20 Essential Live Reggae Albums

The following is an excerpt from If You Like Bob Marley… by Dave Thompson.

As the album that spawned the original hit version of “No Woman, No Cry,” the song that remains Bob Marley’s best-loved (and most-covered) number, the Wailers’ 1975 Live album ignited a trend for in-concert recordings that persisted for much of the next decade, at least in western markets. More recently, the regular release of archived live recordings from the same period has done much to distill the importance of such documents—even the original “No Woman, No Cry” has been supplanted on certain Marley compilations by other live recordings.

Nevertheless, an hour or so spent in the company of a great live album is almost . . . almost . . . as good as being there; or, at least, know­ing somebody who was. And here are ten of the very greatest.

Trojan Reggae Party—various artists (1971)

Recorded live in London in 1971, and the soundtrack to many a period party, Trojan Reggae Party preserves punchy performances from the Cimarons, Bruce Ruffin, Nicky Thomas, the Pioneers, Dandy Living­stone, Greyhound, and more. (All had scored U.K. hits recently, with Thomas’s impassioned “Love of the Common People” and Ruffin’s loopy “Mad About You” especially outstanding.) Hard to find, and ex­pensive when it does turn up, but a seriously magnificent album.

Live—Burning Spear (1977)

Recorded on Burning Spear’s sensational visit to London in 1977, where he was accompanied by local reggae band Aswad, Live is an electrifying set that could easily be his best album ever.

Live—U-Roy (1978)

Not an album per se, Live was a twelve-inch EP capturing highlights of the DJ’s summer 1976 visit to the U.K. Recorded at the Lyceum Ballroom, with Sly and Robbie in thunderous attendance, it whets the appetite for more. Which, sadly, has still to be delivered.

Prisoner in the Street—Third World (1980)

Third World’s studio output often painted them as the soft and sweeter side of roots reggae. This set tears expectations to shreds, delivering wildfire eruptions through “96 in the Shade,” “African Woman,” and the title track, keeping it up so long that the vinyl has practically melted by the time you hit the end.

Live at the Music Machine—Dillinger (1981)

Recorded in London before a deliriously packed house, it is no surprise to find this album has since been repackaged as The Best of Live. Because that is what it is, as Dillinger travels through all his best-known numbers: “Natty Don’t Need Glasses,” “Roots Natty Congo,” “CB 200,” “Judgement Time,” and, of course, “Cocaine in My Brain,” a thumping celebration of white powder and its power, together with a lesson in literacy that the crowd that night knew by heart.

Live at Reggae Sunsplash—Big Youth (1983)

He opens with “I Pray Thee”/“Satta Massagana”; closes with “Hit the Road Jack”; and, in between, delivers a seething greatest-hits collection that is topped by what might be a career-best “Green Bay Killers.”

Live at the Controls at Jack Ruby Sound Ocho Rios J.A. —Brigadier Jerry (1983)

A blistering dancehall celebration, with the Brigadier joined by fellow stars Sammy Dread, Michael Prophet, and, sounding great in the midst of things, the veteran Dennis Brown.

Junjo Presents Two Big Sounds—various artists (1983)

The album that introduced the world to Beenie Man, a wild DJ collection that also features Dillinger, Michael Irie, Fathead, and Ringo, recorded live at 82 Chisholm Avenue, Kingston, in early 1983.

Prince Jammy and the Striker Lee Posse Presents Music Maker Live at the Halfway Tree Jamaica —various artists (1984)

Horace Andy, Chaka Demus, Don Carlos, Super Liki, and many more gather for a night of high-energy dancehall mania. Raw and unproduced to some ears, this album redefines excitement.

Live in Tokyo—Augustus Pablo (1991)

Pablo’s reluctance to tour is good reason why there are no live recordings from his earlier period; but this set, dating from his first-ever visit to Japan in 1991, catches him making up for lost time.

Vibes Alive—Israel Vibration (1992)

Recorded in California the previous year, the long-running saga of Israel Vibration hits the road with the ever-seething Roots Radics.

Live On—Wailing Souls (1994)

Another album that you wish could have been recorded a decade-and-a-half before, but it wasn’t, so you live with it. And that really isn’t that great a hardship.

Party in Session Live—Michael Rose (1997)

Recorded at various halts on former Black Uhuru frontman’s Michael Rose’s 1997 U.S. tour, what could have been a wearying set of revivals instead morphs into a magical celebration of past and present.

Cultural Livity—Live 1998—Culture (1998)

Spanning the years with a crowd-pleasing set, Cultural Livity scarcely remedies the absence of a 1970s concert recording from this most powerful of live bands, but it’s still hot. Especially if you can ignore the keyboards.

Live at Reggae Sunsplash 1994—Garnett Silk (1999)

Garnett Silk was poised to become the biggest reggae star of his era when he was killed in a house fire in December 1994. Recorded at Sunsplash earlier that same year, this is thus the sound of Silk at his peak, neither beholden to the familiar versions of his greatest hits, nor particularly interested in them. If you own just one Silk album, make sure it is this one.

Live—Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers (2000)

A handful of his father’s songs could, but do not, overshadow Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers’ own material on an album that captures all the joy and excitement of a period Melody Makers gig.

Words of Truth—Sizzla (2000)

Two CDs for the price of one: a new studio collection and a savage Sizzla live set that is alone worth the price of admission.

Live—Luciano (2000)

The king of the 1990s roots-consciousness revival, Luciano is caught live at the end of the decade he dominated with a set that shows you how he accomplished such.

Live in Paris—Yami Bolo (2000)

Yami Bolo’s version of “Curly Locks,” which turns up at the end, is what clinches this as a fabulous album—but the entire performance is spot on.

Live in San Francisco—Capleton (2007)

Too many live albums are now delivered as DVDs these days, and the pros and cons of that approach are for you to decide. This stunning Capleton set, however, repeats the concert on an audio disc, and it’s definitely worth diving into.

If You Like Bob Marley… is the unique and utterly compulsive story of the King of Reggae, told not through the life and times of Marley himself, but through the music and magic of the musicians who grew up around and under the influence of Bob Marley and his band, the Wailers.

David Tennant – The Tenth Doctor

It’s David Tennant’s birthday!  Below is an excerpt from Dave Thompson’s Doctor Who FAQ in honor of the Tenth Doctor.

At the same time, the Tenth Doctor remains the most personable of all his 
incarnations, well groomed and humorous, loyal and intense, capable of swinging from crushing sentimentality to seething rage on whims that are all the more alien for their sheer humanity. He is a Doctor who has imbibed the best qualities of every one of his predecessors, without weeding through them to discover which might actually clash with one another to set up a fresh internal conflict.

Losing the companionship of Rose Tyler and her family would become the single defining moment of the Tenth Doctor’s life span, just as her companionship was the single most important relationship. Subsequent cotravelers Martha Jones and Donna Noble attempted to break through the resultant isolation, but they were never going to do so, while the other “friends” who passed through his life would likewise fall a long way short of the Rose-shaped ideal, no matter what depths of pathos they descended to in their attempts to pierce his armor. Rather, he recruited them for what he could get out of them, maintaining their presence until they asked to be released, but disdaining their friendship in his rugged pursuit of a higher goal.

Even Donna’s grandfather, a whiskery old gentleman with a kitbag full of war stories, only briefly captured the Doctor’s attention, while a cynical viewer might think that Martha entered the Doctor’s life only so there could be a personal side to his oncoming confrontation with her sister’s employer, the fast-rising politician Harold Saxon. If we were discussing the Seventh Doctor, by the way, that would not even have been in doubt.

Doctor Who FAQ

Doctor Who is indisputably the most successful and beloved series on UK TV, and the most watched series in the history of BBC America. Doctor Who FAQ tells the complete story of its American success, from its first airings on PBS in the 1970s, through to the massive Doctor Who fan conventions that are a staple of the modern-day science fiction circuit. Combining a wealth of information and numerous illustrations, Doctor Who FAQalso includes a comprehensive episode guide.

Singing Songs About the Doctor

In which we learn that it isn’t all Dum-de-dum, Dum-de-dum…Woooo-ooooooooo!

In celebration of Peter Davidson’s birthday today…

The following is an excerpt of Doctor Who FAQ by Dave Thompson. Here, we list the author’s selection of songs about Doctor Who, but pick up a copy of the book to read the history, descriptions, and opinions that go with each song. Time for Doctor Who fans to load up their iPods with as many as they can get their hands on.

The Go-Gos—“I’m Gonna Spend My Christmas with a Dalek”

Roberta Tovey with Orchestra—“Who’s Who?”

The Earthlings—“Landing of the Daleks”

Jack Dorsey—“Dance of the Daleks”

Frazer Hines—“Jamie’s Awa’ in the TARDIS”

Bongo Herman and Les—“Doctor Who”

Jon Pertwee—“Who Is the Doctor?”

Thin Lizzy—“Doctor Who”

I-Roy and the Upsetters—“Doctor Who”

The Art Attacks—“I Am a Dalek”

Radio Stars—“Johnny Mekon”

Mankind—“Doctor Who”

The K-9s—“The K-9 Hassle”

Dalek I Love You—“Destiny (Dalek I Love You)”

Worzel Gummidge—”Worzel’s Song“

The Human League—“Tom Baker”

Blood Donor—“Doctor ?”

The Prisoners—“Revenge of the Cybermen”

Bullamanka—“Doctor Who Is Gonna Fix It”

Dr. Pablo and Dub Syndicate—“Doctor Who”

Bonnie Langford—“Just One Kiss”

Frank Sidebottom—sci-fi medley

Who Cares—“Doctor in Distress”

The Timelords—“Doctoring the TARDIS”

The Cybermen—“Doctor Who on a Mission”

Dalek Beach Party—“Teddy Boy’s Picnic”

Orbital—“Doctor Who”

Mitch Benn—“Doctor Who Girl”

Bill Bailey—“Dr. Qui”

Martin Gordon—“Her Daddy Was a Dalek, Her Mummy Was a Non-Stick Frying Pan”

John Barrowman—“The Doctor and I”

Chameleon Circuit—“Type 40”

The latter, Chameleon Circuit, provided the music to this book’s book trailer:

Doctor Who is indisputably the most successful and beloved series on UK TV, and the most watched series in the history of BBC America. Doctor Who FAQ tells the complete story of its American success, from its first airings on PBS in the 1970s, through to the massive Doctor Who fan conventions that are a staple of the modern-day science fiction circuit. Combining a wealth of information and numerous illustrations, Doctor Who FAQ also includes a comprehensive episode guide.

If You Like Led Zeppelin… then you’ll LOVE Rory Gallagher

The following is an excerpt from If You Like Led Zeppelin… by Dave Thompson, as posted on Shadowplays.com. Please visit their site to read the entire excerpt.

Blues guitarist Rory Gallagher moved to London from his native Ireland in late 1967 with Taste a band constructed firmly in the three-piece shape of the Experience and Cream. But it was Fleetwood Mac and, in particular, their guitarist Peter Green who gave Taste the confidence to follow their hearts, Gallagher later reflected — a debt he repaid shortly before his death in 1995, when he contributed a couple of tracks to the Rattlesnake Guitar Green tribute album.

“You cannot overestimate Fleetwood Mac’s importance at that time,” producer Mike Vernon agreed. “They brought the blues back into focus and rejuvenated the whole scene.” Vernon signed the infant Mac to his own Blue Horizon label, and admits it was the band’s immediate success that allowed the label to flourish as it did, becoming the primary staging ground for virtually every homegrown blues band of the era.

…And so back to Rory Gallagher, the man Jimi Hendrix once called the best guitarist in the world. Two studio albums attest to Taste’s brilliance, both released in the wake of Led Zeppelin I and both learning its lessons; Taste and On the Boards, two slabs of archetypal blues rock shot through with some astonishing detours. “some of the tracks,” affirmed Gallagher’s nephew and archivist, Daniel Gallagher, “could almost be very early metal, with that very deep, almost guttural bass. They tried to handle everything — tracks are country, the amazing jazz stuff they did on On the Boards — and that took a lot of attention away from that dark, brooding sound. It was brilliant. And if Rory had allowed ‘What’s Going On’ to be released as a single after [they played] the Isle of Wight Festival, when they were really flying, a lot could have changed.”

Keep reading this excerpt on Shadowplays.com!

If You Like Led Zeppelin… is the unique story of how Led Zeppelin came together not just as players, but as influences and ideas. It unearths the music that the musicians themselves were listening to, to open up an entire new world of experience and excitement for both casual and committed fans. It then travels beyond Led Zeppelin, to the bands and artists who in turn took their own lead from the Zep.

Doctor Who Loopholes

Tonight is the return of Doctor Who on BBC America. To celebrate, here is what Dave Thompson, author of Doctor Who FAQ, told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in a recent interview. Please visit the Gazette’s blog to read all that Thompson had to say about the show.

Gazette: According to lore, the 13th doctor should be the last — the 1976 episode “The Deadly Assassin” talked about a regeneration limit of 12 times, and Matt Smith is the 11th doctor. Do you know of a loophole or can you imagine one that would allow the Doctor to go on (I have a parallel universe theory, but that’s too easy).

Thompson: Good question!  I think the loophole they will probably use is, now that he is the “last” of the Time Lords, all laws of Time Lordy-ness can safely be suspended. Or at least forgotten. The 12 regeneration limit has, in any case, been broken by the Master without too many attempts to square it with canon, so it will probably not be an issue.  Unless, of course, the show is plummeting in the ratings and “The Final Doctor” becomes the hook to either win back viewers or end it altogether.

Keep reading this interview on the Pittsburgh Post Gazette!

Doctor Who is indisputably the most successful and beloved series on UK TV, and the most watched series in the history of BBC America. Doctor Who FAQ tells the complete story of its American success, from its first airings on PBS in the 1970s, through to the massive Doctor Who fan conventions that are a staple of the modern-day science fiction circuit. Combining a wealth of information and numerous illustrations, Doctor Who FAQ also includes a comprehensive episode guide.

Patrick Troughton: The Doctor, The Clown

To celebrate Patrick Troughton’s birthday we have posted an excerpt from Dave Thompson’s new book Doctor Who FAQ. Please enjoy!

The Clown was the Second Doctor, formally introduced to his audience still lying on the TARDIS floor, where he fell at the end of the previous adventure.

In what we might call “the real world,” that in which BBC writers, pro- ducers, directors, and crew fuss around to bring the Doctor’s adventures into our living rooms, it was a moment of unparalleled drama, anticipation, and probably fear.

The outgoing William Hartnell was more than a popular actor, after all. To everybody and anybody who had any awareness of the show, he was the Doctor. White-haired and wrinkled, smartly attired and condescending. Whereas now he was dark-haired and shorter. Craggier, with the kind of face that could be described as lived-in. Kindly but a little lugubrious. The eyes sparkled, and the cunning of the First Doctor was a lot less pronounced. Politely, the Second Doctor looked a bit of a bumbler.

Who ever would accept it was the same man?

Certainly not Ben and Polly, his latest companions. And the man who called himself the Doctor didn’t seem too sure, either.

“You’re the Doctor!” said Polly, in answer to one of his rambling remarks. “Oh, I don’t look like him,” replied the Doctor. And the introductions could have gone on all night were it not for one slight problem. There were Daleks about, and if the Doctor had learned one thing over the past three years of television, it was that Daleks—his oldest and most lethal enemy—did not have time for small talk.

That was how this new man was to be introduced, not through the force of his personality, or the delight of his sense of mischievous humor, but through the sheer populist weight of his most implacable foe, the single most popular creation in the show’s entire history and still, all these years later, one of the most beloved (if a metal tin packed to bursting with unrepentant malice could ever be described as “beloved”) aliens in science- fiction history. We will get to know them better later in this book; for now, suffice it to say that the very inclusion of the Daleks’ name in an episode title was worth a million or so extra viewers every week, and The Power of the Daleks did not disappoint.

It still doesn’t. With hindsight, it’s difficult to say which future story was most heavily influenced by The Power of the Daleks: the Ninth Doctor’s Dalek, in which the time traveler’s pleas for an inactive Dalek to remain inactive are ignored, or the Eleventh Doctor’s Victory of the Daleks, in which stupid humans (Britain’s wartime hero Winston Churchill among them) convince themselves that it is they who call the shots, and that the Daleks are simply theirs to command.

Either way, in terms of storytelling, action, and excitement, the Second Doctor’s debut is at least the equal of the former and effortlessly superior to the latter, with the Daleks seemingly even more sinister than usual simply by virtue of behaving so helpfully.

Of course, they will soon be at their screeching, screaming best as well, but what is important here is less the manner in which the Doctor, Ben, and Polly defeat them than in the nature of the understanding that quickly comes to bind the three of them so closely. After all, this Doctor is still a total stranger to them, and while Polly is willing to accept that he might be the same man, Ben is considerably more suspicious. And it will take more than a silly hat and an annoying recorder to win him around.

But somehow, the Doctor succeeded. Yes he was a clown, and in sharp contrast to his prickly predecessor, a lovable one as well. But by the end of his first season, which concluded with another encounter with the Daleks, the Doctor was again the Doctor, and memories of his past personality were just that.

Doctor Who is indisputably the most successful and beloved series on UK TV, and the most watched series in the history of BBC America. Doctor Who FAQ tells the complete story of its American success, from its first airings on PBS in the 1970s, through to the massive Doctor Who fan conventions that are a staple of the modern-day science fiction circuit. Combining a wealth of information and numerous illustrations, Doctor Who FAQ also includes a comprehensive episode guide.

Dave Thompson, an interview

Onstage and Backstage podcast from Hal Leonard is available on iTunes and Libsyn. Each episode authors and their guests have a chat about the topics of their books. Today, author Dave Thompson chats with Patrick Phillips, host of the Patrick Phillips Show, about Dave’s new book If You Like Led Zeppelin… and to talk about the band’s influence and the bands who were influenced by the mighty Zep. Not to mention really odd things about band nicknames, where the name of the band came from, and playing records backward.

>>>Listen Here<<<

If You Like Led Zeppelin… is the unique story of how Led Zeppelin came together not just as players, but as influences and ideas. It unearths the music that the musicians themselves were listening to, to open up an entire new world of experience and excitement for both casual and committed fans. It then travels beyond Led Zeppelin, to the bands and artists who in turn took their own lead from the Zep.

Rocky Horror Excerpt – Happy Birthday, Joan Jett!

Joan Jett, who played Columbia in the 2000 Broadway production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, turns 54 today.

The following is an excerpt of The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Music on Film by Dave Thompson (Limelight Editions) as posted on the author’s website.

It’s a scene that plays out every night across America, and across a large chunk of the rest of the world too.  A tiny and probably downtrodden movie theater parked away in a back street somewhere, clinging on to life with a handful of screens where others might boast dozens; and luring in the locals not with the glitz and blitz of the modern movie-going experience (hard seats, handkerchief screens, overpriced popcorn and so on and so forth) but with a chance to remember when going to the movies was fun.

The days when the décor was flash and the usherettes smiled, and the ice-cream lady had a tray around her neck.

The days when you went to the movies because you wanted to, not because you’d been bludgeoned into submission by wall-to-wall advertising.

The days when you took a chance on an unknown, and it changed your life, rather than sitting through the blockbusters because nothing changed at all.

And the days when you didn’t just shrug and say you’d wait for something to come out on DVD, because there were no DVDs in those days, or home video rentals either.  You saw a movie when the movie house screened it, then you waited for them to screen it again.  And if sufficient people demanded it, it might come around again next year.  Or next month.  Or next week.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show comes around every week.

Keep reading this excerpt on Dave Thompson’s website…

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is simultaneously one of the iconographic touchstones of 1970s cinema, and a timeless romp that appeals equally to every fresh generation. Created with a sharp eye for cult and context alike, Rocky Horror leaped effortlessly from stage to celluloid, losing none of its immediacy and spontaneity in the process – and maybe gathering more. Dave Thompson goes deep inside the phenomenon to trace the story and the strangeness that is The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Candy Store Rock

Happy birthday, Robert Plant!

The following is an excerpt of If You Like Led Zeppelin… by Dave Thompson (Backbeat Books), which will be on sale Sept. 2012.

Introduction

To rock fans of a certain age, there are certain intros that need no further introduction.

Der-neh-der-neh-NEH (der-der-dum der-der-dum)

Ner-ner-ner-ner-ner-ner-ner-ner—DEH-DEH-DEH

De-de-de de-dii-de-de …

Okay, that last one’s trickier. But if you got even one out of the three, chances are you could attempt to phoneticize a whole bunch more, and gaze in pitying astonishment at anyone who wasn’t as instantly au fait as you are.

Aaaaah-ehhhh-aaaaaaaaaaa—UH!

Across a lifetime that spanned thirteen years, nine LPs, one double live set, and a posthumous compilation, and which has only sporadically been added to since then, Led Zeppelin recorded and released just eighty-five songs. Yet those eighty-five not only set the bar for every rock band of their generation, they became the benchmark for every band that followed.

Between the fall of 1968, when they arose from the ashes of the Yardbirds and taped their first album in a matter of days, and September 1980, when the death of drummer John Bonham rang down the curtain on their career, Led Zeppelin did not simply establish themselves as the biggest rock band in the world. They grasped that throne for all time, because, no matter how successful the groups of the past three decades have been—no matter how readily the financial, attendance, and sales records Zeppelin once set might be smashed—not one of those record-breakers has even threatened to match the sheer weight of influence that Bonham, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, and John Paul Jones exerted on their surroundings.

No, Bono, not even you.

This is not the place to ponder the reasons why; to analyze the fortuitous confluence of musical streams and strains that Zeppelin, alone of the massive pack plowing the fertile valleys of late-sixties rock, was able to seize upon; to consider the sheer bravado with which manager Peter Grant set about building the legend of a band that wasn’t simply untried, but completely unknown; or to pick apart the monstrous marketing machine that allowed Zeppelin to crush all opposition and reinvent rock in their own image.

The fact is, they achieved it and, even more remarkably, they did so by eschewing almost every one of the shortcuts other bands have relied upon. For as long as there had been rock ’n’ roll, a hit single was the way to break into the mainstream, and even those late- sixties rockers who claimed to despise the things were not immune to the advantages a smash 45 could bring. Vanilla Fudge, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Yes, Hawkwind, Argent, bands whose very raison d’être was built around the long- playing statement—they all scored hit singles, and their profiles rose accordingly.

Not Led Zeppelin. Throughout most of the world, they did not even issue singles and, while their American label, Atlantic, did insist on sneaking the 45s out (and scored hits with them), they did so in the knowledge that the band would not be promoting them.

Because that was the other shortcut Led Zeppelin avoided. They would not appear on television, not after a handful of performances early on in their career left the musicians bored and frustrated with the demands of the medium. Led Zeppelin was a live band; therefore, Led Zeppelin would play live. And if you wanted to see them, you had to catch them live as well.

And there’s more. Throughout the sixties and seventies, the primary conduit between artist and fan was the music press, a printed medium that devoured several rain forests’ worth of trees every month to fill the average fan’s appetite for hot news and info. In Zeppelin’s British homeland through much of that period, there were no fewer than five music papers appearing every week (Melody Maker, New Musical Express, Sounds, and Record Mirror, plus shorter- lived enterprises like Disc and the appallingly titled National Rock Star). There was the biweekly Street Life and a slew of monthlies too. Plus an ever-changing roster of magazines dedicated to the teenybop market.

The United States had less to choose from, but the best of the bunch remain legends to this day—Creem, Circus, Rolling Stone (in the days when its music coverage came first and was generally better than anyone else’s). All sold by the bucket-load, all were savagely independent, and all were essential reading. A front-page story in any one of those was worth a gold disc before the new album was even released.

Led Zeppelin ignored them. Not completely, and certainly not exclusively. But interviews with the band were nevertheless at a premium, as manager Peter Grant laid out an unspoken dictate that flew in the face of all commercial common sense. Yes, you could talk about the band as much as you liked. But you’d be very, very lucky if you got to talk to them.

Any one of these dictates could easily have backfired. The press could have turned against the band, the record buyers could have shrugged with disinterest, the couch potatoes could have remained on the couch.

But they didn’t, because Led Zeppelin had one thing no other band of the age could come close to possessing. It was called mystique, and that is so unquantifiable that, again, we will not even try. Put simply, however, people trusted Led Zeppelin.

Trusted them to make a great album without wanting to hear a three-minute snippet before they laid down their cash.

Trusted them to put on a great show, without needing to catch a sanitized highlight on American Bandstand.

And trusted them to have something to say, without having to wade through three thousand words of edited conversation in search of John Bonham’s thoughts on the Nixon administration.

But there was something else that made Led Zeppelin special, that raised them above the hue and cry of the rest of the rock pack, and established them on a musical plateau that—again—has never been scaled by anyone else. And that was their openness to influence, their willingness to listen, and their ability to seamlessly assimilate so many personal fascinations into what became a very public whole.

If You Like Led Zeppelin… is the unique story of how Led Zeppelin came together not as players, but as influences and ideas. It unearths the music that the musicians themselves were listening to, to open up an entire new world of experience and excitement for both casual and committed fans. It then travels beyond Led Zeppelin, to the bands and artists who in turn took their own lead from the Zep.

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Hal Leonard at BEA

Thank you to everyone who stopped by the Hal Leonard booth at Book Expo America this week. We love meeting with old friends and making new ones. We had great authors come by and talk with librarians, book sellers, and teachers about their books and do book signings. We gave away a copy of Treasures of the Who (congrats to Keaton Babb!). And we even hosted a panel discussion with Actors’ Equity at the Downtown Stage. What a week!

David Misch, author of FUNNY: THE BOOK, handed out rubber-nose-and-glasses to everyone who walked by on Tuesday.

Sirius Radio talked with many of our authors. Here, Dave Thompson talks about his book HEARTS OF DARKNESS.

Estelle Parsons, Robert Simonson, David Henry Hwang, Andre DeShields, and Nick Wyman discuss the forthcoming PERFORMANCE OF THE CENTURY on the Downtown Author Stage

Our drawing for Treasures of the Who, available this fall

The Hal Leonard booth is a popular place to be!

Click here for more photos of Hal Leonard at BEA.