Regarding the interview with Robert Plant (May 2005, Take 96), I must take issue with Plant over the crass comment he made about Procol Harum’s late drummer BJ Wilson, where he stated that Wilson wasn’t in the same league as John Bonham.
I certainly agree that John Bonham was an incredible, dynamic drummer, but so was BJ Wilson.
Come off it, Percy. Do you really believe that Jimmy Page would have even considered approaching Wilson if he didn’t think he was a top-league drummer? Surely Page must have seen Wilson’s ability when he worked with him on the 1968 sessions for Joe Cocker’s With A Little Help From My Friends album.
Furthermore, even the late great Cozy Powell once commented after seeing Procol live back in 1970 that perhaps a few so-called heavy metal drummers should check out BJ Wilson and perhaps they could learn a few points on technique.
Perhaps Plant should check out the 10 Procol Harum albums that Wilson worked on, particularly Broken Barricades, Grand Hotel and Exotic Birds And Fruit, which is probably Wilson’s finest work with the band. However, to really appreciate Wilson’s talent was to witness him playing live, as he never played the obvious and was one of the most powerful, inventive and unorthodox drummers that ever lived. He didn’t just play drums, he orchestrated them.
Sadly, BJ Wilson died in tragic circumstances in 1990 and I am in no doubt if Procol Harum had made it into the ranks of the Top 10 bands of the era (in terms of sales and public attention) then Wilson’s reputation would have surpassed many of his peers. Rest in peace, Barrie BJ Wilson.
Dan Kirby, Sidcup, Kent
HEAVY AS LED
How surprising to read, between the lines, that Robert Plant harbours
resentment towards his more critically acclaimed, more talented
contemporaries The Who and the Stones. I guess that on planet Zeppelin,
the album charts of the 1970s were a Corinthian contest of quality
untainted by the whims of the market. As a consumer of less rarefied
air, I recall a plethora of pop compilations and disco soundtracks, each
more fun than a Zeppelin opus. Fact is, once over the utter
self-absorption of adolescence, Led Zeppelin’s music has nothing to
offer bar a sense of time passing discordantly and far too bloody
slowly.
Kevin Doyle, Cheetham, Manchester