JPJ: It was recorded very quickly, so we didn't have a lot of time to reflect. For me, it was all so new, and after the sessions it was a revelation to be contributing to a group in this way. Plus, of course, Robert and Bonzo were so inspiring. I certainly knew it was the best recording session I'd been involved with up to that point.
What were your first impressions of Robert and Bonzo?
JPJ: Obviously their enthusiasm was evident. They were slightly younger than Jimmy and me, but their musicianship was so good. Once I'd played along with John, I knew he was special. And Robert's voice was just incredible. We rehearsed the songs at Page's house in Pangbourne. The material was a combination of bits left over from The Yardbirds and the numbers we'd been performing on our first Scandinavian dates, so the album was really our live act of the time.
Do you remember anyone else being auditioned for the group before Robert and Bonzo joined?
JPJ: No. When I rang Jimmy initially, he told me he was going to see Robert after Terry Reid had turned the job down. Bonzo joined soon after, and the only rehearsals I was ever involved in were with the four of us.
"LED ZEPPELIN I" was very much a blues-based album. Your background was not really associated with the blues, so did you find that style difficult to adapt to?
JPJ: I thought I might, but Bonzo made it easy. He wasn't really a blues enthusiast, but one of his great skills was the way he could bring his influence to any musical form. I have to say at the time that I'd never heard of Willie Dixon! When we did those blues things, Bonzo and I used to experiment as a rhythm section. We left all sorts of spaces between Jimmy's fills, and that soon became a trademark. It was so exciting to be a part of that. We knew we were good, and right from the first album we constantly tested ourselves. On the road, the songs developed because we never got complacent. It was almost a competition to see who could improvise the most.
What do you make of Jeff Beck's claim that Jimmy based Zeppelin on his group?
JPJ: I don't think that's true. I played on Beck's "TRUTH" album. There was an element of blues content on both that album and the Zeppelin debut. I think there was some competition between us, probably because both sets of management shared the same office. That was it, really.
Can you recall the session that all four of you took part in for P.J. Proby's album "THREE WEEK HERO"?
JPJ: Yes I do, because I was musical director of the album with Steve Rowland. I booked us all on the session. This would have been around the time of our first rehearsals. I still had one or two outstanding sessions carried over, so I said to Steve, 'I've just joined this group, and we'd all be happy to help out.' It was a good way of making a bit of extra money. P.J. was a great character to work with and we had some fun doing that.
Were there any songs left over from the first album's sessions?
JPJ: Not that I can recall. As I said, it was mostly our forty minute stage set. We did rehearse a version of The Band's "Chest Fever", but we never recorded it. There was also that "Tribute To Bert Berns" jam which I think we cut around that time. That was the track Jimmy used on the second box set.
What equipment were you using then?
JPJ: My Fender Jazz bass, which was all I had! For the organ parts, I used the house Hammond at Olympic, though I did own a smaller Hammond which we used at rehearsals.
What's your version of how the name Led Zeppelin came about?
JPJ: Well, I know it first came about on the session for "Beck's Bolero". That was me, Jimmy, Jeff Beck, Nicky Hopkins, and Keith Moon. It was a good session and we all agreed that it would be great to do it more often, or even form a group. That was when Keith joked about it going down like a lead balloon, or a lead zeppelin. I'm also aware that John Entwistle claimed he was going to use that name in a breakaway group from The Who.
When Peter Grant and Jimmy came up with that for our group, I was a bit unsure about it. It seemed a bit long. After all, you have to live with the name. But it soon stuck.
How do you remember the album being received by the critics?
JPJ: I don't think any of us could understand that review in Rolling Stone. We thought we'd made rather a good record! It was typical of some of the negative reaction we had to endure, and it did hurt. We just got on with it, though, because the reaction from our concerts, particularly in America, made us realize that we really had something special going for us. We proved that you didn't need the press to be successful.
Have you listened to the album lately?
JPJ: I haven't for a while. I did when we were compiling the "REMASTERS" sets, and it brought back such great memories. I remember playing a rough mix of the album to some friends, and they just couldn't believe it. There wasn't anything like it at the time. Jimmy's production was very innovative. And when Robert roared in, the initial reaction from people was "Where did you find him?". His vocal approach was fantastic.
As I said before, Bonzo's musical knowledge made it so interesting. He admired such diverse styles. Everything from Ringo's fills on The Beatles' singles to the James Brown and Motown rhythm sections. That sort of influence made it great fun to be in the group. After all those years of sessions, from the first moment I played with Bonzo in Led Zeppelin I knew I'd finally come home.
[JPJ also did a track by track critique of the album....]
"Good Times Bad Times": "This was actually one of my riffs. You can normally tell when it's one of mine, as there's always a large jumble of notes, as opposed to Jimmy's lurching chords. I can't remember us doing this one live all that much."
"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You": "I still really like this. It was Jimmy's idea and really signalled the start of the true Zeppelin style - all that loud and soft dynamic contrast. Jimmy's acoustic work on this was superb. When we did "ZEP III", there was that outcry that we'd gone acoustic. This track proves that we were never stuck in one groove and that there were acoustic overtones from the start."
"You Shook Me": "I wasn't used to playing this style of urban blues and it did seem to be in a very slow-moving mould. However, Bonzo and I quickly developed a way of playing the blues that allowed us all sorts of improvisational freedom. You can hear it here clearly on this track when I get to the organ part."
"Dazed and Confused": "This had already been well worked in The Yardbirds' days, so for me it was a case of just learning the parts. I think I did change the bass intro a little to suit myself and Bonzo. Of course, on the road this one just got longer and longer with Jimmy's bowing showpiece."
"Your Time Is Gonna Come": "I'd forgotten about this one. It's got that church-sounding organ introduction that I used the Olympic Hammond for - this was another of my main ideas. I also arranged the backing vocal parts. I was always OK at arranging vocals; the problem was singing them, because neither Jimmy nor I would consider ourselves singers."
"Black Mountain Side": "Jimmy's acoustic piece. I think the tabla drums were added one night when we'd all gone home. He always captured a great atmosphere on things like this. I hadn't heard of Bert Jansch's version of the tune back then. It may not have been entirely original, but it was a lovely recording."
"Communication Breakdown": "Page's riff - you can tell instantly because there's few notes. He was a master of developing riffs like those. This was an instant thing that came out of the first rehearsals. It was always great fun to play live."
"I Can't Quit You Babe": "Another slow blues - you can tell how much fun we were having just by the relaxed way that we approached this one. Another early example of Bonzo's superb bass drum technique."
"How Many More Times": "This was another number that The Yardbirds had been developing live during their last days. All those musical stops were so spontaneous. Robert would just go off on a tangent and we'd all join in. That's how "Oh Rosie" and "The Hunter" came to be included on this track. The trouble was he'd sometimes pull in some old blues number that we hadn't heard of and it sometimes went uncredited. That was to prove costly in the long run! This was another number that we developed live. It was a great closing number on our early tours."