The battle of evermore - covers etc

[Tim Peter]

I have a confession to make. My first exposure to the mandolin was not through Bill Monroe or any other Bluegrass musician. The strange sweet sounds of the mandolin were first brought to my ears by sneaking into my big brother's room and listening to Led Zeppelin IV's "The Battle of Evermore". What an evocative song! What a sweet and beautiful use of the mandolin.

My question has anyone done a recent cover of the song? any mandolin cafers have a Youtube version of the song? I know you can find tab for it here. It's just a lovely song and I wondered what a dedicated mandolin artist could do with the song.

thanks. not sure if this in the right forum.

[Mr. Loar]

John Paul Jones is an excellent mandolin player.

[Keith Erickson]

Don't worry, I went the "Battle of Evermore" route too when I first started on the mandolin

To answer one of your questions, there are tons of Battle of Evermore videos all over youtube. I know that Ann and Nancy Wilson did a cover of this song when they were the Love Mongers.

If I am wrong, someone stop me before I continue to make a fool out of myself

[JEStanek]

tpeter,

I did a Search for "Battle AND evermore" in the Rock section for this month and older for topic titles and posts and got these resulting threads. Many of the things you're looking for are in there, even links to video clips. That's a cool song.

Jamie

[auteq]

Check out ann and nacy wilson's (the women from Heart)on you-tube. They also did a version of the song in the 90's ont he Singles Soundtrack under the name the "lovermongers".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oxcC18xE4Y

p.s. discovered mandolin thru rod stewart.

[mandocrucian]

"Confession" seems like you are apologizing, and if that's the case, why?

No doubt more people (general public) have heard mando on one of the Zep tunes than any BG artist (or 20 of them). "Maggie Mae" (Rod Stewart) is probably the most widespread tune with a prominant mando part, ever. #But then again, Seals and Crofts had a lot of radio airplay and 4 or 5 big hits; and Dash Crofts played mando and e-mando almost exclusively.

In the UK, Lindisfarne had a string of radio hits. (Ray Jackson, their mandolin player was the guy who played on "Maggie Mae". And The Dead's "Friend of The Devil" (and "Ripple") with Grisman guesting probably ranks pretty high up on the first/early mando-exposure list. #And there was mando on Herb Alpert's first big hit "The Lonely Bull"!

The worst selling Ry Cooder album would probably be a mega smash in the BG world. Same goes for anything by Jethro Tull. And no doubt it drives many frantic that Steve Earle has probably outsold Del ten-fold.

NH

[arbarnhart]

John Paul Jones is an excellent mandolin player.

I agree with you, but Jimmy Page played it on Battle of Evermore:

Battle of Evermore

I read somewhere that Page may not have used normal tuning but like the highest pitched 4 strings of a guitar only an octave up. Supposedly it lays under the fingers easier in that tuning.

[Tim Peter]

Hey thanks JESStanek. Can't wait to check those threads out!

And Rod Stewart's "Maggie Mae" was one of the first things I attempted to strum out when I first got my mandolin!

[Martin Jonas]

While not related to the mando part, it's well worth noting that Battle Of Evermore had the only guest vocalist of any Led Zeppelin track -- the incomparable Sandy Denny. Not her best vocal performance, but certainly the one that has been heard by the most people.

Martin

[catmandu2]

Yes, I heard that Jimmy was just messing around on mando at the time, not being mando player-proper, , and thus came up with those basic licks that really add a lot, though, to the music.

[catmandu2]

the only guest vocalist of any Led Zeppelin track..

Ah yes...the good old days before it was de riguer to duet with Stevie Nicks, Don Henley, Sting, and the Tuvan throat singers.

[Ed Goist]

This video was posted by Stryker_oz over in the Led Zeppelin Social Group.
I think it's just a great video. It has very good instructional tips throughout (mandolin-related and general), as well as a very fine solo mandolin performance of Battle of Evermore.
Each time I see this video I'm a little more impressed. I think she should make an instructional video for beginning mandolin...I bet it would be great.
I wanted to be sure that folks who might be interested saw this:



P.S.: I wish we could see her right hand. She's getting wonderful drive through the strings.

[JeffD]

I have a confession to make. My first exposure to the mandolin was not through Bill Monroe or any other Bluegrass musician. .

A lot of folks got here through means other than bluegrass. There is another thread somehwere about getting here through Bruce Hornsby, or REM, or Sir Paul. What ever works.

[Verne Andru]

This video was posted by Stryker_oz over in the Led Zeppelin Social Group.
I think it's just a great video. It has very good instructional tips throughout (mandolin-related and general), as well as a very fine solo mandolin performance of Battle of Evermore.
Each time I see this video I'm a little more impressed. I think she should make an instructional video for beginning mandolin...I bet it would be great.
I wanted to be sure that folks who might be interested saw this:



P.S.: I wish we could see her right hand. She's getting wonderful drive through the strings.

Thanks for posting that. I really enjoyed it.

From the other video's I've seen of her playing that song, she really spanks her mando hard. Get's great tone from it in the process.

Watching her made me realize the way I learned to play that song is all wrong. Does anybody know if there is tab for the way she plays it anywhere?

[Ed Goist]

...snip... Does anybody know if there is tab for the way she plays it anywhere?

I am right there with you! I'd love to have that tab as well.
I sat down with a pencil & paper shortly after I knew about this and tried to tab it out, but the endeavor was hopeless since I couldn't see her right hand.

P.S.: Just watched it again, and Yea...I'm even more impressed. I love how she's fingering the open D with the M & R finger and how this opens up many other, new fingering opportunities. Verne, I might need to e-mail her asking for the tab!

[Verne Andru]

[B]Verne, I might need to e-mail her asking for the tab!

DO IT!

Musicianship aside, I've always thought her to be such a neat lady.

Frustrating part is she lives near me. Her and Anne, while native to Seattle, moved to the Vancouver BC area in the 70's and did/do their recording at Mushroom Studios, which is a few blocks from me. They apparently have dual citizenship. I keep thinking I'll run into her somewhere, but so far no luck! Drats!!

[Verne Andru]

For anyone still interested, there is a 34 second scene in "It Might Get Loud" of Jimmy Page playing this mandolin part. It looks like the same fingering Nancy is using but is a wider shot so you can see what both hands are doing. I've extracted the clip and zoomed in tighter than how it's framed in the movie so it's easier to see what's going on.

I believe it should fall under "fair use," but have sent an email to Mr. Page's people just to be sure. If anyone is interested, shoot me a PM.

[Mandolin Mick]

Thanx for posting this video! It's great!

[Narayan Kersak]

It's great how she says, "It's [the mandolin] is kind of like a mini 12 string, except it's got 8 strings..." (and isn't tuned anything like a 12 twelve string.)

[Newmexmandoboy]

Took this at 4 corners folk fest a couple weeks ago. Not a great quality video.

Band is SHEL. (posting this from iPhone, hope it works.)

http://picasaweb.google.com/m/viewer...59277601647618

[Newmexmandoboy]

That link didn't work. This one works for me.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

[Ed Goist]

Newmexmandoboy; thanks for the tip on SHEL. Great stuff!
Here is another really nice video of SHEL performing Battle of Evermore.
This is fantantic! After watching this several times, I'm sure it's now my favorite cover of this song...By a mile!
Yet another great example of making a significant musical statement with our wonderful little instrument without needing to play like Chris Thile.



Oh, and near the end of the third minute, beginning of the fourth, check out Eva Holbrook's (the mandolin player) 4-string, seafoam-colored, Telecaster-bodied Schwab e-mando sitting on its stand in the background. Sweet!

[rb3868]

You can find the tab here:
http://ashevillemandolin.files.wordp...reoriginal.pdf

[Bob Clark]

Is anyone else having trouble viewing the Shel clip in Ed's post? I get a message saying it's blocked by Warner Chappell due on copyright grounds. Too bad, I'll bet it's great!

[Mandolin Mick]

Yeah, I was pretty much introduced to the mandolin via Ry Cooder on "Love in Vain" by the Stones and "The Battle of Evermore" and "Going to California" by Zeppelin. But, it's Bluegrass that sealed the deal!