While I was in college I would take a lot of chances with the music I would buy. Sometimes I would find something fantastic, and other times I would end up wasting money. Then once in a while I would come across something that made me take notice and capture my attention in a mystical and unique way.
I love Led Zeppelin. I'm not a fan by "Real Fan" levels, but I do love them. When I ran across this album I couldn't help but want to explore the concept of a Zeppelin done with a symphony. The only draw back was it was a disk that I considered a risky gamble. Back in those days any CD over twenty dollars either had to be Alice Cooper, a double disc set, or really impressive. I hated over spending on crappy albums.
I'm happy to say that Kashmir ended up being totally worth the money. The songs sounded awesome, and I liked the altered arrangements, as well as the Middle Eastern flavour that's been sewn into the music. I also like the original, Zeppelin inspired pieces that lead in and end this album.
The album starts with Dawn At The Great Pyramid. There's some ambient music, mainly strings, mixed in with sound effects of voyagers walking with horses.
Then they arrive at Kashmir. This track just thunders like the original. For the most part it sounds directly transcribed, and a bit predictable. However, it sound like a true Classical piece. This could have been Wagner, Bach and any of the guys with much harder names to spell. There's a heavy flair that represents the geographical area of this song. I could so picture this being played live as part of an orchestra during a great Opera. Then around 6:30 the song takes a different twist. Everything gets quiet and slowly builds up in a great moment of awe.
I feel I should mention that I often load this album into my CD player and crank it for background music when I'm working on my fictional writing. It makes a great soundtrack.
The Battle Of Evermore opens with a babbling brook, as well as sounds that would accompany such a nature setting. The theme of music styling that represents Egypt or other surrounding countries is interesting when mixed with the music of this song. It has me thinking of Hobbits, Fairies and Wizards on Tatooine at night, in one of the space ports. But they are all partying outside. Frolicking about like Hobbits do.
You know what song it is right away when Stairway To Heaven starts up. I will listen to this version of the song over the original nine times out of ten if given the choice. It's magic. Just pure magic. It should have been used as part of the score for the Lord Of The Rings. It has everything; love, wonder, magic, strength and when you start to approach 5:40 you can feel the battle coming. Then by 6:20 they are off to war and it's a raging epic battle that ends in such epic loss, full of so much heart break. After that the new day dawns and the happy memories carry on.
The Ents are coming to Isengard in When The Levee Breaks, and they are pissed. I don't like the opening to Going To California. It sounds too typical. Like any other Classical piece you've heard. Once it's clearly on to the song we all know it's pretty decent. I'm not a fan, but then again I'm not a fan of Vivaldi's Spring either, which this reminds me of. This is probably my least favourite song on this album. It also runs on for way too long.
I've never been a big fan of the orignal Friends.This version is cool.
The last Led Zeppelin track on this album is All My Love. One of my favourites in the original form. This is still a great song, and would be pefect in a movie score. It's a little too much like that for me, though. But kudos on the song itself.
Kulu Valley (Ambient Remix) finishes off the album with a track that sounds like Pink Floyd experimenting with Trace music, or something like that. I know people that would hate this song. I know people that would smack me for calling it a song. I can respect it as musical poetry if that makes any sense.
This album is a mind blowing experience that I find repeatedly enjoyable. When I write I normally only select certain songs from this album to listen to. Friends is never included, and the same goes for Kulu Valley and Going To California. Kashmir, Stairway To Heaven and The Battle Of Evermore see the most action. When I put the CD on in my player, I just like to let the whole thing play out, but once in a while I will skip Friends. It slows the album down way too much sometimes.
8/10 - content
10/10 - production
9/10 - personal bias
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