‘Jimmy Page: The Anthology’, and beyond…

It's easy to think you might know an artist's relevant work based on the one or two things they were famous for. Music lovers know Jimmy Page as being the guitarist for British band Led Zeppelin. Even then people would be tempted to call them a 'rock' band when in fact they were so much more. This wasn't even the only band Jimmy Page played guitar in, and even outside of these bands, the work Page has done is often overlooked. Now, there is a place where enthusiasts of the musical arts can read about the career of this musician, producer and songwriter, as told by the man himself. Genesis Publications presents 'Jimmy Page: The Anthology'.

This book features contemporary high-quality photographs of the instruments Page used over the years, with photographs of his peers, concert memorabilia, and so much more. Jimmy Page: The Anthology is a real class presentation - this is the book to go to about Jimmy Page's wider career. Most importantly, the recollections (of which are numerous) are all penned by Page, whose memory is astonishing. The Anthology takes the reader back to Page's earliest experiences of recorded sound in the 1950's, right up to his final reunion with Led Zeppelin in 2007 and beyond.

'Our skiffle group went to this hall in London where everyone was eagerly waiting to audition for Huw Wheldon's talent show. And he came in - it was the same bloke you saw on the telly, but he might have been drunk, because he said, "Where are all those bloody kids?" That was the first thing I remember of him.' (Page, p. 14)

These earlier moments of guitar playing are amongst the less spoken about parts of Page's career, but here there is much to absorb. This chapter focusing on the 1950's has photographs of the skiffle band Page was in, as well as a letter surrounding this broadcast, and much more written information about the band too. Aside from this, Page also talks about his home life, including the circumstances in which he gained his first guitar.

‘I played on some wonderful sessions, including Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger" Bond theme, the soundtrack to Casino Royale, the album of A Hard Day's Night. I worked with artists such as the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Who, Joe Cocker, Lulu, Petula Clark, Donovan, Marianne Faithfull, Van Morrison and Them, Cliff Richard, Nico, Tom Jones, David Bowie, and the Everly Brothers, to name just a few. It was fascinating work.' (Page, p. 48)

A huge part of Jimmy Page's career that is often neglected in publication is his session work, which for most would comprise an entire career in itself, rather than the footnote it is often relegated to. For the more studious among us, there is an excellent section of Page's session discography on his official website. Other artists not mentioned here include Chris Farlowe, whose sessions would be the first official production credit for Jimmy Page. They would be released as 'The Beginning...' on Page's website only 56 years after they were recorded.

'Train Kept A Rolling', here performed by The Yardbirds, is a track that pops up multiple times over the course of Jimmy Page's career. After the split of The Yardbirds in 1968, it was adopted by Led Zeppelin in their first year, and curiously also in their last - though it was never laid down in the studio by them. There is an excellent video of Page playing the song with Aerosmith as he jumped on the stage at Donington during their set in 1990. Not to mention the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame all-star jam on the track in 2009 with members of Metallica, Ronnie Wood, Jeff Beck, Flea and Joe Perry. Metallica's James Hetfield called it 'rhythm guitar-player heaven'!

'I painted it in one go over the course of an evening, finishing it the next day. I was quite happy with the way it ended up. I also had this grating that went behind the scratchplate, which reflected a rainbow spectrum of colours. That was unique. So it was the 'Dragoncaster' and I played it on the last Yardbirds recordings at the Anderson Theatre in New York and on Led Zeppelin (their debut album). Once it was created and painted it became like the legendary Excalibur as it travelled from the Yardbirds to Led Zeppelin.' (Page, p. 104)

In terms of the actual guitars Jimmy Page played over the course of his career, these are faithfully represented within the pages of The Anthology. This particular guitar would be iconic during the final days of The Yardbirds, (which unfortunately appears only in black and white in the video above!) and the first eight months or so of Led Zeppelin. The story is told in detail by Page of the guitar's rise to fame, unfortunate demise in 1969, and the repainting and restoration in the 21st century using archive photographs. Further information on Page's instruments of choice are included in a guitar and equipment glossary at the end of the book.

'The way that Led Zeppelin came together so quickly was almost like it had been preordained.' (Page, p. 114)

It goes without saying that fans of Jimmy Page will be happy with the amount of Led Zeppelin content present within The Anthology. As well as more information on the guitars used including (but nowhere near limited to) Page's renowned Gibson Les Paul Standard 'Number 1' and cherry Gibson EDS-1275 double-neck, both frequently used in performance, there are plenty of other curios. These include the outfits Page wore both on and off stage like the much loved black dragon suit (pictured above) that was worn during the band's concerts at Earls Court in 1975, as well as some dates on their record-breaking U.S. tour of 1977. The white poppy suit, worn on the bulk of that tour, is pictured below with the aforementioned double-neck.

'Knebworth was a gathering of the tribes. There were hundreds of thousands of people there, so we had these really big screens showing the band with multiple cameras. This was useful when putting together the Led Zeppelin DVD. I was able to track the story of the band chronologically from 1969 to 1979 through our live performances. I must say that when I look back at it, we did a really good show.' (Page, p. 290)

There are plenty of photographs showcasing Jimmy Page with Led Zeppelin in concert, right from their first performance (billed as The New Yardbirds) in September 1968, to the Marquee in London later that year. The various U.S. tours the band did are well documented in The Anthology - the band visited nowhere more often than the United States! Readers can also expect a healthy helping of the band's bigger shows in photographic form. These include the Royal Albert Hall in 1970, the Bath Festival later that year, tours of Japan in 1971 and 1972, their only Australian tour in 1972 and photographs of the band performing what would be recorded for their live albums 'How The West Was Won' and 'The Song Remains The Same'. The latter is well documented in print for this publication, with Jimmy Page discussing the circumstances around the making of the film, and it's eventual release in 1976. Included is a handwritten draft of the typical 1977 setlist as it was being worked out in rehearsal - the well known photographs from those rehearsals are also included. Of course two of the biggest shows Led Zeppelin ever played in the U.K. are documented in a dedicated Knebworth section. Even the band's final Tour Over Europe in 1980 is afforded affection here.

Though Led Zeppelin were always at their best on stage, there is a wealth of information concerning their studio output too. With photographs from the 'Led Zeppelin II' sessions, of Page in his home studios, at the Bron-Yr-Aur cottage in Wales, in the grounds of Headley Grange, and great detail given to the use of Polar Studios in 1978, there is so much for fans to soak up. There are even notes on the additional 1982 album 'Coda' and the work Page completed for that. Not only did Jimmy Page use an army of guitars over the course of his career, there is expanded documentation about the tape delays, pedals and even less likely instruments like the hurdy-gurdy, mellotron and dulcimer he used throughout the 1970's in the studio.

Though many may expect The Anthology to finish there, Page's career continued beyond Led Zeppelin, and the 1980's proved to be just as interesting for him as the decade prior. The book details the unique XYZ sessions with Alan White and Chris Squire. The rhythm section from Yes had little to do once the band concluded its 'Drama' tour in 1980 and split up, teaming up with Page and exchanging ideas. Unfortunately the material never made it beyond the demo stage, which remains unreleased.

'The soundtrack for Death Wish II was an interesting challenge. The only similar experience I'd had was doing the Lucifer Rising soundtrack. The project came my way because my immediate neighbour in London at the time was the film director Michael Winner (he used to say I was the perfect neighbour, because he never saw me or heard me!)' (Page, p. 298)

Jimmy Page did complete a successful project in the soundtrack for 'Death Wish II' in 1982. Here he would work with Chris Farlowe on a couple of tracks, one of them being the album opener 'Who's To Blame'. This was re-released on CD and vinyl in 2015 as 'Sound Tracks' which also had Page's recordings for 'Lucifer Rising' as part of the main attraction. The set is expanded with bonus tracks from both album sessions, showing further insight into Page's creative process. His guitar synthesizer used on Death Wish II is showcased in this section, and some of the other innovative gear used at that time too!

In 1983, Page would join a series of concert performances known as 'ARMS' (Action into Research for Multiple Sclerosis), hosted by Ronnie Lane (of Small Faces and Faces), of which Lane was a sufferer of the disease. Originally slated for one performance at the Royal Albert Hall, the idea was taken on tour for a few dates in the U.S. Performers included Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Joe Cocker, Steve Winwood and Andy Fairweather-Low. Performing lead vocals on Jimmy Page's American sets was Paul Rodgers.

'When we were flying home from the American ARMS shows, I asked Paul Rodgers what he was going to do next. He said that he didn't actually have anything planned. Neither did I, so I suggested we do something together. And that's how we founded the Firm.' (Page, p. 308)

The Firm would be the last self-contained band Page would be a part of. As well as featuring Paul Rodgers of Free and Bad Company, Tony Franklin would be on bass and Chris Slade (of Manfred Mann's Earth Band, AC/DC and Asia) would be the band's drummer. The Firm released a self-titled album in 1985 and follow-up entitled 'Mean Business' in 1986.

In the midst of all of this, Led Zeppelin would reunite for the Live Aid event on July 13th 1985 - unsurprisingly receiving barely a footnote in The Anthology. What's more exciting than that though is Page's writings on meeting and jamming with guitarist Les Paul, with plenty of photographs to match. But there is so much more written about The Firm. I was surprised to find out that Tony Franklin also regularly played with Roy Harper, an artist who Jimmy Page collaborated with on 1984's 'Whatever Happened to Jugula?' Though this would be the duo's only album together, Jimmy Page would continue to work with Tony Franklin...

'I decided to make my own solo album, and this would be my first. I recruited Jason Bonham to play drums on Outrider. We'd had fun jamming together in Ibiza at Heartbreak Hotel, so I thought it would be worth giving it a try. We started off with Tony Franklin on bass, and then John Miles came on board to sing and write lyrics, and that was a game-changer!' (Page, p. 317)

Page's first solo album 'Outrider' came many years after the release of his first solo single, 'She Just Satisfies'. Both are discussed in the Anthology, as is some work with The Rolling Stones at the time. What isn't mentioned in this period is the second Led Zeppelin reunion for the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary in 1988, nor the rumoured rehearsals with Tony Thompson of Chic in 1986 - though the former would get a sentence later on in reference to the o2 Arena reunion. However, a new idea that Page was dealing with at the time was the making of music videos - so there is plenty of perspective on those. Beginning with The Firm, videos were also made for Page's Outrider period, and for his project with David Coverdale.

‘It was just two guys getting together to make music and generally having a good time doing it. I enjoyed working with David. He was really professional, and I like that. He didn't mind putting in the effort to get things right before going into the studio.' (Page, p. 325)

Featuring over an hour of new music written by the pair, the self-titled album, released in 1993 would be the only outing of music for Coverdale Page. As well as guitar, Page would also play bass, harmonica and dulcimer on the album. Early on in The Anthology, Page speaks about playing harmonica in his session days and includes a photo of some of the harmonicas he used back then. A tour of Japan followed the release of the Coverdale Page album, but the collaboration would come to an end with a cancelled tour of the United States.

Despite David Coverdale's enthusiasm for a deluxe reissue of their album, it was reported in 2019 that the masters of Coverdale Page may have been lost in the Universal Music Group fire in 2008. Many artists were affected by the fire, and items lost include thousands of tapes and recording artefacts. The event has been dubbed 'The Day The Music Burned'.

Also receiving barely a footnote is Page's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Jimmy Page is among the few artists to be inducted into the Hall twice. First with The Yardbirds in 1992 (though Eric Clapton was unable to participate) and again with Led Zeppelin in 1995. Jimmy, ever the exceptional rhythm player, would play a rendition of Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song' with Jeff Beck when the latter was inducted as a solo artist in 2009. There are some words on the first round of Led Zeppelin remasters in the early 1990's, significant for the fact that they went back to the original tapes for the first time, something that the 1980's CD releases weren't privy to. But there was something bigger brewing for Led Zeppelin fans in the 90's.

Following the end of the partnership between Coverdale and Page, Jimmy would move to working with Robert Plant again. Having worked together momentarily on each other's projects including The Honeydrippers band, Plant's 'Now and Zen', and Page's 'Outrider', this would be the pair's first full collaboration since the end of Led Zeppelin. On the outset, this consisted of performing for the MTV Unplugged banner under the name 'Unledded', which was later released on CD, VHS and eventually DVD. Such was the success of this, that the pair went on tour in 1995 and 1996.

‘“Most High" had a keyboard overdub by Tim Whelan from Transglobal Underground, who were doing some cutting-edge material at this point. He managed to play the keyboard using quarter tones to reproduce the sound of the Master Musicians of Joujouka in Morocco. He really knew what he was doing.' (Page, p. 350)

Still riding high from their world tour, Page and Plant would conceive an album of original material entitled 'Walking Into Clarksdale'. Released in 1998, it would be the last album of new music from Jimmy Page. Stripped back and mostly featuring the core band of Page and Plant with bassist Charlie Jones and drummer Michael Lee, this configuration would take the album on the road in 1998 before the pair parted ways again. Led Zeppelin fans still had much to celebrate as the band's BBC Sessions came out for the first time in the late 90's, which were curated by Page. A deluxe edition of this album would be released in 2016 featuring a further disc of the band's sessions for the BBC, mostly previously unreleased.

'My manager at this time, Bill Curbishley, told me that Sean Combs, or Puff Daddy as he was known then, was trying to get hold of me. I spoke to him on the phone, and he said that he'd been commissioned to do some music for the movie Godzilla. He said "The thing is, I can't get the Kashmir riff out of my mind. I don't want to just sample it. I want to do it for real. Would you play it?" I told him, "Absolutely!"' (Page, p. 354)

A moment of division in Jimmy Page's career is the track 'Come With Me' by Puff Daddy. The music taking it's blueprint from Led Zeppelin's 'Kashmir' had Puff Daddy rapping over the top of it. People who heard Kashmir first saw it as sacrilege, but Come With Me fared well both in the charts and in sales figures and introduced the music of Jimmy Page to a new generation. Having heard the original first, I happen to think Come With Me strikes out well on its own and is a worthy addition to the Jimmy Page discography. The pair would perform the song on American programme Saturday Night Live, as well as being on the bill for revolutionary benefit concert Netaid.

Continuing on the Led Zeppelin renaissance, Jimmy Page teamed up with American band The Black Crowes for a series of concerts featuring music from both artists. Page particularly impresses how thrilled he was with the band's arrangements and how effortlessly it seemed to fall together. Any fans looking for insight on the 2003 Led Zeppelin DVD and CD release of 'How The West Was Won' will be disappointed, as The Anthology skips straight from The Black Crowes performances to the Ahmet Ertegün show in December 2007.

'Originally, on the night there were going to be Atlantic bands like Foreigner and some others, and it was suggested that we would do a 20 or 30 minutes set. And I thought, I wasn't going to do that - we needed to do a full-length set, because the energy, power, synergy and synchronicity would build as the show continued.' (Page, p. 358)

Led Zeppelin's performance at the o2 Arena on the 10th of December 2007 went down in history as the single biggest reunion of any band on the planet. Ticket requests were in their millions, with media coverage worldwide both in the lead-up to the event and the aftermath. I had the pleasure of attending the London premiere for 'Celebration Day', their film release of the concert in October 2012, which would see the three remaining members walk the red carpet and say a few words before the screening.

Of course the guitars used by Page are covered for this event, particularly his Gibson ES-350T, a replica of one used by Chuck Berry which he played on the song 'In My Time Of Dying'. My favourite part of this section is seeing the handwritten setlists for the rehearsals which included songs not featured in the final concert. I won't give them all away but 'Black Country Woman' and 'We're Gonna Groove' were amongst these writings.

Following the success of the o2 Arena performance, Page could be seen playing with a few different artists. The main one discussed is his appearance at the Beijing Olympics with Leona Lewis, of which he is very proud. Other performances include jumping on stage with John Paul Jones at a Foo Fighters concert in 2008, and playing separately with Donovan and Roy Harper in 2011. A brief on stage appearance at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle is discussed from 2015, particularly his experience of meeting museum and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, whose extensive guitar collection (and skill) was admired by Page.

But Page wasn't just seen on stage in these later years. He collaborated with U2 guitarist The Edge and Jack White of The White Stripes, The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs on a film called 'It Might Get Loud', released in 2008. In 2011 Page was given an award on behalf of the APRS by fellow producer Sir George Martin for services as a music producer, which he describes as a great honour. There was also a great deal of publicity surrounding the latest round of Led Zeppelin remasters, with each album now including a companion disc for the first time, curated by Page especially. The final chapter of the book discusses his experience of working with the Metropolitan Museum of Art for an exhibition entitled 'Play It Loud'. This featured a number of Page's classic guitars, including the Dragoncaster, which was the motivation for finally restoring it to its classic paint-job. Some of the clothing featured in The Anthology was also displayed at the Met, as well as a specially recorded lecture by Page made in Abbey Road studios. The exhibition was a success, with attendance figures far exceeding the organiser's original estimates.

The music of Jimmy Page has continued to thrill listeners worldwide. Whether it be his session contributions on well-known classics, the output of his bands The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin and The Firm, or the multitude of collaborations he's recorded since - there is something for everyone. People say Jimmy Page has 'retired', though I beg to differ. In recent years, the 'Yardbirds '68' album has been released on CD and vinyl with brand new mixes and liner notes. Page has put together three high-quality photographic books, including this one. His devotion to the publishing of his own history extends to an 'On This Day...' concept on his official website which has both surprised and excited his fans. Most recently he produced Scarlet Sabet's spoken word album entitled 'Catalyst'. We can only hope there is yet more to come in the history of Jimmy Page. For now though, Jimmy Page: The Anthology has his career well documented with enthusiasm, ready to spark the imagination of the budding music historian.

'You could say I was born at the right time. There was a sense of optimism following that awful wartime period our parents had gone through, and that feeling was reflected in the music both here and coming over from America. It was a wonderful time to be young and this great explosion across the arts also gave opportunities in youth music, which helped put a lot of musicians on the map.' (Page, p. 384)

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References:

Page, J. (2020) Jimmy Page: The Anthology Genesis Publications, Genesis House, Guildford, Surrey

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Jimmy Page: The Anthology, by Jimmy Page, is published by Genesis Publications. Order from jimmypageanthology.com

For more information about Jimmy Page and to purchase his albums, books and other merchandise, visit his official website here.

Find Jimmy Page on twitter, facebook and instagram @jimmypage.

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