Randall RobertsOkay, here's something oddly alluring and potentially surreal: LiveNation has just announced that a 50 piece orchestra will be performing eighteen Led Zeppelin songs at the Wiltern on January 30. The vocalist? Randy Jackson.
No, not that Randy Jackson. Nor the other Randy Jackson. But another Randy Jackson, the former vocalist for hair metal band Zebra. (Remember them? No? That's why he's singing Led Zep songs and not Zebra songs.) The guest conductor isn't Gustavo Dudamel, unfortunately, but Brent Havens, who will, according to the press release, “capture Led Zeppelin's 'sheer blast and power,' riff for riff while churning out new musical colors.”
Here's a taste:
A press release quote from Brent Havens attempts to explain the rationale for such an endeavor: “My concept for The Music of Led Zeppelin was to take the music as close to the originals as we could and then add some colors to enhance what Zep had done. The wonderful thing with an orchestra is that you have an entire palette to call upon. The band is reproducing what Led Zeppelin did on the albums, verbatim, and then having an orchestra behind the band gives the music a richness, a whole different feel, a whole different sense of power.”
After the jump, some of the more inspired “alternate” versions of Led Zep classics.
Before you click to watch this one, prepare yourself, because your head might explode:
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“Kashmir,” with many many strings:
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This tasteful version of “All of My Love” will have you reassessing whether the critics were right to dismiss In Through the Out Door. We actually love that record.
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Predictable, yes, but not without its merits is this version of “Stairway to Heaven.”
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This brass band version of “The Ocean” delivers the funk and rhythm:
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The solo from “All of My Love” is all over YouTube; it seems to be required learning for cheesy synthesizer afficiandos.
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