The Jimmy Page Post Zeppelin Album Guide

My friends, it's time to look at where Jimmy Page has been the past 28 years. Robert was first, now it's time to look back at Mr. Page's successes, failures, and possible promising future.

Death Wish II, 1982
This album is one of the stranger parts of my collection, mainly because the version I received was vinyl. The CD is so rare, the only copies cost hundreds of dollars. So I just bought the vinyl to record onto a CD later for $15 (thank you eBay). Anyway, the album shows Jimmy's new direction with his music. He liked to be on top of the latest technology, so of course he wanted to use the synthesizer as much as possible. The only singing tracks includes a singer Jimmy would use in the future named Chris Farlowe, who doesn't measure up to the kind of singer Robert Plant is. As a whole, the soundtrack is interesting but nothing spectacular. The good points include "City Sirens", "The Release", and "Big Band, Sax, and Violence".

What Ever Happened to Jugula?, 1985 (w/ Roy Harper)
Led Zeppelin had an interesting love affair with Roy Harper and should always be connected to him. Jimmy in particular liked to work with Harper and had occasionally shown up on some Roy Harper albums while he was with Zeppelin. In the early 80's, Jimmy decided to record a whole album with Harper. Considering the song Zeppelin dedicated to Harper on Led Zeppelin III ("Hats Off to (Roy) Harper"), it's easy to determine this was going to be a strange album. Although it has it's quirks, it has some bright moments like "Ninety Forty-Eightish" and "Advertisement (Another Intentional Irrelevant Suicide)".

The Firm 1985
In the early 80's, Jimmy Page participated in a charity tour with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Jeff Beck, and other great English artists. One of the artists he toured with was a close friend from his Zeppelin days Paul Rodgers, the former lead singer of Bad Company. They started working on a song together that Jimmy brought from the Physical Graffiti sessions called "Midnight Moonlight". It was a hit live, so they decided to record other songs together with a new band called the Firm. Unfortunately, the sound was very odd and Jimmy's guitar work just didn't come through like it did with Zeppelin. Rodgers abilities were limited and the lyrics lacked any bite. "Midnight Moonlight" seemed rambling and boring. The only highlights worth mentioning are the opening track "Closer" and "Satisfaction Guarenteed".

Mean Business 1986 (w/ The Firm)
The band relesed it's second album and it did just as bad as the first. Personally the second albumk from the Firm has more personality from all the members and is much more listenable. The first track "Fortune Hunter" is a little disorganized but has great potential, possibly from it's roots back when Jimmy worked with members of Yes. "Dreaming" is another highlight along with the closing track (and probably the best the band ever recorded) "Spirit of Love"

Outrider 1988
Like so many other great artists in great bands in the past, Jimmy decided a solo album was a good idea. Boy was he wrong. His third straight dissapointment, he fell into the 80's trap so many other great have done. He tried to mix in a little of the hair metal style. It wasn't much of an influence in the album but it's enough to make a difference. The highlights include the instrumental tracks "Liquid Mercury" and "Writes of Winter" along with the track he recorded with Robert Plant (what a shocker) "The Only One".

Coverdale/Page 1993 (w/ David Coverdale)
This seems like a strange combination. Coverdale is the vain of Robert Plant's existence and has been made fun of many times by Mr. Plant. The album actually sounds pretty good although a little more on the 80's rock side than most Jimmy Page albums. It's a good one to rock out with and Jimmy's guitar goes surprisingly well with Coverdale's voice. Even with the success of the album their relationship idin't last, however, as they decided to quit their first show in Japan. Highlights are "Pride and Joy", "Take me for a Little While", and "Absolution Blues".

1994-1998 - See Robert Plant Solo Album Guide

Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes Live at the Greek 2000
This was the last album that Jimmy released where he was on every track. The music is solid since the Black Crowes are a good band and it's mostly covers of old Zeppelin songs.



As promised, Jimmy's list is much shorter than Robert's. Not only did Jimmy have to deal with drug problems in the early 80's his first attempts at a Post-Zeppelin life crashed and burned. At least Robert had a few good selling albums early on. Although he hasn't released any studio albums since 1998, he has been working on some new material. For the past few years he's promised a new album but the latest attempt to reform Led Zeppelin probably got him off track. He'll get a band together eventually before it's too late and get something in the can.

Two down, one more to go. Shouldn't be hard since Jones only has four post-Zeppelin albums he's recorded. I just got "Scream for Help" on vinyl (thank you again eBay) and I need to transfer that into digital so I can take it with me and give it a good listen. Once that happens, you will know of the work of John Paul Jones.