Running away from controversies, a film focuses on each musician’s initial trajectory and the group’s early days, showing why they were ahead of their time
In March 1969, the Rolling Stone USA (USA, ok? Do not blame the Brazilian) published a scathing criticism of the first album in the LED ZEPPELINhomonymous, released two months earlier. In the text, the journalist John Mendelsohn described Jimmy Page as “Guitarist very proficient, but a limited producer and weak composer” and defined the work as very reminiscent of Truth (1968), premiere of Jeff Beck Group – Band commanded by Beck, who, such a page, was another egress of the Yardbirds.
Does Jimmy, the vocalist Robert Plantthe bassist John Paul Jones and the drummer John Bonhamthis deceased in 1980, were it affected by this and many other negative criticisms of its inaugural album? The story alone indicates no. Even so, this is reinforced by themselves in Becoming Led Zeppelindocumentary directed by Bernard MacMahon and produced by Allison McGourty (both responsible for American Epic) that arrives in the IMAX cinemas of Brazil this Thursday, 27.
Very fast, but not so much
With statements only of the four members – John Bonham is represented by an interview hitherto shelved – and a clipping that ends in January 1970, the first film authorized by Led Zeppelin tells the group’s stretch walk, something that Jimmy Page Reinforce, it took only a year to happen. All very fast, but there was reason: when the band was born in 1968, both he and John Paul Jones were notorious figures in the music industry, as they worked for years as studio musicians. Besides being known, they had a lot of accumulated knowledge – especially the guitarist, in fact Leader of a project where everyone stood out.
One of the great merits of Becoming Led Zeppelin It is, precisely, to make it clear that the story does not start in 1968. The previous trajectories of the four members gain prominent space in the narrative and show why the band worked so well: besides the general talent and the stubborn command of Page, there was a union of very distinct influences. In fact, it would surprise if you went wrong.
Jimmy Page’s hero was LONNIE DONEGANthe “king of the skiffle”, but in his times of a session musician, he recorded with all kinds of people, Shirley Bassey (in a session that also had JPJ) The Who. John Paul Jones, the only one to be born in a family of artists, stifled everything. He was even a church organist because he paid well: 25 pounds a year. Robert Plant was studying to be an accountant, but ended up hooked by the revolutionary rock and roll Little Richard. John Bonham, in turn, had his life changed after watching the movie The Benny Goodman Story (1956), with the legend of jazz Gene krupa – And he fell in love even more with the drums when he met Soul de James Brown.
In common, in addition to the hunger for victory and having started professional career early, the four were in love with the United States, especially their music. Then comes in perhaps the only big failure of the movie: the members highlight their influences, but very rare and very subtle the mentions of the plagues committed. Jimmy Page, for example, just cites Jake Holmes as “inspiration” for “Dazed and Confused”but the American artist is the author of the composition and had to trigger Zeppelin judicially, decades later, in search of this recognition. Unlocked, Robert Plant says bluntly who used written verses of “You Need Love” (Willie Dixon) in “Whole Lotta Love”situation that also yielded process and agreement.
Hits
Other than that Becoming Led Zeppelin Steps. Starting with its existence, given that finding filming of the band in good quality represents a Herculean task. Jimmy Page and businessman Valentão Peter Grant They had a very protective approach to the group image. The interviews and participation in TV stations and people who tried to film their performances were rare were rare, also losing their records.
Focusing only on Zeppelin’s formation period, without extending to the 1970s, a good decision was shown. Having a reduced cut has helped tell the story in an interesting way, in an almost naive and dramas free tone. The maximum controversy you have is when Robert insists in a fun tone that PatBonzo’s wife asked her husband to stay away from him. “This guy is trouble”said the wife of the drummer, deceased last year. It was not wrong. In the end, she became a close friend of Maureen, the singer’s spouse, which relieved her trial.
The naive tone remains with the decision to offer little context of the time to the narrative. Zeppelin was founded in the “year that did not end”, when the murders of Martin Luther King and from Robert Kennedythe beginning of Vietnam War and demonstrations against her, the Cold war and authoritarian regimes around the world. Some of these events are presented to the public with others for 1969 in a subtle way, with visual brushstrokes in excerpts of the band’s performance. If so, it is commented that Zeppelin won its first gold album one day after the return of the mission Apollo 11responsible for taking the man to the moon for the first time.
Not even contemporary artists are cited. Among the rare exceptions are the Beatlesjust to say in a newspaper clipping that Zeppelin surpassed them on the charts at one point, and Vanilla Fudgewho took them to their first tour – at one point, John Paul Jones acknowledges that John Bonham and the colleague drummer, CARMINE APPICE“Imitated each other.” Appice, over the decades, ensured that only Bonzo copied him.
Ahead of your time
Although the interviews are exclusive, there is not so much unprecedented information in Becoming Led Zeppelin. Still, the way history is also presented represents a great merit, as the work compiles a large volume of data, “mastiga” and displays all this in approximately two hours, with some videos of presentations of the group’s early days .
But the film’s great success is to be able to translate and explain to the public why Led Zeppelin was ahead of his time. They were and are still a very rare band case that had control of the whole creative process and their image. The resources and knowledge of Jimmy Page, who paid from his own pocket the studio sessions of the first album, enabled the imposition of boundaries to the label, Atlantic Records: Master recordings would be his, the seal could not release singles (because the focus was on the albums) and everything would need to pass the musicians’ approval. If a documentary like Becoming Led Zeppelin There is in this format without controversy and focusing on music, it is because of that.
The control was size that page, too, performed producer function on all Zeppelin records. He counted with the help of sound engineers, but nothing beyond. A mistakenly described as “weak” by Mendelsohn, the guitarist had a well-defined view of what this band should be-and managed to execute it, even through innovative production techniques, some of them described in the film.
Due to the format, it is a recommended documentary for initiates in the group’s trajectory and curious music, especially the one practiced in the 1950s and 1960s. And will it be continued to address the following years? Difficult. Remembered to this day by wisdom at the time of stopping (in 1980, with the death of John Bonham) and protecting his image, Zeppelin would not accept squeezing his story in more movies and putting himself in a situation where he would be forced to address controversies.
*Becoming Led Zeppelin Premiere in IMAX Cinemas do Brasil this Thursday, 27.
BECOMING LED ZEPPELIN – FICKET
- Direction: Bernard MacMahon
- Screenplay: Bernard MacMahon and Allison McGourty
- Production: Allison McGourty and Paradise Pictures in association with Big Beach
- Executive Production: Michael B Clark, Alex Turtleub, Cynthia Heusing, David Kistenbroker, Duke Erikson, Simon Moran and Ged Doherty
- Edition: Dan Gitlin
- Sound Supervision: Nick Bergh
- Sound Restoration: Peter Henderson
- File Search: Kate Griffiths and Rich Resberg
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Source: Rollingstone
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
