The Classic Rock Archive
> Browse > Latest IssueSearch the Archive
Enter your search below and click "Search".
(e.g. 'hendrix' or 'guitar solo')
Your Account
You're not logged in! Logging into the archive will allow you to flag and retrieve articles you're especially interested in.
> Login to your account > RegisterPlant returns to solo roots
From page 8 of Classic Rock Magazine August 2006
Cover of August 2006 issue.
Percy’s albums get boxed up and Zep get a prize.
To mark the silver anniversary of the recording of his debut solo album Pictures At Eleven , former Led Zep singer Robert Plant returned to Rockfield Studios in Wales for a reunion with the band that played on it and its follow-up, The Principle Of Moments . Plant was greeted at the studio by guitarist Robbie Blunt and keyboard player Jez Woodroffe, though bassist Paul Martinez pulled out belatedly due to a family bereavement.
Working at the rural farmhouse studio in Monmouth gave him new direction post-Zeppelin. “At the age of 32, I felt my career was finished,” Plant told Classic Rock . “And anything that came after would be a bonus, really. After all that wild stuff with Zeppelin to be at Rockfield with these guys was an absolute dream, because it was pastoral, funny and it had a great history.”
And the singer was determined it should be a new start, “I wanted to get as far away from Led Zeppelin as I could. I wanted to make my own stamp with new people.” A 15-year-old Jason Bonham filled in on drums until Cozy Powell and Phil Collins put the tracks on tape. The former Genesis drummer was too busy in New York to attend the reunion but sent a message that read: “Oh the memories, I remember it like it was 25 years ago. If you ever want to do it again, call me. I can still play drums, but I’m better on the slower songs! Wish I was there.”
Pictures At Eleven was released in June 1982, reaching the Top 5 on both sides of the Atlanti. Along with Th e Principle Of Moments , it will be re-released later this year by Warner Bros as part of a box set of Robert’s solo albums called Nine Lives .
Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones recently regrouped in Stockholm, the city in which Led Zeppelin recorded their final studio album 27 years ago, to receive the prestigious Polar Music Prize from Sweden’s king, Carl XVI Gustaf. The award was shared with Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, John Bonham being represented by his daughter, Zoe.
