Various Artists - Stairways To Heaven

Last weekend, a local radio station decided to switch formats from Smooth Jazz to Classic Rock. Like most stations, they stunted. Their stunt though was playing various versions of Stairway To Heaven interspersed with comedy bits from cartoons such as Space Ghost Coast To Coast all weekend. I franticly searched to see if I could find any of the versions. While searching, I came across this gem, which includes all the ones they played.

This album came out of the TV series "The Money or the Gun" which aired on Australian public television in the early nineties, a unique combination of documentary and variety show. Each week, host Andrew Denton (since sold out and gone commercial, alas) developed a theme around interviews, sketches, musical numbers, and plain, old-fashioned news reports. It was pretty hard-hitting; the episode on Prostitution got censored when a madam demonstrated, using her mouth and a handy microphone, how to get a condom on an unwilling customer.

Every show ended with--you guessed it--a different artist/band doing its version of Stairway to Heaven. Denton is on record somewhere explaining why he chose this ever more bizarre way to close the show.

The joke worked better when it was delivered once a week rather than, in the words of Rolf Harris, "all-together-now". But on listening to this, you'll be surprised at what a diverse and stimulating collection a dozen versions of the same song can be.

The contents of this album are easily reduced to a single declarative sentence. One dozen versions of Led Zeppelin's classic "Stairway to Heaven" done in the (mostly) notable styles of different musical groups. This album was produced in Australian and is a major reason they were awarded the Summer Olympics (which took place just after the Australian winter). If you prefer early Beatles there is a "I Want to Hold Your Hand" style version by The Beatnix as well as a "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" version done by Robyne Dunn for those who prefer the later work of the Liverpool lads. There is Elvis in a "Blue Hawaii" mood courtesy of Neil Pepper and a dignified Moody Blues poetry reading from Leonard Teale that appropriately closes out the album. The Rock Lobsters do a B-52's take on the song while the Australian Doors Show do, well, you should be able to figure it out. John Paul Young does a disco version, the Vegemite Reggae a reggae version, Kate Ceberano and The Ministry of Fun a sulty soul version. Sandra Hahn and Michael Turkic tackle an operatic duet, Pardon Me Boys a Be-Bop duet, and Rolf Harris is just out in the outback doing whatever comes into his fertile little mind ("All together now!"). Jimmy Page might have played his guitar with a violin bow, but you must admit he never tried playing a saw.

If you visit the WFMU Blog, there is a page that has 101 versions of the song, including these. Just Click Here.

1. Kate Ceberano And The Ministry Of Fun - Stairway To Heaven
2. John Paul Young - Stairway To Heaven
3. Pardon Me Boys - Stairway To Heaven
4. Rolf Harris - Stairway To Heaven
5. The Austrailian Doors Show - Stairway To Heaven
6. Sandra Hahn And Michael Turkic - Stairway To Heaven
7. Robyn Dunn - Stairway To Heaven
8. Neil Pepper - Stairway To Heaven
9. The Rock Lobsters - Stairway To Heaven
10. The Beatnix - Stairway To Heaven
11. Vegimite Reggae - Stairway To Heaven
12. Leonard Teale - Stairway To Heaven