Re-Led-Ed the Best of
Dread Zeppelin emerged as a kind of two-headed novelty act. As a reggae band that coveredLed Zeppelinsongs and featured an Elvis impersonator standing in for Robert Plant, one might anticipate that they took the joketoofar, but their 1990 debut,Un-Led-Edwas a funny, charming, smartly made delight. The band reemerges withRe-Led-Ed, a misbegotten attempt to tell the same joke twice, this time mostly without the Elvis punch line. What's left are tepid covers of "Whole Lotta Love," "Going to California," and "D'Yer Mak'er" (the latter long ago given a much better reggae treatment by Eek-A-Mouse), and the like. And when you take away the Zeppelin out, as with two originals here, all that's left is dread.--Steven Stolder