Isn’t that just great, another reunion of a classic rock band. This time veteran rockers Vanilla Fudge thought that it was a good idea to reform after 23 years. And with reunions comes usually new material. The Fudges thought it was a real good idea to honour a band that once upon a time long ago opened for them: Led Zeppelin. An entire album made up of Zep tunes: Out Through The In Door.

 

I‘m personally a big, big fan of Led Zeppelin. I know their catalogue back and forth. I do like to go out and watch the tribute bands, like Leds Zep from the UK. A brilliant tribute band I saw performing at the Melkweg some time ago. It’s the best alternative to witness their music live, because the real one isn’t out there anymore.

 

Now that may be the fact with the live outfit. The studio recordings are still out there, so tribute recordings aren’t really necessary unless it’s done in a special way, adding something extra to the already existing records. Therefore I was somewhat surprised after listening to this tribute record. On some tracks it is stunning how amateurish the sound and performance is compared to the original recordings. In ‘Dazed And Confused’ for instance, they use a synthesizer intro that really sounds out of place.

 

It’s not that I want to put a band like Vanilla Fudge down, but in this case I simply have no choice. So the decision to release this puzzles me. Is it because Led Zeppelin's music is a guarantee for selling units? Well, I strongly recommend anyone to go out and buy the originals. This disk goes out through the indoor to be the fool in the rain.