It was forty years ago, July 1968 when The Yardbirds played their final gig at Luton Technical College in Bedfordshire, England. The lineup at that time was Keith Relf as lead singer and on harmonica, Jimmy Page on guitar, (Jeff Beck had already left the group by that time,) Chris Dreja on bass and Jim McCarty on drums, percussion and backup vocals.
Actually, July 1968 was The Yardbirds last performance with this lineup. Jimmy Page went on that same year to fulfill the rest of The Yardbirds contractual commitments, and through a series of events assembled the blues rock powerhouse that became Led Zeppelin. Ownership of The Yardbirds name was claimed by Chris Dreja, who reformed the group in the nineties with Jim McCarty.
I remember hearing “For Your Love” and “Heart Full of Soul” in the late sixties during the summertime and that memory really set the tone for this young teen; the warm summer nights, windows open, listening to my transistor radio produce the psychedelic sounds of these incredible songs. Songs based on American blues played by my British pop star heroes. Fantastic!
“And I know well if she had me back again, I would …

I always liked the band Heart, not only because Ann and Nancy Wilson were both great vocalists, but also because they liked Led Zeppelin, and used those influences in their own music. My favorite Heart album is Dog & Butterfly because of the song “Mistral Wind,” which conjures up shades of Zeppelin from Physical Graffiti. I’m also very fond of “Barracuda” with it’s Bonham style drum rhythms and heavy guitar riffing.
My favorite memory is actually a concert story. I was ejected from the Heart show at the Austin Convention Center for snapping photos of Ann and Nancy Wilson. (insert exclamation here!) Yup, the ushers busted me big time. I guess it wasn’t too hard to spot me on the floor with an old school 35mm Olympus camera, with zoom lens no less! The guy walked me to the door and threatened to take my film, but somehow I got the camera back to my car without losing it. Wouldn’t you know it, the Wilson sisters pictures never came out.
But I did get back into the concert, sans camera, for the final encore. All is well that ends …

The world’s most famous drum head, the hand-painted bass drum skin for The Beatles’ album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” sold to a private buyer for $1.1 million on Thursday July 10th. That made it the star attraction at Christie’s rock and pop memorabilia auction in London, among other items from The Beatles, John Lennon, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and The Who.
Lennon’s hand-written song lyrics for “Give Peace A Chance” sold for $833,000. His sunglasses from the ‘lost weekend’ were also sold ($78K), along with The Best of The Beatles autographed magazine ($26K.) A 1967 Gibson SG Special, a guitar from Pete Townshend, commanded a price of $64,000.
Two famous amplifiers were also sold. A 1966 Marshall Super Lead 100 Watt amplifier head from The Jimi Hendrix Experience sold for $49,000, while a 1969 model Acoustic 361 bass stack from Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones went for $27,000.
A spokesperson at Christie’s commented that this was a record-breaking sale with the highest total ever for an entertainment memorabilia auction at Christie’s South Kensington. The Sgt. Pepper’s drum skin achieved the highest price for a piece of rock and roll memorabilia at Christie’s worldwide. That beats …

Rhino Records has been my favorite record label for years. Those same zany folks offer their fantastic catalog and bizarre sense of humor online, and serve up all their latest music and video in CD, DVD, digital downloads, and of course, their awesome box sets.
Now they’re sharing their best video clips on YouTube on their very own YouTube Channel. Rhino just added Genesis video from their When In Rome 2007 European tour DVD, featuring “Mama,” “Turn It On Again,” “Land Of Confusion,” “I Know What I Like,” and “Carpet Crawlers.”

Plus there’s lots more from Stone Temple Pilots, Blue Man Group, Traveling Wilburys, Led Zeppelin, Winger, everything but the girl, Freedy Johnston, Paula Cole, Little Feat, Jude Cole, Dr. John, Bela Fleck And The Flecktones, and Dwight Yoakam (among others!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYZsrb38hmc

http://youtube.com/user/RhinoEntertainment
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New Releases on DVD, Blu-Ray & Vinyl LP for the week of May 20th:
DVD New Releases:
Jack in the Green: Live in Germany
Jethro Tull
Live in Germany showcases the great breadth and wealth of the band’s skill and styles.   The 18 tracks include not only the best known hits, but also long forgotten tracks, spanning 23 years between 1970 through 1993.
Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, Running Time 96 minutes
Meeting of the Minds - The Making of Floating Point
John McLaughlin
DVD-Video from Abstract Logix, Running Time 80 minutes.
A first look behind the recording sessions of guitarist John McLaughlin with some of the best Indian musicians in the world. Very jazz-fusion with a world atmosphere.
Blu-Ray DVD:
Rattle & Hum
U2
Run Time 98 minutes
The Blu-Ray DVD release of U2’s documentary of their 1987 American tour, where they visit Graceland and Sun Studios.
Vinyl LP:
Mothership (Original Recording Remastered)
Led Zeppelin
Atlantic/WEA is finally releasing the vinyl LP version of Led Zeppelin’s remastered greatest hits package. And it’s a double LP package too!
The Song Remains the Same (Original Recording Remastered)
Remastered release of the original double album. Double vinyl LP from Atlantic/WEA.
Visit the MusicRamble Store for all theses great titles and many more !
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I was reading another one of the many stories about the Beatles music being available on iTunes, which turned about to be just another rumor. These are all over the internet but Sony music, who owns the licensing, denies any of these stories as true. At the end of this particular story on applesource, there’s a chart showing the best selling music artists of all time. It caught my eye as an interesting mix of artists, many of whom I would not associate together, but this list is based only on sales.
The 10 best-selling music acts of all time based on millions of albums & singles sold: (Source: Recording Industry Association of America)
The Beatles - 191 million
Elvis Presley - 168.5 million
Garth Brooks - 128.5 million
Led Zeppelin - 112 million
The Eagles - 101.5 million
Elton John - 91 million
Billy Joel - 83.5 million
Barbra Streisand - 78 million
Madonna - 78 million
Mariah Carey - 76.5 million
Pink Floyd - 75.5 million
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Just thought we would share all the songs we could think of for Valentines Day.
Of course you will have to be a pretty seasoned music listener to recognize a lot of these old Classic Rockers.
“All My Love” - Led Zeppelin
“All You Need Is Love” - The Beatles
“And I Love Her” - The Beatles
“Because” - The Dave Clark Five
“Best Of My Love” - The Eagles
“Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers” - Jeff Beck
“Cherish” - The Association
(”They Long to Be) Close to You” - The Carpenters
“Crazy Love” – Poco
“Dedicated To The One I Love” – The Mamas And The Papas
“Embraceable You” - Jimmy Witherspoon
“Fooled Around And Fell In Love” – Elvin Bishop
“Have You Ever Loved A Woman” - Derek & The Dominos
“Heart Full Of Soul” - The Yardbirds
“How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You”) - James Taylor
(”I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You” - UB40
“If I Fell” - The Beatles
“If You Don’t Know Me By Now” - Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes
“I Honestly Love You” - Olivia Newton-John
“I Need You” - The Beatles
“I Will” - The Beatles
“I’m In The Mood For Love” - Frank Sinatra
“I’m Not In Love” – 10cc
“It’s Only Love” - The Beatles
“Let’s Get It On” - …

John Paul Jones, the legendary bassist of Led Zeppelin, will be performing with the Foo Fighters during the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. Jones will be arranging an orchestral piece as special guest conductor of a unique musical ensemble, performing a special version of the Foo Fighters’ “The Pretender.”
Three musicians will be given the unique opportunity to be a featured instrumentalist as part of an orchestra of 20 unsigned musicians playing with the Foo Fighters, specifically for this 50th anniversary segment of the awards show. The special was produced in partnership with CBS.com and YouTube.
Watch the winners on youtube.com/user/mygrammymoment
Read more about John Paul Jones
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2007 was an amazing year for classic rock! We flashed back to the Summer of Love in 1967 and celebrated musical milestones like the Monterey Pop Festival. We saw some of our favorite groups reunite for a world tour, like Genesis and Van Halen. And Eric Clapton hosted his second Crossroads Guitar Festival featuring guitarists B.B. King to Steve Winwood. I give thanks for such great music, when 40 year anniversaries ping back to 1967 and it all came together in San Francisco and down in Monterey.
I saw Clapton live in concert back in March with Doyle Bramhall II and Derek Trucks on slide guitar, and they just tore it up at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. They played alot of tunes from the early 70’s like “Motherless Children,” “Anyday and Tell the Truth” from the Layla album.
The 30th Annual Dallas International Guitar Festival featured guitars on display from Clapton, Hendrix, Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Leo Fender and the first Marshall amps. Eric Johnson performed along with others like Andy Timmons and Rick Derringer
R.I.P. Dan Fogelberg 1951–2007:
Dan Fogelberg may be gone but he’s not …

Who says classic rock is dead?
2007 was a big year for classic rock band reunions, with some really big tours (like Genesis) and special shows (like Spinal Tap appearing at Live Earth and the recent Led Zeppelin benefit concert.)
Musicians, singers & songwriters who turned 60 this year:
Gregg Allman (Allman Brothers Band) Dec. 8
Bob Weir (Grateful Dead) Oct. 16
Meat Loaf (”Bat Out Of Hell”) Sept. 27
Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) August 10
Don Henley (The Eagles) July 22
Carlos Santana July 20
Arlo Guthrie (”Alice’s Restaurant”) July 10
Ron Wood (Small Faces & The Rolling Stones) June 1
Elton John March 25
Carole Bayer Sager (Lyricist/Songwriter “Arthur’s Theme”) March 8
David Bowie (”Space Oddity”) January 8
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