Is a 16-song CD worth buying for only six songs? That is the question put before you today gentle readers (and Led Zeppelin fanatics) as we ponder another Led Zeppelin salute called Get The Led Out! Compiled, produced and even played on by Brian Tarquin, what we have here are 12 Zeppelin covers performed by a wide range of instrumentalists, along with four unreleased gems from the early days, featuring some Led Zeppelin members.
The players here are good, really good. There’s Leslie West lending his chubby yet nimble fingers to “Moby Dick.” Chris Mahoney plays some fancy guitar (maybe too fancy) on “Whole Lotta Love,” and even Tarquin adds some six-string savagery to the mighty “Dazed And Confused.” All solid players, issuing forth with their talent and passion, but not many daring renditions — and alas, nothing new spun on these tunes. However, when the songs are altered, finagled, changed, modernized even (whatever that means really?), the results are good… damn good in fact!
On “Immigrant Song,” you have Greg Rapaport and Ron Wilson moving things along at a nice clip, slightly off-center from the original, working through their own version of this classic from Led Zeppelin III. “Kashmir,” featuring Mart Winch, is simply amazing (as is his guitar playing), while Steve Bingham’s violin work (and only his violins) on “The Battle Of Evermore” make this the best cover of the bunch.
Larry Van Fleet’s “D’yer Mak’er” is swampy and fun, but quickly runs out of steam. I also liked Doug Doppler’s near imitation of Mark Knopfler on “All My Love,” but after the intro, things don’t go anywhere as they do on other tracks on the CD. Reverence is one thing, but if you’re attempting to ‘cover’ a tune, do something different to it. Otherwise, all the listener is getting are competently played copies. If I want to hear the same arrangements, I’ll listen to the original.
The last four songs of Get The Led Out! really cook. “Thumping Beat,” “’Cause I Love You” and “Wailing Sounds” are from a 1970 recording session with Jimmy Page, John Bonham, bassist Daniel Edwards and the infamous Screaming Lord Sutch at the mike. Even with Robert Plant and John Paul Jones, these tracks have that special blend of Zeppelin’s magic and swagger.
“Burn Up,” the last tune, is from a 1968 session that features Page, Jones, Nicky Hopkins on piano, Clem Cattini on drums, Chris Hughes on tenor sax and Keith de Groot on vocals. To hear these old recordings — and all are in pretty good condition — makes all the covers, good or bad, pale by comparison. I can truly only recommend this CD for the last four cuts, along with some of the other more interesting covers. Could you be happy with six out of 16?
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
