Mentally drained, the time for bedtime has almost come… It’s time for your new post!

Pictured: Cover Artwork for “Un-Led-Ed” (Released on 24th July, 1990) (via I.R.S. music label)
It’s almost the weekend… The time is gonna come! Good evening to you, I’m Jacob Braybrooke and I’m writing about your daily track on the blog because it’s my day-to-day pleasure to do so! For a band which is essentially a novelty tribute band for a 70’s classic rock band, Dread Zeppelin are strangely prolific, having produced and recorded a whopping total of 15 albums between 1990 and 2011. Obviously, Dread Zeppelin are a Dub-plate take on the 1970’s British Heavy metal pioneers Led Zeppelin, having produced each of their tracks as covers of Led Zeppelin tracks, with a Reggae style. The band were formed in California in 1989, which led to an extensive touring schedule as a part of a long tenure with IRS Records – led by an Elvis Presley impersonator named Tortelvis on lead vocals. Dread Zeppelin have also been publically endorsed by Robert Plant, the lead vocalist of Led Zeppelin, who has stated that he prefers Dread Zeppelin’s 1990’s cover of “Your Time Is Gonna Come” to his own band’s original version. Compare for yourself with Dread Zeppelin’s cover below!
Dread Zeppelin’s cover version of “Your Time Is Gonna Come” by Led Zeppelin starts off as you might probably expect, with the recognizable opening lead guitar riffs of the track being replaced by the bouncy sounds of a Sitar, before a fizzled synth-line and a funk-laden groove settles into a constant affair of mid-tempo arrangement, before Tortelvis enters the fray: “Women lie/You’ll be cheated, you’ll be hurtin’/Messing around with every guy in town/Puttin’ me down for thinking of someone new”, with Tortelvis adding a vintage 70’s rock-and-roll edge to the duelling Rastafarian backing vocals. He later continues “Made up my mind to break you this time/Won’t be so fine, it’s my turn to cry/Do what you want, I won’t take your brunt/It’s fading away, I can’t feel you anymore” over an acoustic layer of Cuica riffs and Harpischord sections. The chorus sounds as triumphant as Zeppelin’s classic original, but with a lack of stadium rock sensibilites and a replaced sense of care-free fun, created by a thumping steel drum rhythm and a soft dose of licked bass guitar melodies. On paper, it sounds like a horrific idea which simply shouldn’t work, but it does. I’ve found there’s a dark corner of my mind that tells me I like this song and I can’t help but nod in approval to that. It’s humorous and quirky, with a cheerful quality of light-hearted Dub textures and the anthemic chanting vocals of the chorus have managed to translate to a more pop-driven style with effective results. The joke doesn’t quite ware itself out and the varied instrumentation keeps it melodic enough to hold your interest. The result is an entertaining novelty track which strikes the balance of accessibility and credibility. Your time, to have a boogie to this, has come!

Pictured: Ed Zeppelin (Graphic Artist/Writer/Producer), Tortelvis (Lead Guitar), Jah Paul Jo (Lead Guitar), Carl Jah (Rhythmn Guitar/Backing Vocals), Put-Mon (Bass Guitar) and Charlie Haj (Drums/Percussion) (1989) (via WikiWand)
Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow, as per usual, with an in-depth look at the final track that I’m going to cover on the blog from “Our Pathetic Age”, the outstanding new double album from American EDM/Trip-Hop icon DJ Shadow, who claims to own a personal collection of over 60,000 records! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when each new post is up and like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime