Reviewed by Kit Burns
Geresti/Keys Into The 70’s
You have to applaud Bob Geresti for having the courage to deconstruct Led Zeppelin’s monolithic “Stairway to Heaven” into a reflective piano piece. You have to applaud him some more for still making it rock. “Rock” in the sense of the track remaining powerful, not becoming limp sans Jimmy Page’s whirlwind guitar and Robert Plant’s pensive vocal delivery. In the hands of a lesser musician, “Stairway to Heaven” would’ve been melted into grilled Velveeta. Another classic-rock blockbuster, the Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin,” becomes an intimate mood piece of unrequited love. Geresti transforms the sweeping theatrical scope of the original and flips it inward; all that’s left is profound sorrow told through Geresti’s empathetic fingers.
If you are in your thirties or above, chances are you’ve heard the tunes on Keys into the 70’s countless times in your life. But Geresti makes these overplayed tracks fresh again. For example, Geresti strings together Paul McCartney’s “My Love,” John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and Ringo Starr’s “You’re Sixteen” in a medley that brilliantly reveals the incredible melodicism every one of those Beatles possessed.
