Thursday, January 16, 2020

Heart - Heart Plays Led Zeppelin - Selected Cover Versions (1975-2017)

I'm proud to present this album, because I think it's really good. If you're a fan of Heart and/or Led Zeppelin at all, you should give this a listen. It kind of plays like Led Zeppelin's greatest hits, but with a famous kickass female vocalist.

A few days ago, while looking for some Led Zeppelin material for the BBC series I'm currently posting, I came across an album a fan created called "Heart Plays Led Zeppelin." (Unfortunately, I couldn't find the name of the person who did it.) I liked the idea, but the problem was that pretty much all the songs on it came from average sounding audience bootlegs. I've redone it with totally different sourcing. It's all live performances, but some are from official albums and all the others are from excellent sounding soundboard bootlegs. So the entire album sounds as good as an official release, in my opinion.

The reason this album is possible is because Ann and Nancy Wilson, the sisters who lead the band Heart, absolutely love Led Zeppelin. From the start of their career, they've been called "the female Led Zeppelin," and with good reason. Except for the 1980s, when they went for a slick pop sound, their music has closely followed the Led Zeppelin model, with their band capable of writing and playing everything from mellow acoustic songs to hard rock songs, just like Led Zeppelin does.

So it's no surprise that they've played covers of Led Zeppelin songs in concert. What is surprising is how many different ones they've played, and what songs they've chosen. Generally speaking, they've boldly played Zeppelin's most famous and best songs. Who would dare cover legendary songs like "Stairway to Heaven" and "Kashmir?" Heart, that's who.

Does Heart try to put their own unique spin on these songs? Not really. They pretty much follow the original arrangements. But what's great about these is that Ann Wilson has one of the best female voices in rock (and Nancy Wilson is no slouch either), and she can belt these out in a way that probably even impresses Zeppelin's lead singer Robert Plant. In fact, it turns out that the members of Heart and Led Zeppelin have been friends since the 1970s, as a kind of mutual appreciation society.

I really love how this album came out, because I was able to find virtually every song I was looking for at a really good sound quality. The only one I found at lesser quality is "Four Sticks." I left that off so the sound could stay at a high level throughout.  Heart has also played "Whole Lotta Love" and "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You," but only a few times at most, and I couldn't find any of their versions of those songs at all.

The first five songs come from 1975 and 1976. Heart played some of these songs lots of times, especially "Rock and Roll," which they've done hundreds of times, and still do. But it wasn't until the 2000s when they decided to go bazongas and cover many more Zeppelin tunes. In 2013 and 2014, they toured with Jason Bonham, a drummer who is the son of Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. After John died in 1980, Jason has been the drummer for most of the brief Led Zeppelin reunions, and his ability to channel his father's drumming style is uncanny. Five of the songs here feature him on drums. For those two years, they played entire sets of up to an hour with him, doing just Zeppelin tunes.

One other song here, "What Is and What Should Never Be," feature former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.

This ends up being an unusually long album. At 120 minutes I could have easily split it into two albums. But I liked it better as one long album. I generally ordered the songs chronologically, except I made a couple of slight tweaks to have fitting starting and ending songs.

"You Shook Me" comes from the 1977 Heart album "Magazine." It's from a concert in 1975, and was performed as part of a medley with "Mother Earth Blues." However, the "Magazine" album was released without the band's permission, and it was quickly withdrawn. It was rereleased that same year with some band-approved changes, and that's how it's been ever since. "You Shook Me" was only on the early withdrawn version, so it's very rare. I've edited the medley to remove the "Mother Earth Blues" section, which started the song.

My only other comment is that while Heart has played "Immigrant Song" a lot since the 2000s, I found a version of Ann Wilson singing it with Gov't Mule that I like much better. Wilson did a version of it for a 2007 solo album that made the hard rock song more mellow, and Heart generally followed that version. It was an interesting experiment, but I much prefer it in its original hard rock style, which is how Gov't Mule plays it.

Oh, one more thing. Thanks to an excellent comment by Uncle Dan, one day after I first posted this, I've decided to include Heart's 2012 Kennedy Center Honors version of "Stairway to Heaven" as a bonus track of sorts at the end. It's different than the 1976 version also included here in that it features a full orchestra and choir, as well as Jason Bonham on drums. You should check out the video of it on YouTube, which has over 20 million views. It's touching to see the reactions of famous people in the audience, including Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, President Obama, and more.

01 Rock and Roll (Heart)
02 You Shook Me (Heart)
03 Stairway to Heaven (Heart)
04 The Rover (Heart)
05 The Battle of Evermore (Heart)
06 What Is and What Should Never Be (Heart with John Paul Jones)
07 Black Dog (Heart)
08 Misty Mountain Hop (Heart)
09 Going to California (Heart)
10 The Ocean (Heart with Jason Bonham)
11 Kashmir (Heart with Jason Bonham)
12 The Rain Song (Heart with Jason Bonham)
13 The Song Remains the Same (Heart with Jason Bonham)
14 Immigrant Song (Gov't Mule with Ann Wilson)
15 No Quarter (Heart)
16 Stairway to Heaven [Orchestral Version] (Heart with Jason Bonham)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16693291/HERT1975-2017_HrtPlysLedZppln_atse.zip.html

For the cover photo, I used a publicity photo of Ann and Nancy Wilson from around 1976. Nancy is the blonde in front.

17 comments:

  1. Is the version of Stairway the Kennedy Center version? The only way I can listen to that song is watching that video. Absolutely stunning.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFxOaDeJmXk

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    1. No, it's not. I've heard about that, but that's from 2012. The version I used is from the 1970s. I prefer the 1970s Heart whenever possible.

      That said, I just followed your link and listened to that version, and it's pretty cool, with the added orchestra and choir. I like seeing Page and Plant (and Obama) looking on approvingly. I'm going to add that as a bonus track, because why the heck not.

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    2. I burnt out on Stairway a long time ago. My own comps usually omit that one and most of their big "hits" and focuses on the more lighter stuff and other personal faves. I just re-watched the Kennedy Center video and it brought me to tears as it often does. Seeing the reactions from the band and audience as the song gets bigger and bigger and the band onstage just immersing themselves in the tune does it to me every time. That's what music is about for me. Forget intellectualism, just give me emotion.

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    3. I hear you. Although there are some songs, like Kashmir, I could probably listen to a million times and never get tired of.

      I've added that version to the album yesterday, by the way. Thanks again for the excellent suggestion.

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    4. You're welcome. I agree about Kashmir

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  2. Amazing great compilation. My compliments to the chief !
    Thanks for sharing,
    Derek from Paris

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  3. This is great. It's interesting that the two bands actually know each other and the sound quality is, as you say, really good.

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  4. Nice collection, Did the same thing with some later promo singles by Heart going up on my BLOG later @ http://judemacforever.com

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    1. Cool. Do you have any songs that I missed?

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    2. Paul, just these & what are out. I do have the Magazine original somewhere on file that differs from the Heart approved album.

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  5. I don't know how I missed this when it was posted (came here from the mention in the Crow/Stones post). I have said for YEARS I would love an album of Heart covering Zep. I like the songs but just can't get into Led Zep, but love Heart and when they do Zep I *REALLY* like it so this is a fantastic compilation. Thank you.

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    1. Thanks a lot. I also was especially happy at how this turned out. As you say, it's a no-brainer to have an album of this.

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    2. Greatly appreciate your sharing these songs. Happy New Year!

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  6. The picture is similar to the cover of the Aquarius Tavern bootleg, that has Stairway. I gotta say I almost prefer that version, with the mid 70s keyboard sounds, flute duet at the beginning (not sure if one of those is synth or Mellotron?) and of course, Ann Wilson's kickass voice.

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    1. I'm glad then that I included two versions of the song, including the Aquarius Tavern one.

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  7. Hi Paul, would really like to hear this as I’m a big Zeppelin and Heart fan but the link is not available to me, any chance of sending the mp3s by email, would be really grateful;
    paulmarkbaylis@gmail.com
    thanks, Paul

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