A band that does not publish singles – which appears completely absurd today, was quite daring at the end of the 1960s, but was not yet impossible.
In any case, Led Zeppelin managed to negotiate this condition in her contract to the great American label Atlantic Records.
Guitarist and producer Jimmy Page was in charge of this concept, which was geared towards the fact that the audience heard complete albums. He saw how other bands had “lost their souls through single publications,” explains Page in Bernard Macmahon’s documentary “Becoming Led Zeppelin”.
This traces the beginnings of the legendary British rock band and seems to be inspired by Page’s holistic spirit, as their songs are always completely played out.
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What the director, who became known for the history of the first US recordings with the documentary series “American Epic”, celebrates his sometimes unpublished archive finds-and impressively imposed the time before the band’s superstark, which had developed from the ruins of Jeff Becks Yardbirds. The incredible, then new intensity of “Dazed and Confused” or “Whole Lotta Love” is immediately conveyed.
Only the three members, who are still alive, have their say, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. The drummer John Bonham, who died in 1980, can be heard on a recently discovered interview recording.
Especially when the four tell about their youth and their musical influences at the time, this is exciting. John Paul Jones, who comes from a musical family, became an organist and choir director of a parish as a teenager to make money for his first Fender bass.
Just like Jimmy Page, he developed into a session musician in London, together they were booked for the recording of Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger”, which Jones raved about very sympathetically decades later.
“Becoming Led Zeppelin” traces the recordings for the first two albums and the band’s first US tour, which is becoming increasingly redundant in the last quarter of the two-hour duration of this first authorized documentary. She would have had other interview partners or at least changing settings.
It is also a shame that Page, Plant and Jones are separated from each other and never talk to each other. However, since there have been no hopes for a reunion for a long time, fans can at least comfort themselves with this film.