Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes: Live at the Greek Excess All Areas

In this day and age, one can log onto the Net, read a review of a new release at www.allaboutjazz.com, immediately listen to and buy music which, in the case of Live at the Greek, is a customizable pressing (self-choose number of songs, track selection, sequence) replete with artwork / booklet and then retire to the kitchen for a bite to eat. Soon enough, this INTERNET ONLY release arrives at the doorstep and one could (though I’m not condoning it) upload it and let a couple thousand perfect strangers share this proud investment. Well, all of this and much more is on the horizon, so strap yourself in and get ready for the evolution of the new millennium and the way new mediums will continue to shape our lives. Is it exciting? Is it frightening? Is it necessary? Yes, yes and yes!

So, what exactly happens when a flock of Black Crowes hovers over its prey...Dinosaur Rock? Exactly what one would expect...they cannibalize it and devour every morsel.

It’s about time that this happened...Supplanting an aging rock icon into a derivative sounding band that has subconsciously paid musical homage to this icon over the years. It’s certainly an interesting twist and, as we all learned from country versions of Eagles songs, what began as an idea late one night over some beers turned into a marketing concept (regardless of what the musicians say). A concept that created headlines as Live at the Greek charted on Billboard, spawned a traditional radio hit, launched a national summer tour and sold enough copies to warrant a re-release by an offline record company (TVT) in the “so last millennium format” of a “pressed up, distributed by truck and sold at a real live record store” CD.

And, as with, any good concept, it’s not really a success until a whole bastion of similar releases is produced sucking the very life out of its magical essence. So, Live at the Greek should be the first in a series, with future volumes such as:

Bruce Springsteen & Bon Jovi E Street Band Live at Asbury Park
Phil & Phish Phriends Live at Deer Creek
David Bowie & Marilyn Manson Live at The Riviera
Dickey Betts & Gov’t Mule Live at the Roxy
Gary Glitter & The Chemical Brothers Live at Burning Man
Pete Townsend & Pearl Jam Live at Wembley Stadium
Paul Rodgers & Metallica Live at Madison Square Garden
Glenn Frey & Dave Matthews Band VH-1 Special
The Edge & Radiohead Live at Red Rocks

“So”, you say, “is there a review buried beneath all of this non-sensical rhetoric”? “Does this album ROCK or what”? Well, the answer is definitely not Greek...

Are you a fan of CLASSIC Led Zeppelin? Have you ever uttered the phrase “Zeppelin Rules”? Have you ever paid money to see a Led Zep cover band? Did you have a Zoso patch on your very first jeans jacket? Or a Led Zeppelin bumper sticker on your shiny muscle car? Were you the one fan at a Black Crowes concert that was screaming in a drunken howl louder than the rest when you realized that they were playing a Led Zeppelin song as an encore, secretly wishing that they would just come out and play all Zeppelin songs the whole night? Do you like sweaty rock versions of blues standards such as “Sloppy Drunk” by Jimmy Rodgers, “Shake Your Money Maker” by Elmore James, “Woke Up This Morning” by BB King or a killer version of Peter Green’s “Oh Well”? Are you excited by the notion that the Grand Wizard Jimmy Page sounds energized and re-vitalized? Can you listen to nearly two hours of an, oft times, eerily similar sounding Chris Robinson shrieking like a mid-70s Bobby Plant? If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, then Live at the Greek is a release that you should seek.