Review: ‘Becoming Led Zeppelin' brings riffage and volume but little in the way of fresh insight
There's pummeling hard rock, yes, and then there's the nuclear-grade explosion of Shirley Bassey performing the theme to 'Goldfinger' — a whole separate beast. In one of pop music's oddest confluences, future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones sat in on that 1964 recording session, years before the band came together. The two musicians remember Bassey's command with smiles on their faces in the new documentary 'Becoming Led Zeppelin,' still blown away.
It's a charming moment in a profile that could have used more of them. In retrospect, it makes sense that backing Bassey would prove formative: So much of Led Zeppelin was about power, poise and drama (or melodrama, if you think of the first album's overwrought 'Babe I'm Going to Leave You'). And putting those elements together into a controlled, disciplined package is what the group would do better than any other before it — and most others since.
Unfortunately, that same level of control has resulted in a timid, far-from-revelatory film, authorized by the three surviving Zeppelin vets and graced by their presence in new interviews that give off the faint scent of impatience: Can we get on with it? Drummer John Bonham, who died in 1980, is represented by recently unearthed audio, also stubbornly uninsightful.
Why are these guys so boring? It's a mystery that won't be probed by director Bernard MacMahon and co-writer Allison McGourty, who tick off the usual gigs and recording anecdotes on the rise to fame with a then-this-happened dutifulness. (Performance footage is fun but 'Becoming Led Zeppelin' may in fact have more fudged overdubs than 'The Song Remains the Same.') Meanwhile, if ever a project called out for some historical context and a few talking heads to speak to Led Zeppelin's revolutionary hugeness — something that could be lost on today's audiences — it's this one. But no other voices have been allowed, a mistake.
Instead, an intriguing portrait emerges of Page as shrewd Svengali, flying to New York City in 1968 with a completed, self-financed album under his arm to negotiate with Atlantic Records potentate Ahmet Ertegun personally, along with muscle Peter Grant. No singles, the riff-wrangler insisted. Take it or leave it. Oh, for a feature-length documentary on just this business trip alone.
Only a hardened viewer with no sense of fun (or ears) will find this music a drag. Almost every track of the band's first two full-lengths is a miracle and you can hear the rules of metal being forged in tracks like 'Communication Breakdown' and 'Whole Lotta Love.' (Seeing the film in deafening Imax is certainly the way to go.) But as any superfan will tell you, 'Becoming Led Zeppelin' ends when things are just about to get interesting: a pivot to acoustic folk, a plunge into drug abuse and bad decisions — and even more terrific music. None of that danger comes through here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
2 days ago
- Forbes
Marina Shows She's The ‘Princess Of Power' On New Album
Marina Welsh singer Marina has taken full control of her creative output since the release of her 2021 album Ancient Dreams in a Modern Land. The following year, she completed her contract with Atlantic Records and created her own Queenie Records label, stepping into her power as an independent artist. It's only fitting, then, for her first independent album to be titled Princess of Power. Marina first teased that she was coming out of her cocoon in February with lead single 'Butterfly,' an appropriate metaphor for an artist emerging into a new phase of her life and career. She followed it up with the attitude-packed 'Cupid's Girl' and 'C*ntissimo,' further showing that she was coming back with a vengeance and isn't a malleable pop star bending to the whims of the music world. Look no further than songs like 'Digital Fantasy' and 'Princess of Power.' 'I livеd the sweet and I lived the sour / Been living lifе locked up in a tower / But now I'm blooming like a flower / Welcome to my world, princess of power,' she sings on the album's titular track. 'Stuck in a loveless generation / Ready to go through a transformation / I'm gonna glow like a meteor shower / Welcome to my world, princess of power.' When discussing the project with Rolling Stone, Marina described a creative process unlike anything she's experienced before in her career. 'There's a weird spaciousness in me that hasn't been present in previous album releases, and I think it's because I feel so happy and confident with what I've created,' she said, adding, 'I don't like forcing things anymore.' 'I was trying to access this euphoric energy that I wanted in my everyday life,' she added. 'That was the blueprint for this record energetically.' Tracks like 'Rollercoaster" speak to that state of mind. 'I wanna swim topless in the ocean / Have sex on the sand, on the grass, in the garden / Spread me like a picnic on the floor in the forest / 'Cause I don't wanna live if I can't be honest,' she croons. As she approaches her 40th birthday later this year, Marina has flipped her perspective on what it means to be an 'aging' woman in pop music, confessing that women in music face an unfair double standard despite women in their 40s, 50s, and beyond proving that they can continue to enjoy successful careers. 'We've been told that it's something that's going to take our value from us, whilst men get to age and gain power, and wisdom, and respect, and better pay. Why's it the reverse for women?" she said. "Youth is usually where the fresh new things are happening, but I want to disrupt that.'
Forbes
3 days ago
- Forbes
Rocker Paul Rodgers' Near-Death Operation: 50/50 Chance Of Survival
Paul Rodgers performs during KFOX 98.5's Greg's Kihncert at Shoreline Amphitheatre on July 31, 2003 in Mountain View, California. (Photo by) In Part 1 of our interview series with classic rocker Paul Rodgers, we covered his impending induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, an amusing anecdote from a Bad Company tour in Spain, his initial thoughts on the great super-group Cream, the first time he heard his own song on the radio, where the name Bad Company came from and his work with the not-for-profit Adopt The Arts. Here we look at his medical situation with a number of recent strokes, band manger Peter Grant and Led Zeppelin, his memoirs and epitaph, and more. Following are edited excerpts from a longer phone conversation. Jim Clash: You've had such an interesting life. Ever think about writing a book about it? Rodgers: In fact, I'm working on my memoirs now, about four-fifths of it done. I have a great co-writer. I don't really like talking about myself, blowing my own trumpet, toot, toot, you know. But he makes it so easy, asks the right questions. I speak with him on a weekly basis. We've done this for eight months now, and the book should be out next year. Clash: You've had a number of strokes over the past few years, no? NEW YORK, NEW YORK - Jimmy Page at the 38th Annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony at Barclays Center on November 03, 2023. (Photo byfor The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ) Rodgers: I certainly have. I had 11 TIA's [Transient Ischaemic Attacks], and three major strokes, the last one just last year. It's hereditary, runs in my family unfortunately. My father passed at 60, likely due to a stroke. I'm 75, so I've had a lot more life than he did. I lost my ability to comprehend certain things. I had to learn to use a fork, spoon, and all of that again. I didn't even know what a guitar was. Hyperbarics and a program called MERT - Magnetic E-Resonance Therapy - helped me get back my language and singing functions. They also cleaned out my left carotid artery, a major surgery with only a 50/50 chance of survival. I was completely on life support then, very strange to come back from because your circulation system has to relearn itself. But I'm doing very well now, thank you. I even put out an album, 'Midnight Rose,' my first since 1999. Clash: Sounds like you almost died during the operation. Rodgers: When they were wheeling me off to surgery, my wife said, "Now you better come back to me." She tells me that just after the operation I said that I had the option to leave this dimension, but thought, "I can't do that, Cynthia will kill me." I can't remember any of it, though [laughs]. Clash: When you do pass on, what do you want your epitaph to be? Rodgers: My friend Paul Cossoff's was, "All Right Now," which I thought was rather interesting. For me I think, "Peace At Last." Peter Grant, Manager of Led Zeppelin, in his office, 9th October 1970. (Photo by Eric Harlow/Mirrorpix via Getty Images) Clash: Your recollections of Peter Grant? Rodgers: He was a great guy, a wonderful manager. He had all of the contacts. But he never interfered with the music itself. He just protected us, looked after the contracts and so on. We found ourselves on a roller-coaster. We had a Vickers Viscount, four Rolls-Royce engines, limos to get on the tarmac to the plane. It was crazy. The association with Led Zeppelin [Grant was also its manager] did not hurt. Peter was also an immense guy, an ex-wrestler. I believe he was a Romani gypsy, but I never asked him. Clash: Okay, what's Jimmy Page like? You worked with him in The Firm. Rodgers: Jimmy's amazing, as a person and as a guitarist. In The Firm, he could lift the whole band, the whole audience and the whole auditorium, way up into the stars. When I was up on stage, I would be just be amazed at what he was doing. Fantastic.
New York Times
4 days ago
- New York Times
‘And So It Goes' Traces Billy Joel's Dramatic Early Days: 5 Takeaways
The Tribeca Festival's opening-night premiere of the upcoming HBO documentary 'Billy Joel: And So It Goes' was marked, in part, by the absence of Billy Joel himself. Late last month, the musician announced that he was canceling all of his upcoming concerts because of a brain disorder called normal pressure hydrocephalus, which has led to problems with his hearing, vision and balance. After Robert De Niro called Joel 'the poet laureate of New York' and helped introduce the film with a dramatic reading of some of his lyrics ('He works at Mr. Cacciatore's down on Sullivan Street,' he intoned), one of the film's co-directors, Susan Lacy, told the Beacon Theater audience that Joel sent his greetings — with typical wry humor: 'In fact, he said, 'Getting old sucks, but it's still preferable to getting cremated.'' The audience roared with laughter. On a note of encouragement, Lacy said Joel 'will be back.' The crowd broke out into applause throughout the screening, which included just the first part of the two-part film. It still ran nearly two and a half hours as it covered Joel's childhood and rise to fame through his infamous 1982 motorcycle accident. (To put that in perspective: It doesn't get to the writing of 'Uptown Girl.' No Christie Brinkley yet.) There are pictures and footage of early Joel performances and stories about the surprisingly robust Long Island rock scene of the 1960s. But 'Part One' is largely an intimate portrait of Joel's relationship with his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, who would eventually become his manager, and it elevates her to a starring role in his life. It also features a host of stories about the making of some of his best-known songs, and tidbits about his Long Island obstinance. Here's some of what we learned. As Joel's relationship with Weber first foundered, he attempted suicide twice. Joel and Weber's relationship began in dramatic fashion: She was married to Jon Small, Joel's early bandmate, and had a son with him. Joel and Small first played together in a group named the Hassles, then broke off to start a Led Zeppelin-inspired metal outfit called Attila. (An album cover shoot featuring a longhaired Joel standing amid sides of raw beef, wearing fur, is something to behold.) Eventually, Joel fell in love with Weber, but when a guilt-ridden Joel shared his feelings with Small, he got punched in the nose and Weber left. Despondent, Joel overdosed on pills and was in a coma for days. His sister, Judy Molinari, who had provided the pills to help him sleep, recounts her guilt onscreen. 'I felt that I killed him,' she says. Joel drank a bottle of furniture polish in another attempt on his life. After moving back into his mother's house, he checked into an observation ward where his own struggles were put into perspective. From there he started to channel his feelings into music, and the songs that he wrote as a result of the experience would become his first solo album, 'Cold Spring Harbor.' After about a year, Weber re-entered his life. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
