December 1969, Led Zeppelin promise not to go soft

As 1969 came to a close, Led Zeppelin were, after the success of their second album, the band everyone expected to become massive in the new decade. However, guitarist Jimmy Page caused concern amongst the group's fans by suggesting the band would be expanding their musical horizons on future albums.

In the article featured here, Melody Maker's Chris Welch said fans should have no fear - Zeppelin will not be going soft. Little did he know.

The interview is an interesting snap-shot of the time, with Zeppelin having sold over five million albums in 1969 and being considered for a Queen's Award for their export achievements.

In the interview with Welch at the Savoy Hotel in London, John Bonham talks about buying his three year-old son Jason a miniature drumkit and why the single version of Whole Lotta Love was withdrawn in the UK.

 

Jimmy Page assured Welch that although Zeppelin were exploring more acoustic songs, "we're still a heavy group" saying it would be wrong for them to change their sound completely.

Click on the image to enlarge it

Of course, the next album, 1970's Led Zeppelin III was indeed a departure from the heavy sound of the first two albums. The angry reaction of some fans was hard for the band to take.

The faintly exotic and more reflective material on Led Zeppelin III has stood the test of time very well. It was the jumping off point for the various musical explorations that peaked with Physical Graffiti.

Tracks from LZ III like 'Friends' and 'Gallows Pole' formed the core of the Page and Plant Unplugged release in the 1990s and those same tracks are still featured in Robert Plant’s solo concerts.

But many fans wanted another Led Zep II and by 1971 and the imminent release of Led Zeppelin IV, it was clear that the new folky direction had not gone down well with some of their fans.

At the time, many fans felt let down that Led Zep III didn’t contain another Whole Lotta Love or Heartbreaker. The new material to be released on Led Zeppelin IV, and being aired on BBC sessions in April 1971, suggested there would definitely be no return to the lemon-squeezing days of yore. A letter to the Melody Maker (below) in May 1971, under the headline ‘Don’t go soft Zeppelin!’ sums up the mood:

“Zep sound great on Whole Lotta Love and their many earlier songs, but please leave the gentle songs to people like The Strawbs, who have grown up with their music and can do it justice. It’s obvious from Zeppelin’s performance on the radio last week, that they just don’t make it without the volume.”

The BBC session to which J. Miller from Chester was referring contains this lovely coupling of Going To Cailfornia and That's The Way. Judge for yourself whether Led Zeppelin were out of their depth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEZ673WXk-U

Other letters in MM’s May 1971mail bag included a fan of King Crimson suggesting since their reformation (after the break up of the Court of the Crimson King band)  “there seems to be no hope for any other group”.  No other musicians could compare, apparently. Robert Fripp would probably have agreed. 

And Roger B Bartley of London E12 describes Stevie Wonder as an “abominable popcorn merchant”. Wow, so he’s just produced Music of My Mind and was about to release Talking Book,  Innervisions and Fullfillingness’ First Finale. Mr Bartley, you jest.

 
IF YOU LIKE MY BLOG, PLEASE HIT THE FOLLOW BUTTON ON THE SIDE PANEL THANKS

Also On This Blog:
What is Led Zeppelin's best acoustic song?

Discipline - The return of King Crimson, 1981

The shock of the new - that's how it felt to behold the reformed King Crimson in 1981.

My ticket for the Discipline show and a recording of it

Six years previously, Robert Fripp had called a halt to the band, which by then was just a three piece, with John Wetton on bass and vocals and Bill Bruford on drums.

They had recorded the album Red, which had been one of their most commercially successful albums, and completed a US tour, when Fripp pulled the plug, to Wetton and Bruford's disappointment.

They were at the peak of their popularity, but that was part of the problem for Fripp. They had become like a conventional rock band and he didn't want that. The closer they got to the mainstream, the less comfortable he became.

In 1975, Fripp enrolled at the International Academy for Continuous Education at Sherborne House in Gloucestershire. Students at the IACE underwent an intensive training in the techniques that founder John Bennett had learned from G.I. Gurdjieff. 

Gurdjieff taught that most humans do not possess a unified consciousness - and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep" - but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and achieve full human potential. Gurdjieff's method for awakening one's consciousness unites the methods of the fakir, monk and yogi, and thus he referred to it as the "Fourth Way". 

In this interview, Fripp talks about his search for meaning and direction, having ditched his music career. Notably, he refers to his approach of setting a goal for a specific period as "the drive to 1981", calling it his "personal discipline".

By the end of 1976, Fripp had 'recovered' (in his words) from the IACE experience and, once back into his stride musically, he wasn't idle. He continued his occasional collaborations with Brian Eno and became David Bowie's go-to guitarist for the albums from Heroes to Scary Monsters (1977-80).

In 1981, news came through that Fripp had a new band. Me and three bandmates, all big Crimson fans, bought tickets for the first gig in London, May 1981 at Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket.

Tony Levin and Chapman Stick

They were called Discipline - no doubt inspired by the IACE experience. Only Bruford remained from previous configurations of KC. We had no idea what to expect, but we hoped they would play some old stuff. We certainly didn't expect it was going to be a life-changing experience, in the sense that this new band was making music from the future, such that their influence endures into KC’s music to this day.

So Discipline started off the concert playing a new track (called Discipline as it turned out) and the first thing that struck me was the rhythm, a hypnotic pulse driven by Bruford's electronic drums, but with a distinctive bass. 

Belew and elephant noises

Those of us who had seen Peter Gabriel live around this time would have seen Tony Levin playing his Chapman Stick, an odd looking bass instrument. Levin is the acknowledged master of the instrument.

Then all hell broke loose! The band launched into Thela Hun Ginjeet. [check it out!] We were pinned back by the dual onslaught of Fripp and new lead guitarist Adrian Belew producing all manner of sonic fireworks. Bruford attacking his kit with staccato rolls, Levin slapping at his bass.

Each new track had an distinct edge, from the "this is a dangerous place" storyline of Thela Hun Ginjeet to the sheer shimmering beauty of Matte Kudesai, or the interstellar soundscape of The Sheltering Sky. Belew was not only an amazing stunt guitar player - as he had proved with Frank Zappa and Talking Heads - he was an excellent vocalist too. Zappa's song City of Tiny Lights is a good example, and with Crimson he excelled on Matte Kudesai.

They played some old too. Red was tucked into the set early on and they played Larks Tongues In Aspic part 2 as an encore. The clip of Larks Tongues here gives you an idea of the energy they brought to the old material. But it was the new ones that really had us gripped. Like Elephant Talk, a bizarre but compelling statement of the new Crimson.

Soon afterwards, an almost inevitable name-change, from Discipline back to King Crimson, took the band into a highly successful period, artistically and commercially, that has sustained right up to the latest line-up, which still owes much to the inventiveness of the 1980s version.

Everyone has their favourite period of Crimson and there have been so many different phases. But 40 years on from this particular gig, I can still remember how we were blown away by this new music.

Here they are, playing in Germany in 1982

IF YOU LIKE MY BLOG, PLEASE HIT THE FOLLOW BUTTON ON THE SIDE PANEL
THANKS

See also on this blog:

The Yes Album - 50 years old and still sounding great

Todd Rundgren's 'A Wizard, A True Star' - my all-time favourite record

The Tubes - how they conquered London, 1977

There's a lot to like in the 'ZAPPA' movie

Headlines and charts from Melody Maker, May 1971

It's May 1971, Andy Williams is top of the album charts and the front page of the MM announces that the legendary Fillmore rock venues in San Francisco and New York are to close.

Promoter Bill Graham says he refuses to pay the increasingly high prices being charged by the top groups for what he sees as a decline in the quality of the music.

The front page on May 8 1971 also has details of a European tour by Rod Stewart & The Faces, including an appearance at the Crystal Palace Garden Party in August.

In the 'Pop 30', Double Barrel by Dave and Ansil Collins retains the top spot but Tony Orlando and Dawn are knocking at the door (or is it the ceiling?).

The Stones are at 3 with Brown Sugar, while T. Rex's first big hit has peaked. There's some classic singles in there, and this being the singles chart, some odd ones too. The album chart is quite impressive for the sheer number of classic rock albums in the list.

American soul artists did very well in the singles charts throughout the late 60s and early 70s, including these gems from this week in 1971. The Delfonics - Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) Diana Ross - Remember Me The Fantastics – SomethingOld, Something New
What's interesting at this time is how different the British albums charts are from the US charts. Bands like Three Dog Night, Grand Funk, Chicago, Brewer & Shipley didn't make any impression in the UK.

Good to see The Yes Album, my favourite of theirs, riding high in the UK album charts, alongside Jethro Tull's Aqualung.  

Elton John was making his first breakthrough in the UK at this time (on the back of Your Song) with three albums in the British charts.

Interesting, then, that on page 8 (below) in MM's news from America, it says that Elton is struggling to sell tickets. "Elton is dead in New York," says an unnamed observer.

Page 8 of Melody Maker starts by noting the popularity of the all-girl band Fanny and the news that a film about Jimi Hendrix, called Rainbow Bridge is about to be released. Further down the page , there's a report about The Doors having abandoned all future plans to tour. The report says, "Jim Morrison can be reached right now somewhere in France."  And sadly for Jim, he died there two months later.

Here's a couple of gig reviews from this week

In the letters page, the jury is still out on whether Led Zeppelin's new acoustic direction (on LZ III) is going down well with the fans. "Please leave the gentle songs to people like The Strawbs," says one. Further down, Stevie Wonder is referred to as an "abominable popcorn merchant". On the left of the page, John Peel gets a kicking for his criticism of Deep Purple. The letter says, "By dismissing groups like Deep Purple, ELP and more recently CSN&Y and at the same time applauding musical dullards like Medicine Head, Bridget St. John, Ron Geesin, Brinsley Schwartz etc, John Peel is influencing the hard-core of his non-musical followers with his worthless opinions."