Jimmy Pages first solo album after Zeppelin didn't just smoke it actually earned him a Grammy nomination.

But somehow our rider is the most overlooked chapter of Jimmy Pages legacy.

Welcome to Demon Cuts.

No Polish, no mercy, just truth.

Every week we crack open an album that shaped me, broke me, rebuilt me, and carved another page into my survival and sobriety war journal that I'm sharing with you in live time.

And today we step into the smoke with a man who invented mystique, the architect of riffs, the shadow behind the spotlight, Jimmy Dam Page.

And we share a birthday together.

Jimmy.

This is the forgotten record, a dirt covered gem born from loss, addiction, theft, revival and reinvention.

This is Outrider now.

By the late 1980s, Jimmy Page walked into this record carrying Bottom's death, Zeppelin's collapse, years of addiction, critics calling him washed up, the pressure of his own legacy, 2 firm albums where he never truly unleashed.

And then, as he began Outrider, most of the early demo tapes were stolen.

Straight up vanished like someone tried to erase the album before it even existed.

Many artists would have quit at this point.

Paige didn't.

He said fine.

Instead of a two album set, I'll make it lean, raw, mean and focused.

And that decision is why Outrider works now.

You can't talk about Outrider without talking about Jason Bonham.

He drums on several tracks, including the only one with Robert Plant.

Think about that for a second.

Page, Plant, Bottom Blood, a spark of Zeppelin lightning in the middle of the 1980s.

And here's the detail people overlook.

Rites of Winner, a track that Jason played on, earn Jimmy Page a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

He didn't win, but the nomination alone proved Paige still had fire in his hands.

Now the cuts above and the bullets have missed.

The Essential 5 #1 Wasting My Time featuring John Miles on vocals.

He absolutely owns this track.

His voice soars, cracks, pleads and punches.

This is the kind of singer who lifts a Paige song into the stratosphere.

Jimmy backs him with that gritty Blues rock snarl.

It feels like Paige stepping back into the ring, focused, swinging and alive again #2 Rites of winner.

This is the Grammy nominated song featuring Jason Bonham.

It's pure instrumental violence.

Fast, hence sharp.

It's Paige off the leash.

You can hear the stolen demos bleed through this one.

He's playing like he's rebuilding himself piece by piece.

This track earned the Grammy nomination and honestly in my opinion it deserves a damn win #3 is the only one featuring Plant and Jayson Bottom.

Lightning in a bottle.

The last true Paige Plant studio moment until the 90s.

Plant sounds sharp and youthful, Jason Bonham hits like a freight train and Paige he plays with purpose, like he remembered exactly who the fuck he was.

This should have been a bigger deal because in my mind it smokes now.

Emerald Eyes is a haunting, drifting dream state track, and honestly, this is the most Led Zeppelin moment on the entire album.

Not early Zepp with the magic riff Thunder or the folksy acoustic mysticism of Zeppelin 3, but that late era Zeppelin twilight, that emotional, shimmering vibe all over in through the outdoor, the same reflective glow you hear on All My Love and I'm going to Crawl Now.

Jimmy isn't attacking here, he's painting, drifting, breathing, a quiet storm in slow motion.

It's Page at its most introspective, and the closest outrider ever gets to that old Zeppelin magic.

The fifth one is Blues anthem If I Cannot Have Your Love.

Now this is Chris Farlow in full preacher mode.

And listen here.

Chris Farlow sounds more like he's from Mississippi than Britain.

His voice has that Southern grit, that swampy sorrow, raw Blues ache.

Nothing about him sounds like he's British.

He bleeds through this track.

Paige holds back just enough to give the vocal space, letting heartbreak ring through the amp.

This is Paige painting in deep Blues.

Slow, emotional, beautiful sweeps.

Now being a banana headstock fan as I am, I've got Kramer's, I've got Charvels, I've got ES PS with the banana headstock.

I love them.

Seeing Jimmy Page, the Les Paul King, the 59 Priest, the double neck Master rocking a banana headstock.

Kramer in the 80s in the video for Wasting My time, brother.

That was like seeing a wizard show up to the tower with a chainsaw.

But somehow it worked.

The tone was sharp, the attitude was error correct, and Paige proved he could adapt without losing himself.

Now, the bullet that missed it wasn't the songs, it was not the performances.

It wasn't the experimentation and it wasn't the songwriting like many critics said.

The bullet that missed was the audience and the critics.

They treated Outrider like it was a footnote, not realizing it was the sound of a man crawling out of wreckage, fighting addiction, relearning his identity, and taking his first clean breath in years.

This wasn't a side quest, It was a rebirth.

And this album?

Outrider lit the fire again.

Paige reconnected with Jason Bottom, Tony Franklin from The Firm who later played in Blue Murder with John Sykes, who then played in Whitesnake with David Coverdale.

John Miles would go on to burn down stages singing with Paige.

That's great.

Then came Coverdale Paige, a shockingly good album.

But then Robert Plan heard this and said, if you want the real thing, just ask.

That led directly to no quarter.

The reunion, the resurrection.

None of that happens without Outrider.

Outrider was forged from loss, addiction, theft, reinvention and survival.

It hits differently when you've had to rebuild yourself, when your own demos were stolen, your life gutted, and you knew you had to write new ones out of nothing.

Paige didn't try and remake Zeppelin.

He made a survivor's record.

He made a Jimmy Page record.

If Doctor Feel Good was about resurrection, Outrider is about rebirth.

That's the demon cut.

Take it and bleed.

Thank you for checking out this episode of Demon Cuts.

If Outrider hit you even half as hard as it hit me, do me a favor.

Share this with someone who needs it.

Every week we dive into the albums that shaped my life, the records that carried me through the wreckage, and the music that helped me stay loud in my fight for sobriety.

If this cuts you open, if it lit a spark, if it brought back something you thought you'd buried, pass it on.

Spread it.

Somebody out there needs the fire.

Next week.

We go head first into Amorica by the black.

Crows sweat.

Swagger, trouble and brilliance all tangled together.

And like always, we stand with Mission 22 and stop soldier suicide.

If you're a veteran and you're still fighting your battles, you're not alone.

You are heard, you are valued, and you are needed.

This demon cuts from louder than my demons and you, yeah, you are part of the Unbroken.

Take this cut and bleed with purpose.