Chronicles the creation and lifespan of Led Zeppelin using the media coverage and interviews recorded throughout their twelve year career.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Author
In this book you may notice a definite bias towards the weekly British music papers. This proved to be inescapable. During the era 1968-1980 there were very few weekly periodicals in the United States that concerned themselves with rock music. Rolling Stone is the obvious candidate, but for whatever reason it’s editors chose to barely acknowledge that the band even existed until 1975. In many of the conventional daily papers of the USA, if the band was mentioned it was often in an off-the-wire reprint of articles from Melody Maker or New Musical Express. Glossy magazines like Circus and Creem infrequently revealed anything new about the band, concentrating mainly on the pictures rather than the news. In Australia the magazines like Go-Set also reprinted articles from the British weeklies and so the core of the information comes from New Musical Express, Disc & Music Echo, Melody Maker, Sounds, and Record Mirror all of which originated in London England.
There are no doubt numerous articles out there which were not exhumed. Many of them are probably important and relevant, but please note that this is not just the positive critiques. Basically everything that was found was included. This revealed one quite remarkable detail. In many histories written about Led Zeppelin and indeed in many interviews with the band there are an abundance of references to how cruelly they were treated by the media. There are in fact so many references to this unjust bias that it has become a truism. However, when you start to actually examine the evidence, as presented in this book, you will find that for the most part the press were quite generous. For every slagging there seems to have been numerous articles extolling the band.
About the Author
Robert Godwin is the founder of Collector's Guide Publishing and a former producer and manager of rock music for Musicland Studios, Sunset Records, and United Western. He is the author of The Collector's Guide to Led Zeppelin, The Illustrated Collector's
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A wonderful read for any Led Zeppelin fan!,
By
This review is from: Led Zeppelin: The Press Reports (Paperback)
Mr Godwin does a great job here in compiling countless newspaper and magazine articles from throughout the world. It is so interesting to read about the band in articles that are from the various years. Some articles even reveal mysteries that have been around concerning concert dates, and other facts. If you are a Led Zeppelin fan - this book is a must!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating Information,
By A Customer
This review is from: Led Zeppelin: The Press Reports (Paperback)
This book reveals a lot, good and bad, about Led Zeppelin. The multitude of interviews provide great insight into the state of the band at that time. Wish there were more pictures, though. A must for all Led-Heads.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Decent, but disappointing,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Led Zeppelin: The Press Reports (Paperback)
The Good: It has lengthy interviews with the band, tour dates (and maps!), and press releases from Atlantic and Swan Song.
The Bad: 1) The album reviews and general criticism are never printed, but rather summarized (usually very briefly) by Godwin. He claims that copywrite law prevents such things, but books like Racing In The Streets and All Yesterday's Parties, on Springsteen and The Velvet Underground respectively, have re-printed articles in their entirety. Perhaps it is less profitable to do so? At any rate, this significantly reduces the value of the book as it obscures a crucial history of how their albums were perceived by critics. 2) As the 1970s wear on, it becomes clear that Godwin falls into a familiar trap as regards positive and negative reviews of the band. The positive reviews receive very little qualification while the negative reviews (especially toward the decade's end) are accompanied with statements about how it was fashionable to hate Zeppelin in punk-era Britain. The idea is that Zeppelin deserved the good reviews, but the bad reviews were merely a result of bandwagon journalism and not reflective of a decline in Zeppelin's music. This is so biased that it calls into question the objectivity of the entire book, a fact that might be mitigated if the articles were re-printed in full instead of us having to rely on Godwin's summaries and editing. Overall, I'm glad I read it as some information is better than none. I do, however, hope a better book comes along someday, one with a better eye for historical detail and accuracy.
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