Jimmy Page is keeping busy with the recent publication of his photo biography called "Jimmy Page By Jimmy Page", and the ongoing LED ZEPPELIN reissue campaign. Page's deluxe remastering job on the band's fourth and fifth albums, 1971's "Led Zeppelin IV" and "Houses Of The Holy", is coming on October 28.
The Pulse Of Radio asked Page if while handling the band's classic masters while upgrading their quality, he was ever tempted to throw them back up on the board and do some minor tweaking to them. "I'm not into re-writing history, I'm just re-presenting," he said. "All of the music that you hear across the companion disc is all basically mixes from the time. I thought it was essential to have mixes from the time, because you've got the mindset, it's showing the mindset of what's being done. To go to the multi-tracks and start remixing, then that's a whole different total ballgame. I wasn't into that. I really wanted something whereby totally reflected what was going on at that point of time — of the time capsule, if you like, of when these things are being recorded. That's what the idea was of this."
The Jimmy Page-remastered editions of "Led Zeppelin IV" and "Houses Of The Holy" will both be released with previously unreleased audio content in a variety of packages — including a limited edition "Super Deluxe" box set.
Earlier this year, LED ZEPPELIN's recent live set, "Celebration Day", recorded during their 2007 London reunion concert, won the Grammy Award for "Best Rock Album" beating out releases from BLACK SABBATH, DAVID BOWIE, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, NEIL YOUNG with CRAZY HORSE and KINGS OF LEON.
Although Robert Plant has long been thought of as the lone holdout in a LED ZEPPELLIN reunion, it seems that an offer was made by him, which Jimmy Page chose to pass on. Plant, who's receiving good notices for his SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS album "Lullaby And… The Ceaseless Roar", spoke to the Uncut magazine following the announcement of the next two ZEPPELIN reissues on October 28 — "Led Zeppelin IV" and "Houses Of The Holy" — and addressed Page's claims of him being uninterested in teaming up, saying, "I feel for the guy. He knows he's got the headlines if he wants them. But I don't know what he's trying to do. So I feel slightly disappointed and baffled."
Plant revealed that he proposed working again with Page in an acoustic capacity. "A couple of years ago, I said, 'If you've got anything acoustic, let me know. I'll give it a whirl,'" Plant said. "It was hands across the water. He just walked away. But we couldn't do anything proper. The weight of expectation is too great."
Back in May, Page told The New York Times that Plant was blocking the return of LED ZEPPELIN. "I was told last year that Robert Plant said he is doing nothing in 2014, and what do the other two guys think?" he said. "Well, he knows what the other guys think. Everyone would love to play more concerts for the band. He's just playing games, and I'm fed up with it, to be honest with you. I don't sing, so I can't do much about it. It just looks so unlikely, doesn't it?"
In June, during Plant's press conference in Morocco to publicize the SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS' shows, Plant addressed Page's comments, saying, "He needs to go to sleep and have a good rest, and think again. We have a great history together and like all brothers we have these moments where we don't speak on the same page, but that's life."
When The Pulse Of Radio last caught up with Robert Plant, he was asked what the bottom line was regarding him resisting a full-scale LED ZEPPELIN reunion. "It's not that I've been obstructive," he said. "It's just that it meant what it meant when it meant it, and beyond that there was no story, and with John's [Bonham] passing and all that stuff, it was gone. There's no need for it."
LED ZEPPELIN legend Jimmy Page told RollingStone.com that he will be playing guitar "daily for the foreseeable future" with a view towards "getting to a point where I could play some gigs." He added: "What those gigs are going to be, I don't know yet. I have ideas of what I want to do, but they're pretty complex. I would love to play live again. I love playing live. It's wonderful."
Page, who put out "Outrider", his one and only solo album, in 1988, revealed to RollingStone.com that he's "got lots of material I've written on acoustic guitar. Lots and lots. And right now I need to get myself up to speed, and that won't take too long. But I don't know what musicians I'd play with. I do have material and a passion for it. I need to work towards it, and now I can without all the other side issues going on."
According to The Pulse Of Radio, Jimmy Page will be the commencement speaker on May 10 at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. The Associated Press reported that Page will address graduating seniors art the Agganis Arena, with the college also presenting honorary doctorates to Motown songwriter Valerie Simpson — best known for her string of classics written with her late husband Nick Ashford, including "Let's Go Get Stoned", "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "You're All I Need To Get By", "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing", "Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand)" and "Solid (As A Rock)".
Page, who's now 70, has been playing guitar since he was 12. The Pulse Of Radio asked him what originally attracted him to the instrument. "It was just that whole thing of the transmission of ideas through the tactile quality of playing an instrument, y'know, your steel, strings and wood, translating through the electric pickup through the amp, and that's really what it is for me," he said. "It's that, some magical quality, really. Some sort of alchemy, if you like."
Coming on June 3 will be deluxe editions of LED ZEPPELIN's first three albums: "Led Zeppelin", "Led Zeppelin II" and "Led Zeppelin III". The launch of the reissue program, which is being led by Jimmy Page, includes the band opening "its vaults to share dozens of unheard studio and live recordings, with each album featuring a second disc of companion audio comprised entirely of unreleased music related to that album."
The albums are being issued in six different versions — the Super Deluxe Box; Deluxe Edition; Deluxe Edition Vinyl; Single CD; Original Album Vinyl; and Digital Download.
"We are more than happy to take up the challenge of writing new music and taking the band back into the studio, though it may not be quite what some people expe...
