Elvis impersonator-fronted,
Led Zeppelin-covering comedy reggae band
Dread Zeppelin had garnered rave reviews and converted hundreds of fans with their highly entertaining first album,
Un-led-ed. But like any joke -- even really, really good ones -- all their shenanigans were only really funny the first time around. And so it was that upon the release of 1991's sophomore
5,000,000 album (featuring cover artwork spoofing
Zep's fourth album), both fans and critics often found themselves halting mid-chuckle in disappointment. Admittedly, a poor choice of material was also to blame, as the band's version of "Train kept A-Rollin" and such
Zep classics like "The Song Remains the Same," "Misty Mountain Hop," and "Stairway to Heaven" simply don't translate very well into reggae. And though the new arrangements for "When the Levee Breaks" and "Nobody's Fault but Mine" do approach the clever wit seen on their first album, the band wastes time on a pointless reworking of
Bob Marley's "Stir It Up" and four very lackluster original tunes. For what it's worth, "Do the Claw" and "Big Ol' Gol Belt" illicit their fair share of laughs for their sheer stupidity and blatant references to the King himself, but not enough to justify the listener's hard-earned cash. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia