That Page solo on "Think About It" from the Top Gear is pretty wicked.

Listening to Beck right now. The original "Beck's Bolero" is such a great guitar workout. For me, Jeff Beck after the Yardbirds is kinda hit and miss. The Truth and Beckola albums hold up well, but you have to pick and choose pretty carefully after that. I think that's why the Ronny Scott show is so popular is that it is Beck at his best, playing his best material. When the man is on fire, there are very few that can match him. That "Day in the Life" cover is just spine-tingling.

Page in '77: heroin is a helluva drug. I've heard a lot of boots from that tour and overall, I prefer the early years. It was a mess of a tour. The set list was rigged to get Plant as much time off his ankle as possible so the three solo sections were always bloated, always momentum killers. I saw them at the old Met Center in Bloomington MN on that tour, my only Zep show. Fortunately they were the beasts that night, mostly because Page was still recovering from this "stomach issue" that cancelled a show in Chicago. I remember him kicking off his solo section by walking the length of the stage just playing lightning runs up and down the neck. Guy next to me said, "that's it, I'm never playing guitar again." And then you hear other boots from that tour and he's just barely holding it together. '73 and the earlier tours are much much better.

I'm convinced that Page is done. We'll never see that solo LP and I don't think he'll be doing anymore live Zep releases. He's just content making appearances at talk shows and doing interviews about the old days. There are rumors that his hands are crippled up, similar to what Clapton is going through. Keith Richards' playing since he fell on his head is pretty mediocre as well. Townsend's back is shot. Let's face it, the guitar heroes are getting old.