Various - The Music Remains The Same (A Tribute To Led Zeppelin)

Year of Release: 2003
Label: Locomotive Music
Catalog Number: LM 087?
Format: CD
Total Time: 62:06:00

Led Zeppelin - a band I don't personally know a lot about, but a band that is extremely well known and well received. And whilst Nuclear Blast are off releasing tributes to the likes of Abba, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest, here is Spanish label Locomotive Music with a tribute to Led Zeppelin that has a hell of a line-up. Pick many well-known power/prog metal artists and they are on here: Angra, Blaze, Primal Fear, Doro, Elegy, Tierra Santa, Grave Digger, Masterplan, Consortium Project, Mago De Oz, Axxis, and finally White Skull.

Whilst I find many tribute albums to be formulaic, I don't find The Music Remains The Same to be. The reason may be because I've never been a big fan of Led Zeppelin, thus a lot of these songs were surprisingly new to me despite their age (or my age). That said, I was very surprised by the number of songs I did know like "Black Dog," "Immigrant Song," "Kashmir," and of course the classic "Stairway To Heaven," performed here by Italians White Skull. The songs - for the most part - have been played around with considerably and the interpretations by Grave Digger ("No Quarter"), Mago De Oz ("Whole Lotta Love"), and Doro ("Babe I'm Gonna Leave You") are really terrific. Angra open the album with the 7-and-a-half minute "Kashmir," with the magnanimous vocal power of Edu Falaschi and the dramatic nature of that song is perpetuated more so with added Brazilian beats. Ian Parry goes around twice on this album - firstly playing with Elegy covering "Rock And Roll' and secondly fronting Consortium Project with one of the heaviest numbers on the album "Immigrant Song."

Four of the songs are taken from the 1969 Led Zeppelin I album with only drips and drabs from LZ II, LZ III, LZ IV, Physical Graffiti, and the 1973 Houses Of The Holy, which gave rise to the name of this album - The Music Remains The Same (from the song "The Song Remains The Same").

I highly recommend this album as a different tribute album, not only for fans of LZ but also for those of the magnificent bands Locomotive Music procured.

[This review originally appeared December 2002 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]

Tracklisting:
Kashmir (Angra) (7:37) / Dazed And Confused (Blaze) (5:54) / The Rover (Primal Fear) (4:46) / Babe I'm Gonna Leave You (Doro) (7:12) / Rock And Roll (Elegy) (3:37) / Communication Breakdown (Tierra Santa) (2:07) / No Quarter (Grave Digger) (6:57) / Black Dog (Masterplan) (4:37) / Immigrant Song (Consortium Project) (3:48) / Whole Lotta Love (M?go De Oz) (4:28) / Good Times, Bad Times (Axxis) (2:47) / Stairway To Heaven (White Skull) (8:12)

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Genre: Various Genres

Origin VA

Added: March 29th 2005
Reviewer: Gary Carson
Score:
Hits: 2272
Language: english