Pete about Page

[Ian <istanley@quartz.nbnet.nb.ca>]

>Date: Thu, 07 Aug 1997 Mark R. Leaman wrote:

>Forgetting the unlikelihood of my having the transcript, or the
>existence of such a transcript in the first place, or the relative humor
>of my note (not as obvious as I had hoped)...it WAS meant to be a joke.

 I must admit that I didn't realize you were joking.Then again,with all of
the books that have come out over the past few years giving detailed
information about the recording sessions of The Beatles,The Rolling
Stones,Eric Clapton,etc,it didn't seem at all unlikely that you might indeed
have a transcript of the ICE session in some form.

>I feel sure that even if Page was thinking it, a comment like that would
>never pass through his lips. And I could contend it's possible he was
>thinking it, since by himself he never wrote a song this good.

 In *your* opinion he never wrote a song this good.Personally,I think that
"Good Times,Bad Times" from Led Zep I is an absolutely great rock n roll
classic.And while the song is credited to Page,Jones,and Bonham,it is a
pretty safe bet that the main writing of the song was Page's.Plant wrote
virtually no lyrics on this album.

>> I mean,let's
>> face it..."ICE" is a great pop tune,but it's hardly "brilliant".Especially
>> when you take into consideration the fact that Pete wrote it accidently
>> while trying to play a Kinks song that he'd heard.
>
>While it's true that Pete consciously pinched the Kinks sound (even as
>The Kinks nicked the Beatles' sound with their first single, Long Tall
>Sally), IMHO ICE is in fact brilliant. What Pete did with the Kinks
>sound is take it up another level. A more inventive chord structure,
>more mature lyrical content, better musicianship.
>However, what puts it into the brilliant catagory (for me) is that when
>it comes on, I get this almost uncontrollable urge to jump up and play
>air guitar.
>I'm not sure which Kinks song you mean, though...Townshend was playing
>You Really Got Me before this; it's on the Marquee Club boot.

 My recollection is that the song he said that he was trying to play was
"All Day And All Night",but if someone argued that it was "You Really Got
Me",I probably wouldn't debate it.ICE better than either of these
songs?Yeah,probably.Better musicianship?Certainly.More mature
lyrics?Possibly.More inventive chord structure?Well let's not push
it...we're talking *3* chords here! :)
 But,if you're guaging brilliance by the urge to play air guitar when you
hear it,then there are quite a few Led Zep tunes that have that effect on
me,starting with "Good Times Bad Times","Communication Breakdown","Livin
Lovin' Maid","Heartbreaker","Immigrant Song","Black Dog","Misty Mountain
Hop",etc.
I'm not saying that Jimmy Page is/was a composer on the level of
Townshend,especially in the area of lyrics.But Page WAS the master of
riffs,and came up with some pretty classic hooks over the years.Yeah,he may
have "borrowed" from some old blues tunes,but he took it all to a new
level,just as Pete did when he "borrowed" from the Kinks.

               Long Live Rock,

                     I.S.




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