Screaming Lord Sutch - Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends (1970 uk)
(with J.Page, J.Bonham,J Beck, N. Redding)

This much-maligned album isn't nearly as bad as you may have been led to believe. It's actually a rather fascinating aural document, mostly for the fact that it seems to be an important missing link in the Jimmy Page/Zeppelin story. First off, there's Lord Sutch himself. His voice is definitely a liability, and he's easily the weakest-link in this otherwise pretty stellar chain. I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if he was a decent lyricist, but unfortunately I've seldom heard lyrics as banal and insipid. The titles pretty much say it all in this regard: "Wailing Sounds", "Flashing Lights", "Thumping Beat"....you get the picture...Fortunately, most of the backing tracks themselves are great - at least the ones featuring Page and Bonham, which constitute roughly half the album. They almost sound like Zeppelin outtakes, and I get the feeling that Page may have used this project to hone his studio craft. The drums on the Page/Bonham tracks are straight off of Zeppelin II, and sound fat, thick and heavy - ditto Page's guitar parts. These tracks are worth the price of the album alone. Sadly, the same can't be said for the remaining tracks. Apparently they were recorded in London (the Page/Bonham tracks were done in L.A.) and feature Nicky Hopkins, Jeff Beck, and Noel Redding, among others. Compared to the Page/Bonham tracks they sound incredibly muddy, thin, and frankly, amateurish - notwithstanding Beck's always interesting fretwork.  
So, to sum up, this album is probably worth it for the Page/Bonham tracks alone, but the remainder is fairly hit-or-miss. I'd recommend it to hard-core Zeppelin fans however. For everyone else - you've been warned.
from RYM

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