Is Percy still a Rock Singer?

[Purgatory Brite]

Judging by this audience recording of a performance with Alison Krauss, Robert Plant appears content to perform the LZ classic in a hybrid style of country and rockabilly. Perhaps this is a way of avoiding vocal range issues with the old material, and I suspect that it is for the best.

[ChrisB]

Just growing old gracefully, with integrity and style.

[mudshark]

Best Plant performance ever. No screeching at all. Well done.
and what a band! They make this shitsong sound half decent.

[Matt Wilson]

Best Plant performance ever. No screeching at all. Well done.
and what a band! They make this shitsong sound half decent.

Wait, Muddy... So now both Led Zeppelin AND prog are shit?

Hmmm......

[mudshark]

Not just now Matt. That's almost always been the case. As said, I've liked a bit of prog in my time, but have sincerely loathed LZ ever since I heard their music: II was the album. The time I got arrested for ALLEGED smuggling of guns and explosives to Libya, being on a sinking ship offshore Sulawesi, getting introduced to the scream of the banshee accompanied by a below-par music combo; there are just some things in life one can't forget.

[Matt Wilson]

Pete doesn't seem to care for Led Zep II either. That was the one which made me a fan in me yoof.

[mudshark]

II is bad, but IV is worse. I remember not disliking 1/3 of Physical Graffiti.
Over the years DD has learned that Deep Purple were the better band.

[Matt Wilson]

He would have a stroke if you tried to tell him that in person.

But seriously, you like Purple, but not Zep? Interesting...

[The Slider]

I can understand that. Purple swing. Zep don't really.
And Blackmore is more refined guitar player.
And Gillan a less "approximate" singer.

By and large though, the songs are not in the same league

[Matt Wilson]

And there you have it.

Quite like what you said on FB the other day concerning the Damned vs the Ramones. It's all about the songs.

[The Slider]

That is the bottom line Matt
If the song ain't no good, it don't matter how well you play it

[mudshark]

Matt, back in the day, when ships were made of wood and nerves of steel, when the Mojo4music sewing-circle was only just taking shape and only Doyens were roaming the web, there was a heated debate about DP vs LZ. It went on for many pages and was quite entertaining. Pity it hasn't been preserved for posterity. And no, of course we didn't manage to improve Pete's taste in music. That wouldn't have been right and obviously wasn't the point. What was said still applies now: DP had the better songs, was funkier, and their guitarist and singer were superior. 23 years down the line I still stand by what I wrote then.

[Matt Wilson]

If I had to pick another guitar player who was the most similar to Jimmy Page in the '70s, it would be Blackmore. Ritchie used more classical motifs in his song construction while Jimmy stayed closer to the blues, but both could create riffs and memorable solos very well. Page was more the producer, but perhaps Blackmore the better guitarist live. At least more consistent.

[mudshark]

Pretty much spot on.

[C]

Dead Babies - a tremendous track



.

[The Slider]

DP had the better songs.

in what kind of bizarre world is this?
They kind of hit a good groove here and there and they are much better at holding your interest when they improvised on stage, but Jesus fucking christ they were not good songwriters
Speed King, Black Night, Highway Star, Maybe I'm a Leo, Burn - I make that five great songs.
The rest are adequate at best. Most Deep Purple songs are fucking abysmal.

[Charlie O.]

If I had to pick another guitar player who was the most similar to Jimmy Page in the '70s, it would be Blackmore. Ritchie used more classical motifs in his song construction while Jimmy stayed closer to the blues, but both could create riffs and memorable solos very well. Page was more the producer, but perhaps Blackmore the better guitarist live. At least more consistent.

Yeah, at his best Page was a very strong, very exciting soloist, but I figure his real gift was guitar orchestration. He had a larger palette of tones and textures, and an innate understanding of how they could combine in interesting ways. (Though John Paul Jones - no slouch at arrangement himself - may have been of some help there.)

As for Percy, I think he sings the way he does because he can't sing the way he did (as PB suggested). He was having trouble with that at least as early as Houses Of The Holy.

[ChrisB]

DP had the better songs.

Most Deep Purple songs are fucking abysmal.

Deep Purple are fucking abysmal, full stop. And I rate Gillan in the top five worst vocalists of all time, along with Ozzy, Brian Johnson, Axyl Rose and Bon Scott

[mudshark]

Excellent!
I'm certainly not a big fan of DP. Highway Star on Made in Japan is one of the best openers on any live album, and In Rock was an eye-opener for me, at a young age. Of the studio albums I think Burn is their best. Space Trucking and Woman From need to be added the Slider's list. Ian Gillan was a good singer. Ozzy, Bryan, Axl and Bon were screamers. Very annoying, even worse than Robert Plant, which is saying something. You can't compare those clowns with Gillan. He was probably not as good as Paul Rodgers or even David Byron, but still pretty good.

[Matt Wilson]

Bon Scott was a screamer?