Would Led Zeppelin have benefitted from a fifth touring musician?

yea. in no quarter he does both.

 

Maybe not to the same extent as ray. but i hear bass notes in that song. they are not basslines like ray plays but still there is bass happening.

Maybe in starirway to heaven also. not sure on this one. It's been a while.

 

As someone who just finished watching the two-disc self-titled DVD set for the first time yesterday, I would have to say no. That astonishing rhythm section is enough to fill out any song.

Also, as others have noted, they definitely found ways to make much of their material work live as a four-piece. It might be interesting as a curiosity to see what a fifth member would add, but I don’t think that they’re lacking anything as it is.

 

I'll admit the Zeppelin stuff performed on Live at the Greek at times sounds sublime (especially Ten Years Gone) however for me there is something to be said for bands tackling songs on their own without additional help and living with it. It makes you appreciate their musicianship.

 

He uses (or used) bass pedals, just like Geddy Lee from Rush uses on the keyboard-driven songs

 

IMO John Paul Jones used the bass pedals even more creatively than Geddy Lee did- to me Geddy Lee sorta used the bass pedals the same way Michael Rutherford did in Genesis- they provide a low drone, I don't hear them playing a lot of 'melodic' bass like parts on the Taurus pedals. JPJ did, especially on the more rhythmic stuff like "Trampled Under Foot".

That said, thanks to Jonesy, Geddy and Rutherford, I have always wanted a set of Moog Taurus bass pedals. Arena shakers

 

Having seen them live I would say no. The volume level alone from the 4 of them almost would preclude another guy up there.

 

It was Porl Thompson from The Cure.

 

As a bass player, I also always wanted a set of bass pedals, most probably so I could hide my bassplaying deficiencies using it at the same time as I play

 

Yes, he uses foot pedals, he sounds a lot better than manzarek IMO. I dunno if manzarek had foot pedals, he talks about his left hand in interviews about the doors lack of a bass guitarist.

 

He didn't use the pedals, but used a Fender Piano Bass (is that what it's called?) with his hand. They also tried to coax Doug Lubahn from Clear Light into the band to play bass, but he stayed with CL (go figure )

 

I saw that tour and it worked well. Also, on another note I recently saw Get the Led Out called the American LZ. They are excellent. They have 3 guitar players to cover all the parts. And the singer Paul Sinclair sounds as close to Plant as you can get. Check out Immigrant song on youtube.

 

Now living as Pearl Thompson

 

Three guitarrists? Wow, that's really impressive. How many singers/keyboardists?

 

I think they would have benefitted from a 5th member (on keys) allowing JPJs more freedom to concentrate on bass. It worked well for The Who when they added Rabbit.

 

Absolutely, but only from 1972 on when the songs became more complex. A multi-instrumentalist who could also sing like the late great Bob Mayo (who toured with Robert Plant in the early 80s) would have been perfect. From 1968-1972, they didn't anything or anyone else.

Love,
Billy

 

Lead singer is Paul Sinclair and one of the guitar players sings the backup lines. The same guy who sings the backup parts plays the keyboards. Go to you tube and look up Get the led out and listen to Immigrant song. He sounds just like Plant. Maybe someone could post it here I don't know how to do it. I have seen them twice and they are far and away the best LZ band. They dont try to look like them but they sure do sound like them. The three guitar players are only on stage together when needed.

 

I heard they changed their name to Greta van Fleet

 

I think it could have gone either way with another player.
They could maybe have replicated their album tracks more accurately, but then again, the SPACE you get when you have two instruments, drums and vocals is marvelous.

 

Good one lol. I like GVF also. Please go to youtube and Listen to Immigrant Song.

 

I am not a fan of bands adding members.When Floyd started adding extras musicians it became are more slick,safe and professional sound but that raw edge had been lost.I have had this arguement with friends over the years when i play a live Zep album."It does'nt sound like the original"like the original they moan but that was half the fun of the band live and for that matter any concert band of the seventies before technology kicked in the eighties.If Zep continued into the eighties i think technology would have kicked in(see Rush) rather than adding extra musicians

 

To answer the thread-title question -- Yes, but not always. I really like it when bands tour in different configurations. Just band-members for one tour, and a fuller group with some auxiliary folks for another. Back-up singers one time, but not on others.

When Pink Floyd did this, you end up with a sax-solo in the middle of "Echoes". And the earliest versions of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" don't include backup singers (or a second guitar).

It would have been very interesting if Zeppelin had shaken things up with an extra musician or two on some tours, but definitely not on every tour. Even a second vocalist maybe, weaving in and out of Robert's lines -- certainly not on every tour (perish the thought), but maybe on a couple short tours here and there -- just enough so they recordings could have been caught.

Variety is the spice of life.

 

Sound-wise, yes, but otherwise, I don't think so. It's a concert; it's part of the band's mystique. When I saw Rush, it didn't matter if there was a guitar missing. Part of the fun was seeing how they fused the different parts together. Same thing with Zoso.

 

Any band with only one guitarist could use at least one more.

 

easy, no.