noddy wrote:it has its moments but im going with Van Halen on that live version.
"Jimmy Page is an excellent producer. Led Zeppelin 1 and Led Zeppelin 2 are classics. As a player. He's very good in the studio. I never saw him play well live. He's very sloppy. He plays like he's got a broken hand and he's two years old. But if you put out a good album and play like a two-year-old live. What's the purpose?"
for me the heartbreaker solo on the album is best seen as the tension before the riff kicks back in, so its not that i enjoy it so much as I enjoy the release it sets up.
I will go ahead and take the other side of that.
That is the orthodox criticism of Page, sloppy and disorganized live, but at times I love it. As a Zeppelin fan I am more than willing to admit that there were live sections that are not very listenable, but when it all came together it was as good as anyone ever did.
Overall I defend Page on the following.
1) The extended jam sections were par for the time. It was new, and people were trying it out. It ran it's course in guitar world like everything does eventually. It's not like he invented it or was self indulgent in some unique way.
2) He was as good at it as anyone
3) I like the sloppy style of Page live when it was on. And, EVH could be accused of the same sloppiness live by standards of other times. EVH is numbered among the wankers a lot, fairly or not.
The only 2 guitar players I would pay money to watch noodle are Page and Hendrix.