Note:Just a brief excerpt from the interview..
In fact, a Led Zep tribute album, called
"Encomium," will arrive in
stores Tuesday. "I was asked if I would do a song," says Plant of the
project, "and I said, `Yeah, I'd like to do a duet. I'd like to do "Down
by the Seaside." I'd like to do it in E minor, and I'd like to do it as
slow as humanly possible.' " So he called Tori Amos . "I'd met Tori
a few times, and I really, really love her," he says. "She flew into London,
and we just busked it for about half an hour. I played guitar, and she
played piano, Michael and Charlie played brushes and upright bass. It was
cool. And I'm really proud of my guitar playing, because it's really
fractured, somewhere between the solo of, maybe, `Down by the River,' by
Neil Young. "But it goes on a bit. It's like seven or eight minutes
long. We got a call from New York, saying, `We love the tune, but do you
mind editing it?' Ha! Where would you begin to start putting the knife to
it? It's amazing. `Well, it's a bit long,' they said, `We've got to fit
it in with Rollins and Poor Non Blondes,' or whatever it is." So who
won? Plant isn't one to tell tales out of school, but suffice it to say
that the version of "Down by the Seaside" on "Encomium" runs a full seven
minutes and 49 seconds.