reup..( Personnel: Jimmy Page :: Chris Squire :: Alan White :: Robert Plant----------------------------------------­----------------------------------------­---Notes:Bit of a mix and match here. The first four tracks (and note, it's O N L Y the first four tracks) are XYZ recordings (Page, Squire and White), studio demos from 1981. There are then seven demos from Shaken 'n' Stirred and three versions of Rude World to round it off. Sound throughout is decent, though not as fresh as you'd really want for studio material. When Page/Plant were going to rehearse together with White/Squire for a new band, the UK music press was ignoring the news. After all, Zep and Yes where regarded then, in the New Wave time of the early eighties, as a dinosaurs from a bygone era. American Creem magazine was much happier, and ran a spread on the new band named XYZ (for Ex-Yes-Zeppelin). The rehearsals went for a week or so (note that already then they have forgotten JPJ phone number) before calling it off. About 15 years or so after, when these recordings first saw thheght of day on this CD - fans were happy to point out the great riff of Mind Drive - surely one of Page's genious riffs? Well... exactly. Yes Keys to Ascention came out in 1997, and Mind Drive there to prove that this was a pieace of music that was brought to XYZ by Chris Squire :-). (from original info file).----------------------------------------­---------------------------------------00:00 Mind Drive (Anderson/Howe/Squire/Wakeman/White) 4:5104:51 Fortune Hunter (Squire/Page/White) 4:1609:07 Can You See (Squire/Page/White) 4:4013:47 Telephone Secrets(Squire/Page/White) 7:50----------------------------------------­---------------------------------------21:37 Easily Lead (Blunt/Woodroffe/Plant) 2:3824:15 Pink And Black (Woodroffe/Blunt/Hayward/Plant) 3:5028:05 Trouble Your Money (Blunt/Plant) 3:4931:54 Hip To Hoo (Woodroffe/Blunt/Hayward/Plant) 4:5436:48 Sixes & Sevens (Plant/Woodroffe/Blunt/Hayward/Martinez) 6:3143:19 Medley: Hip To Hoo / Doo Doo A Do Do / Trouble Your Money (Woodroffe/Blunt/Hayward/Plant) 4:33----------------------------------------­---------------------------------------47:52 Rude World (Rough Mix 1 Page / Plant) 3:4351:35 Rude World (Isolated Tracks Page / Plant) 6:3858:13 Rude World (Rough Mix 2 Page / Plant) 3:55----------------------------------------­---------------------------------------The first four tracks on disc one represent the XYZ demo from 1981 featuring Jimmy Page, and Chris Squire and Alan White from Yes. This was a year where both Zeppelin and Yes were over: Zeppelin after Bonham's death, and Yes after the disastrous UK tour with their "Buggles" line-up. These four songs, from a reported nine total, surfaced in 1997 and were released before on After The Crash on Midas Touch, which also featured some Robert Plant demos. This title from Highland features the same tape but from the Yes point of view. The XYZ demos are very good soundboard. It is a bit hissy, but enjoyable. The mileage these songs have is remarkable, considering XYZ never officially existed. Alan White song which was used for the song "Mind Drive" on Keys To Ascension 2 in 1996 and released in 2001 on Keystudio. The XYZ song, "Fortune Hunter," is a Chris Squire song which Jimmy Page borrowed and reworked for The Firm. The XYZ demo is very interesting to hear (Page's playing is very similar to In Through The Outdoor and Death Wish II). It is said that the band fell apart when Robert Plant didn't show any interest in the project. I really don't think these songs would have sounded any better with Plant as opposed to Squire singing. We can always imagine it!