Customer Reviews

Fallen Angel: The Untold Story of Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin

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4 star:		(7)
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2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Like picking a scab, I forced myself to finish this book because I have been a Led Zeppelin fan since 1975. I found the book to be simplistic, overlong, entirely too autobiographical, and to suffer from a serious lack of editing - much like other vanity published works from evangelical Christian literalists. Fallen Angel is repetitive, loaded with constant unfulfilled promises of the shocking "proof" to come, full of tedious personal anecdotes about the author's rather mundane pre-conversion drug use, and obviously suffers from Friend's inability to distinguish fact from fantasy. This is a book to scare the parents or anyone ignorant of the areas Friend covers - But Friend is clearly no expert on any subject he addresses. His understanding of Crowley is the typical reactionary response that Crowley himself actively sought to produce in Christian literalists - Friend doesn't understand ritual magick, what it is or what it's really for, and fails to understand that Crowley said things to scare and offend people just like Friend. In truth, Crowley worshipped no person or thing except himself. Friend also displays a complete ignorance of traditional blues idioms - Zeppelin didn't invent this stuff or get it from an evil British mystic - it came from very early black american folklore. Zeppelin's very liberal lyrical borrowings from Howlin Wolf, Willie Dixon and Robert Johnson is ignored. Blues idioms are instead attributed to coded Crowleyisms designed to instill a love of Satan in the unsuspecting listener. Friend also fails to note the heavy influence of Tolkein and Celtic mythology on Zeppelin's lyrics. Battle of Evermore is not about Armageddon, it's about the Lord of the Rings and Welsh history. In order to make his "thesis" work, Friend forces Zeppelin lyrics to mean what he wants them to mean through selective paraphrases which in some cases are obviously taken out of context (coveniently, he claims he was legally unable to print any actual quotes from Zep songs). He repeatedly denies factual statements made by others where they contradict his conclusions - for instance, he refuses to believe that "Black Dog" was named for a dog concluding that nobody would let a dog wander around in a studio - he apparently forgets the use of country cottages and the Stones' Mobile studio to record much of Zep III and IV. Friend also relies on a ludicrous belief that Peter Grant was a satanist but offers absolutely no support for this key contention. He also engages in his own amateurish interpretations of Hebrew and occult symbolism (disagreeing with experts far more studied than himself) and offers such examples of evident satanism as the fact that the Page/Plant band all wore black at their gigs. All in all, the book suffers from the same sort of force fitting approach that spawned the "Paul is Dead" phenomenon. If you truly look hard enough, you can see and hear all sorts of nutty things and then the patterns start to form....Neither are Friend's arguments all that new or novel - the same sort of sensationalistic "Occult Curse on Zeppelin" nonsense was hugely popular in the late 70's - whole magazines set out to prove that selling your soul to the Devil was the only way a band could have gotten so big and that death and destruction was the ultimate price. Yes, Jimmy Page was interested in the occult, but so were a lot of people in the 70's. There really is no basis for his conclusion that Page, Plant and Peter Grant tried to use the band to convert all the world's children to devil worshippers. People who want to believe such a nutty claim will love this book. Anyone who knows anything about the subjects covered in the book will be sorely disappointed. And, unfortunately, the book does not stand up well as entertainment due to the flaws in style, repetitiveness and length.

Usually I would not write a review for any book, but, I felt compelled after wasting my precious time reading this crap. This so called book is the worst collection of words I have ever had the misfortune of reading in my life! The author sounds like he has been stuck under a "religous" rock all his life and has to put his "brand" on everything about the greatest rock band ever. Grasping at straws in the dark, Mr. Friend tries to explain the reasons behind all the lyrics in Led Zeppelin's cataloge, but , instead, he makes a complete idiot of himself by taking a "holy-roller" high road in explaining the reasons of his beliefs. No doubt, he has done his research on Alister Crowley, but, some of the ideas he presents are completely assanine. For example: all of Zeppelin"s lyrics were written not by members of the band, but, by Satan himself. Or that the band wants to convert all their fans to Satanism, please. You would be better off by taking the money your going to spend on this book and flush it down the toilet. Thomas Friend should stop writing books and write a written apology to the band, or better yet, go crawl back under the rock from which he came. My opnion is based on the 102 pages out of 632 that I have read of this so-called book. Please be warned, avoid this piece of trash like the plague. Any serious fan of Led Zeppelin will feel the exact same way about this abomination. Pure blasphemy.

What is very clear in this book is that Thomas Friend is serious about all 4 members of Led Zeppelin being satanists. Not only satanists, but Satan's soldiers, recruiting souls for the Devil. Most big fans of Jimmy Page and LZ already know of Page's affection for the occult and his fondness for Aleister Crowley. But, Friend has woven a tale here that paints a very disturbing picture of evil intentions. But , alas very unconvincing. His overall knowledge of Zep lyrics, Crowley writings and Biblical teachings are commendable. But there are many ridiculous assumptions he presents, that are clearly wrong, and someone with his knowledge should be ashamed to have written. One of his most adamant arguments, which he claims is his most important fact proving Zep was recruiting souls, was how Plant demanded the listener to sell his soul to the devil during "Dazed & Confused" on the CD and DVD "Song Remains". When the lyrics he claims are Plants Satanic orders are clearly the lyrics from the song's studio version. "You hurt and abuse, telling all of your lies", is misconstrued to be an order to sell your soul !!! His twisting of those lyrics, for someone who knows Zeppelin so well, is laughable. And since he claims it to be the "linch-pin" to his argument, the whole book then becomes laughable. Page was into some strange stuff, Plant was always intrigued with Nordic, Celtic, Tolkein imagery. They clearly thought it sounded mysterious and cool. And their fans evidently agreed and found it very entertaining. I am, and I know, dozens of huge Zeppelin fans, and none have become satanists from LZ music... So if Friend is correct, They were lousy recruiters anyway.

I fondly remember when Led Zeppelin was releasing and touring behind albums. I've been a big fan of the 70's rock scene, and have been curious about the links between many of the hard rock acts of the time and the occult. More than other bands, Led Zeppelin was personified by its own power and mystique, and much of that comes from the vision and will of its founder and guitarist, Jimmy Page.

The premise of this book could have made it a huge hit, if true investigative journalism were applied to "uncovering" the mysteries of Led Zeppelin and occult influences upon its music. Again, while being too young to experience Led Zeppelin in its prime, time has only made the myths surrounding this band grow.

This book, however, is a sophmoric attempt by a fan who has become a born-again Christian to write a magnum opus exposing the band as Satan-worshippers. At 600+ pages, I can only recommend it to people like me who would read it to find occasionally interesting tidbits of information to mull over, but there is really no new material uncovered here, just a rehashing of quotes and facts from magazines and books that have already been written about the band. If anything, this book points the way towards other useful sources for information to explain the imagery used by Led Zeppelin in their songs. The author admits to being a huge Led Zeppelin fan in his youth, and his fascination with Page led the author to his own exploration of the occult. The author also admits to attending a Led Zeppelin concert, and while tripping on acid, seeing 6-6-6's flying at him from Jimmy Page onstage, and feeling the band trying to lead him to sell his soul to Satan. So be prepared to fasten your seatbelt on this roller-coaster ride of hyperbole, unsupported claims, and inconguous conclusions made by the author.

The author traces EVERY occult reference in Led Zeppelin songs to Satanism, including much of the imagery in Robert Plant's lyrics that are almost universally accepted as having come from the Lord of the Rings trilogy (a fictional story). If true Satanism is convoluted and confusing, so is this author's strange viewpoint. The author goes to great lengths to propose a long-winded argument that the song "Battle of Evermore" is Satanic (a Lotr-inspired song), while only briefly glossing over songs like "Houses of the Holy," which includes the following lyric "Are you dizzy when you're stoned?/Let the music be your master/Can you hear the Master's call?/Satan and Man (the last line "Satan and Man" is hard to make out the way its sung, unless you listen closely).

Buy this book only if you're willing to sift through 600+ pages of sophmoric writing that occasionally stumbles upon points of some merit, and references books on the occult that could help in further exploration of Led Zeppelin's music, lyrics, and imagery. While someone like Ozzy Osbourne used occult imagery in a vaudville-like fashion to draw attention and notoriety to their act, there certainly appears to be enough evidence to suggest Jimmy Page was truly influenced by his interest in the occult, and not just using it to create interest in the band. There is a deeper story behind Page's interests in the occult as an alternative road to knowledge and sprituality, and the effect it had on Led Zeppelin and its music that could make a great story one day if it were explored and developed in a meaningful way. Unfortunately, anything that does not fall within the author's definition of orthodox Christianity is considered Satanic by him in this book, and therefore "evil," and limits the further exploration of what Page was referencing or trying to create (conjure?) through Led Zeppelin's music.

I know a lot of Zeppelin fans, and none of them are satinists. Readers who support this type fear and hate spreading would do more good by spending their time focused on their own actions and thoughts than on this crap. Even if L.Z did conjure spells to become famous, so what? It's over now, and no amount of paper waste is going to remove their name from the rock n roll tree of life. Stay focused people.

I will make it easy for you:
At one point the author quotes "The Rover", in particular the line "I used to rock it sometimes I'd roll it..." and does his best to determine the evil significance of the words "rock it" and yes, "roll it".

Not even amusing in a sarcastic light but a complete waste of time and money.

In recent years Jimmy Page has become a patron of ABC Trust (Action for Brazil's Children Trust) donating his time, energy and money to help Brazilian street children so i encourage you to spend your cash wisely.

Or you can buy "Fallen Angel" and allow a self-admitted drug casualty to explain his true meaning of "rock it" and "roll it."
It's up to you of course.

Many people have had trouble with drugs and alcohol use, and as a result many have turned to religion, but if a person doesn't accept responsibility for their inability to control their drug/alcohol use, there is a chance that they may find other reasons for their compulsive and self-destructive behavior.
Ah, yes.... The devil made me do it.
This book is the worst kind of religious denial, trading one addiction for another (trading a rock group as religious obsession for another obsession, the "satan is everywhere" concept)
This book is a testament to Obsessive-Compulsive thinking, fantastic & fanatical "connect the dot" -isim fills page after page. The results would be humorous if it wasn't so sad. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK even for a laugh. Reasoning this disordered and myopic isn't funny.
Born again christian worldview, ideology, fringe theology (satanism) and personal need for attention are all thrown into a blender of obsession and the results are unreadable crap.

I thought about reading this book on and off for a while, and finally decided that I was secure enough in what I believed in, to be objective and subjective about what I was about to embark upon. The author reminds the reader that this book is not for the weak minded. No words could have rung more true. But what I catch myself doing throughout the book is nodding my head in disbelief. I have no doubt that certain elements of Led Zeppelin are drawn from Crowley and the suggestions it hints at. (darkness) What I have a problem with is that the author, claiming to be born again Christian, seems to know a litttttle too much about the occult. I have literally taken a highlighter and marked phrases where the author is telling the reader outright what to think. If you want to look at things under a microscope over the course of 600 pages plus, you can find a way to manipulate the ideas. Perhaps the author is teaching us more about how to get in touch with the occult, its history and where to find it, then he does proving a solid point beyond what his mind allowed in, during a spiritually weak period while under the influence of the substances he teaches us, will allow you to 'take you there'. Not to mention the countless times the author says 'we'll get to that a little later', to draw the reader in. I guess I've made the decision to not 'hear' those things so negative, and allow my own interpretations to point out the examples that would lead me to the 'good' light. That's the beautiful thing about music. It allows the listener to have the freedom to use the interpretations to identify with their own identity. I feel like I was being force fed to believe that SANTA rearranged spells... you know. And because he dresses in red, he must be evil... and because he goes all over the world with MAGICK reindeer that he must be high on cocaine. Okay enough. I'm blowing it out of proportion a little (no pun intended) but it does get a little extreme to take seriously. A christian would have burned and rebuked this material long ago.

Friend presents an interesting, well-researeched theory regarding Jimmy Page and the other 3 members of Led Zeppelin being devil-worshippers with an implicit conversion agenda manifested through their music. He's done his homework, particularly with respect to Crowley and his writings. HOWEVER...this book is one laborious read. He goes on and on and on and on, citing all sorts of evidence for his theory, some plausible, some bordering on the ludicrous. No editor is mentioned or indicated, and I would bet my bottom dollar that the work was not redacted in any way, shape, or form prior to going to press. As a result, it suffers. This book could be pared down to half its weighty 600-plus page length and make a better read without sacrificing any of the author's premise. As it is now, you better have a pot of coffee brewing before you sit down with this tome.

I find it laughable that this book is quoted as being so well researched.

The author uses several examples of 'facts' that simply aren't true. An example is that Jimmy wrote the lyrics to 'Kashmir' and he bases a whole argument on how it is very important that it was Jimmy Page and not Robert Plant, as he was the main devil incarnate, however, ROBERT wrote the lyrics. Robert wrote all the lyrics following the fourth album as Jimmy decided that following 'Stairway' Robert had eclipsed anything he could write. Richard Cole wrote in his book, which was the memory of a drug addict from thirty years ago, that Jimmy wrote them, but he was WRONG! Robert has been quoted several times as saying they are among his finest.

Edited to say- I Have finally located this book from the depths of my wardrobe. Here are the quotes;

"The following information on the practice of astral projection is going to be presented from Aleister Crowley's "magick" as well as Led Zeppelin's song, "Kashmir"." "Before we [examine them], it is very important that the reader understand that Jimmy Page is the one who wrote the lyrics to "Kashmir" not Robert Plant."

Hm...... this poses a bit of a problem for the author, doesn't it? If it is so important that it was Jimmy, what happens when we realise it was actually Robert?

Another example is that of lyrics that are misquoted. The author goes into depths about the words of "Living Loving Maid' which are actually "telling tall tales of how it used to be." This is not what the author hears or quotes, despite it being the TRUE LYRIC and so the whole paragraph is rendered useless.

Edited to add the author's misheard quote; "Heaven told tales of how it used to be." I think this makes rather a difference when the song references a groupie's "tall tales" as opposed to how the magic that existed long ago, will return and triumph at last.

There is a lot of info out there now on Led Zeppelin and it is relatively easy to find similar misquotes and 'facts' in this book that are actually fiction. 'Black Dog' for example. The author goes into great detail about how the song could not possibly about a dog. Well he is right, "gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove," is hardly about Robert getting it on with a dog. However, the title, which was a working title and had nothing to do with the finished lyric, was based on the black dog that used to hang around during the recording sessions at Headley Grange. The author says this can't be true, because being huge rock stars, security would be far too tight for a stray dog to hang around the band, which, if anyone had researched how the band made and wrote and recorded music, is obviously rubbish as they wandered round the countryside in Wales and all over the world and strummed tunes and used mobile trucks in gardens and didn't bother about security unless touring, just like any other rock band at the time.

"How Many More Times" has it's basis in old blues songs, as does much of Led Zeppelin. Another reviewer pointed out that the author ignores this point completely. Here are some of the original lines of one of those songs that contributed to "how many more times"

"They call me the hunter, that's my name
A pretty woman like you, is my only game
I bought me a love gun, just the other day
And I aim to aim it your way
Ain't no use to hide, ain't no use to run
'Cause I've got you in the sights of my love gun" Albert King. "The Hunter"

I think it is pretty obvious what the hunter is preying on, it even says in the song, so when Robert sings in HMMT, the same first line, the same last line and the song is about being mistreated by a woman, I find it incredible that The author puts forward this interpretation of Robert's lyrics;

"By calling himself the hunter, Plant can be saying that he is united with Herne the Hunter, who is Satan, [Plant's] God."

Then there are interpretations which I believe should never have been touched on. "All my Love" Robert Plant's tribute to his son who had tragically died in 1977, and to his grieving family, are callously manipulated and presented from

"Yours is the cloth, mine is the hand that sews time
His is the force that lies within
Ours is the fire, all the warmth we can find
He is a feather in the wind"

to;

"the force is Horus in the form of Hadit, and the fire is Horus." "Hadit and Horus are both Satan."

Unbelievable.

These are just a couple of instances, but it shows you what the 'evidence' is like. I haven't finished it, I have read probably only a half of it up to now, in fact. I bought this book because I wanted a Jimmy Page biography. What I got was a lot of conjecture and opinion based on several things that are simply and easily proven not to be true.

If after reading this you think this is a well researched book, nothing anyone else will say will make any difference, so go ahead and spend your money.

addition- I find it interesting that although the author has answered my review with his defense, he has not been able to explain how he knows this piece of information; "It doesn't matter if they were at Headley Grange or not. Stray dogs don't walk in on recording Led Zeppelin IV." Not that I actually said the dog was in the studio, though of course it could have been, It could also have been just outside in the period of time they were staying at the old manor house in the middle of the country.

I rest my case.

I just have to add this. I read it last night at the end of the book and I'm sure you will agree, it speaks for itself.

"Robert Plant advocates the book "Magic Arts in Celtic Britain" and that book teaches that the Druids used to sacrifice human beings to the gods in the wicker man."

Robert had read the book previously to composing the lyrics to Stairway, but surely the author is not suggesting...... let's see what he says next;

"I don't know if Robert Plant advocates this."

Freedom of speech eh?