"Oh let the sun beat down upon my face"
The Pride of Led Zeppelin. That's how Robert once described Kashmir. It is indeed one of the landmark achievements, and an absolute favourite of many including all four members of Led Zeppelin. The ultimate widescreen epic that clocks in at 8.37 yet has absolutely no fat on the bone whatsoever.
Since his youth Jimmy has been a musical conduit, open to all that excited and fascinated, unhindered by labels and fads and what was 'hip' at the time. From the time he first began session work he was always exploring. Using a variety of tunings from open blues tunings for slide work to nodal tunings such as the DADGAD 'drone' tuning also referred to as Dsus4. He was one of the first guitarists in England to import and play a Sitar, exploring alternative tones and Worldwide influences along the way. Years later Jimmy would refer to it as his 'CIA' influences - Celtic, Indian, Arabic.
Jimmy played Sitar on Chris Farlowe sessions, added bowed guitar to Brian Jones 'A Degree of Murder' soundtrack, played his pear-shaped Vox 12 string to underpin and hold together 'Becks Bolero', he wielded the bow with the Yardbirds. He created a storm on The Mickey Finn's 'Garden Of My Mind'. Always exploring. Texture, mood, dissonance. Nothing was beyond possible.
On April 28th 1967 The Yardbirds were recording the Little Games album in De Lane Lea Studios, London with Mickie Most impatiently producing. Jimmy laid down an instrumental on acoustic called 'White Summer', with tabla drums and oboe added over the next 2 days. It was in that nodal DADGAD tuning. A hypnotic interlude, it's a derivation of centuries old Folk themes including 'She Moved Through The Fair' which was a standard among Folk guitarists from Davy Graham to Padraic Colum. A bare guitar only outtake from the sessions shows the hypnotic quality, the returning of themes with a twist each time. Building with recognition not repetition. This musical idiom was to become very important and relevant to Jimmy Page.
Led Zeppelin's debut included Black Mountainside, again featuring both the DADGAD tuning and tabla drums. Live, it would spring to life amid White Summer as Jimmy's first onstage showcase, bow episodes not withstanding. Obviously a tuning Jimmy was exploring both on and offstage, by the 5th North American Tour he was adding clues to future songs and ideas. A slower, haunting passage quoting Bron-Yr-Aur crops up a handful of times, and on April 17th in Memphis there's the first aural evidence of (just one!) descending scale of Kashmir.
After the tour Jimmy would perform his showcase acoustically on the Julie Felix Show on BBC TV on April 26th. Although dropped from the Zeppelin set by then, on the next US Tour Jimmy would playfully insert White Summer licks into the post bow section of Dazed And Confused.
By 1972 Led Zeppelin had created an incredibly wide musical palette, and the Bombay sessions beautifully underline their constant search for new moods, textures and dissonance. Exactly a year later they reconvened at Headley Grange to begin work on their 6th studio album. Only a few ideas were explored before the sessions were put on hold while Jonesy took some time to decide his future, but one of them was that hypnotic descending scale we'd heard back in Memphis 3 and a half years earlier and had obviously been explored and expanded over the intervening years.
At first it was just Jimmy and Bonzo, in the stairwell at Headley Grange where the explosive When The Levee Breaks came to life. they obsessively played the riff and bridge over and over, achieving a monumental groove and mood. Already they knew. Already Jimmy had the arrangement, the orchestration, the grandeur in his mind. They recorded a take and began to work on it. Robert had the task of adding to it all lyrically, and he's talked often of the challenge and wanting to create images of the drive from Goulimine to Tantan in the South Sahara Desert.
Apart from pinpoint bass work, Jonesy added mellotron to widen things even more. Jimmy used one of his Danelectro Guitars to provide a chiming yet insistent and dissonant edge, even overdubbing electric 12 string to the descending riffs as the song grew and grew. The decision was made to bring in session musicians to add orchestration and also brass parts, mixing with the mellotron to complete the aural landscape. And to add that touch of mystery and space Bonzo's drums were fed through an Eventide Phaser.
All this was done before Led Zeppelin paused the LP sessions, the companion disc titled 'Driving Through Kashmir' (various bootlegs of the instrumental outtake call it Driving TO) 'Rough Orchestra Mix' is dated October 25th 1973. The remarkable 5 track studio sessions that surfaced in the mid 1990's includes a long guitar/bass/drum run through without orchestration. In the pauses you can just about hear Robert's vocals leaking through!
Sequenced to end side 2 of the double LP set, it became an instant favourite. Everyone excels, no one takes over and because of that it has a perfect balance and is certainly a moment of high drama. And, as with Stairway, it needed an arrangement to be performed live. Kashmir slotted into a set full of longer numbers than ever before. From the warm up in Brussels on January 12th through to the final Earls' Court show on May 25th it sat 7th song in, rounding off the first hour.
The live arrangement was tricky at first. In 1975 Jimmy played it on one of his Les Paul guitars and Jonesy had to ride the tricky Mellotron journey. Bonzo became an immediate star live, adding increasingly thunderous and powerful fills to the extended coda. the early live versions suffered initially from Robert's flu ridden voice, and the fact the LP wasn't out and it became the 3rd new song audiences would hear every night - apart from the Brussels and first Chicago shows where In My Time Of Dying was replaced with When The Levee Breaks.
For the first part of the tour some nights the mellotron was out of tune and Robert was hoarse, others it knitted together and was fantastic. It was also played at a faster martial tempo than the studio version and indeed later live arrangements. The subsonic heavy PA systems didn't help either, but as the band performances grew in confidence and quality Kashmir grew and grew.
In 1977 Kashmir became the show stopping centrepiece of the set. Perfectly placed to take the show onto a new level, Jimmy revived his White Summer/Black Mountain Side showcase, teasing the audience and adding drama and anticipation coming after the long acoustic set. The moment Kashmir kicks in is indeed one of high drama. The arrangement this time is more confident and expansive, Jonesy's mellotron less troublesome and Jimmy now using the Danelectro holding the riff and mood together, almost conducting the piece. Bonzo once again shines and Robert's vocals are immense, augmented with echo and harmonizer to great effect.
This arrangement would stay for the final tours, Jonesy's new keyboard set up enhancing the huge sound the 4 of them managed to always conjure with consummate ease. Bonzo sounded better than ever in Kashmir now, free from the energy sapping burden of his solo. Listening to or watching any live version, it truly IS the Pride of Led Zeppelin.
Of course, some nights it almost fell apart. The For Badgeholders Only LA 23rd June show and Zurich 29th June 1980 gig are two such examples. But, as I've said many times, there's still magic in the air.
Aside from the myriad of bootleg versions on audio, we have the basic pre-orchestra and vocal demo. And the 1980 Tour Rehearsal from the Victoria Apollo. Aside from the two studio versions on the deluxe edition of Physical Graffiti, there are no released audio versions of Kashmir. The O2 show is the closest. On film we have some cine clips from 1975 - Dallas March 4th and the 3 LA March 24/25/27 shows plus the final two Earls' Court shows pro shot.
In 1977 there are cine clips from Chicago April 10th, Birmingham May 18th, LSU May 19th, Maryland May 30th, Madison Square June 11th, LA June 26th & 27th plus the pro shot Seattle show on July 17th. From then on we have both Knebworth shows pro shot (the first night features on 'DVD') plus some cine film too. The 1980 shows where it's captured are Cologne, Rotterdam and Munich.
Of course it opened the set at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary show, but that's hampered by a mixture of no keyboards coming through the PA, some missed and repeated lyrics and Robert's shirt...
After Led Zeppelin Jimmy teased a few riffs during his Danelectro solo in Midnight Moonlight with the Firm and on the Outrider tour. The low point came with some Coverdale/Page versions that shows at the very least there is only one Robert Plant! The ultimate versions by way of both a tribute and culmination of Jimmy and Robert's fusion dreams came with the Unledded Project. I was lucky enough to be at both recordings at LWT Studios and they were indeed magical. The second night - the performance featured on the resultant LP and DVD - was particularly stunning, one I'll never forget.
Opening up the song with lighter floating instrumental passages for the Moroccan musicians to shine and add even more drama was a touch of genius, making the return to the main themes even more overwhelming. From that point on it became the obvious highlight of the Unledded World Tour. And of course, we have the final version from the O2 which exceeds just about any expectation any of us could have. Jason gave the ultimate tribute to his dad with a sterling, emotive performance right down to the final gong crash as Kashmir once again took us there.
In February 1975 Jimmy was interviewed with William Burroughs for Crawdaddy magazine, during which they spoke about the Zeppelin New York show Burroughs witnessed from the middle of the front block. They spoke of Moroccan Tribes using repetitive riffs and drums to not only frighten their enemies but to induce a trance like state and move to a higher level of consciousness. Burroughs said he recognized the repetition and power in Led Zeppelin's music and the higher state the audience 'as one' were elevated to.
Along with the obsessive riffing and percussion on In My Time Of Dying, Kashmir represents that hypnotic glory, the pinnacle of power and celebration where all the elements and parts came together to create one irresistible, relentless whole. It not only transcends Led Zeppelin's music but popular music as a whole to become something unique and magnificent. Timeless and without peer.
