Monday, December 10, 2007

Zepp-A-Dee-Day


Led Zeppelin - Celebration Day [from Led Zeppelin III]

Well today is the day that I wish I was in London at the 02 Arena. Sigh.

Rasputina - Rock and Roll
I've posted this before, but it's one of my favourite Zeppelin covers ever. Rasputina, sort of a gothic cello rock band, put out a cover EP called The Lost & Found featuring this one as well as covers of Pink Floyd, Marilyn Manson, and The Velvet Underground. Excellent covers, seek that one out.

Corinne Bailey Rae - Since I've Been Loving You (live in New York)
I've been loving this cover since I first heard her perform it on some AOL Sessions last year. Now it's officially on her Live in New York & London CD/DVD combo.

Dread Zeppelin - I Can't Quit You Baby [originally by Willie Dixon]
Dread Zeppelin - Misty Mountain Hop
Dread Zeppelin - Hot Dog
What's a Zeppelin post without a Dread Zeppelin cover or three? Most Zeppelin covers fail because you just can't imitate Led Zeppelin. Going a completely different direction is basically the only way to go, even if it means reggae/ska with an Elvis impersonator. I've posted several Dread Zeppelin covers in past posts since they've got some legitimately great covers and regularly tackle the not so obvious tunes from the Zeppelin canon.

Jeff Buckley - Night Flight
While it's pretty hard to name one Zeppelin album as my favourite, but if I had to choose it'd probably be Physical Graffiti. Night Flight is one of the underrated gems from that album and one of my fav's. This live cover, which is barely recognizable, is from the album Live at Sin-é: Legacy Edition.

Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes - Ten Years Gone
Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes - In My Time of Dying [traditional]
Live at the Greek, a double CD album of Jimmy Page with the Black Crowes performing classic Zeppelin and some blues standards, is one my favourite live albums. I generally don't listen to too many live albums since either the recording quality is so-so, the crowd noise bothers me, or the performances are simply same old, same old. But here, the live recordings are as good as I've ever heard, if not great and the performances are dynamic. Chris Robinson is no Robert Plant, but he doesn't try to be. The shows were performed in 1999, nearly 20 years after the premature demise of Zeppelin, and Jimmy Page shows he can still rock (and rock hard). I saw Robert Plant live in 2005 thinking a Zeppelin reunion was impossible and he's still got it too. I have no doubt the reunion will be a success and now we just have to wait for the inevitable bootleg.

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