Customer Reviews

Zebra

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My great friend Jeff from the band "FIRED" (based out of SOCAL)and I are fans of Zebra and we have always loved the song "Who's Behind The Door". We would always crack up at the part at the outro of the song where this STRANGE voice comes on and says something even STRANGER. Ever since we first heard the song we thought it said "THIS IS THE SOUND OF THOUSANDS OF SMILING SHRINKLEYS!
Well, we were wrong.
My inquisitive buddy Jeff actually emailed Randy Jackson of Zebra
the following is what Randy wrote in return.

Jeff
It is an announcer's voice from a sound effects record (circa 1950's). He says "This is the sound of thousands of snapping shrimp". We were looking for some cool nature sounds but the recordings were really poor so in the end we just used the announcer because he sounded funny and we were really tired!
Randy

NOW I ASK YOU, HOW F'N COOL IS THAT !?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

If you are a big 80's rock / metal fan, than you should love these guys! I've seen them twelve times in concert and they are great. Songs include "Tell Me What You Want", which has been a popular radio song for them, and others include "Who's Behind the Door?", which used to be played on MTV when they actually showed ALL kinds of music videos, but thats another story. "The La La" song is a killer song with great vocals and nice guitar leads by Randy Jackson. A real refreshing CD to listen to if you're tired of the same ol' heavy metal! The band's sound is almost reminicant of "Led Zep" & "Kings X". This is one three peice band that has alot of talent and a great musical style. All the songs on this CD deserve a good listen!

This album nearly saved the 80's metal genre in my mind. Released in 1983 the album was decidedly different than the rest of the new 80's metal at the time...meaning this was smart lyrics, highly melodic music, and great guitar without going overboard in the "guitar slinger" dept. Randy Jackson can "sling" with the best, but Jackson never overplays on the record, but still burns white-hot. Don't expect any cliche guitar licks, or party-till-you-puke lyrics, or sleezy, juvinile sex songs here, this trio's serious about their music. Not Rush serious, but serious nontheless. All tracks are keepers with a possible low point being the rock-a-billy "Slow Down" which is the only song not written by Randy Jackson. A top five metal album from the 80's easily....Unless you dig Motley Crue's work.....please!

Zebra is one of the most underated bands of the late 70's and early 80's. But after you listen to their 1983 self title LP, you'll think differently about them. Zebra to me was always a mix of Led Zeppelin meets Rush mixed in with that early 80's sounds. Some of the songs on here do stand the test of time. Example "Tell Me What You Want" (great 80's radio/MTV song), "One More Chance" (great riffs on that one), "As I Said Before" (another great song), "Who's Behind The Door" (Zeppelin Influenced), "Take You Fingers From My Hair" (All Time Classic From Zebra, one of the best power-ballads of the 80's), "Don't Walk Away" (Rush Influenced) and "The La La Song" (very melodic, this is Zebra's trademark song of the 80's, sounds like something off the movie "Fandango"). This album brings back so many memories for me. This one of the greatest pop metal album of 1983 and the 80's. Get this, it's a classic to own. ENJOY!

I first heard Zebra on either WNEW or the old WAPP (anyone remember that station?) back in New York when I was 15. I will never forget that experience, as it was one of the greatest songs I have (still) ever heard in my life, "Who's Behind The Door?" Usually it takes me at least 2 or 3 listenings for me to really love a song. "WBTD?" belongs in the select group of songs that I fell in love with the very first time I heard it. I mean, it totally blew me away. My mind was suddenly opened. I had never heard anything like it before. It starts out innocently enough, with a folk-sounding acoustic guitar intro, gradually builds into a progressive Pink Floyd sound, and then all of a sudden just totally transforms itself into what can best be called a musical nuclear war, before finally catching itself and ending with a gradually slowing-down acoustic treatment of the previous salvo. Within the first 30 seconds of at least 9 out of every 10 songs you can tell how the ending will sound. Not so with this song- no way. It had my heart beating FAST by the time it was over.

A few days after, I heard "Tell Me What You Want" and I knew that I had to have the album. So, I bought it soon afterwards, and at first wasn't too crazy about most of the other songs on it (I wasn't really into heavy metal at the time). For the first few months, all I ever played on the album were those 2 great songs (especially "WBTD?"). Eventually, most of the other songs grew on me as well, and by 1984 I would typically play 6 of the album's 9 songs at a stretch (my other faves were "One More Chance", "As I Said Before", "When You Get There", and "Take Your Fingers From My Hair"). I still don't know what the hell they had in mind when they thought up "The La La Song", but oh well, nobody's perfect!

Of course, in 1984 I was again blown away by Zebra when I first heard "Wait Until The Summer's Gone" (I had become a big metalhead by this time), so then I bought their 2nd album!! Although not quite as great overall as their 1st album, I still enjoyed banging my head to "WUTSG" and relaxing with "Bears".

Even though all 3 members are from Louisiana, they moved to the NYC metro area in the late 70's and lived there for many years. In fact, in the spring of 1987, they actually gave a FREE concert out behind the Student Union building of Queens College (my alma mater). It was standing-only, so of course I ended up moving to within 20 feet of the stage. They played for an hour and a half, causing me to miss my last class of the day. I didn't care. It was incredible, and I will never ever forget the experience. Randy, Guy, and Felix: thank you so much for making 1987 so memorable for me!!!! You guys are great!!!! :)

When discussing Zebra one of the main things you must always keep in mind is that they are one of the all-time great "LIVE" bands. On a scale of 1-10 I would give this, their virgin effort, a 9 for content ("Slow Down"?, C'mon, these guys are the best Zeppelin cover band in existence, where's "Kashmir", 'Heartbreaker" or even "Black Dog"?), but only a 3 for execution. Capturing them in a studio loses something.

If you really, and I mean REALLY want to see why these 3 guys (nice guys at that!) are one of the premiere hard rock bands of the 70's, 80's and on into today, GO SEE THEM LIVE! They are still playing, and they sound as good as ever.

I was lucky enough to come of age in the 70's and these guys were a HUGH influence on me. At the time they were primarily a New Orleans and Tri-State NY phenom battling with the top 2 other bands at the time, Twisted Sister and The Good Rats for recording contracts. (I think the Rats already had one if memory serves). I was living on LI and actually saw them the first time they played there. From the first note I was in love. And I do mean LOVE. That's how powerful their music was and still is.

If you want to hear the songs, buy this album, but if you want the true Zebra experience, GO SEE THEM! If that's not possible, find a copy of their live album, "Zebra Live". You just may fall in love too!

By the way, their looong overdue 4th album is due out this month on some Japanese label I believe.

Every so often you get a band that hits it right at the right moment - like Meatloaf with Bat Out of Hell or the first Boston album. This album was the same thing. I was from Long Island and the band was huge there, but I was always surprised that people in other parts of the country barely knew who they were. They totally rocked with songs like Tell Me What You Want and Who's Behind the Door, Take Your Fingers From My Hair, The LaLa Song, etc. Really, I loved the album from beginning to end. Screaming guitar rifts, loud but thought provoking vocals, a heavy base line, and killer percussion - all out of three people. One thing few people nationally knew about them is that Zebra was probably one of the all time best Led Zep cover bands. At thier shows they'd play out all the Zebra stuff and then launch into Led Zeb - and just nail it.

Where are they now? Like I said, I don't know how these guys didn't make it big time. The last I knew of the band was when I actually met Randy Jackson. Of all things, he was working for a car dealership driving cars from one dealership to another. A big fall from grace and something I'll never understand.

I saw Zebra a number of times in the mid eighties and I was sure they would be the next super-group. In hind sight I realize that they were simply a very good rock band that didn't stand the test of time. This was probably the best album of the year when it came out . I have had this album for nearly twenty years and I still listen to it and enjoy it. I realize that this band will never be considered one of the greats but I still remember my amazement when I first heard them on the radio and when I hear them on the radio these days I still wonder what became of them.If you are a fan of the music from this era this album is a must, if not then take a pass.

An odd burst of nostalgia just overtook me and I looked up Zebra's first album to hear some song clips (mostly because I'm too lazy to walk upstairs and hunt for my circa-1985 horrendous, worn-out, listened to about 10,000 times, cassette-tape recording made from my friend Eddie's scratchy album). It's great to read the other reviews and see that Zebra is still appreciated. I myself haven't listened to or even thought of Zebra for years. But back in the day, I had the whole first album (and much of the 2nd) committed to memory. The aforementioned Eddie and I also saw them in concert together at SUNY Cortland in '85 (or was it '86? I was drinking grape kool-aid and vodka, after all). Being a Zeppelin freak, I guess I could understand the comparisons. But to me Zebra seemed more like a Zeppelin-Rush hybrid. Definitely for the Rush/D&D/art rock geek patrol (I was an honorary member). As much as I love(d)this music, it hasn't traveled well into the '00s. Zebra was an extremely talented group and most of these songs are gems. That said, I wish I could take some of the cringe-inducing lyrics and make them disappear. Oh well. This album is a perfect time capsule for early-80s metal that shows the direction metal SHOULD have gone in as opposed to the lamentable Motley Crue/Poison train wreck. At least the cringes induced by Zebra's music are accompanied by talent and songwriting ability!

Zebra was a power trio who came out in the early 80's, with a hybrid of Led Zeppelin mysticism and Rush instrumental dynamics. Vocalist Randy Jackson even sang with a Robert Plant howl on songs like "Tell Me What You Want", but more often ended up sounding like Geddy Lee. Although sometimes his falsettos don't fit the music, what's here is often powerful and wouldn't sound out of place on classic rock stations. Only problem is, there's only 9 songs here, not all of them are catchy, and some of them are a bit overdone ("Take Your Fingers From My Hair" could use some editing down and a bit of a tweak in the hippie-dip lyrics department). Nonetheless there are a few sublime moments - "Who's Behind The Door" shows us what these guys were capable of - and for Zep, Rush, Tesla, and Black Crowes fans, this is a recommended purchase.

Best Tracks:
"Tell Me What You Want" - One of the 80's rock hits that actually mirrored Led Zeppelin in substance and not just volume and hair. Catchy and rockin'.
"One More Chance" - Helium hyped vocals and upbeat tempo keep the album swinging, this is a neat pop song.
"As I Said Before" - Plodding and menacing but ultimately displays some hooks. Good song.
"Who's Behind The Door" - This song has one of my all time favorite acoustic intros. Beautiful and challenging, this should have gotten Jimmy Page to wake up, quit The Firm, and write another "Tangerine" or "Over The Hills And Far Away". The lyrics are good, the outro is stomping, and the whole song is just a shimmering folk/classic rock tune.