ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, DEC. 6, 1990
By Steve Newton
You gotta wonder how a band like Dread Zeppelin ever came into being. Did a down-on-his-luck Elvis impersonator drowning his sorrows in a bar knock into a zonked-out reggae fiend, who then spilled his beer on a guitarist who idolizes Jimmy Page? And did the three of them suddenly realize that Dread rhymed with Led and take it from there? Who knows? Who cares!
Not me, that’s for sure. This idea of putting Led Zeppelin tunes to an Elvis-style vocal and a reggae back beat is just plain dumb. These guys may be a riot live—where you can chuckle at the antics of singer Tortelvis—but on record the novelty wears off mighty fast.