LED ZEPPELIN - VIVA MUSICA!!

The Battle Of Evermore

The band of geniuses! Each of them is complete musicians in their own right. I feel like I’m not authorized to write about them. Plant, Page, JPJ, Bonham – the ultimate line up.

Hey, I am not yet able to start writing about them. Forgive me if this doesn’t come out good, I jus can’t come to write about them without stopping their music stopping in my heart.



Hell no, I’m not writing. You better hear each and everyone of their songs. See the live videos, not the studio recordings!! Stairway to heaven, Montreux, Moby Dick, Darlene, Achilles Last Stand, Kashmir, every single song!! Then you’ll understand why I’m saying so!

 

The Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

THE BEATLES

I hated it the first time I saw it! Girls swooning at some guys standing like jerks! The next time I saw it, I changed the channel. So it was not until I got a cassette of John Lennon’s greatest hits that I discovered Beatles. That one album changed my perception of them as boy band wonders to real genius. After that, it was a search for other albums. I wanted to know more about them, heard the interviews and all, anything that came in TV. Surely, this was not what my first impression gave me!



Then I got their white album, not bad. Some of the songs were really good. But then, John and Paul had already got their stamp of approval, especially John. I loved his songs more than anyone else’s. His voice had everything. From longing to melancholy to hard core rock ‘n roll, that voice had a mark of genius. Paul’s voice was okay to me. My favorite song of his is ‘Say Say Say’. I can hear it as many times I want. Until I heard ‘My guitar gently weeps’, George was just a member of the great band. This one song took him above the other two and equal to John. I wept with the song, abstractly speaking! It was one of those songs which make you regret not learning the guitar! And what more Eric Clapton, man standing next to guitar god, was on the track! I can not say much about Ringo but since the band decided to take him as a replacement to Pete Best, he must be good.



So what are you waiting for, don’t fall for their specs or cheeky quotes (John on Jesus!), fall in love with their music!

 

The Guitar and The Pen

The Guitar and The Pen

Another great line-up! This one has the kind of temperamental geniuses I love! Daltrey, Moon, Townshend and Entwistle.



I’ll take them one by one, starting with my favorite Keith Moon. It was not his drumming skills that made me love him, but his approach to music. He took music as fun. A thing of beauty to be enjoyed and not overdone! He was larger than life on the stage, giving the impression of an elf sitting on mushrooms. His drum skills are legendary. Few drummers will say that they were not influenced by his virtuoso skills. He had such speed coupled with great sense of sound. His drumming was never too loud for the music they played (But loud enough to cause partial hearing loss of Pete!).



The multitalented Pete Townshend, equally at ease with piano and guitars, though he was better on guitars. He and John were childhood friends and played a lot of instruments. He was the tour de force behind the lyrical beauty of The Who. His prowess could be seen in My Generation (Sound familiar? Limp Bizkit!). His stage crashing antics became trademark of The Who.



Roger Daltrey’s voice always had a kind of meaty sting to it. He had mastery over his voice, kind of range which could keep up with extraordinary speed of Keith’s drumming or Pete’s sudden twists of hand. Unlike other three, this handsome man could have the girls swoon over him. Ideal front man, with the magnetism to hold stage with such extraordinary musicians of the likes of Keith, Pete and John. His voice is best in The Guitar and The Pen and Who Are You.



The extraordinary man in the band, John was the rest put together. His lyrics were exquisite in construction. To me only one person is greater than Cliff Burton, it is John (No. don’t bring JPJ into this). For all his theatrical antics on stage, he is always admired and never ever will be imitable. It’s funny to note that he was once quoted to have said in an interview, "The Who hasn’t a proper bass player."



I still haven’t got Tommy. One day, that deficiency will also be taken care of.



PS: You might be wondering why I haven’t put the replacements in this group. For me, The Who without Keith would not be The Who rather it would be…... WHO?