Steve Vai/Mary J Blige= Stairway to Heaven(Led Zepplin) cover

[dionysus11]

I saw this on the Yahoo.com home page,and I wanted to swing it over here to see what all you guy think of it? I will tell you what I think after a while. Steve Vai is playing the guitar. give a listen

 

[Claus / Intromental]

Unnecessary!

It's a very uninspired and cold/motionless cover by people who're obviously incredibly talented. The orchestral section in the middle doesn't even sound good.

Unimpressed.

 

[Sir Exar Kun]

Agreed with Claus. To quote Wayne's World "NO STAIRWAY". This is one of the classics that just shouldn't be touched, as everything will fall short of the original.

I am a BIG Steve Vai fan, but as soon as I saw the title of this thread I was concerned.... Vai's style and Page's style are worlds apart, and while TECHNICALLY speaking he can play every note Page could, he does not have the blues base to back it up.

I'm not an R&B fan, so really have no opinions at all on Mary J. Blige. She sounded fine on this, but ordinary.

In the end....... BLEH. What's the point?

 

[General Zod]

Passion & Warfare is one the greatest discs I've ever heard. Unquestionably one of my Desert Island 10. That said, Steve hasn't done a thing worth owning since.

 

[Sir Exar Kun]

Passion & Warfare is one the greatest discs I've ever heard. Unquestionably one of my Desert Island 10. That said, Steve hasn't done a thing worth owning since.

Oh, come on! "Sex & Religion" is a masterpiece in it's own right!!! Devin absolutely SHINES on it....

 

[Taliwakker]

some of his live dvds are definately worth owning...and yeah...Sex & Religion is brilliant.

 

[YtseJammer]

I am a BIG Steve Vai fan, but as soon as I saw the title of this thread I was concerned.... Vai's style and Page's style are worlds apart, and while TECHNICALLY speaking he can play every note Page could, he does not have the blues base to back it up.

If I wanted to hear Page's bluesy guitars, I'd listen to the original.

I liked the cover...

 

[General Zod]

some of his live dvds are definately worth owning...

Agreed. I was talking more about CDs.

...Sex & Religion is brilliant.

I often don't think about Sex & Religion. Long story, personal reasons, blah, blah, blah. Even so, Sex & Religion is twenty years old.

 

[adaher]

20 years? Geez, I remember when I bought it new.

Hated it too. But I like it now. It was ahead of its time, actually. That album would be much better received today, which is why I think Vai and Townsend should get together for a second album.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

I agree that it's unnecessary. This does less for me than the original did (thanks to being WAY overplayed in my youth).
Well, produced, decent enough playing and singing, but Blah!

As for Vai, I've been a HUGE fan since his Zappa days. I will do everything in my power to see him live whenever I can, but on cd, he hasn't done much for me since Fire Garden, and that was what 1996, I think. I really wish he'd get that hunger back that he had in the 80's & earlier 90's. There wasn't a guitar player on the planet who could touch him back then. IMHFO, of course....

 

[The_Metal_Messiah]

I agree that it's unnecessary. This does less for me than the original did (thanks to being WAY overplayed in my youth).
Well, produced, decent enough playing and singing, but Blah!

As for Vai, I've been a HUGE fan since his Zappa days. I will do everything in my power to see him live whenever I can, but on cd, he hasn't done much for me since Fire Garden, and that was what 1996, I think. I really wish he'd get that hunger back that he had in the 80's & earlier 90's. There wasn't a guitar player on the planet who could touch him back then. IMHFO, of course....

There STILL isn't a guitarist on the planet who can touch him. He's got the best of everything. Just incredible.

And I guess I'm the only one here who actually enjoyed that... I thought it was a great cover.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

There STILL isn't a guitarist on the planet who can touch him. He's got the best of everything. Just incredible.

And I guess I'm the only one here who actually enjoyed that... I thought it was a great cover.

I won't argue that he still plays his ass off...Incredibly nice guy as well...
I just find his live shows much more enjoyable than his recent cd output.
I liked his older, more agressive tone back then. No harm, no foul....

 

[General Zod]

There STILL isn't a guitarist on the planet who can touch him. He's got the best of everything. Just incredible.

On this we agree. He's on his own level. However, he's become so incredibly self-indulgent, he can be hard to listen to. I wish he'd get back to basics a bit.

 

[edgeofthorns]

I love Steve Vai, but I don't own one CD of his, weird. I just don't enjoy listening to instrumental discs. With that said, I belive I'm the only Whitesnake fan on the planet that loves Slip of the Tongue. Vai made that disc!

~Brian~

 

[Sir Exar Kun]

With that said, I belive I'm the only Whitesnake fan on the planet that loves Slip of the Tongue. Vai made that disc!

You are NOT alone on that one...... "Judgment Day" is one of my favorite Whitesnake tracks ever.... Whole album is good, though!

 

[edgeofthorns]

You are NOT alone on that one...... "Judgment Day" is one of my favorite Whitesnake tracks ever.... Whole album is good, though!

Judgement Day is an awesome track! I've always loved the groove of Slow Poke Music too!

~Brian~

 

[ChrisAnnwfn]

There is also a "making of" documentary on YouTube about this. Orianthi plays the solo.

 

[Prog_Please]

Besides the fact that I bet only half of the people actually listened to the entire song (the second half is better imo), I like this cover. The point of covering something is to do your own take on the song. That's exactly what they did and they did it very well.

 

[MetalSeamstress]

You're talking about a tribute,remake, whatever..?
IMO.. You have a great RnB artist who is singing and really great
guitarist playing a song out of respect to a legendary rock band, whom many have GROWN up with and/or have listened to that band for long time.....? I say great job kinda makes the Heart version look kind of weak heh.

 

[adaher]

I'm a huge fan of Steve Vai, but not so much his solo albums except for Passion and Warfare.

I like a few songs here and there, but to me he's always shined when he's in a traditional rock band.