Greta Van Fleet

OK, I had the dates wrong. Looks like they are currently about 19-21 years old.

xp That Billy Squier song played in my head several times in the past 2-3 days after skimming thru the p4k & ringer articles and imagining GVF sounding this way, but also I mistakenly forgot that it's not a Led Zep track.

Listened to their first album on the way home and noticed a part of one solo that quoted Page from rock and roll, and the opening of another track that sounded like the opening of Candy Store Rock. But melodically the songs didn’t grab me.

whatever their age they should be tried as adults

LMAO

I had two weeks in September where I just played either Achilles or In My Time of Dying on repeat for my entire commute.

― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive

yeah i have a ten minute commute too

I'm more than a little surprised that the Pitchfork review of the album didn't come up here (though maybe it did elsewhere on ILM).

It's been highly publicized though among the rock critic intelligentsia on my Facebook feed, the commentary has been less about white knighting the record as much as rolling eyes at Pitchfork (which to be fair is just as much of a tradition as ripping off Led Zeppelin) for complaints about the "streaming and algorithm economy" as well as genuine surprise at a negative review of anything.

"genuine surprise at a negative review of anything"

y'all know that ed sheeran got a 3 or whatever last year right

and charlie puth earned a 2.6 two years ago

wow how surprising they published a takedown of a popular group

It was discussed a lot on "What Is Rockism?".

yeah the algo streaming economy angle was imo the most predictable rmde aspect of the piece, 'oh of course this review is an excuse for a Point about spotify'

xpost Greta Van Fleet thread sounds EXACTLY like What is Rockism? thread

To me they sound like Rush before Neil arrived, though there's nothing as strong as Working Man.

If it pushes some Lumineers and Avett Brothers out of the background music at Starbucks and supermarkets, I'm for it.

y'all know that ed sheeran got a 3 or whatever last year right

and charlie puth earned a 2.6 two years ago

But thanks for pointing out that one negative review a year can be expected. Glad GVF got the 2018 entry out of the way.

... ok man

To me they sound like Rush before Neil arrived, though there's nothing as strong as Working Man.

― dinnerboat, Thursday, October 25, 2018 10:46 AM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i said that upthread just the riffs and musical structures feel way more rush than zep to me (at least on the new album that i listened to)

that Rolling Stone review is classic bet-hedging hackwork, "these guys might be big so let's just mention certain songs, say something neither here nor there about them, throw in a mild dissent about the lyrics, and end on something about how they show promise. 3 stars."

To me they sound like Rush before Neil arrived, though there's nothing as strong as Working Man.

― dinnerboat

ok now i'm curious as to what greta van fleet sounds like slowed down to sludge metal speeds. can anyone comment?

And Greta Van Fleet are not the usual type of target for a negative review in a prominent publication

this band isn't a past-their-prime easy target but they're certainly an easy target

Omar OTM re: the RS review. I also noted the slight of not even reviewing the LP on its own, but combining it in a “twofer” review (or does RS do that a lot now)?

totally w/in the wheelhouse of pitchfork target bands, cf jet

personally as a fan of music i think if the just had a singer who didn't sound like he was trying so hard to be robert plant & just had his own personality/persona this whole thing would go down a lot easier, but it does feel like cosplay at this point...maybe hes a star tho & his personality will come to the forefront by the time they've got records in top 40... young thug was a wayne biter until he wasnt, uzi was a keef biter til he wasnt, etc.

i mean the clothes are pretty cartoony, they look like they're putting on a high school production of We Will Rock You

They definitely seem like the sort of band that will tour a bunch then shell out for a bunch of hitmakers to write their next album. Like, I dunno, Danger Mouse or Desmond Child or something.

surprised to not see any Dio comparisons for the singer as yet - which he definitely resembles physically if not quite vocally

just went outside to get lunch and there was a dude in a tech uniform with long curly hair and earbuds furiously headbanging on the sidewalk. Greta Van Fleet fan in the wild obv.

I hear both Plant and Dio in the singer's voice, but some of his stage mannerisms are cribbed straight from The Song Remains The Same (little left-hand flourishy thingy Plant did/GvF guy does).

And the drummer's kit is a carbon copy of Bonham's setup.

yeah he doesn't *quite* have Dio's range/pipes but who does. also doesn't have Dio's lovable and full-bore commitment to theatricality but whatever

i heard a zep song on the radio today and realized i have mentally categorized zep-inspired bands as "(male) crotch rock" for as long as i can remember. probably since the late 80s?

Anyone remember Deep Jimi & the Zep Creams? From Iceland though they were discovered bumming around NYC if memory serves. The name alone says all you needed to know, but this song off their album put out by Atco (a major label!) in 1992 connects the dots as well. It was produced by Kramer, which is pretty unexpected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=7n1DUU5QSeI

Our own beloved Ned Raggett reviewed it for AMG, calling it "Uneven, but still worth a good smirk or two."

I think I still have the cassette at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n1DUU5QSeI&feature=youtu.be

interesting interview w/greta van fleet's singer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaRmg77Ud48

lmao

How did this band not just call itself Kiszka?

I'm more confused by the fact that the letters GvF suggest all kinds of cool logo possibilities...and they lazily went with the Stranger Things font.

I feel like the Lemon Twigs are a good point of comparison in how to do outright retro thievery, to a comparable degree, without making anyone angry. (Similar age range, too, I think.) Though you could argue they've gotten away with it by simply ripping off hipper touchstones (the Zombies, etc instead of Zep)

Probably too obvious to mention, but if this had been your standard lukewarm, 7.4, "this-album-of-music-exists-and-we-are-bothering-to-acknowledge-it-for-whatever-reason" review none of us would be talking about it

this checks too many boxes of "things Pitchfork likes to think they are in opposition to" for them not to go after it

Kiszka

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCFBef0NhDY

They definitely seem like the sort of band that will tour a bunch then shell out for a bunch of hitmakers to write their next album. Like, I dunno, Danger Mouse or Desmond Child or something.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, October 25, 2018 10:20 AM

Has Max Martin produced a pure rock album? Bet he might want to take that on as a challenge

thank you josh, i've had that song running through my head the whole thread. it's better than anything i've heard by greta van fleet, so that's good, and it makes me think of ghoulardi, which is also good.

Max Martin (whose roots are in rock) produced at least that one Bon Jovi hit.

why is there such a "difference" between this band aping Led Zep vs. the dozen or more popular bands that rip Black Sabbath? Or are there point-making reviews dissing Electric Wizard et al that I've just missed the threads about

Bands ripping Black Sabbath don't usually have major label bucks behind them and aren't touted as "Saviors Of (true) Rock-'n'-Roll" by Rolling Stone etc​.

It might come down to the vocals. Most bands that go the sludgy Sabbath route don't also ape Ozzy.

I'd say these guys show some promise. The singer is fun to watch and has good stage presence. They have some budding song-writing skills. The Plant-alike vocals are no doubt responsible for a lot of their notoriety, but I don't have too much of a problem with them. Probably as they develop they'll start sounding more like themselves and less like a Zep-clone.

would that be an improvement? time may tell. they'll prolly just end up sounding like Kings of Leon.

Maybe. The singer's look is a bit jam band to my eyes, so there's a real possibility they get worse.

Bands ripping Black Sabbath don't usually have major label bucks behind them and aren't touted as "Saviors Of (true) Rock-'n'-Roll" by Rolling Stone etc​.

This is clearly not what RS was saying in that 3-star review, though.