Unfortunately, when Page did reemerge, it was rather tentatively: while Page's soundtrack to Charles Bronson's 1982 Death Wish II shootout was surprisingly self-assured, his playing on The Firm's first album in 1985 was anything but, and Page would spend much of the remaining 1980s attempting to rebuild his image as one of rock's seminal guitarists. Only his deft playing on both electric and acoustic during the "Unledded" 1994 MTV special with Robert Plant would complete the job, even though it heavily leaned on songs which were nearing the quarter century mark in age.
Still, lighting in a bottle only comes once in a lifetime — if at all — for most artists: few would claim that any of the Beatles' solo efforts break the same kind of ground that the group itself did in the 1960s. Page's producing, musicianship and songwriting made Zeppelin 1970's biggest rock group, and at least in the hard rock arena, the Beatles' successors in terms of musical experimentation and craftsmanship. That his influence remains strong is evidenced both by the strong sales of Zeppelin's chronological live DVD in 2003, and of Gibson's reissues of Page's Les Paul and 6-string/12-string doubleneck electric guitars, which retail for around $6,000 and $9,000, respectively. (Page bought the Les Paul that the reissues are based on in 1969 off Joe Walsh for a tenth of the reissue's price. His continued influence helps to ensure that original Les Pauls built in the late 1950s now easily fetch six figures on the collectors' market.)
Over the past 25 years, Page has managed to rebuild his status, from the rock's barnstorming Red Baron to wizened elder statesman. Magus Musician Man is a pretty good description of the journey.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net , which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States, and to Boston.com. Nice work!
2 - paul
Let's hope that the book is better than this meandering and pointless review.
3 - John Troulis
After finishing Juliann Whites Book: "Past Presence", I went on to George Case's :" Magnus, Musician, Man". I felt is was a great read. Actually I couldn't put it down. being a died in the wool Zeppelin fan, although never actually seeing the original Led Zeppelin, I found it to be insightful and interesting. Case definitely did his homework and I can't imagine the hours that went into his research for this project. A good deal of the information in the book was pretty common knowledge, although I was surprised by a fair amount of facts I didn't know of. I did get to see Page several times through his career. The Firm tour, which I thought was great being my first time seeing Jimmy live. Great music, sound, solos, singing. Everything. Really good stuff, with the exception of the ride to Long Island all the way from my home in New Jersey. The solo tour which was a little less spectacular for me personally. I found the singer to be a weak knockoff of Robert Plant at best and Jimmy seemed lost and sort of going through the motions of being a 70's rock Icon trying to make the magic he is best know for. It seemed he held his breath before unleashing his solo for Dazed and Confused, which was sloppy and nowhere near what he is capable of as a guitarist. Just shooting for that big show stopping solo without having the luxury of having a great band to help him with the song around the solo. All the same it was great to see him. No one moves like Jimmy Page on stage and no one ever will in my opinion. The last few times I saw him was from the 7th row at the new Spectrum in Philadelphia. Just awesome with Robert for the first leg of their tour. Everything you'd expect. "The Song Remains The Same" was a highlight for me. The way he plays that double neck gives me goose bumps every-time. The next time was at the Meadowlands arena in New Jersey. The second leg of the Page/Plant tour. Awesome again! The orchestra was great and added some great color and depth to the Zeppelin music. I loved it! The very last time I saw Jimmy was the second tour. Without the orchestra. At Madison Square Garden, no less. A place Brian May of Queen had stated in 1978 when I saw Queen there; "The greatest gig in the world". No small compliment from a man thats broken many attendance records all over the world. Two solid hours of no nonsense Zeppelin music. Heavy blues deluxe at it's best! From the opener of the "Wanton Song" through the entire show, I was hypnotized. It was great to see how strong the band and Jimmy played. Total conviction and just raw energy!
I highly recommend George Case's book along with Juliann Whites. Great reading!