LED ZEPPELIN - ALL MY LOVE

'Yours is the cloth, mine is the hand that sews time'

A song of renewal, reflection and pride. The most painful vocal Robert has even sung, the most poignant lyric. Written with Jonesy, it slips outside the expected for some. To me it carries on the lush melancholy of Down By The Seaside, the sad reflection of That's The Way and the wistful lament of Ten Years Gone.

One of only two tracks credited to just Plant and Jones, it has a melodic pop sensibility and light touch. Rehearsed into shape in October '78 when the band ran through new material at Ezyhire Rehearsal Studios, it was recorded in Polar Studios, Stockholm the next month.

Working through the week, with Jimmy bringing the master tapes home at weekends to work on alone, the second and third weeks of November were the most productive. Probably one of the first numbers ready to record, it was laid down on November 15th, the same day as In The Evening and Southbound Suarez (the other Plant-Jones composition in the Zeppelin catalogue), even though one set of master reels dated the session as November 17th. That could have been the mix date rather than the recording date being a Friday.

The focal point of All My Love is, of course, Robert. Although he's never expanded on it, it's an ode to Karac Pendra, his tragically lost first born son. It's an astounding vocal performance, with some of his finest phrasing and most personal lyrics. Jonesy's keyboards bring a lushness to proceedings while Jimmy's simple understated acoustic figures complete the open light sound. Bonzo too holds back and accents everything nicely.

The country feel to Jimmy's solo and fills come via his Botswana Brown Telecaster, fitted with a Parsons-White B Stringbender. Shades of the live arrangement of Ten Years Gone, and something that would be expanded onstage.

Of course we have the priceless unfaded outtake, known (as per the reel tape box) as 'The Hook'. Now, a lot of studio outtakes fall into the categories of being either a 'different mix', 'unedited' or 'different take'. The main problem is there is a lot of fodder in many cases, any differences being small and insignificant. Here, the end is so joyful, so enlightening and emotional, it simply MUST be heard and cherished. I have great memories of sitting with Dave Lewis back at my folk's place on Canvey Island, listening to this together in sheer awe and delight. A lump to the throat memory!

So, this extra is for me one of the great unreleased versions. Essential. The mix is more open (In Through The Out Door is the first Led Zeppelin recording session where Bonzo had the front skin on his 26" Ludwig bass drum) and breathes majestically out of the speakers. Missing the solo's, it is the same take as used on the finished elpee, but just when you singalong to the long fade you know by heart, a stinging stringbender lick jolts you out of your comfort zone and the whole thing takes a different turn. 

Jimmy would have added these licks alone, but here it sounds like he and Robert are leaning into each other and interacting as only they can. Robert's 'when I think about it' ad lib and Jimmy's beautiful responses are a thing of wonder. Thank the recording Gods this was captured and found and we now have it to enjoy. You can hear the smiles and nods.

We also have the isolate drum only track, highlighting the light and deft touch John brought to the song.

Live, it was rehearsed for and performed throughout the Over Europe '80 Tour. Strangely absent from the new premieres in '79, it sat seventh in the set, after Hot Dog and before Trampled Underfoot. Reworked to include a fanfare style coda, it worked well live and went down a storm every night. Performed at all 13 complete gigs (obviously missing from the Nuremburg 'Bananagate' show), All except Vienna and Munich exist as soundboard bootlegs.

As there is no professional film of the Over Europe '80 Tour the only possible footage we have of All My Love is audience cine film. Only Munich has a small clip of the footage discovered so far.

Not released in the US as a single, it was available in Brazil (a mono/stereo promo also exisrs), Paraguay, Peru (plus promo's backed with Herb Albert!) and Argentina (three different promo singles on both Atlantic and Swan Song) in one form or another. It was even issued in the Phillipines, and again white label promo 7's exist. And to cap it all acetates from the US (indeed of every track from the album exist in one way or another, legit or probably not...) circulate at a high price. 

And Robert revived the song onstage in 2011 in Santa Barbara, a slighlty slower and more country style without the uplifting key change at the coda. All the same, wonderful to hear him revisit a very personal tribute in this way.