Hot & Spicy Beanburger
Hot and Spicy Beanburger, released in 1993, is the fourth studio album by Dread Zeppelin. This album marks the return of Tortelvis, the lead singer who left the band and was not on the previous album, It's Not Unusual, which was criticized by many fans due to its focus on disco songs.
Hot & Spicy Beanburger | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1993 | |||
Genre | Hard rock, reggae rock | |||
Length | 48:58 | |||
Label | Birdcage Records | |||
Producer | Jah Paul Jo (Joe Ramsey) Rasta Li-Mon (Lee Manning) | |||
Dread Zeppelin chronology | ||||
|
On Hot and Spicy Beanburger, Dread Zeppelin returned to its roots: Led Zeppelin songs covered in a reggae style, sung by an Elvis impersonator. The album features numerous Led Zeppelin songs, such as Good Times Bad Times, Going to California, and Hot Dog. The album also has two non-Led Zeppelin songs: Unchained Melody and Good Rocking Tonight. The latter song was also covered by Robert Plant on his album The Honeydrippers: Volume One as "Rockin' at Midnight". As on 5,000,000, the album also has original songs by Dread Zeppelin themselves. One of them is "The Ballad of Charlie Haj", which is about the band member Charlie Haj, who is the man that hands Tortelvis his water and towel on stage (which is a running gag in all Dread Zeppelin album credits and live shows). Another original is composition is "Hot and Spicy Beanburger", which is described by Tortelvis as “a kind of informal session with this recording thing we’re gonna do with some friends of mine.”
The leaflet list songs and credits using a various glyphs instead of normal letters, such as “βallad of ¢hĀrlie Häј” (see also the cover for a sample). The typography generally ignores conventions such as the use of upper case. The pages feature the band members in costume on a background of a hamburger bun; the band members are placed on lettuce and tomatoes as if condiments. A quote states: “Hot & spicy beanburger is a tasty tid-bit o’love… A plentiful portion O’peace… A royal repast set before the king.” This “quote” is Credited to Unknown Eastern Mystic (1956).
Track listing
- "Good Times Bad Times" (Bonham, Page, Jones) - 3:25
- "Going to California" (Page, Plant) - 3:47
- "Good Rocking Tonight" (Roy Brown) - 3:29
- "Kashmir" (Bonham, Page, Plant) - 9:57
- "Ballad of Charlie Haj" (Ramsey, Putman, Haasis) - 3:38
- "Unchained Melody" (North, Zaret) - 3:15
- "Stairway to Heaven" (Page, Plant) - 7:00
- "Hot and Spicy Beanburger" (Ramsey, Putman, Haasis, Tortell) - 1:08
- "Hotdog" (Page, Plant) - 2:57
- "All of My Love" (Plant, Jones) - 6:05
- "Wot Happened? [The sloppy shuffle]" (Ramsey, Putman, Haasis) - 4:17
Dread Zeppelin changes the songs’ syntax or names from the original Led Zeppelin version on purpose. Here, the titles are listed as on the album.
Band members
- Tortelvis - Lead singer
- Ed Zeppelin - congas, vocals and toast (burnt).
- Jah Paul Jo - cosmic stun guitar
- Butt Mon - porn bass
- Carl Jah - Guitar
- Spice - drums
Additional credits
- Jah Jah Gabor: pinao & alien invasion
- Bun-E-Slopes: harmonica
- I-Lar-E-Treadwell: auto harp, magic bat & vocals
- I-Max: good vibes & vocals
- Colonel Kane: introduction
- Mar-I-Stradivar-I: violin
- Background vocals by the Michael Jordanaires & Merci & The Merkettes as the “Sweet Perspirations”
- Charlie Haj is the man that hands Tortelvis his water & towel on stage.
Production
- Produced by Jah Paul Jo & Rasta Li-Mon
- Engineered by Rasta Li-Mon
- Recorded @ the clubhouse, Burbank, ca
- Assistant engineers: Efren Herrera & Conrad Kalil
- Mixed @ The Chapel, Encino, ca
- Assistant Engineer: Andy Warwick
- Mastered by Doug “d.o.g.” dish Schwartz
- Art Direction: Bryant Fernandez for Graphic cents
- PhotographyMyron (trigger-happy) Beck
- Repped 2-d bone by Kirk Thornby
- Managed “despite the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” by Charly Prevost, Studio City, ca 91604-3040
- Assisted by those men amongst men: Alan “u-turn” Grange, Darrell Bussino & Tom Hamilton
- Guitars assembled w/incredible precision by dave Cervantes & Karl Sandoval
- Only Dean Markley strings vibrate on this album as ably strung by our man, David Wilson.
- Charlie Haj uses Ken Fuller & Assiciates towels exclusively!