JImmy Page: The Anthology by Jimmy Page

I discovered this book from a review in the latest Ugly Things and while it is not cheap, this hardbound, coffee table-styled book is mighty impressive and well worth the cash. Jimmy tells his tale in a somewhat abbreviated way with an incredible amount of ephemera and glorious photos of his guitars and other equipment. Of course, he started with cheaply made instruments but soon graduated to incredible beasts like his early 60's "Black Beauty" Les Paul. Interestingly enough, he was fascinated with Indian music and in 1962 managed to purchased a sitar and then meet Ravi Shankar at a concert and get tunings and playing tips from the master! His session work is pretty thoroughly detailed, and in an aside about his recording with pre-VU Nico, he mentions how much he loved the Velvet Underground and would see them whenever he could - which would explain why the Yardbirds did "Waiting For the Man"!

He documents every period of his musical life with exquisite photos of his equipment and it is mighty impressive how many different instruments he has gathered and learned to play and the variety of situations he has played in - literally around the world with indigenous musicians in exotic locales. Some of these he incorporated into his work and sometimes he did this simply for fun! 

Naturally, I truly enjoy his earliest work and the instruments he used at the time, but it is fascinating how he would experiment with current technology right up through today. Of course, he would still compliment the new tech with old instruments, as well, just to see how they would work together. 

This is one of my favorite recent finds - any musician would surely enjoy this visual trip from the 50's through the 00's. Be prepared to be jealous of his collection though and of all that he has accomplished!