4 posts tagged “robert plant”
My first post-PiL obsession has struck, and it's almost as unexpected as 'Metal Box' was. I gave the new Robert Plant & Alison Krauss collaboration a go late last year, mainly (well... completely) because it was Robert Plant. I wasn't too sure whether I'd like it because of Alison Krauss' country influence, but obviously I had to give it a go. It's fucking Robert Plant, so it should be the law.
Turns out it's completely fantastic. It's just a bunch of blues/american roots kind of songs I guess, but I don't actually know any of the originals (except for the Page & Plant song they cover, and 'Fortune Teller', which the Stones covered in the 60s). But they may as well be songs written specifically for this album, because they sound like they were meant to be done this way.
Their voices go together perfectly, and I find myself just following the melodies of each vocal and loving the harmonies. The overall sound of the album may be the most engaging thing, though. It's subtle, warm, mature and powerful. Krauss' fiddle fits perfectly in this context, too, and I never cringe at the 'countriness' of it all -- it's more Neil Young than Garth Brooks when it feels 'country', thankfully. Overall there's a definite blues/roots vibe and a bunch of mesmerising, addictive songs. I must've listened to the thing over 20 times in the past few weeks and it shows no sign of slowing.
I find it very hard to choose one stand-out track that instantly encapsulates everything the album is about, because it's so varied, from the upbeat rock of 'Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)', to the funeral dirge of 'Your Long Journey', to the almost gospel or religious nature of 'Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us'. So I'll go with the song that stood out initially to me, perhaps because of its catchy melodies. If you like this, then you need the whole album because it'll take you to a different place and time with every track, and make it very clear to you just why Robert Plant has no creative need to jump back on the Zeppelin bandwagon.
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Robert Plant insists that Led Zeppelin's reunion show next month in London is not a dry run for an upcoming world tour. Plants told Uncut, "There'll be one show and that'll be it. We need one last great show because we've done some (reunion) shows and they've been crap." 
Kudos to Plant's integrity, he ain't one to cash in for the sake of a few bucks (as his first three bizarre/shit solo albums prove) and I guess the lyrics to Tin Pan Valley on 'Mighty Rearranger' did make his position pretty clear.
Still, woulda been awesome if they did it properly and for the right reasons, ie because it would surely be a buzz to play some of the greatest music of all time again. The Plant/Page collaboration from 1998 'Walking Into Clarksdale' proved they could still write some powerful songs together if they really wanted to. Plant walked out of that tour half way through though, because he couldn't stand the touring 'machine' any longer.
Zeppelin have always had that mystique -- they didn't do interviews, they don't let their songs get used in movies to this day (it's only happened twice and with their blessing), and they resisted the 'best of' compilation for 10 years after they split up.
This is some of why I love them I guess, so perhaps it's all best left alone. I'll be ok, just give me a moment <sniff>.
mp3eme: Post a cover song from your personal library
I won't rabbit on about Robert Plant today, because I've already done that for a different mp3eme. So I'll just say that this is an insane cover of 'Hey Joe' and I doubt it will ever be done better. Taken from his 2002 covers album 'Dreamland'.
mp3eme: Solo recording(s) by artists who are/were in famous bands.
If there was a man who you’d think could never hope to top his work in his 'famous band' then it's Robert Plant. Led Zeppelin were the biggest band in the world in the early to mid 70s and were known for the excess of their rock 'n roll lifestyle as much as they were for their music. Their music, as I’ve repeatedly stated, is the best ever (in my humble opinion).
When drummer John Bonham died in 1980 and Zeppelin called it a day, Robert Plant seemed to reject all that was Led Zep and took his solo career somewhere else altogether. Three albums of (largely) shit graced us in the early-mid 80s - bizarre synthesised songs without much to redeem them by way of substance (fittingly Phil Collins played drums), and not really utilising his amazing voice like he did in Zeppelin.
1988 and 1990 saw a couple of rays of light in the form of the acceptable (great in places) 'Now & Zen' and 'Manic Nirvana'. Most importantly, Plant acknowledged his former work on these albums - they contained short passages of Zeppelin songs.
1993s 'Fate Of Nations' was a big step forward. Tracks reminiscent of acoustic Led Zeppelin were the highlight, and the rock/riff songs weren't bad Zeppelin parodies as they were on 'Manic Nirvana'. This album even had an environmental message in the form of the title track and the cover/artwork - pretty cool for 1993.
Plant then rejoined forces with Jimmy Page from Zeppelin for an MTV Unplugged session of acoustic/orchestral Led Zep numbers, which resulted in the 'No Quarter' album/video. A couple of years later the pair released an album of original music - the excellent 'Walking Into Clarksdale' (1998). The whole massive world tour thing became too much for Plant, though, and he pulled the plug halfway through the tour.
Plant went into the wilderness for a few years and returned in 2002 with a new band (Strange Sensation) and a new album of blues/folk/rock covers called 'Dreamland'. They made the songs their own, with one of the highlights being a manic and almost unrecognisable 'Hey Joe'.
It was only a stepping stone, however, to the album we'd waited 25 years to hear from Plant. In 2005 he released his best solo album (still with Strange Sensation), and his first work that could be uttered in the same breath as his Led Zeppelin work. 'Mighty Rearranger' was better even than 'Walking Into Clarksdale', proving he didn't need Page to produce quality work.
Most importantly the album was relevant. It wasn't an imitation of current trends or his former work - it was an extension of everything he'd done before, which I guess is all an artist can hope to achieve. It received glowing reviews and was nominated for a Grammy.
It was lyrically relevant too. 'Freedom Fries' talks of US hegemony with a clever double-meaning ("freedom fries and burns and scars / a liberator goes too far") and 'Tin Pan Valley' highlights the problems faced by artists known for previous popular work:
I live on former glories
so long ago and gone
I'm turning down the talk shows
the humour and the couch
I'm moving up to higher ground
I've found a new way out
It also takes a stab at his peers who may have been less successful in ‘finding a new way out’:
My peers may flirt with cabaret
some fake the rebel yell
Me, I'm moving up to higher ground
I must escape their hell
Another standout, the beautiful ‘All The King’s Horses’, speaks eloquently of new love, but could be seen as a metaphor for Plant’s new found artistic success:
Swift and true straight to my heart,
Love has come calling and I'm back there again
I pour myself a brand new start
Glad to be falling for the beauty within
It’s a good news story that took 25 years to become so. But by avoiding cashing in on his former band, and by actively pursuing a different course, Plant may be one of the few performers from his era who can say they’ve achieved the artistic success of their famous work.
For my bonus cool points, I'm posting a more obscure track but one that really shows off Robert Plant's amazing voice. Not released until 1982 on the rarities collection 'Coda', this one was recorded in 1970 at the Royal Albert Hall. It's live apart from some later guitar overdubbing.mp3eme: bonus COOL POINTS if you post a track by the original band, too
