With Plant and Zeppelin big in the news, this is a well timed tome; although unauthorised and unofficial, there's a great deal of info here for the seasoned and not so seasoned fan.

First off, I must add, is that the section on Led Zeppelin is slim. There are far weightier tomes out there if you are exploring that period, but this states quite clearly from the outset it's about Robert Plant, before during and after Led Zeppelin, exploring the making of the legend and how the myths have survived.

After a lengthy intro, the book starts with the very early daze, looking at early bands, Robert's first marriage, influences et al. A lot of info about the mid to late 60s is gleaned from interviews from fellow Midlands musicians, including Slade (or The 'N Betweens as they were at the time), although some of the interviews were done when Daniels was researching his (actually better than OK) book on fellow Brummies Judas Priest.

The post Zeppelin pages will be of great interest, as Plant has kept very active (both recording and performing), and although he has been regularly interviewed, it's good to have all this history in one place.

Largely well written, the book clearly lacks the involvement of anyone currently close to Plant (the plethora of current quotes come from less direct involvement). But that said, the book is well researched, with many Percy Plant quotes taken from the likes of Classic Rock and other magazines, while a whole host of websites (music or otherwise) have been sourced too.

Pretty informative, I feel it would be helpful if there was an index or if the footnotes were at the end of the relevant page or chapter, not all together in their own appendix.

The many appendices are good, but with the shortage of photos throughout the book, it would help maybe to illustrate the discography. OK that's the trainspotter in me, but just a thought.

If you're a Zep head, you'll know about 68-82 already, but for the rest of it, it's well worth exploring.

***½

Review by Joe Geesin

www.joegeesin.com