Photo: Wenn
Jimmy Page hasn't been playing live for some time but that is set to change. He's been away because for the past few years he's been working tirelessly reissuing the Led Zeppelin back catalogue.
Page and John Davis remastered all the studio albums and gave them companion disks that gave more information and a more"panoramic picture" of Zeppelin in the studio.
Of the project John Davis said: “The material on the companion discs presents a portal to the time of the recording of Led Zeppelin. It is a selection of work in progress with rough mixes, backing tracks, alternate versions, and new material recorded at the time”.
Most recently, Page has taken the BBC Sessions 1969 -1971 album that was put out in 1997, remastered it, and given added a third disk of previously unreleased material.
Of particular interest is 'Sunshine Woman', a track taken from the BBC world service show with Alex Korner who was "big ambassador for rhythm and blues". It was a track made up on the spot, and Page spoke about it last night (14/9) at Olympic theatre in Barnes before a listening of the Complete BBC Sessions. He said Led Zeppelin's attitude was that it was a jam suitable for the moment and they didn't think any more of it.
He told the audience it only still exists because a bootleg version recorded in Eastern Europe emerged as the original master tape was recorded over. Jimmy Page described it as "real raw energy" and the sessions as a whole as Led Zeppelin at their "most fearless".
Page also spoke of how the album sound expands in just two years. Ahead of it's release tomorrow (16/9), you can watch the brand new video for a track taken from it called 'What Is And What Should Never Be' below.
Now with all the Led Zeppelin reissues done in the most complete possible way, Jimmy Page has hinted at turning his hand to playing live again. He spoke of this after we listened to snippets of the album on a world beating sound system at Olympic theatre, which, curiously, is the same building Led Zeppelin recorded Led Zeppelin I and 'Whole Lotta Love'.
Page said: "Maybe it's time I dust down the guitar for next year," in response to Johnnie Walker's question of what he'll do now that he's finished. The audience erupted with applause.
When we caught up with Jimmy Page last year and he said: “The next thing for me to do is in some shape or form or vehicle is to be seen to be playing live - that would be next year. I can’t be doing that this year.”
So he's only slightly off schedule. Hopefully it will be early next year or maybe he's hiding something and going to stick to the plan. It would be fantastic to see a Led Zeppelin tour in celebration of all these releases but he gave no indication under what name or with who he would be playing. We'll have to wait and see.
