Sonic Boom: The Impact of Led Zeppelin. Volume 1 - Break & Enter. Frank Reddon
music that did, at least partially, influence bands like Deep Purple and others that went on to do great things in rock music as well.
REDDON:
Those are great recollections. Through your remembrances of Ritchie Blackmore, it appears that Led Zeppelin has influenced bands like Deep Purple in the connotation of at least some of the traits of heavy metal. I find Ritchie Blackmore’s playing in many respects, eclipses Page’s style quite strikingly at times. I know Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin always hated being called a heavy metal band because there’s so much more to their music. And that’s true. But there are elements of the heavy metal genre in Zeppelin’s music, too.
I’ve heard people make a lot of diverse connections, time and time again, in the more than forty interviews I’ve conducted for this book. That’s a fascinating story Jon Lord told you about how Deep Purple in Rock received its name. It was too bad the conversation between you and Lord changed direction at that reception. It would have been great to get his take on whether or not Deep Purple took the heavy metal cue from Led Zeppelin or elsewhere in his opinion. Very interesting ideas here you’ve put forth.
Here’s an unrelated question. With all this great rock music in Denmark, was there an underground radio station, as in North America, to play all this new music at the time in the late 1960s?
ANGEL:
You see, there was really only one radio station. It was the official Danish Radio and it did play music for young people. They had one DJ who loved Cliff Richard and that sort of music. And the others played more serious artists, like The Grateful Dead. As I recall, Zeppelin was too heavy for the Cliff-Richard guy and Zeppelin wasn’t “serious” enough to be played by the other DJs. You know, the good music wasn’t really played that much! It’s a shame because you’ve got so many great classic rock stations in America. Of course, from time to time, you can hear rock music here in Denmark but it’s very rare. And when they do play Led Zeppelin, it’s usually not the heavy numbers.
REDDON:
Did you find Led Zeppelin to be any louder than the other rock groups that played at the Gladsaxe Teen Club around the same time?
ANGEL:
Not that I recall because we had bands like Ten Years After and Deep Purple. I’m sure they were pretty loud, too
REDDON:
Of all the people I’ve interviewed for my Led Zeppelin research, you’re one of three people who had the privilege of seeing The New Yardbirds on Saturday, September 7, 1968. The other two people were the manager of The Yardbirds’, 1968 Scandinavian Tour, Jerry Ritz, and his wife Annie. You also saw Led Zeppelin in the 1970s. Would you say the group underwent significant musical evolution from the first time you saw them in September 1968, until you saw them again, touring with Country Joe and The Fish in March of 1969? How about into the 1970s? Did you notice Zeppelin kept its musical evolution going as the years advanced?
ANGEL:
Led Zeppelin was touring with their first album, Led Zeppelin, in March 1969. I don’t think much musical evolution had happened. I can’t say for sure. Of course, they had much more confidence the second time they came to Scandinavia.
There was much change later. I was not too keen on the experimental stuff. When Zeppelin was here in May 1971, it was, in my opinion, a strange show. They seemed self-absorbed, the lighting was strange. Not the Zeppelin I knew. The advanced songs on the Led Zeppelin II album came off rather poorly on stage. The use of the Theremin in 1971 wasn’t very good.
REDDON: That stuff was just a bit too far out for your liking, I guess?
ANGEL:
I just didn’t think it was what the Zeppelin I had seen before was all about musically. I remember Jimmy Page trying to recreate that sound from Whole Lotta Love. He was moving his hand back and forth in the path of the Theremin. He couldn't get it to work properly.
REDDON:
You have had so many professional accomplishments as a rock photographer…50,000 photographs later. Wow! How does The First Performance lithograph rank among your personal and professional accomplishments?
ANGEL:
The First Performance lithograph is near the top of my professional accomplishments. The pictures aren’t the greatest but the design worked out very well. It turns out to be a real piece of music history as well, so that makes it very special.
REDDON: I’ll say! You have such an intense personal and professional connection to that artistic work.
ANGEL:
Led Zeppelin was out of the ordinary. Again, the large number of photos I took of them in September 1968 at the Gladsaxe Teen Club shows this, because they were so different. I liked them very much and could tell as they performed that this wasn’t The Yardbirds of old I had already seen. As I told you, I was disappointed at first that it wasn’t the “real” Yardbirds I had seen before. But when The New Yardbirds began to play at the Teen Club, I loved them.
REDDON:
How do you feel about the body of other work you’ve compiled in the field of professional photography, with reference to rock photos, over your years as a rock photo journalist? What other artists have you photographed?
ANGEL:
I’ve photographed a great many of them. I am delighted that so many people around the world have great affections for the “old music”. Especially when it comes to the next generation. And the next generation! A family came to my 2006 exhibition in Stockholm. One of them was a young girl of fifteen years. I asked if her parents had dragged her along? “Oh no!” she said, “I love Led Zeppelin!”
And you know? Only yesterday I found out that my neighbour’s daughter, at age eighteen, is a huge Zeppelin fan. So there is every hope that the interest will last. I think it’s incredible. Her mother was barely born when Zeppelin started!
Through the eye of my camera lens, many other artists also stand out. Queen, The Who, David Bowie, to only name a few. But one of my personal favourite shots is hanging now in our house in the country. It’s a shot of Jimmy Page. And Jimmy likes it too - he wanted a big print. He saw it at the exhibition and it’s also been used for a number of magazine covers. It never ceases to amaze me that people all over the world have such an interest in what I did, when I was a schoolboy and later!
REDDON:
Well, that’s about it, Jørgen. I can’t thank you enough for enlightening me on what amounts to being the most important part of Led Zeppelin’s career…the very beginning! Thank you so much for providing this unprecedented, exhaustive account of The Yardbirds, The New Yardbirds and, ultimately, Led Zeppelin and how they all fit together in a huge piece of popular music history.
ANGEL:
You’re very welcome, Frank. It has been my pleasure and it’s brought back a great deal of good memories. I wish you the best of luck with your books. They sound fascinating and I look forward to seeing them in print.
GEORGE CHKIANTZ
RECALLS THE STUDIO WHERE LED ZEPPELIN WAS RECORDED
Led Zeppelin recorded its self-titled debut album Led Zeppelin at Olympic Studios in Barnes, England during September/October 1968. Mr. George Chkiantz was a highly sought-after and respected sound engineer and tape operator during that time. Although Mr. Chkiantz did not work on the Led Zeppelin LP, he did work on subsequent Led Zeppelin albums, including: Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin III, the untitled fourth Led Zeppelin LP and Houses of the Holy, among other Led Zeppelin projects.
Mr. Chkiantz is an extremely knowledgeable sound engineer who graciously agreed to be interviewed in January 1998. He offers insightful recollections on several subjects relative to Led Zeppelin’s recording of the Led Zeppelin