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| Jimmy Page 2014 |
1988 was a notable year for a lot of things. The first transatlantic fibre optic cable was laid,
Bruce Willis was sexing up the vest in
Die Hard,
Barbie was a virgin, and
Michael Jackson was a whiter shade of pale. It was also the year that one
James Patrick Page released his one and only solo album,
Outrider. Quite a bizarre statistic, considering this is a man who has probably influenced 95 per cent of the worlds guitar player population.
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| Outrider album 1988 |
It is now approaching the seventh anniversary of
Led Zeppelin's triumphant reunion show in London. An extremely fortunate 20,000 people packed the O2 arena that night to witness, without doubt,the greatest reunion show of them all. But what followed was a tidal wave of speculation as to whether the remaining surviving members, along with drummer
Jason Bonham, who replaced his late father
John Bonham on the night, would perform live again. With Page,
John Paul Jones and
Bonham, having been open to a world tour, a reluctant
Robert Plant was never keen.
With the release of
Plant's new album,
Lullaby and..... the Ceaseless Roar, and
Jones tinkering with an opera, the likelihood of a reunion are now marginally slim at best. So what of the present activities of
Mr Page. Having spent a sizable chunk of his post Zep career remastering the bands classic albums, the west London guitar god is once again now ready to unleash his genius upon us. Now in his 70th year, the news will be greatly received by his worshippers the world over. Having stockpiled a wealth of material over the years,
Page has been cagey with his answers as to what direction his new music will take. Our breaths are growing increasingly bated.
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| Zeppelin 2007 O2 Arena London |
Despite the lack of
Jimmy Page headed product, he never drifted down the reclusive route. 1985 saw him team up with
Free and
Bad Company front man
Paul Rodgers to form
The Firm. Two well received albums were released,
The Firm (1985) and
Radioactive (1986). After disbanding,
Page went alone, and released his first solo album
Outrider. Teaming up with old friend
Robert Plant, vocalists
John Miles and
Chris Farlowe and sticks man
John Bonham, it featured the brilliant single
Wasting My Time (sung by
Miles). The album performed well, peaking at #26 in the US Billboard Albums Chart.
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| Page with The Firm 1993 |
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| Coverdale/Page album 1993 |
Then in 1993,
Page surprised the rock world by releasing an album with
Robert Plant's feuding partner,
David Coverdale. No love is lost between the pair, with
Plant comically referring to him as David Cover-version, and
Coverdale saying "I wouldn't send him cat food if he was starving".
Nevertheless, when the acrimonious dust settled in 1994,
Page and
Plant reunited for MTV Unplugged, and subsequently released
No Quarter:Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Unledded. Containing
Zeppelin gems like
Nobody's Fault But Mine,
The Battle of Evermore and
Kashmir, it achieved platinum success in the US. A highly successful tour followed, thus giving the guys a renewed vigour, which resulted in the recording of
Walking into Clarksdale. An album consisting of entirely new material, including
Please Read The Letter, which
Plant later re-recorded with
Alison Krauss on the their collaborative album
Raising Sand in 2007.
1999 saw
Page team up with southern rockers
The Black Crowes, for the double live album,
Live at the Greek:Excess All Areas. Recorded over two nights, it was basically
Page and a cover band, as the majority of the tracks were
Led Zeppelin classics. But vocalist
Chris Robinson, and the rest of the
Crowes, performed majestically. So much so, a co-headline, North American tour with
The Who followed. Despite Page and
Zeppelin receiving a glut of accolades, things were relatively quiet on the
Page front. Until that monumental night in London in 2007.
Now with
Page having finalised the remastering of iconic albums
Led Zeppelin IV and
Houses Of The Holy, he's now ready to go it alone again. The music world needs legends like
Jimmy Page active, I personally think he and his bands work should be on every school curriculum the world over.
Zeppelin's music still continues to permanently embed an imprint on peoples lives worldwide. I'm proud that not only me, but my two young children are awaiting
Jimmy Page's next move.
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