Mary J. Blige -Stairway to Heaven

The Led Zepplin version is the most requested song on radio, because a lot of request programs are on in the middle of the night and lonely men request ring in. I dont think it works without the male voice, criticising a woman for being materialistic.

Half a star out of five.

Ah, yes, Led Zeppelin. Although I am certainly of the Zeppelin generation, I never paid much attention to the band. I always thought their music was for the guys and I never cared much for Plant's voice.

Led Zeppelin was mentioned during a graduate seminar in poetry circa 1970 or 1971. Although the class centered on Pound and William Carlos Williams, somehow, the prof mentioned the cross influence of rock music and poetry and someone mentioned LZ's inexact quoting of Tolkien . . ."In the darkest depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair . . ." The professor dismissed it.

Fast forward to late 2007, before digital tv. I tune into Charlie Rose to bide time and there are T-Bone Burnett, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. It is apparent that these three like each other: when Plant described Burnett as a"6 foot seven psycho-billy," I instantly recognized the male salute through insult. It is also immediately obvious that this a fruitful collaboration.

However, the fun part for me was several months later when an older female friend called to relate to me how she had decided to buy some new music (she hasn't a computer, let alone an MP3) and settled on Alison Krauss because she had always liked Krauss. She hadn't realized that Krauss had so many recordings but settled for the latest, despite "that old man who appeared with Alison."

I laughed. "Robert Plant," I offered. "You know him?" "He's a big star." "Do you know the band he was with?" "Led Zeppelin." My friend then told me how she played the CD and was annoyed that "his voice got in the way of her enjoyment of Alison's." She played it again because she liked the arrangements. By the third spin, she felt "Alison's voice got in the way of Robert's." I then said, "Oh, so he's Robert and not 'that old man?'"

My friend asked if I thought she would like Led Zeppelin and I said no. She borrowed their recordings from the public library and decided that Jimmy Page is a genius. She also decided the Led Zeppelin would be great hospice and cancer ward music as the sheer volume of sound would make a patient forget his pain.

Will you continue to not recommend Zeppelin or Plant to your friends?

Mary J is my favorite woman currently working in popular music. I love her voice and her emotional commitment to her music. Mary joining U2 for "One" is fabulous. The one thing I look forward to about the annual Grammy cast is a song from Mary.

While I liked her rendition of Stairway to Heaven, and I felt her strong voice complimented the song, I did feel the strings countered her strength. I wonder how Stairway would sound, stripped down to vocals and an acoustic guitar.

I can imagine some gravel voiced blues singer doing a basic-beyond-belief version of Stairway . . . an Alistair Mook, perhaps. I am trying to imagine Willy Nelson or Chris Smithers as well . . . but . . . that is a bit more difficult.