I've long said Led Zeppelin is the greatest band ever, to me it's not even close. For those of you who don't know Led Zeppelin is made up of 4 of the most talented musicians of the last 50 years. On vocals its the Golden God himself , Robert Plant. He's the singer on the Honeydrippers "Sea of Love". One of the most amazing guitarists ever in Jimmy Page. His influence is felt outside of Led Zeppelin as well. On bass and multiple other instruments John Paul Jones. (Allegedly the only Zeppelin member who didn't sign a contract with the devil.) Jones also played in Them Crooked Vultures, an idea that's better in theory than in practice. No one should forget the great John "Bonzo" Bonham on drums. Attacking his drums as much as he played them, his virtuoso performance on "Moby Dick" may be without peer.
I've loved and listened to their music for many years. However one of my biggest regrets is that I wasn't ever able to see them in concert and won't ever be able to. I did see Page and Plant in concert once and that was sort of disappointing. For many people solos get tired quickly and that was my main complaint about this concert. In addition I went to see the great Robert Plant solo in concert a couple of times and he was great both times. He sang Zeppelin songs both times, but he was mostly promoting his solo work. I also saw the greatest Zeppelin cover band, Whitesnake, in concert. They were disappointing to say the least, even with such great performers as Steve Vai and David Coverdale. I find it ironic that Whitesnake was so disappointing live as one of my favorite live CDs ever is their "Live: In The Shadow of the Blues".
The closest thing I can get to Led Zeppelin in concert now is through concert DVDs and youtube.com. Sadly many of those concerts only have audio, which is okay. It's the butt kicking music that's the main draw to any rock concert. This is actual video of Led Zeppelin live at Royal Albert Hall 1970: (Thanks to Rhidalgo789)
The blistering take on "Whole Lotta Love", which starts with "Moby Dick", is simply amazing. It's just one of the many highlights of this show.
"The Song Remains The Same" concert/ movie. I remember the first time I saw this I was perplexed by the 12 minute opening scene. It still doesn't make sense to me. However the actual concert part is awe inspiring.
From March 27th, 1975 Led Zeppelin live in LA. (audio only): According to Youtube user name allnightwatchman Led Zeppelin was introduced by Linda Lovelace, thus the concert is nicknamed "Deep Throat".
Led Zeppelin Live at Earl's Court in May 1975. This concert only lasted 90 minutes, it sounds like Plant was having troubles with his vocals that night. Is that why the concert was much shorter than a usual Zep concert?:
One of Led Zeppelin's final concerts before the untimely death of the great John Bonham was at the Knebworth Festival on August 11th, 1979. A little over a year later, on September 25th, 1980, Bonham died. His death followed a near all day drinking binge the preceding day. The official cause of death was asphyxiation of vomit- which sounds like a particularly gruesome way to die. On December 4th, 1980 Led Zeppelin officially announced their break up. Jones, Plant and Page have traded in on the Zeppelin name a few times, but for the most part they've handled the death of their drummer and band in a very classy way. (Thanks to Wikipedia.org.)
Take this for what its worth, but NoExcusesLayne claims this is Led Zeppelin's final concert with Bonham on drums. The concert took place on July 7th, 1980 in Berlin, Germany (audio only):
Please don't tell Led Zeppelin that I've added this video to my blog, the mighty Zep wasn't thrilled with their set at Live Aid on July 13th, 1985. On drums is Phil Collins.
Rolling Stone is reporting that Jimmy Page is working on reissues of the first 3 Led Zeppelin CDs, they are set to be released this year. I'm looking forward to reworked versions of their classics and unreleased live tracks.
Another great thing that I fully enjoy is the amazing Showtime series "Homeland". Sadly I can't afford Showtime so I have to wait until Comcast has a free preview weekend or the local library has the DVD available. I was able to see Season 1 because of Comcast, that season is one of the best seasons of any show ever.
My favorite thing about "Homeland" is how densely packed each episode is. There are several things that go on in each episode. If you don't believe try to write down a summary of an episode, it could go for multiple pages. I actually like writing down a summary of an episode. That forces me to look at things differently and creates new insights. If "Homeland" was a food it would be a 17 ounce steak, as both take a long time to digest.
It's been too long since I had seen Season One so I'd forgotten a lot of it. I watched the last 2 episodes of Season 1 again last night and I was blown away again. Nearly a perfect season of television, it's only slightly ruined by the ending. I understand that Damian Lewis is one of the stars of the show and his name attracts people to this show. However Season 1 would've been perfect if Brody had completed his suicide mission. That would have been the perfect ending to a perfect season and also opened up so many possibilities.
It's pure genius how the producers and writers worked the Marine 1 and Marine 2 clues into the season. I love how those clues were so ambiguous and how they could have meant multiple things. The payoff was so great when the audience found out what those clues really meant. A brilliant stroke of fiction to create what the two former Marines did to cause panic that forced the Vice President and all of the other "high profile targets" into that bunker.
But that's a minor quibble. Claire Danes just inhabits Carrie Mathison so well. Her battle with not only her bipolar condition, but also with the status quo and the old man stagnancy of the CIA is breathtaking I love how that obsession is both the thing that makes her so good at her job, but also wrecks her life.
I find it funny how Brody explains to Abu Nazir how it might be better that he didn't die in the blast as he can influence policy as a congressman. That also seems to be the producers and writers telling the audience why they chickened out. (I understand why the decision was made to how Season 1 ended, but oh man.) I enjoyed how Carrie was able to get Dana to call her Dad and how Dana talked him down. It's due to Carrie and Dana that prevented Brody from blowing himself up. Dana making her father to promise to come home was a brilliant stroke. After the bomb didn't explode originally we see Brody in the bathroom stall frantically trying to make the vest work. Dana's call came in only seconds before Brody was going to complete his mission. It seemed he had still been intent on completing his suicide bombing mission. But Dana was able to get through and talk him down.
I had watched the first two episodes of Season 2, before I realized I needed to watch the end of season 1 again. After watching the season one finale I watched the third episode of Season Two, "State of Independence". This is the episode that Saul Berenson sneaks the memory card of Brody's confession out of Beirut. It's the confession Brody made before he thought he would die.
How did that memory card get over to Beirut? Was someone following Brody and saw where he stashed it. It wasn't there when he went back to retrieve it. I'm excited to see how that's explained over the next few episodes.
Let me say this whole cast is tremendous. Mandy Patinkin as Saul Berenson is a revelation. Berenson is one of my favorite characters of all-time. He knows how to work with Carrie, when to use tough love and when to be gentle. He knows when to indulge her and when to completely shut her down. He's her mentor, babysitter and counselor, but thankfully not her lover. That would be just so wrong in so many ways. I love that Berenson comes straight from the airport after getting home from Beirut. He shows Brody's video to Carrie and how all of her thoughts were correct. I enjoyed seeing the complete vindication on her face as she says "I was right".
Where does the show go from here? How do they keep Brody's story line believable while continuing to make him a relevant character?
I do have one minor quibble about the first three episodes of Season Two. It seems Abu Nasir wants his cake and to be able to eat it too when it comes to Brody. He wants Brody to use his political influence on one hand, but he also wants him to run missions. How can Brody do both without getting caught. I'm not sure how he's going to explain being gone for so long when he was trying to take the tailor to the safe house. He needs to convince the vice president, his wife and whoever else might be looking into his background. We already know his wife doesn't believe him- if she only knew the actual truth. If Brody can't convince her, can he really convince anyone else? Brody needs to either be the political influencer or the mission runner, but he can't do both. That duality exposes Brody to failure and without the ability to be of any help at all for Nasir.
I'm sad to hear that most people say that "Homeland" went down a lot in quality in Season 3. I'll eventually be able to see that season.
But any season that features Morena Baccarin will at least always be pleasant to watch:
themusicaddict
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