Producer/engineer Eddie Kramer was recently asked by Classic Rock if Led Zeppelin was “in effect Jimmy Page’s band” when it comes to production of albums, and it sounds like Robert Plant had zero control.
“Oh, it was more than that. He was the bloody director. It was Jimmy’s concept, but then the person who should also get the same amount of kudos is John Paul Jones.
“I actually knew John more than I did Jimmy. He was very sweet and kind and he and his wife would invite me to their house in Hampstead, where I’d go and hang out with them.
“John was always in Olympic Studios, dragging his B15 amp, his charts under his arm, his bass over his shoulder, conducting a whole bloody symphony orchestra. He was a genius arranger.
“I think John called me up at the beginning of ’68, just before they left for America, and said, ‘Come on over to the house, I’ve got something to play you.’
“It was only an acetate of the first Zeppelin album! I went over and listened and, of course, it was amazingly heavy. I went, ‘What is this?’
“He told me they were called Led Zeppelin and I just said, ‘What a stupid bloody name.’
“The next thing I know, it’s 1969 and the lads are over here in the States touring and I’m taking pictures of them at the Fillmore East. So they asked, ‘Why don’t you come and do some mixing for us on ‘Led Zeppelin II’?’ I love those boys.”
