Total honesty here…  I’m still not totally sold on Greta Van Fleet.  Yeah yeah, Led Zeppelin is one of my all time favorite bands and I hear from waaaay too many people that “if you love Zep, you’re sure to love these guys too!”  Well, hate to tell you but as of now I’m not on board the “Fleet train” as of yet-  that said, I have MAJOR RESPECT that a band full of late teens/early twentysomethings is actually getting a good amount of exposure and radio play that’s sure to bend the ears of the youth of today and hopefully inject more rock into the music scene.  But why have I yet to buy the product?

Over the years we’ve all heard that “such and such” sounds like Led Zeppelin…  (Heart, Kingdom Come, Whitesnake, Zebra, Rival Sons,  The Tea Party, just to name a few)  Sure there were certain musical elements in each of these bands where the mighty Zep came to mind whether it being a guitar riff, drum break, vocal tic, or certain visual elements but there hasn’t been any band where I’ve fully thought…  whoa…  that’s a little TOO close for comfort-  that is, until Greta Van Fleet came around.  Shoot, Kingdom Come had some touches for sure but they still leaned a bit metal and Whitesnake had the bow in the “Still Of The Night” video (and of course lead singer David “Coverversion”) but I hadn’t heard anything where I got the heebie jeebies like these guys.

Let me step back for a minute…  are these guys good?  Absolutely no question.  The band sounds great, the vocalist has quite the range, and the songs are catchy.  As stated earlier, I hope they sell big and anything that encourages someone to pick up a guitar, mic, or drumsticks is alright by me.  But…  I still can’t get Led Zeppelin out of my mind when I hear something like “Highway Tune”, “Safari Stomp”, or “Black Smoke Rising” and, I hate to say it, I feel like I’m hearing demo versions of early or unreleased Zep cuts; kinda like Jimmy Page going through the archives and uncovering a treasure trove of stuff that wasn’t quite good enough to make it on the first three records.  Lead singer Josh Kiszka has that paint peeling howl of early Robert Plant and the production values of the songs definitely have that retro late 60s/early 70s vibe, plus when you are using vintage instruments like Gibson, Fender, and Ludwig (and likely vintage amps too) you’re going to sound of a certain era.  I don’t have a problem with any of that per se but I just can’t quite get it out of my head that it’s Zeppelin but not Led Zeppelin.  And that’s my problem.

For those of you that are fans and can get around this, major props to you.  I will say I’m not totally turned off by my own dilemma here-  far from it as I’m encouraged by what they’ve done so far and I’m definitely interested in album #2 and what the future holds.  Maybe at some point I’ll hop on that train but at this time I’m content to just mingle at the station and respect from a distance.