Re: Page, Plant, etc. (little Who content)

[Scott Swanson <swandwn@agora.rdrop.com>]

mleaman@sccoast.net (Mark Leaman) wrote:

>>All I can say is this: If what you say is true, then why so suddenly (when
>>the band broke up) did his brilliant songwriting and production skills
>>disappear?
>
>>Easy: Page's heroin addiction was at its peak in the early '80s.  By
>>late 1983 he had kicked, and the first Firm album and "Outrider" both have
>>their moments.  The Coverdale/Page album has some EXCELLENT guitar work by
>>Page but Coverdale is too busy singing juvenile lyrics that Robert Plant
>>wouldn't touch with a 10 foot microphone.
>
>Well, following your train of logic here, it would seem that Plant is an
>excellent Page imitator. 

No, no, no.  My "train of logic" was that Page had a bad heroin addiction 
from 1978-1983 and his performance was hampered by it.  And if you're 
saying that Plant's work somehow imitated Zeppelin, you're WAY off.

>Juvenile lyrics that Plant wouldn't touch? You mean like on Too Loud 
>(SHAKEN `N' STIRRED)? And I thought Robert Palmer was shallow...

"Too Loud" is nothing compared to the non-stop cliche of "Shake my tree," 
etc.  And there are 5 writers credited to "Too Loud" while Coverdale has 
nobody to blame but himself.

>I do think that Plant was (all along) responsible for the move away from
>Blues that began with LZ II. Ramble On, for instance, seems more like Plant
>than Page...whereas I feel confident that I'm Gonna Crawl was Page's.

First, Zep never moved away from the blues; they just kept refining the 
blues structure, from the loose, raw, straight covers like "I Can't Quit 
You" and "The Lemon Song" to "In My Time Of Dying" to "I'm Gonna Crawl."  
Second while Page puts in an excellent solo on "I'm Gonna Crawl," that 
song came mostly from Plant and John Paul Jones.

>>As for Plant's solo career, he was always able to collaborate with other
>>artists and producers (i.e. Robbie Blunt or Phil Johnstone), but Page
>>insisted on keeping a heavy workload, producing and writing most of the
>>music.  A typical Led Zeppelin song had input from all four members, while
>>the typical Page/Firm song had just Page and whoever was singing.
>
>So you've giving very little credit to Plant in any facet of his career.

I'm giving Plant lots of credit.  But the fact is that his post-Zeppelin 
work has always been a collaboration.  He was more than "just a singer," 
but he always had several other artists helping him, while Page had but 
himself and a singer (Paul Rodgers, Chris Farlowe, David Coverdale, etc.).

And Plant's songwriting really blossomed *after* Zep broke up.  With Zep, 
he would oftentimes resort to borrowing various blues lyrics, but as a 
solo artist he has been able to think up fresh ideas time and time 
again.  The entire _Fate Of Nations_ album is amazing...

But I digress... enough of this talk... back to the Who.

Later,

Scott