Encomium A Tribute To Led Zeppelin Rar: Where to Find, Buy, and Collect the Rare Album

Our first track is the forever Fusion classic "Birds of Fire" with Steve Lukather... And from the start... this is, indeed, fire. Lukather is of course the guitarist of Toto, likely understating his outstanding ability and expertise on the instrument for those unaware. This track is, unsurprisingly, a refreshingly modern Guitar Fusion take on the original; blazing, beefy and excellent. Crazy good drum solo over the main underlying riff from Vinnie... yeesh... Followed by another low blaze from Forman on synth. Oh f*ck! Goodman's solo to start off "Can't Stand Your Funk"... What am I supposed to say?... This is a much groovier rendition (yes, slinky as hell haha), so therefore, being an excellent song anyways, super fresh! Even still, as to be expected, Goodman's second solo, if you wouldn't have known, straight up sounds like a guitar... Honestly though, Mike Stern, the guitar feature here, plays what I feel is frequently less than inspired...A much more metal, well-rounded guitarist is up next on "Celestial Terrestrial Commuters", Dixie Dregs' Steve Morse. This is another funkier rendition compared to the original. The whole rhythm section (of course) is just... crazy haha. Of course, blazing soloing from Morse here. The second half is more of a blues thang, with laxed rhythm and widened organ. Super cool syncopated playing toward the end! Very nice! Super spacy on this version of "Meeting of the Spirits", this'n featuring Jimmy Herring, whom I know (yet don't quite know) from Southern-Fusion Jam giants Widespread Panic. He plays an impassioned solo here... like... wow... I must check out his solo stuff (and... whatever else!). Always great, as McLaughlin did originally on this one, when performers bring out the absolute potential of something that would be otherwise slow and merely feeling. Another one where Vinnie, even in quietness, is just on fire. And then this Hammer-worthy, though super-effected solo from keyboardist Forman! Everyone is matching his energy perfectly during this section... My word..."Jazz" is actually the first track that I was utterly unfamiliar with, released on the significantly later album Mahavishnu (1984), which originally featured our keyboardist here, Mr. Forman (worth a mention every time) alongside Cobham and the great Jonas Hellborg. This is more explictly a track to more prominently feature the main band member here, guitarist Jeff Richman. Great performance all 'round. Back into exceeding prominence with Frank Gambale on "Dawn". Super upbeat intro here, they get right down to business. And here we have Goodman's next feature (what an awesome opportunity to perform these tracks again afresh). And it's here I must say, excited to dig deeper into Gambale's material. I know very little still. He and Jerry are such a great match. And also here, another opportunity to the rhythm section to shine bright over something low, slow and sweet. Then we're in for the groove and of course more soloing on the backend (freakish soloing). How could I forget?! God, Mahavishnu was something so special.Next we have "Lila's Dance" featuring latter-day Allman Brothers' Band and Gov't Mule's own Warren Haynes (our second prominently Jam feature). Such a beautiful song, I always wish Visions of the Emerald Beyond didn't feel so unsung. Love it. I find this Goodman feature super interesting as for that album it was the equally untouchable Jean-Luc Ponty on violin originally [I believe this is one of 3 tracks with Goodman playing what were Ponty-features]. This track is... perfect for Haynes. Soulful, feeling and groovy. And yet another honor for him, I'm sure, to play alongside Vinnie and Jerry. I can't imagine it. Excellent performance, excellent soloing. One of the first tracks that feels super true to the original. "Faith" is a little less true, and yet just as great [if not more], a feature of guitarist David Fiuczynski, one of the youngest performers here, of Screaming Headless Torsos and Hasidic New Wave. I'll be rectifying my ignorance thereof as soon as possible, as this guy is incredible. I mean, this is what I think of when I think 'Guitar Fusion'. Contemporary of guys like Garsed and Helmerich. Excellent, excellent rendition. Everyone is bringing their A(+++) game. One of the many absolute must-hears here.Coming to the close of the album, Greg Howe is ablaze on "Dance of Maya", and good Lord!!! He is matched with Goodman on his final feature of the album... Again, goodness gracious... These guys... One of the most prominent featurings of bassist Kai Eckhardt. Greg Howe is yet another of the now-great younger players here. Fantastic stuff. To close things out, we have one of my favorite guitarists ever, John Abercombie on "Follow Your Heart", the second track I [thought I] didn't know before. It was originally released in 1970 off the excellent must-hear Jazz release Joe Farrell Quartet, also featuring Chick Corea, Dave Holland, and Jack DeJohnette! If you're a fan of Mahavishnu, and you somehow don't know Abercrombie, highly recommend his debut Timeless, featuring Jan Hammer(!) and DeJohnette (1975), the first Gateway album (1976), Crosswinds (Billy Cobham, 1974), and Lookout Farm (Dave Liebman, 1974) for some of the greatest (earlier) Fusion albums ever. Anyways, a grooving, feeling song to end things out. Phenomenal tribute.A rare, but more legitimate round-up from my True Rate of 4.5/5.0. [I believe I calculated it as 4.65.] social review comments Review PermalinkPosted Friday, March 4, 2022 Review this album Report (Review #2696751)

Encomium A Tribute To Led Zeppelin Rar

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The album opens with "Savour" as performed by Smith's Cardiacs bandmate William D. Drake, a sort of psychedelic, even Baroque number. This is certainly grand. Next is Ultrasound's performance of Big Ship", a big sound, fit for a Britpop band, actually. Super quirk, with horns and interesting synths. And this track in and of itself makes sense of specifically Andy Partridge's later feature [You'll see, too, though, that Partridge's feature makes less sense than what I'm making it out to be here...]. Then we have Psychedelic band Oceansize's take on "Fear", which is such a great song. Grandiose and memorable."Let Alone My Plastic Doll", here performed by another fellow Cardiac, Mark Cawthra, is another big song. Next is the rhythmically alluring "Day Is Gone" as performed by The Trudy, a female-fronted Post-Punk group founded(?) by The Cardiacs' drummer Peter Tagg. This is starkly juxtaposed by the soft, balladic "Founding" performed by Stars in Battledress. My mind honestly immediately goes to early GG, like something penned by the great Kerry Minnear. Another stark juxtaposing is the wild, if not unhinged (if not Zappa-esque, though innately Bri'ish) "WIll Bleed Amen" as performed by Max Tundra and Sarah Measures (the latter apparently of The Monsoon Bassoon). So fun. Definitely going to be checking Tundra out.Then we have the much more minimal (not a difficult task) and ethereal "Shaping the River", performed by Julianne Regan. Then we have the seemingly great-purposefully RIO Knifeworld (though identified generally as Crossover Prog here) performing the ever-quirky "The Stench of Honey"! Next is the at first very very minimal "A Little Man and a House", performed by The Magic Numbers, it then shifts to a very... highlands-like lilting waltz. One of my least favorites. Then Mikrokosmos covered "Is This the Life", a large, noisy number with scurrying and buzzing synths. Sort of Industrial?Next is "March" as performed by North Sea Radio Orchestra, a modern Chamber band. Quirky, but classically poised, of course. Then is the Andy Partridge feature on Robert White's rendition of "Lilly White's Party". Am I an idiot? I can't find out who White is or what he's known for... This'n's super minimal, creeping yet optimistic. Not at all the type of song that I expected from Partridge. Very seldom do we hear this sort of quietness from him... Interesting. The creep really is the draw to the song. Relatively static and yet offering much in texture.Then it's "Wind and Rains is Cold", performed by Rose Kemp Vs Rarg... Interesting... No clue... This song is industrial as well. Very electronic-forward. Almost reminds me of PC Music or the harshest of Hyperpop (like Sophie).... What the hell... Is someone in my house?! haha. Anyways, Sophie is better. Listen to her haha. More minimal Gothic Rock representation [I just realized I didn't mention the other artist that fits this bill, though I don't feel like going back and figuring that out... Sorry?] is in the form of Katherine Blake's "Up in Annie's Room"... Not sure what to say on it.Next we have "Stoneage Dinosaurs" [Why is that a single word?...] as performed by probably the most recognizable name of the whole lot, Steven Wilson. Super minimal as well. It was pretty anyways... And finally "Home of Fadeless Splendour" was performed by The Scaramanga Six, an Art-Alternative... Rockabilly band?! haha. Huge song! Pretty great track to end it all off, really. To sum it up, the strengths of this tribute can be found largely in the front half. social review comments Review PermalinkPosted Wednesday, March 2, 2022 Review this album Report (Review #2696326)

And now the review . . . selections from Tarkus, Trilogy, the ELP debut Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, and the extravagantly ambitious Brain Salad Surgery are each crafted expertly afresh by such artists as these; Peter Banks, Martin Barre , Robert Berry, Marc Bonilla, Geoff Downes, Trent and Wayne Gardner, Jerry Goodman, Matt Guillory, Glenn Hughes, Igor Khoroshev, James LaBrie, Pat Mastelotto, Erik Norlander, John Novello, Doane Perry, Simon Phillips, Mike Portnoy, Mark Robertson, Jordan Rudess, Derek Sherinian, John Wetton, and Mark Wood. "Whew!" Ah, but the diversity of talents and styles mesh nicely on each track.Best tracks overall, earning 10 out of 10, (a hard choice), were the 10:16 "The Endless Enigma", simply a monolithically incredible piece of work, "Hoedown", "Tarkus", and "The Barbarian". All the other tracks were each at least 8 or 9's out of 10 in excellence except for "Knife Edge" where Glenn Hughes' vox strained and strayed way too far into bluesy-rock, nite-club crooning angst and left progressive rock boundaries we expected on such a tribute release. My subjective call, of course here.So, grab this, and if you haven't sampled the real deal of ELP before now, this CD will definitely attract the attention due to the immortal music of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. This is a must-have release for all keyboardists and fans of the 88-stepped, ivory staircase to blissdom. social review comments Review PermalinkPosted Friday, July 30, 2021 Review this album Report (Review #2582325) 2ff7e9595c