Song of the Week: Custard Pie
Dun-a-luh dun-a-luh DUNT! DUNT-DUN-NUH!
Between the Memorial Day holiday being wonderful downtime away from my computer and also diving Cousteau-esquely deep on another song for a post that’s not quite seaworthy yet, I’m gonna do a short(ish) one this week.
A 25th anniversary re-release of the epic live collaboration between Led Zeppelin’s legendary guitarist/songwriter Jimmy Page and 90’s classic blues-rock torchbearers & consistent dysfunctional dumpster fire The Black Crowes, Live At The Greek captures Page and the Crowes revitalized and on fire (the good kind, not the dumpster kind) after fallow creative periods for both parties. True synergy, but not in the corporate, cringe-laden, two-hands-interlaced way. Sum greater than the parts. Potentiation. An upward spiral, each taking turns pushing the other higher.
In the first place, Led Zeppelin’s songs are rock standards, some of the most influential and beloved riffs (as well as some underrated ones!), incredible musical performances across the board—no weak links on any instrument.
And consider, for a moment, the fact that Led Zeppelin, especially at the start, was nothing if not a British interpretation1 of the blues from….where?….the American South. “Whole Lotta Love” ripped off Willie Dixon2’s “You Need Love.” Same goes for “Bring It On Home”3, though they didn’t even bother altering the name for their version. “The Lemon Song” closely follows Howlin’ Wolf4’s “Killing Floor.” But I’m not here today to try to add to the theft/appropriation/credit/copyright discourse; you can get plenty of that elsewhere. I’m just pointing all of that out to say that pairing Jimmy Page with a blues-loving band from the American South5 is like completing the circle6 and makes all the sense in the world.
But take it to yet another level: The Black Crowes are what you’d get if you asked a southern-fried scientist, who was more than a little high, to genetically engineer a band to play Led Zeppelin songs in the 90s:
A singer (Chris Robinson) with the enviable, multi-octave range and raspy blues-drenched swagger of Robert Plant, but who’s not quite as electric or versatile as Prime Robert Plant but who thinks he is and is utterly hellbent on proving everyone else wrong (and just might pull it off, to be honest).
A drummer (Steve Gorman) who worships at the swing-and-thump altar of Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. Gorman is a powerhouse who hits each snare hit with a vengeance like it’s his last. He has just enough ape in him to summon Bonham’s earthquake and enough swing to give the songs Bonham’s patent groove. Gorman, Bonham… the names even read like they were meant to be together.
A guitarist (Rich Robinson) who had done a lifetime of homework, from the actual, technical riffs to what it takes sonically to get the “Led Zeppelin” tones from his guitars/amps/effects combos, not to mention a guy who wasn’t going to have an ego clash when it came to Jimmy Page taking the solos (his ego clashes were reserved for his brother, Chris). Rich taking the rhythm parts really locks the rhythm guitar down, so that Page can focus on the leads more without having to worry about rushing back to the rhythm parts (Zeppelin, to my knowledge, never toured with a secondary guitarist; Page did it all live, which is really cool in the power trio mode, but sometimes leaves me wishing for more underneath in a live setting).
This is going to sound blasphemous but here goes:
….I prefer these live recordings to Led Zeppelin’s bloated, indulgent live album The Song Remains The Same, the better How The West Was Won (1972), or even their solid 2007 reunion album Celebration Day7.
By a landslide. Is that absurd8? Probably. The Crowes/Page recordings feel so much more energetic, alive, vital. Like I mentioned above, Rich Robinson’s rhythm guitar parts anchor the songs, making them (no pun intended) richer and giving them the heft and depth that the studio recordings (thanks to overdubbing) have in spades. He’s a more precise guitarist than Page, which allows both of them to do what they’re best at (Robinson holding it down fiercely, Page improvising wildly). Nobody on these live recordings is phoning it in for the paycheck, wishing they were somewhere else, going through the motions. They are all in and you can hear it.
So which song should you listen to? Sheesh. Get ready to rock…
Wanton Song (listen to how Chris drags on the shhhh when he sings the word “shaking” at around the :28 mark; the album version of this song wouldn’t crack my Top 15 Led Zeppelin songs9 but this version is a battleram)
Custard Pie
What Is and What Should Never Be
I like all of them…
“Interpretation” is generous. “Theft” is probably more accurate.
A prominent figure in Chicago blues, but born where? Mississippi.
Zeppelin borrowed liberally from Sonny Boy Williamson’s cover of “Bring It On Home.” Williamson was born where? Mississippi.
One of the legends of the Delta Blues, born in? Mississippi.
The Black Crowes are from where? Not Mississippi, but Georgia still counts.
It would be more poetic in any of the Black Crowes were actually black, but…oh well.
I do get chills when they start into Kashmir, though. So good.
Look, I’m not saying I would rather have been at a 2000 Page/Crowes concert over an actual 1972 Led Zeppelin show. I’m not stupid. Being in the room to see actual Led Zeppelin, in any era, would top any immaculate, perfect setlist recording of a show. I’ve just voluntarily put on Live At The Greek far more in my lifetime than I have any live Zeppelin record.
Let’s do this but not in order because I wanted to write this quickly. With minimal research, my favorite Led Zeppelin songs:
When The Levee Breaks
The Rain Song
Good Times Bad Times
Hey, Hey What Can I Do
That’s The Way
What Is And What Should Never Be
No Quarter
The Song Remains The Same
Misty Mountain Hop
The Ocean
In The Light
Traveling Riverside Blues
Ramble On
Out On The Tiles
Going To California
Your Time Is Gonna Come
Ten Years Gone
Bron-Yr-Aur
Custard Pie
Gallows Pole
How Many More Times
Over The Hills And Far Away
Kashmir
In The Evening
Dancing Days
I Can’t Quit You Baby
Thank You
Bring It On Home
The Lemon Song
Nobody’s Fault But Mine
That’s 30.