When Giants Walked the Earth

A Biography of Led Zeppelin

By: Mick Wall

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Led Zeppelin rose to become one of the biggest-selling rock bands of all time. Mick Wall, respected rock writer and former confidant of band members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, unflinchingly tells the story of the band that wrote the rulebook for on-the-road excess and eventually paid the price for it, with disaster, drug addiction, and death.

Wall also recounts, in a series of flashbacks, the life stories of the five individuals that made the dream a reality: Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, John Bonham, and their infamous manager, Peter Grant.

Finally, the full, shocking story is told from the inside.

©2009 Mick Wall (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"So this is the big one: a fat, juicy biography of the biggest band ever....Mick Wall, the veteran rock journalist, lays it all bare in a book that can only be described as definitive." ( Daily Telegraph)
"That Wall can add so much fresh detail to the Led Zep story is in itself an extraordinary achievement. That he manages to humanize these planet-striding giants while doing so puts this book into the 'definitive' category." ( Classic Rock magazine)

"Wall painstakingly traces Zeppelin's development and musical pedigree. His access and attention to detail make this a definitive work….an essential source for anyone eager to learn about the era when rock stars ruled the world." ( Publishers Weekly)

Second Person Narrative Is "Almost" A Deal Breaker

Who was your favorite character and why?

Zep begins and ends with Page.

What about Simon Vance’s performance did you like?

Vance perfectly captures the working class Northern British attitude in his voice, which is essential for telling this story.

AND he pronounced "Bron-Y-Aur" correctly!

Any additional comments?

"Giants" is a wonderfully researched book, on a topic that is pretty well tread and Wall manages to unearth enough information and insights into the Zep story to make this book a must read for Zeppelin fans.

It's a compelling read that captures the essential elements of the bands rise and subsequent troubles when coping with their own fame. But Walls decision to add second person narratives throughout this Bio not only damages the credibility of the author, but also pulls the reader from his nicely paced and constructed narrative.

Yes, I get that bios are often stylistically lazy in their execution, but this dramatic second person device came close to ruining this book for me. I found it totally unnecessary and rather irritating. Wall even warns the reader at the start of the book, basically saying, "While I tried hard to research and take educated guesses as to what the band might say in these instances, I MADE IT UP!"

Yuck.

And while I appreciate an author trying to add color to a story, I would argue that a well executed biography ( Mark Lewisohn's "Tune In: The Beatles, All These Years", a fine example of a rock Bio at the top of its form) really should be about nothing more than comprehensive research and artistic/editorial flare.

Having said that, it is a testament to Walls research and writing that I held on. Without these irritants, the rating would have been 5.

Great listen

I'm listening for the second time. I liked it that much. Informative rock and roll stuff. Zeppelin fans can really appreciate this one.

Great listen for any classic rock/Led Zeppelin fan

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend to any classic rock fan.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The most interesting aspect of the story is how much of a role Jimmy Page played in Led Zeppelin. I found Jimmy Page's interest in occult very interesting.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Simon Vance?

The guy who does the Geiko Gecko....oh wait they sound the same.

Was When Giants Walked the Earth worth the listening time?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Freest listen

As Good a Story As We May Get

Would you listen to When Giants Walked the Earth again? Why?

Once was enough. It was a mostly satisfying listen and I would recommend the book to anyone with more than a passing appreciation of Led Zeppelin's mystique.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. The longish bits about the Crowley stuff, while perhaps important with regards particularly to Page, didn't always make for a fascinating listen. There were also the uncomfortable passages where the author wrote as though 'speaking' directly to individual subjects as if present for various historical events in their lives from childhood on. Made for jarring transitions in narrative style, at times. Yet, it sometimes DID help to dramatise events that could only be speculated upon. Perhaps this book is best described as a dramatisation, rather than as a biography.

Any additional comments?

Very much enjoyed Simon Vance's narration. Despite criticisms, this was a fun and mostly engrossing listen. Certainly, I feel as though I now have a better appreciation for the sequence of events and the times in which they occurred. I cannot ascertain how accurate this telling of Zeppelin's history is, but it has a certain ring of authenticity - at least in the broad strokes. Given that no authorised story is likely to emerge, this might be as good as it gets. Even if we were to one day have the definitive word from the living sources, who's to say what details might be suppressed or altered?

Zeppelin what else can I say.

What can I say? It's Led Zeppelin. only problem it was long and jumped around.

Great biography.

A lot of folks complained about the flashbacks but I thought they were fine. It would be nice if they mentioned who the flashback was about. I got confused a couple of times. But that's mostly due to lack of attention.

Overall a great look into Zep. I first got into Zep in the late 90's and didn't have a clue about their history. I've been relistening to their albums with new ears.

meh

I'm the ultimate Led Zeppelin fan. I was disappointed in the narration of the story. The times when the narrator was talking to me as if I was Plant or Page was weird.

Personal Review

Author's attempt to relate facts about the character's lives through their own words written by the author was a failed attempt to make the biography more interesring. The facts and characters were interesting enough on their own not needing such a contrived style of writing.

Borderline

Pros: A decent history of the band full of all the necessary highlights. Cons: The flashback sequences are painfully awkward and all over the place chronologically really messing up the whole flow of the book. I don't feel they added anything, and they all have the same tone as if the 4(+Grant) members were the same person. Also, this is essentially a Jimmy bio through the first 2/3 of the book, the other members are virtually ignored and their contributions feel lessened. Lastly, the book is rather objective until it hits the epilogue where it is full of scathing comments and some very harsh words. The change in style is jarring.

Informative listen

An enjoyable book about a band that had such an impact on my early years. So many rumours disputed, some confirmed, and a whole lot of behind the scenes happenings that I never knew about. This book is very detailed, I especially enjoyed the way the author told the tales of each member's lives, sporadically throughout the book. It made for a very interesting listen, a nice touch as opposed to the common approach of telling in chronological order the beginning, middle and end in one chapter. In this case, we were still being told about the growth of each member, prior to joining the group, until the very end of the book. I really liked his method of describing this. Highly recommend for anybody who was into Zeppelin, or even growing up in the 70's, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. The narration was also very well done, although I don't know of any book in which Simon Vance does not make better by doing the narration. Even some of the lesser books I have read became enjoyable with Mr Vance as the narrator. In this case, Mr Vance made a good book much better.