Review:

on 2011-06-24 CharlesMartel Said:

Before he became one quarter of Led Zeppelin, John Paul Jones had a varied musical career. He was a classically trained pianist and was a well-known London-based session musician. The list of albums and singles on which he played is quite staggering, and as far as I know incomplete. Jones himself does not even know for he never kept a record. But in case anyone doubted, you can count in a lot of the early Beatles and Stones material as well as bubblegum hits from a variety of artists. What is less well-known is that he released a single of his own in the mid sixties.

Both "Baja" and the B-side, "A Foggy Day in Vietnam", were instrumentals, which is not surprising considering Jones did not have a great voice. Neither of them was particularly upbeat, let alone catchy. It is hardly surprising that the single bombed - and badly. Yet it is typical of Jones that his music required a bit more thought than the throwaway pop on which he so often contributed to earn his daily crust. And in a wonderful twist of irony, many of the artists for whom he had been a session musician turned out to help in the recording of these two tracks. Now very rare, this single dates from a time when pop was in its infancy and Led Zeppelin were not even a twinkle in Jimmy Page's eye.

Yet, I can't honestly say I actually like this. I find much of Jones' solo work of recent years to be disappointing and too intentionally-intellectual. And while this song is no exception, it has a curious feel to it for its time. I downloaded it because it is such a rarity and has a degree of interest to anyone who likes Led Zeppelin, just to see what the Zeps were doing before they got together. No doubt it is well-executed and more thought has gone into the composition than could be said about a number of contemporary music. It just doesn't excite me.
Rating: 5/10