Still getting the Led out

Every few years, it seems, the rockeratti rediscover Led Zeppelin and we're subjected to a load of stories that state the obvious: The harbingers of heavy metal were a great rock band. You'll get no argument from me. If Robert Plant, Jimmy Page (above left with Plant), and John Paul Jones never play another note together, that's fine, but wouldn't it be something to hear, say, "Bring it on Home" in a sweltering arena some winter night?

In the meantime, fanatical Zeppelin fans can console themselves with rock critic Jon Bream's impressive new book, "Whole Lotta Led Zeppelin: The Illustrated History of the Heaviest Band of All Time." While Stephen Davis's "Hammer of the Gods" remains the definitive band bio, Bream tells an entertaining story with behind-the-scenes photos, concert posters, interviews, and reminiscences from some of Zep's famous fans, including Joe Perry, Minutemen's Mike Watt, the Hold Steady's Tad Kubler, and legendary groupie Pamela Des Barres, who writes this about Page: "Such a sweet and lovely precious looking cherub, why is it that he's perverted?"

So full of fan-boy ephemera is Bream's coffee-table book - there are images of Zeppelin T-shirts, buttons, and backstage passes - that I half-expected to find something for the bong, tucked perhaps in the lyric sheet for "No Quarter," Zeppelin's most Tolkien-esque tune.

Alas, that's not included, but William S. Burroughs's highly entertaining 1975 interview with Page in Crawdaddy magazine is. All in all, Bream has done a great service for the legion of denim-clad rock fans who remember laughter - and Led Zeppelin. [Mark Shanahan]

Bream will do a reading and signing at the Back Bay Borders on Oct. 21 at 7 p.m.