JET LEMON BAND - Led Zeppelin ll in the key of jazz
Leo Records CD LR 822
Jim Aviva, lead vocals, keyboards; Sammy Lukas, piano, keyboards, saxophones, back vocal; Ju Young Cheong, guitars; Benjamin Schlothauer, bass; Jakob Kuferi, drums
There was a time, 1975/76 perhaps, when Led Zeppelin were described by some as ‘Heavy Metal’, but I never subscribed to that view. I thought that perhaps those audiences wanted Led Zepp to be Heavy Metal while I thought that they didn’t need to be anything other than themselves – possibly the biggest, grandest band in the world, dowsing the light even of the Stones and the Beatles. ‘Hard Rock’ maybe but the truth was closer to an incredible, white blues band. When I listen to them today, I get the same thrill as I did 40 years ago.
This is why when I listen to -in the key of jazz I want it to give me some stimulus, some idea of what the Jet Lemon Band takes from the original, some notion of what it hopes to give back, or perhaps pass on to an audience of today. I ask this also because the original concept was not to look just at Led Zepp, but to produce an album of covers of famous rock bands of the 70s, not this one alone.
So, I have to wonder if this is intended to be a tribute or a cover, or is it more likely that it was envisioned as a musical model? Was it perhaps intended as a replication in order to sustain and prolong the artistic memory of an exceptional, musical document from a long-gone era and style? This would imply of course that one would have to dump certain aspects of the original, conceivably those very qualities which earned for it the considerably hallowed place it occupies in the rock archives.
The current ‘version’ of Led Zepp ll is hardly likely to replace the original and while the musicians have their own skills to exploit, they can scarcely be expected to replace the star qualities of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in this context. I cannot listen to this album again.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Leo Records CD LR 822
Jim Aviva, lead vocals, keyboards; Sammy Lukas, piano, keyboards, saxophones, back vocal; Ju Young Cheong, guitars; Benjamin Schlothauer, bass; Jakob Kuferi, drums
There was a time, 1975/76 perhaps, when Led Zeppelin were described by some as ‘Heavy Metal’, but I never subscribed to that view. I thought that perhaps those audiences wanted Led Zepp to be Heavy Metal while I thought that they didn’t need to be anything other than themselves – possibly the biggest, grandest band in the world, dowsing the light even of the Stones and the Beatles. ‘Hard Rock’ maybe but the truth was closer to an incredible, white blues band. When I listen to them today, I get the same thrill as I did 40 years ago.
This is why when I listen to -in the key of jazz I want it to give me some stimulus, some idea of what the Jet Lemon Band takes from the original, some notion of what it hopes to give back, or perhaps pass on to an audience of today. I ask this also because the original concept was not to look just at Led Zepp, but to produce an album of covers of famous rock bands of the 70s, not this one alone.
So, I have to wonder if this is intended to be a tribute or a cover, or is it more likely that it was envisioned as a musical model? Was it perhaps intended as a replication in order to sustain and prolong the artistic memory of an exceptional, musical document from a long-gone era and style? This would imply of course that one would have to dump certain aspects of the original, conceivably those very qualities which earned for it the considerably hallowed place it occupies in the rock archives.
The current ‘version’ of Led Zepp ll is hardly likely to replace the original and while the musicians have their own skills to exploit, they can scarcely be expected to replace the star qualities of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in this context. I cannot listen to this album again.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
