For those dogs that like their Led Zeppelin without any frills, this is the bone for you.

Years after the tragic end to Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page released Outrider to very little fanfare, but if guitar rock is your thing, then this is definitely one for you, not a single keyboard used, and don’t let that fool you into thinking the sound isn’t full. Think again; this is Mr. Jimmy Page we’re talking about here.

Jason Bonham occupies the drum stool for seven of the nine tracks, and a more than adequate job he does of it to, you can never compare two musicians fairly, but let us just say that his father would have been more than proud.

To these floppy ears it’s the instrumentals on the album that really take the biscuit, showing the likes of Eric Johnson & Kenny Wayne Shepherd how to play with flash but keep it interesting.

Although all the songs sound as if they have been recorded by a band who’ve known each other for years; actually Jimmy uses 2 drummers, 3 bassists & spread over the 6 vocal tracks 3 vocalists. The very underrated John Miles (he of “music” fame) handles the first brace with his usual aplomb. Chris Farlowe (“Tears Go By”, Atomic Rooster & Colosseum) takes the final curtain calls, when he engagingly stutters his opening delivery of “I’ve been a b-b-b-b-b-bad b-boy and I’ve been a bad boy all night long”. You can actually hear him smirk & wink over Page’s bleeding electric guitar, of course after this the lyrics descend even further into bloke rock, and the guys seem to be having the time of their lives.

The final vocalist used is of course Jimmy Page’s old sparring partner, Percy himself Mr. Robert Plant, and it’s a credit to the other two that this song is not the stand out track of the album. I think that has to go to the 12-bars of “Prison Blues”, if Mott could get his paws round a guitar neck, this is the way he’d play guitar, with legs astride, head thrown back, in front of 250,000 screaming women.

As in the last quote this album may be a little self indulgent, but they sure don’t make albums like this anymore, and to make sure it was just right Jimmy Page even produced the whole thing himself.

If you’re still not convinced, try lending an ear to Jimmy Page’s latest release with the Black Crowes where he revamps his old Led Zeppelin Catalogue as well as bashing through some old chestnuts.

Listen & Believe.

By Poppy

Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) has it all. She’s the president of her sorority, a Hawaiian Tropic Girl, Miss June in her campus calendar and she’s beautiful, has a perfect figure and last but not least she’s a natural blonde. She has one determined ambition in life and will go to great lengths to achieve it and that is to become Mrs. Warner Huntington III anyway she can.

The fact that she has grown up in the same street as Aaron Spelling might mean something to many people in LA, but it means nothing to Warner Huntington III’s East-Coast blue blood family. He says that he cannot marry Elle because she is simply too blonde. So, when Warner (Matthew Davis) packs up to go to Harvard and study law and then finds his old sweetheart from prep school, it’s time for Elle to call upon all her resources and get into Harvard to win him back.

Poor Elle manages to achieve her goal and gets into Harvard but soon finds that law school is a far cry from the comforts of her poolside and the shopping mall. Elle finds that she must fight the battle of her life, for her man, for herself and for all the blondes who suffer endless indignities everyday. She manages to surprise herself and everyone else when they discover just how smart she really is.

This is a comedy and a really funny comedy, there’s none of the usual bad language moviemakers seem to think necessary when the movies include youngsters. It’s a bit frothy but fun and easy watching.

Directed by Robert Luketic

Produced by Ric Kidney & Marc E. Platt