Jimmy Page doesn’t miss Led Zeppelin.
The 72-year-old guitarist insists he hasn’t been "missing" his former group – fronted by Robert Plant – over the last few years as he has been so busy working on the live album and DVD ‘Celebration Day’ – which featured the recording of the band’s last live show in 2007 at The O2 for the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert – and the acclaimed reissues of their back catalogue.
Speaking at a press conference to mark the release of the final three LPs at Olympic Studios in London, he said: "I haven’t been missing it for the last three years because I’ve been involved from ‘Celebration Day’ all the way through to this. So no, it’s OK, it’s fine."
For each album reissue Page trawled though the vaults and went in search of previously unreleased or unheard material and alternative recordings of songs to create companion discs to each original LP.
The rock legend knows he has found all the extra music he could and thinks he’s "done" his "job" for the fans.
He said: "As far as the studio side of things (goes), this is it. Unless something might pop up on international Record Store Day or something like that. But it will be a long way off.
"There were hundreds of hours of listening to set all of this up. I’m really thrilled because what it means for Led Zeppelin fans is that there’s now twice as much information as there was before, and it’s of really good quality. So as far as I’m concerned, I’ve done my job.
"Looking at the whole bootleg scene and knowing how much live material had already come out, and pretty good stuff at that, dealing with the studio outtakes seemed to be a more satisfying project … This is what needed to be done – the whole Led Zeppelin world in the studio needed to be dealt with properly and seriously."
As for Page’s musical future he is still getting his guitar playing up to speed for a series of proposed concerts and he wants to continue making music.
He explained: "I’ll be working on the guitar now, that’s the next thing to be obsessive about. It’s clear what I’m going to be doing next; I want to do something, which involves being seen to play the guitar. It goes without saying that I would like to be doing a guitar project – I mean, better doing that than a violin project!"
The last three Led Zeppelin reissues, ‘Presence’, ‘In Through the Out Door’ and ‘Coda’ will be available from July 31.
Jimmy Page hasn’t been ‘missing’ Led Zeppelin
