Christmas Surprise: Jimmy Page Reveals Led Zeppelin Will Release New Material On 50th Anniversary

One of the greatest rock bands in history, Led Zeppelin, is planning to release previously unheard material on the band’s 50th anniversary in 2018, according to Jimmy Page.

Promising all “manners of surprises” during an interview with the Academy of Achievement, Led Zeppelin’s lead guitarist did not elaborate on what exactly the fans could expect in the new year from the English band, but said he has been working on material that “people haven’t heard,” reports NME.

“There’ll be Led Zeppelin product coming out, for sure, that people haven’t heard, because I’m working on that.

Next year will be the 50th year, so there’s all manner of surprises coming out.”

Now that could mean two things. Either Jimmy Page is working on new material with Robert Plant and John Paul Jones and plans to release it next year, or he is working on giving shape to previously recorded material which was never released during the time Led Zep was in its prime. It would be anybody’s guess to know what he really meant, but there is some indication that it won’t be exactly new material.

Robert Plant, the voice behind wonders such as “Stairway to Heaven,” “Kashmir,” “Whole Lotta Love,” and several others, recently told the Guardian that although he enjoyed the band’s reunion in 2007 which saw him playing with John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page at the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert along with the son of the late John Bonham on drums, he did not particularly enjoy his vocals on some of the songs, and thought it was best to move on.

“I realized that tough, manly approach to singing I’d begun on You Better Run wasn’t really what it was all about at all. Songs like [Led Zeppelin I’s] Babe I’m Going To Leave You … I find my vocals on there horrific now. I really should have shut the f**k up!” he said.

While it is clear that Plant might not enjoy the idea of producing new material together as much as Page might, there is little doubt that Led Zepplin fans could be in for a treat come 2018. Needless to add, of course, the “product” that Page talks about is definitely not going to be from their studio catalog, which has already been reissued, as reported by Guitar World. It contained many unreleased outtakes, demos, and live recordings which fans had never heard.