Tangerine from Encomium for Led Zep

I bought Encomium* when it was released, in 1995. The cover kind of freaked me out, as there is a sinister aspect to it. Maybe the marketers wanted something to catch the shoppers’ eye on the shelf? For diehard fans of Led Zep, no such parlor trick is needed.

Over the years, Encomium has been played many times. Although there isn’t a bad track on this illustrious tribute CD, there are two standout tracks for me. Big Head Todd and the Monsters’ cover of Tangerine is one of them. There is something so compelling about the bermuda triangle of this song — with the triangle being vocals, lead, and steel guitar — I’d like to do a chip implant of it on my wrist and just push it whenever my heart needs a reboot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF2yP7NvWG4

My other favorite one, just because of its general freakiness, is Custard Pie, covered by Helmet with David Yow:

*Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin is a tribute album by various artists dedicated to Led Zeppelin, released by Atlantic Records on March 14, 1995. Many of the appearing artists were signed to Atlantic or an affiliate at the time of the release. Wikipedia