Friday, March 9, 2012

Headley Grange Sessions

During their 1971 recording sessions at Headley Grange, East Hampshire, England, British rock band Led Zeppelin were using the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio and were accompanied by Ian Stewart, who ended up jamming with the band on piano. Two songs (or rather jams) saw the light of day: 'Rock And Roll', based on a classic twelve-bar blues pattern, appeared on Zep's fourth album (1971), while 'Boogie With Stu' earned its place on 1975's "Physical Graffiti".

According to guitarist Jimmy Page both songs would not have emerged had it not been for the particularly informal 'live-in' environment at Headley Grange: "Some of the things that happened there, like 'Boogie With Stu' where Stu turns up and plays a piano that's totally unplayable, were incredible. That was too good to miss because Stu wouldn't record, he wouldn't do solo stuff. All of these things wouldn't end up on albums as far as other people were concerned, but they did with us".




Adapted from various wikipedia pages.

1 comment:

  1. January-February, 1971: Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Headley Grange, Hampshire, England.
    Led Zeppelin: Boogie With Stu (Stewart-Plant-Bonham-Page-Jones-Valens) (3:53)
    Led Zeppelin: Rock And Roll (Plant-Bonham-Page-Jones) (3:41)

    710100A January-February: LED ZEPPELIN. Headley Grange, Hampshire, Rolling Stones Mobile Recording Unit. Producer: Jimmy Page. Sound engineer: Andy Johns. Incl.
    - Boogie With Stu (Stewart-Plant-Bonham-Page-Jones-Valens) - Jimmy Page on ARP synth.
    - Rock And Roll (Plant-Bonham-Page-Jones).

    Line-up: Robert Plant (voc)/Jimmy Page (gtr, mand)/John Paul Jones (bass, gtr)/John Bonham (dr)/Ian Stewart (p).

    Note: Boogie With Stu bases on the Richie Valens-song Ooh My Head, hence the credit to his widow.

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