GALAS TAKES BEST PAGE FROM ZEPPELIN (JPJ show review)

[Cat]

GALAS TAKES BEST PAGE FROM ZEPPELIN

Chicago Tribune - November 18, 1994

Author: Greg Kot, Tribune Rock Critic.

Back in the days when Led Zeppelin was exploring the boundaries of excess, singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page used to trade "solos": Page would play a few notes on his guitar, Plant would mimic them perfectly with his voice, and they would keep it up until both were screaming at the heavens.

Thursday at the Vic, Diamanda Galas was the sound of that voice and guitar all in one. The comparison is apt because her new partner in bombast is former Zep bassist John Paul Jones. With ham-fisted drummer Denny Ray Fongheiser in the John Bonham role, the trio mounted a pummeling, in-your-face onslaught that took a back seat to no rock act in recent memory

Dressed like an avenging dominatrix in black leather, Galas prowled the stage and sang about all the things a woman wronged could do with a knife.

The dark-make that sinister-humor coursing through the music made light of the unspeakable. In the homicidal tale of obsession "Do You Take This Man?" the singer declared, "I don't handle disappointment well," and she unleashed a Wicked Witch of the West cackle.

With her background in opera, performance art and the avant-garde, Galas combines a prodigious, multi-octave voice with a dramatic sense of theater. She's a major talent, but not for everyone; her albums are almost claustrophobic in their intensity.

Earlier works, especially "Plague Mass," which address the AIDS crisis from a deeply personal perspective, are profound and disturbing. But her recent collaboration with Jones, "The Sporting Life," flirts with empty shock effects: heavy metal as choreographed by Lorena Bobbitt.

At the Vic, the new material seemed less flashy than cathartic. In the aftermath of "Plague Mass," it seemed only fitting that Galas would want to blow off steam. And what better way to do it than with some really loud guitars and drums?

Galas' formidable voice leaped to operatic crescendos, wailed like a siren and chattered in agitation. She finished off phrases with Eastern inflections, warbled like a Mongolian throat singer, burrowed into bluesy ballads and reverberated with gospel fervor on an organ-drenched version of James Carr's Memphis soul classic "Dark End of the Street."

For an encore, there was a fiesty version of Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown," with Jones thumping an amphetamine bass line. Galas was up to the challenge: Her voice simply became an electric guitar. She sang the chorus, "played" the guitar solo with her voice and stalked off. Jimmy who?

[SteveAJones]

The most bizarre collaboration ever undertaken by any member of Led Zeppelin.

[beatbo]

greg kot can write, can sustain a thought in a sentence, and will actually not eat while watching a concert he is reviewing....

thanks, cat!

[Mercurious]

Found some clips on youtube from '94, thought this would be a good thread to post them in. Jonesy's sense of adventure is pretty keen, isn't it?

Here's Jones and Galas in 1994 on MTV's John Stewart Show, doing "Skotoseme" from The Sporting Life album.

And here's the video of "Do You Take This Man", the song they're playing while the John Stewart show credits roll. The drum and base sounds like "Ozone Baby" meets Big Black or Jesus Lizard, doesn't it?

It adds a little context to the collaboration with Sonic Youth last weekend, though it shouldn't really be necessary: The breakdown in the middle section of "Dazed & Confused" is a good precursor to some of the post-Zep projects Jonesy has done.

"Devil's Rodeo", also from The Sporting Life.

I'm loving this stuff! Wait 'til you get to the "solo" in Devil's Rodeo, 'round about the 4:30 mark. Oh my jeesus!!

[es345]

The most bizarre collaboration ever undertaken by any member of Led Zeppelin.

And, in my opinion, by far the best.

[Patrycja]

Found some clips on youtube from '94, thought this would be a good thread to post them in. Jonesy's sense of adventure is pretty keen, isn't it?

Here's Jones and Galas in 1994 on MTV's John Stewart Show, doing "Skotoseme" from The Sporting Life album.

And here's the video of "Do You Take This Man", the song they're playing while the John Stewart show credits roll. The drum and base sounds like "Ozone Baby" meets Big Black or Jesus Lizard, doesn't it?

It adds a little context to the collaboration with Sonic Youth last weekend, though it shouldn't really be necessary: The breakdown in the middle section of "Dazed & Confused" is a good precursor to some of the post-Zep projects Jonesy has done.

"Devil's Rodeo", also from The Sporting Life.

I'm loving this stuff! Wait 'til you get to the "solo" in Devil's Rodeo, 'round about the 4:30 mark. Oh my jeesus!!

Yes! Thanks for the links I think it would be great if they collaborated on another project. Her voice gets better with age.

And, in my opinion, by far the best.

I agree. Jonesy's certainly taken the less trodden musical paths. Glad to have come along for them, and look forward to the next turn.

[snapper]

Found some clips on youtube from '94, thought this would be a good thread to post them in. Jonesy's sense of adventure is pretty keen, isn't it?

Here's Jones and Galas in 1994 on MTV's John Stewart Show, doing "Skotoseme" from The Sporting Life album.

And here's the video of "Do You Take This Man", the song they're playing while the John Stewart show credits roll. The drum and base sounds like "Ozone Baby" meets Big Black or Jesus Lizard, doesn't it?

It adds a little context to the collaboration with Sonic Youth last weekend, though it shouldn't really be necessary: The breakdown in the middle section of "Dazed & Confused" is a good precursor to some of the post-Zep projects Jonesy has done.

"Devil's Rodeo", also from The Sporting Life.

I'm loving this stuff! Wait 'til you get to the "solo" in Devil's Rodeo, 'round about the 4:30 mark. Oh my jeesus!!

Her voice at times resembles the sound of a chicken being repeatedly stabbed with a pitchfork, not really my cup of tea. She's a little too artsy fartsy for me, but the music ain't bad.

[Patrycja]

Her voice at times resembles the sound of a chicken being repeatedly stabbed with a pitchfork, not really my cup of tea. She's a little too artsy fartsy for me, but the music ain't bad.

Ahahaha, well she's got an amazing and versatile voice, actually, it's just, well, sometimes what she does with it doesn't exactly appeal to everyone. I don't know how she can keep up the angst and energy after all this time. I saw in concert years ago, and I was. not. prepared. Not in the least. She does a very nice version of "

(aka the Hungarian Suicide Song - not for the depressed) without all the pitchforks and chickens