you were growing up?<\/strong>
Paul Lloyd, Crystal Palace<\/strong><\/em>
In Epsom. Rumbelows, It was by the Clock Tower. Rumbelows had a little section at the back where they sold records. It\u2019s just like you see this old footage where they\u2019ve got people going in booths and all of that. I\u2019d go there from school on the day where they had their deliveries in, so they\u2019d get their deliveries in the weekdays for the weekend and you go in there and then you can check certain artists to see what their new record was. Yeah that\u2019s it, I was really on that. I didn\u2019t wait till Saturday, in case something had already sold out in the morning. I\u2019d be going in there and checking what they had. I could only afford the equivalent of my pocket money, it was like the equivalent of one single. But I also had to pay for guitars so there was a lot of bobbing and weaving when it came down to being a record collector or a guitar player.<\/p>\n

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Is there a definitive list of all your session work?<\/strong>
David Burns<\/strong><\/em>
No, but I\u2019ll tell you something interesting. On the BBC, there\u2019s a little musical clip that comes on, I think the song\u2019s called \u201cI\u2019ve Got Everything You Need Babe\u201d. There\u2019s a new version of it right now, but beforehand when it was originally there, I heard this solo and I said, \u201cMy goodness, that\u2019s me!\u201d So I tracked it down that it was Bern Elliot & The Fenmen. So I must have done this session, because it\u2019s definitely me without a shadow of a doubt. I wouldn\u2019t have remembered I did a solo let alone a song or was on the session, but they were coming really fast and furious. You didn\u2019t know who you were going in with, that\u2019s the most important thing, so I didn\u2019t have a whole list myself. I can estimate how many. It\u2019s a hell of a lot, it\u2019s gotta be. I was doing it for the equivalent of three years or something like that. Three sessions a day.<\/p>\n

Are there any surviving live multi-track tapes from the Japan 1971 tour?<\/strong>
Ian Coe, Toronto<\/em>
<\/strong>Maybe. But not for now. There\u2019s been a lot of Led Zeppelin material that\u2019s come out, including live material. But also there\u2019s the 02 which shows the three remaining members with Jason, a more recent incarnation. I\u2019m so keen for the Led Zeppelin material from the studio to go out to give more information on what went on and I thought that really tipped the scales. Now there\u2019s other things to do. And I stockpile material. So, yeah, there\u2019s always someone wanting to know what\u2019s considered to be the Holy Grail \u2018cause it\u2019s yet to be discovered. But there\u2019s no point in even thinking about that at the moment. I\u2019ve put quite a lot of time into the Led Zeppelin material, really.<\/p>\n

What do you consider to be your finest non Led Zeppelin achievement?<\/strong>
David Goodson<\/strong><\/em>
It\u2019s hard to say. There\u2019s so many different areas isn\u2019t there, it\u2019s difficult. I\u2019d surprise everybody but I\u2019d be very sincere if I said that doing the Olympics with Leona Lewis was phenomenal. She\u2019s really plucky, she\u2019s superb, and she sang \u201cWhole Lotta Love\u201d brilliantly. In actual fact we managed to do the full length of \u201cWhole Lotta Love\u201d \u2013 it wasn\u2019t edited or anything like that \u2013 and she sang it beautifully. It was so cool the way she approached it. For that audience, and the fact we didn\u2019t fuck it up\u2026 we\u2019re really going to do this and we\u2019re going to do it proud. That was important. It was a Led Zeppelin number but it took on another persona\u2026 I was really proud to be able to play that riff for the handover.<\/p>\n

Would you consider playing with The Yardbirds again?<\/strong>
Byron Lewis, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan<\/strong><\/em>
But who would sing? Keith Relf died all those many years ago. He\u2019d done a couple of other things, Renascence and Medicine Head. Keith Relf was really damn good. Could Jeff Beck do it? Sing? He doesn\u2019t want to sing \u201cHi Ho Silver Lining\u201d let alone sing \u201cFor Your Love\u201d. That\u2019s unfair, that\u2019s really unfair! But I can\u2019t sing, so there we are. Maybe Eric would like to sing? No, don\u2019t say that because then it\u2019ll start all that stupid rumours. I\u2019m not starting. I\u2019m just thinking who\u2019s going to sing. At least you got three of the original guitarists still there and the current ones that have been since.<\/p>\n

Where does Zozo come from?<\/strong>
Preston Currie, Sudbury, Suffolk<\/strong><\/em>
It comes from me, everyone had a symbol. Originally, there was going to be no information on the album, Led Zeppelin 4. Then somebody had suggested having a sort of mark, a craftsman mark. But it wasn\u2019t going to be so easy because everyone\u2019s going to have their idea on maybe what that one symbol should be, so it came down to everyone should choose their own symbols. Because it\u2019s the fourth album, all the others have been I, II and III in Roman numerals, so then we\u2019ll have four characters, if you like. Having been working on it along with all the rereleases, I think of it as IV and actually I think of Houses Of The Holy as V. That said, everyone chose their own symbol and I chose mine. What does it mean? It means I chose my symbol and put it on there. If I do a book, then that\u2019s probably the right time to describe the whole process of it if you don\u2019t mind.<\/p>\n

A telephone can be clearly heard ringing in the studio on Zeppelin\u2019s \u201cThe Ocean\u201d. Who was on the phone?<\/strong>
Phil Tate, South Shields<\/strong><\/em>
I don\u2019t know. Do I find it strange that people pick up on these very specific points of records? No. I\u2019m thrilled that the records are recorded in such a way that the hifi quality, even though it\u2019s tough \u2013 the music\u2019s not light and wimpy \u2013 that you can hear detail on it because that\u2019s what you\u2019re supposed to do. It was supposed to be something whereby you could hear everything that was going on and yet there would still be an intensity and a character for each number. Each one separate sound, very different in its approach almost in its performance so you can hear those sorts of things and it\u2019s great that you can. <\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s got a lot to do with the analogue recording, I really honestly do. All of those things were done from analogue. On IV, you\u2019ll hear a version of \u201cStairway To Heaven\u201d that is absolute hifi, that\u2019s exactly what hifi is all about. It was done well in the first place, it was executed really superbly well, and of course when you\u2019ve got these great musicians you want to make sure you can hear what they\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n

In the Seventies, you ran a bookshop, Equinox. Can you tell us about it?<\/strong>
Julie & Mo, Germany<\/strong><\/em>
I was interested in alternative\u2026 basically, things alternative. There was quite a number of like-minded people around at that point in time so I had a bookshop in West London because there were a couple on Museum Street and there was one in Cecil Court. Basically, it was an occult bookshop, and it covered all manner of things like astrology and yoga, eastern mysticism, western mysticism, it was right across the board. It\u2019s very similar to what you have in a bookshop like Watkins really, that\u2019s what it was.<\/p>\n

How involved were you in Swan Song?<\/strong>
Davy Maguire, Dublin<\/em>
<\/strong>Very much so. We were all very keen to have something as a record label. We were thrilled. Dave Edmunds, Pretty Things. Detective, they were good. That first album of theirs, it was really good. It should have been more popular, it should have sold better, shouldn\u2019t it? Bad Company\u2026 Bad Company was more Peter Grant\u2019s thing, Peter had the Bad Company thing and put that together and that was really a great band to have on there because of Paul Rodgers, he\u2019s phenomenal \u2013 he was then and still is. <\/p>\n

The Pretty Things were a band that were really changing their music and had done because they probably did one of the best singles way back in the day with \u201cRosalyn\u201d, that\u2019s wild! That\u2019s serious! And then they had gone through SF Sorrow and the music that they were doing on Swan Song was incredible. It was the sort of band that when someone said, \u201cOh, some tapes have come in,\u201d I was really keen to hear what they\u2019d done, because it was always so good! Good writing, good performance from everybody. A fine band.<\/p>\n

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Jimmy, would you agree with Robert Plant\u2019s offer to do an all-acoustic set?<\/strong>
Taylor Miranda, Ferndale, California<\/em>
<\/strong>That\u2019s coming from a soundbite that is inaccurate. He would have no intention whatsoever of doing it. So I\u2019m not getting into it. People keep giving me these quotes. I don\u2019t follow what he says\u2026 all I know is, it\u2019s speaking in volume that we just did that one show. He can say whatever he wants. He can say \u201cJimmy this, Jimmy that\u2026\u201d I don\u2019t care. I\u2019ve got acoustic songs. Don\u2019t you think I\u2019ve got some new material for what I\u2019m going to do? It\u2019s just spin. It\u2019s spin, and it\u2019s not on. The Robert Plant questions are difficult for me to answer because I\u2019ve had enough of all of this stuff, to be honest. Robert says this, Robert says that. I just don\u2019t want to be presenting soundbites so that it\u2019s like some kind of ping pong match. I\u2019ve had enough. I don\u2019t need it. The only reality of it is that we did one concert. No matter how you dress it up, look at the situation. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post Jimmy Page: \u201cThe Holy Grail is yet to be discovered\u201d<\/a> appeared first on UNCUT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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