special introductory
paragraph!
The Honeydrippers Live At The Blue Note Club (4/13/81)
Pictures At Eleven
The Principle Of Moments
The Honeydrippers, Volume One EP
Shaken 'N' Stirred
Now And Zen
Non-Stop, Go!
Manic Nirvana
Fate Of Nations
Dreamland
Sixty-Six To Timbuktu
Mighty Rearranger
Raising Sand (with Alison Krauss)
In the 1970s, Englishman Robert Plant was the lead singer for a popular rock and roll band entitled Led Zeppelin. This band had a number of popular radio smashes including, but not limited to, "Stairway To Heaven," "D'yer Mak'er" and "Communication Breakdown." When the drummer of this band died of chronic asshole infection in 1979, the band went its separate ways - the guitarist went on to form the supergroup The Firm which had 58 top 10 singles and won every grammy available in 1984, the bassist became a famous record producer and has-been, and the singer, Mr. Robert Plant, struck out on a solo career that proved to be both successful and unsuccessful, depending on what year you're talking about. He mostly stuck to good old modern-day rock music, with a short excursion into new wave that didn't quite work out in his favor. Below you will find and enjoy a number of album reviews, all of which relate to albums credited to Mr. Robert Plant.
Hold the elbow grease -- Robert Plant was doing Honeydrippers shit THREE YEARS before the stupid EP came out!?
Hold the elbow grease again -- Robert Plant was doing Honeydrippers shit even before Pictures At Eleven came out!? I realize Robert Johnson was the real mastermind behind Led Zeppelin, but what kind of asshole follows up the greatest hard rock group of all time with a bunch of awful cover tunes!?
Come on, you're supposed to do a shitty movie soundtrack first.
This thankfully unofficial live bootleg recording finds Mr. Plant, Mr. Blunt and several other people performing a collection of predictable traditional old rockabilly, electric blues, soul, rock'n'roll and country/western tunes on guitar, bass, drum, harmonica, horns and Robert Plant's tongue. There are some pleasant harmony vocals every once in a while, but Robert reigns in his "Ooooooo babe!" histrionics maybe a bit too much, the instrumentation is nothing to shout home a letter about, and the generic old songs just sit there covered in dust and cobwebs, waiting to be returned to the boring old crates they came from.
Here's what you get:
1. "Little Sister" - Elvis Presley, 1961. Unengaging rockabilly. Not a
whit or hint of energy or verve, says I (or notes me).
2. "Hey Mae" - Rusty & Doug, 1958. Playful early rock'n'roll. Good
energy, but pretty basic. Cute "Hey Mae!" group chorus vocals.
3 "Deep In The Heart Of Texas" - not Perry Como, 1941 at all, but the
far inferior Germaint Watkins & The Dominators, 1979 song of the same
title. Long, dull country-western waste of space.
4. "How Many More Years" - Howlin' Wolf, 1951. 12-bar electric blues.
Really, really exciting. No, no. Really. No, no.
5. "Cross Cut Saw" - Albert King, 1967. The only song on here that I
actually like, this is a '60s soul tune with that cool Booker T.
feel.
6. "Bring It On Home" - Sonny Boy Williamson II, 1959. Hey! This
sounds just like the intro to that Led Zeppelin II song of the
same title! Why, it's almost as if they STOLE the riff from
Sonny Boy Williamson II and kept the credit for themselves! Thankfully,
we know that the honest men of Led Zeppelin would never stoop so low,
and their song's exact similarity to Williamson's song of the same title
is just a horrifying coincidence.
7. "Born Under A Bad Sign" - Albert King, 1967. What's with all the
Albert King covers? On a related note, who the hell is Albert King?
8. "Keep On Loving Me Babe" - Otis Rush, 1968. A surprisingly not awful
energetic soul number! And I say "surprisingly not awful" because this
is the same guy who wrote "I Can't Quit You Babe," my least favorite Led
Zeppelin song of all time. Say what you will about "The Crunge" and
"Hats Off To (Roy) Harper," but at least those songs work as novelty
material. "I Can't Quit You Babe" sounds like the blues as envisioned
by a person who's not even sure what 'music' is.
9. "Tell Me How" - Buddy Holly, 1957. Close your eyes and imagine a
Buddy Holly song. Congratulations! You've now heard this song!
10. "Queen Of The Hop" - Bobby Darin, 1958. Close your eyes and imagine
a song from the late 1950's. Congratulations! You've now (etc.)
11. "Treat Me Right" - BB King, 1960. This song isn't even ON here!
It's listed on the album sleeve, but is nowhere to be found on the vinyl
itself, unless they hid it under the label. "Treat Me Right"!? More
like "Treat Me BLIGHT SHITE TRITE GO FLY A KITE" if you ask a guy
who knows lots of rhymes for "right"!
So what does it all mean? Why did Bobbi Plant, upon the lamented Led Zeppelin break-up, decide to retreat into a cocoon of old-timey music before re-emerging as a beautiful solo butterfly artist whose success would dwarf that of his fellow so-called 'bandmates'? Was he just trying to have a bit of a larf after ten years of impossibly high audience expectations? Or was he afraid to face the bold rock world on his own artistic merits right out of the gate? Perhaps he mischievously figured, "If I give them THIS shit first, anything else I do will sound like Zoso II: Still Untitled! by comparison"? These are all fantastic assumptions, and I'm glad we made them here today.
But more importantly, what in Sam Hill is going on with Henry The Dog these days? Last month he got lost for two hours in the Adirondacks, last week he stuck his head under a car to say 'Howdy-do!' to a lost cat residing there and got his nose scratched and bloodied as a thank you, and just last night he got in a vicious fight with a raccoon that resulted in another bloodied nose as well as a torn and frayed ear, as celebrated in the 1972 Rolling Stones track "Torn And Frayed." Is it just a coincidence that all this danger is coming his way at the same time? Or is God trying to tell him to take it easy with the hard, wild living? Because you know Henry The Dog, with the crack cocaine and $1 whores. My point is this: I hate the Honeydrippers.
One of those should've-been-a-classic albums ruined by a horrid mix. Not that it ever would have been a classic, understand, but in my mind, it should have been because every song on here is wonderful. It's totally Zep-style rock, with jaunty "Ocean"-like rockers, dark intensity ("Slow Dancer"), a couple of awesome blues-influenced ballads and even a bit of light pluckity-plucking all Robbie Blunt's own! Oh crap, did I mention Robbie Blunt? I must be SMOKIN' a Robbie! Ha hahah!!! Yes, Robbie Blunt is a guitar player who sounds remarkably like Jimmy Page, which is to say extremely talented and note-happy, but in a messy, human manner - not pristine like Steve Vai or superhuman like Eddie Van Halen. The riffs are wonderful and diverse (nonstop greatness, truly), but the mix is SO EAR-SLICINGLY TINNY that you almost feel like tossing a dog in the stereo just so there will be some woofer action going on.
I wasn't really done with that paragraph but it's hard to follow a sentence as stupid as that one, so I thought it in my best interest to begin anew like the sprinkling of the morning dew on a summer's cock. So the tinniness makes the guitar tone sting like one of those earbees you've been reading about in National Geographic, of which I discreetly stole a page of a friend's copy when I was a child because it had a pair of huge jungle jugs on it and nudity wasn't so easy to come by in the early 80s, and Robert's voice, usually a wonder of nature and the wildebeests, is rendered as annoying as my fianc‚e thinks it is anyway. Holy cow does it grate on the brain, him screaming idiot nonsense like "Somebody! Somebody! Somebody!" and "Yes! No! Yes! No!".
But other than the whole thing being wrapped up in a layer of sonic barbed wire, the record is awesome!
I have rejoiced in every Robert Plant recording and tour. I saw Honeydrippers, in Dallas. And, before that, I saw a show, also which Phil Collins played drums. I disagree with your comments about Robbie Blunt. Robbie Blunt no more sounded like Jimmy Page than David Coverdale ever sounded like Robert Plant.
The vibe has been different with each project, as though each project in some way has mirrored changes in my own life.
I saw Robert Plants show in Las Vegas, one year ago, today. And again, in San Diego, four days later. Today I celebrated the anniversary of las summer's tour by listening to Mighty Rearranger, Sixty-six to TBT, and Dreamland as well as other Robert Plant songs, all of which are near and dear to my heart. Many of my life's finest moments have been invested in Robert Plant.
Mine, is the voice of Robert Plant experiences and reverance for He, who has been a central figure in my life for over 30 years. He is regarded in my home as something much more important than some rock and roll myth. I have been fortunate to have seen nearly 20 Robert Plant performances and look forward, with the same jouous anticipation to the next. The trinkets, and mementos which I have collected over the years are amongst my most valued posessions, including tour t-shirts which I've never even worn. I look forward to reading through your site, as I am able and responding to each item contained therein.
The mix is a fine shot better than that on the debut - not only bassier, but moodier, with an odd windy ambience replacing the dry crackling shit-tones of Pictures At Ennoying. Unfortunately a lot of the songs are just stupid. Sure, there are two somber art rock classics in "In The Mood" and "Big Log" (which you may know as "My Love Is At League With The Freeway" or whatever in God's name he's saying), and you can't begrudge a Jimmy Page ripoff like "Other Arms" (Oooh! Eastern scales and note bending! Phone the brilliance police!), but you certainly CAN begrudge nursery rhyme sing-songy nonsense like "Messin' With The Mekon," "Horizontal Departure" and "Stranger Here.Than Over There." I think Robbie and Robbie are trying to do some sort of avant-pop thing with the songs, but the melodies are just silly, hokey little deals, with drums by Phil Collins.
And thus endeth America's love affair with Phil Collins. He was never heard from again.
When the show was over there seemed to be utter speechlessness...And awe. It was. We couldn't have imagined that it would be anything less, simply because it was Robert Plant; but we couldn't have asked for anything more because it was perfect just the way it was.
And its only gotten better...it's fuel is the years...
Here's a question that should be burning a hole through your rickety wood brain like a red hot poker: How on Earth did it take humankind 25 million years to invent rock and roll? What were they DOING all that time? And don't give me that "hunting and gathering" line of bullshit because I've had it up to here with your outmoded societal taboos. Pliopithicus should have been banging some ass-kicking rocks together; if Australopithecus could walk upright, why couldn't he rock upright?; with the invention of the primitive hand-ax 2 million years ago, Homo Erectus was perfectly positioned to play some monstrous riffs and wicked hammer-ons; Neanderthal Man should have been touring the nation in a van with "The Who" spraypainted on the side; and Homo Sapiens -- come on, it still took those pricks 100,000 years to think of playing a 4/4 beat and ROCKIN' on a guitar over it? The history of mankind is the embarrassing legacy of slow-witted fools. Because they took so long to ROCK!
With The Honeydrippers, Volume One EP, Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin set out to demonstrate that quality audio entertainment existed even prior to the invention of good music in the mid-50's. Unfortunately it didn't, so the EP is a piece of SHIT!
To be more specific, the EP features covers of three jivin' jump blues tunes and two old-timey ballads, including but not limited to:
- Wynonie Harris' "I Get A Thrill" (1951)
- Phil Phillips' "Sea Of Love" (1959)
- Ray Charles' "I Got A Woman" (1956)
- Ben E. King's "Young Boy Blues" (1962)
- Roy Brown's "Rockin' At Midnight" (1949)
Well okay, it is limited to those. But isn't that enough? How much old bag grandpa music do you want, Wrinkly? "Ooo look at me! Look at me! I've got a cane and I'm 'jumpin' the blues' to some Roy Brown! Ow, my back!" Did you see that? That was YOU.
No no, we're all just playing gags to you. There's been plenty of great music from all throughout history in more genres than you can shake a booty at -- unfortunately, Robert and his feller musicians (inc. Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Nile Rodgers, supposedly) have chosen mostly mediocre to middlin' compositions to share with you this EPenin'. Either that or the songs are great and the Honeydrippers suck at them, who knows (other than those people who have heard the originals, none of which are me).
At any rate, "Sea Of Love" was a big hit, which isn't surprising since it's by far the most melodic and beautiful song on here. The other ballad, "Young Boy Blues," has its share of loveliness too, but not all the way through. Then there are the speedy, swinging, horn-heavy jump blues tunes, which are sort of like pre-rock'n'roll but with even fewer hooks than the most rudimentary compositions of that genre. I'm sure the very idea of applying 'energy' to the musical form was a real gas back in the days of Brylcream and hula hoops, but by 1984 we as a planet had learned to combine uptempo 4/4 beats with music that doesn't SUCK COMPLETE ASSHOLE.
But hey! Thanks for the history lesson, Mr. Plant! Don't quit your blow job!
Man, I really took old people down a notch. I showed them a thing or two about me and my youth generation. We are 32 and YOUNG! Balding, fat and YOUNG!
And yes, my back hurts but it's a YOUNG pain! I'm the 'Positive Youth Of Today'! See these "X"'s on the back of my hands????
Well yes, I know they're varicose veins. But my point still stands.
I still get a thrill... ...from Honeydrippers.
This was Robert's attempt to make a modern mid-80s sounding album. And you must admit - he certainly did make a Mid-80s sounding album! Which is, of course, why it's so hard to listen to it in 2001 without laughing your ass clear off of hero astronaut Neil Armstrong's fondling fingers. The processed drums are really, REALLY loud and fake sounding, the neat guitar stylings of Blunt have been replaced by ridiculous B52s-sounding synthesizer noises and a most minimal amount possible of guitar - bar chords only. And hoo boy, those female backup vocals. Ah me. So but still - the songs are really entertaining! Funny, mindless, catchy, stupid fun - and every bit as dated as a very attractive man.
Or am I mistaken? Certainly the record initially comes across as foolish just because it's so 80s-synth-noise-driven, but the songs themselves don't necessarily seem "dumb," just fake. Like the rhythms themselves are somewhat complex at times, the melodies are always really catchy and available in a wide variety of flavors (moody, radio-ready "Little By Little," failed tense rocker "Easily Lead," goodtime ecstasy fun of the first few songs) and there seems to be an attempt to mix it up in a lightweight avant-garde almost worldy music kinda way during a couple of points.
It's still pretty fucking stupid though. I give this laughable excuse for a record a high 8 and play it fifty-two times a minute!!! I stop Father Time in the street, kick him in the balls and play this album fifty-two times a minute!!!!
Fifty-three????? NO!!!!!
That would be listening to excess.
Usually I do not deign to speak to music critics directly (if I may be so bold as to characterize what you do as actual criticism), but I feel that you have judged me unfairly in regards to my solo career, particularly in the case of my album Shaken 'N Stirred.
It is generally assumed by thick-headed rock journalist tossers that Shaken 'N Stirred was a crass attempt on my part to cash in on the New Wave music fad by tailoring my sound in a way that would appeal to a more youthful market, but that simply is not the case. In spite of the image of me that my management had created - that of a Tolkien-esque feudal lord adorned in flowing robes and living in a drafty castle on the moors - I was really quite enamored with the new music being created at the end of the Seventies. I was always nudging the boys in Led Zeppelin forward in an attempt to rouse them from their handlebar mouser and bellbottom doldrums, but they were quite set in their ways by that point and resistant to any kind of change, particularly if they thought it would alienate our lucrative fan base. I'm telling you, it was like pulling teeth just to get them to cut their hair and update their wardrobes so that we weren't gadding about stage like a bloody Dungeons & Dragons parody. Jonesy was a complete and utter wanker and he would do anything if he thought it would keep the royalties rolling in, so he didn't take any convincing at all, but Jimmy and Bonzo put up a hell of a row! Jimmy kept bleating about his hair being his bloody "essence" and providing him with certain mystical "powers," but he had a nasty drug habit at the time, so we (Peter Grant and myself) caught him when he was jonesing and set the stylist loose on him. Bonzo was half in the bag most of the time in those years, so we just held him down while he was drunk and let the stylist cut his greasy locks. He screamed and cried like a little poof, and I shall never forget the sight of him - tears streaming down his fat, drink-swollen face, a dark stain of urine appearing in the basket of his trousers - and pleading, "Not me mouser! Please don't trim me mouser!" Alas, that is how I remember poor Bonzo, when I even bother to remember him at all.
But even with the velvet flare trousers and wide-collared embroidered shirts retired and a fresh, modern look on board for the dawn of a new decade, Led Zeppelin was still hopelessly outdated and insignificant by 1979. I tried to push the boys to be more adventurous and progressive with the music, but it was a lost cause by that point. Jimmy was a hopeless drug addict and would rather stay locked in his room reading obscure occult texts and buggering daft teenage runaways than show up for rehearsal, and Bonzo was a pitiful lush and beyond any salvation whatsoever. Toward the end of the In Through The Out Door sessions we had a child's crib placed in the corner of the studio, and after Bonzo would piss and shit himself - which was happening with more and more frequency - we would chain him in the crib with his ever-present bottle of vodka while we had a studio drummer overdub the parts that Bonzo was incapable of playing (if you listen closely to the coda of All My Love, you can hear Bonzo in the background wailing "Peter, I shat myself again!") Jonsey was in agreement that we should take Led Zeppelin in a more modern direction, but the best that tosser could come up with was the poncy carnival riff for "Carouselambra," which I've always thought showed precisely what an utterly talentless hack he truly was.
Thus In Through The Out Door became one more formulaic album in the interminable, bombastic Led Zeppelin style of old, and it has been the source of much embarrassment to me ever since its release. In an attempt to salvage a modicum of our integrity and perhaps connect with a hipper audience, I booked a band called the Fabulous Poodles to open for us at Knebworth, which caused a huge rift between Peter Grant and myself. Peter hit the roof when he found out about it, and he cornered me after rehearsal one night and screamed, "Led Zeppelin is the biggest band in the world! No one opens for Led Zeppelin, not even if that is what Led Zeppelin desires!" Peter had by that point obviously been compromised by his herculean cocaine intake, but his managerial contract gave him final approval over our concert appearances, so the Fabulous Poodles were dropped from the bill and once again we had to trot out the shopworn Led Zeppelin tricks and play for a stodgy crowd of wankers that had steadfastly refused to grow in the new musical climate. Who knows what may have happened if Led Zeppelin had been exposed to a hipper audience at that point. I hate Peter Grant, and I am pleased that he is now dead.
Of course, everyone knows what happened next. Bonzo thankfully died, freeing us from his plodding, Neanderthal drum beats so that we could branch out in a fresh direction. I wanted to overhaul our sound completely and enlist the drummer from Athletico Spizz '80 to begin work on a post-Bonzo Zeppelin album immediately, but the other tossers - Jimmy and that poof Jonesy - felt that it would be blasphemous to carry on without the dead boozy wanker shiteing himself behind the drum kit, so we agreed to go our separate ways and never play together again. Frankly, I was overjoyed to finally be rid of those two arseholes. They were without a doubt the most horrible, cretinous human beings on the face of the Earth.
I immediately moved to London and set to work assembling a New Wave band, Sword of Damocles. We recorded a dance number called "Dance, Little Monkey, Dance" in early October of 1980, which I think held its own among the Punk and New Romantic songs popular in the U.K. at that time. But since it contained veiled threats to Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, for legal reasons we were never able to release it, but it was still great fun to be in the studio again. It was refreshing to work with musicians who weren't closeted bugger boys or constantly muttering oblique references about Aleistar Crowley, but even with my contacts I had a difficult time finding representation for us. It seems that I had underestimated the shadow of Led Zeppelin (Oh how I grew to loath that name!) and the expectations placed on my by my fans. No one wanted to see Robert Plant mature as an artist - at least not if it meant he wouldn't be resuscitating that horrible piece of shite "Stairway to Bleeding Heaven" for the umpteenth time - so against my better judgment I disbanded Sword of Damocles and allowed myself to be forced into recording two tepid solo albums that would satisfy the bean counters at the record company as well as the idiot Led Zeppelin fans that, if they could have their narrow-minded way, would have me singing "Whole Lotta Love" well into the next millennium. The albums were critical successes for me, but my heart was obviously not in the music anymore.
By 1984 I had given up the notion that my music would ever be relevant again, but then something miraculous happened. One afternoon Jeff Lynne from ELO came round the manor with Nick Heyward from Haircut 100, both dressed in the height of New Romantic fashion. Jeff had brought his band from the brink of obscurity by being unafraid of changing with the times and unabashedly exploiting any trend to come down the pike, and he believed that I could do the same with my career if I was willing to take the gamble. Jeff and Nick looked quite the odd pair, dressed in matching parachute pants and vinyl jumpers with matching checkered headbands, snogging each other like a couple of rutting teenagers (Jeff had to be close to 50 at this time and it was most unseemly), but listening to him describe how "Don't Bring Me Down" had rejuvenated his boring band of listless prog-rockers and garnered them a new audience, I was was sold on the idea. It was on that very day that Shaken 'N Stirred was born!
I had to fight tooth and nail to get Shaken 'N Stirred released, but it was a total labor of love and remains the album of which I am most proud. During the recording sessions, I had executives from Es Paranza hanging about the studio and screaming at me, "We need another 'Big Log,' Robert! Where's the 'Big Log'?" They didn't have any faith in the material and consequently they didn't promote it as aggressively as they could have, so it was a forgone conclusion that Shaken 'N Stirred would fail. They made sure of it, and I will never forgive those dirty bastards as long as I am still able to draw breath! I nurtured this album like it was my own child, and they maligned and destroyed it! When that arse-bandit David Bowie makes a New Wave album people can't bend over fast enough and beg to buggered by one of his calculated fey personas, but when Robert Plant does it he's labeled a "sell out" and a "crass opportunist raping the gay music culture"! Piss off, you bloodsucking wankers! This is the music that I want to play, not that boring Led Zeppelin shite!
Of course when Shaken 'N Stirred was a critical flop, I had to return to making the same boring MOR shite that I've squeezing out for the past 40 years. I even had to reunite with that warlock pedophile Jimmy Page just to keep my name in the music press. My management won't let me cut my hair (there's actually a clause in my contract the binds me to keep my hair at a certain length, if you can believe it), so I'm forced to cobble a living out of singing bad rock 'n' roll songs that I despise while looking like a geriatric Cowardly Lion. I hate my life.
And I hate all of you arseholes that still expect me to prance around like a poncy hairdresser while yelping "The Lemon Song" like it's still 1970. I am a grown man, for Christsake! I am probably older than your parents! Would you want you father to run around acting like that? I would rather go back to playing that Honeydrippers shite than play "Kashmir" again. Why can't you people just leave me alone?
So judge Shaken 'N Stirred harshly if you must, but at least I tried to show you something wonderful and new. And if you really hate it - go buy yourself another copy of Physical Graffiti. It pays my rent.
Robert Plant
Hertfordshire, U.K.
After reading the letter that you say Robert Plant E-mailed to you I have a very hard time believing that the letter was written by him. Did you ever think that someone just used his name to get you to read the letter to begin with? Whoever wrote that to you has a God-awful attitude, and I'm having a really hard time fathoming that Robert wrote that letter. Maybe you should double check that it really came from him, and if there is any question, then delete it from your site. It just doesn't seem right to leave it there unless you are sure!
You sad tossers just don't get it do you. Too bloody literal by far and you wouldn't recognize irony if it sat on your face and sang ....uhh 'Iron Man'. Of course it wasn't Robert Plant writing in with such hilarious self-deprecation, although I wish it was, as it would further redeem the man partly responsible for the utterly cringeworthy hogwash that is the music of Led Zeppelin.
Sorry you twats, gotta go! Time for a shot of 'Unledded' on classic bloody FM! Get a life you craven sods!
The best of both worlds! In fact, this album was what Sammy Hagar was talking about when he wrote that Van Halen song, "Best Of Both Worlds"! Because this is truly the best of both worlds!
Finally Bob Plant can have his Kate and Edith too because this album sounded "with the times" production-wise while still maintaining a strong enough, bass-driven, full sound to still sound decent on classic rock radio today. But it's not just the production - the songs too manage to hog the line -- ROCKING (like Pictures), creating a definite wintry mood (like Principle) and sounding "of the modern day times" (like Shaken), thanks to a group of young long hairs taking the place of Robbie Blunted & Disenchunted and Phil Suck His Own Collins. Examples - do you happen to recall "Heaven Knows," "Tall Cool One," "Dance On My Own" or "Ship Of Fools"? All great, great songs. Classics, you might say. Most of the others are good too, but "Billy's Revenge" and "White, Clean And Neat" both occupy that "cutesy-ass" area of Robert's musical obsessions that I could kind of do without, myself personally, within.
For the record, if you're only going to buy one Robert Plant record, I think it should be this one. But with two crappy songs out of a scant nine, I obviously can't give it a 9ine or 10en. I mean, obviously!!!!!
While I thought that there might a Zeppelinny influence, I figured they would be quite different, though in the back of my mind I was wary that these were 80's releases by a 60's and 70's star - usually a very bad sign.
I came home, eagerly put them on the turn table, and the ear wax began to pour out in a desperate attempt to escape the OFFENSIVELY TERRIBLE sounds forcing their way in.
The albums do not rock. They don't do anything. It's total 80's sounding sissy pop, with embarrassing parts in the music that try to convey innovation when all it is is trash. The guitar work is barely audible, and the melodic development is non existent. All I remember hearing is Plant sleepily singing softly along to arrangments and music that are boring and go absolutely nowhere. He sounds completely uninspired on his own, and the music even has that rare effect that it makes me dangerously violent when I'm exposed to it. I'd rather listen to Britney Spears albums. I'm not joking on that.
I offered to do a review page on this sheephead last year but Mark didn't let me, which is probably for the better because my version would have spewed nothing but venom. I have to admit though that when I saw Mark give 8's and 9's to this crud, I was nothing short of astonished. I tend to think that Mark and I have similar tastes in music, which means that he's cool if he likes what I like, but I had no idea his taste could stray so far from what is umm, good. Mark, I lost a lot of respect for you the day this page went up :P
I've changed since the mid 90's though and grown much more tolerant to forms of music that I couldn't stomach before, but based on my memories of this shit, you'll have to forgive me if I'm not exactly motivated to rush to the nearest HMV listening post with a stack of Robert Plain albums.
Fortunately my brother provided the perfect solution to the unique problem of having these records taking up space next to music that's more than slightly good, like oh I dunno Alice Cooper...my brother took Bob's albums, unwaveringly walked upstairs to the front door, and proceeded to step outside into the dark. He gently pulled the records out of the sleeves, and unflinchingly and silently tossed them straight up with all his might. To my astonishment they both landed right on the middle of the road, which is pretty far due to our large front lawn, and were obliterated into a million pieces. My brother then turned to me, and in a deadpan delivery like John Wayne after he's effortlessly blown away the evil gunslinger, said: "That's what Robert Plant albums are good for, kid."...what a brilliant man, that brother of mine.
It's important to hear what Bobert Plant has to say. As one of this nation's leading political thinkers, Plant's words cut straight to the heart of what we all feel but can't quite vocalize. For example, who can forget when he resolved the Cuban Missile Crisis back in ' --
No hang on - that was his "Human Missile Crisis," but Viagra and hardcore pornography did the trick, and this great statesman was able to continue his reign over Congress and fight for a tempered liberalism in today's magical worldplace where Rush Limbaugh can be both a tie-dye-wearing drug addict and a loving Gandhi-esque man of peace at the same time.
But with such an opportunity to speak to the Youth Of Today about his tax Shelter plan (ha! A little punk rock play-on-words for all the punk rock-loving Robert Plant fans out there!), what did he go and do? He recorded a double-record interview disc with Dan Neer (oh yeah - THAT'S a real name. Ha! Hey, "Dan," what are you sitting "Neer"? HA! HA HA? Do you want a seat "Neer" the window, "Dan"? HA H!!! HE? DHO!!DHO!!!!) and Chuck Young (personally I used to vomit all the time when I was a kid, so I know how he feels!). The subject? Strangely, the entire double-disc is Robert Plant telling anecdotes about gay sex! I'm not sure if maybe he thought the mic was off or what the deal was, but at least now we know what he meant by "Big Log." (I'm not going to give it away, but let's just say the original title had the word "Poop" in it!
Did you know that Keith Moon was a wifebeater? He was! He was! Also, what's the deal with hunters? Why would you see a big beautiful strong animal like a deer or something, living peacefully in the woods, and immediately want to KILL IT??? SNUFF ITS LIFE OUT??? Why? What drives these assholes? Just selfishness and anti-social psychosis?
Okay, I'm less bored now. Sometimes it's just hard to write a review because they're boring. But I've "gotten my jib on" so I'm ready now to discuss this double-disc promotional album that was distributed to radio stations upon the release of Now And Zen.
Personally, I've always been fond of Robert Plant interviews because he goes out of his way to stay current, keep up with what new musicians are doing, and not go down in history as a lost dinosaur playing lost dinosaur music (Deep Purple). This particular double-disc is separated into one album for AOR radio (one side with questions and answers, the other side with answers only, so the Morning Zoo Crew could pretend that Robert was in the studio with them) and one album for College & Alternative radio (one side with questions and answers, the other side with answers only, so the hilarious asshole college DJs could pretend that he was actually answering questions like "Why did you sandpaper your penis down to half its original size?" (Answer: "I want to get through to the kids")). That's the set-up -- but the delivery is something else entirely!
While at the same time being the EXACT SAME THING!
Did You Know? "Big Log" was about driving away after having one of the greatest sexual experiences of his life? The More You Know! He was embarrassed by the success of "Sea Of Love" because it made him look like a sissy crooner when he really intended it as a b-side to an old jump blues song he loved? For Your Information! "Too Loud" was issued as a SINGLE, and the general audience reaction was "What's happened to him? Get the medication!" Have You Heard The News? He considered Bonzo the main and irreplaceable part of Led Zeppelin! Is The Rage 'Round You Yet? He admits that his solo stuff "probably isn't as good as Zeppelin." The best soundbite though is when he says that if he "and Jimmy Page got back together, it wouldn't do Atlantic any good - it wouldn't do anybody any good." Then they DID get back together later on!!! I don't think it did Atlantic any good, but it did ME good - I like those Page/Plant albums.
In short, this never-released-to-the-public promotional interview disc is a must-own, and if you don't own it, you'd might as well get rid of all your Led Zeppelin and Robert Plant albums because you'll NEVER be a REAL fan and you'll never understand what he's all about. It's all RIGHT HERE. The key to his soul. The secret of his vision. The bit where he says the word "balls."
But "these were heady times!" He "really means it, maaaaaaaaaan!"
I still often enjoy Now and Zen and Little by Little (Collectors Edition). I can still wear the t-shirt too.
Verity (John) similar to the last one, excepting that this one has a few too many DUMB rockers that are so underwritten, you hardly even notice there's a song there until it's whizzed by you like a congressman with a urinary tract infection ("Big Love," "She Said" and "SSS&Q" are particularly rank, but they aren't the only culprits). The best songs, however, are right up there with "Big Fuckin Log" and "Tall Fuckin Cool One" and should be regarded as just that. Best moments to Prind? Welp, there are some really neat superfuturistic guitar parts in "Nirvana," it's really darn hard not to fall in love with the T.Rex-ish hit rocker "Hurting Kind (I Got My Eyes On You)" and any Robert Plant fan would go apeshit over the mood-o-rific "I Cried" and "Watching You," wouldn't he/she? In addition, most of the other tunes (even the lamer ones) have excellent arpeggiated guitar choruses that should make you stand up, shake your fist at the world of music and enquire, "Why don't you do stuff like that, you bunch of bands that get played on the radio all the time?"
Not that this album would ever be confused with a masterpiece, but at least every song has something melodic going on in it. Can the same be said for the latest Paul Simon album? Not in my opinion. I love the guy, but he's getting further and further away from memorable melody with each record he puts out. "You Can Call Me Al" - now see, there's a catchy song! "Man walks down the street he says why am I soft in the middle now? Why am I soft in the middle the rest of my life is so hard I need a photo opportunity I want a shot of redemption don't wanna be a cartoon in a cartoon graveyard bone digger bone digger dogs in the moonlight far away my well lit castle mr. Pier man oh pier man get these mutts away from me you know I don't find this kind of thing amusing anymore if you'll be my bodyguard I can be your long-lost pal I can call you betty and betty when you call me you can call me al call me al!" See? That was just from memory, because the song is fantastic. A legendary pop song in every sense of the word. Is there anything even REMOTELY that timeless on You're The One, Songs From The Capeman or Rhythm of the Saints ? And hell, I even ENJOY those records! Don't even get me started on shit like Eric Clapton - that fuckin' guy hasn't written anything close to a memorable song since Cream broke up 30-some-odd years ago. "Tears In Heaven"? No wonder the damn kid threw himself out the window.
Rob goes Mature! Most of this CD is low-key, melancholy baby music with a bare minimum of "ROCK AND ROLL< MUCHTEKWJFUCKA~". Many of the songs are lovely in mood and wistful in thought pattern with gentle understated guitar lines, underrated drum lines, underfated keyboard lines, underplated bass lines, underwaited vocal lines and undergated dickjuice, but a few kinda revel so deeply in an almost new agey somber Windham Hill drift-by instrumental background that the actual melody tunes only really register after 88 listens.
Actually, strangely - and let me know if this has been your experience as well - my first few listens were like "Nothing happens!" Then finally I got some of the songs stuck in my head and I was all like, "Aw this is a GREAT album!" Then I listened a few more times and realized that even though there are discernible melodies in every song, they for the most part are really just okay. Certainly "Memory Song" is awesome with its distorted menacing guitar, and "Come Into My Life" has a chorus every which way as pleadingful as the stuff on Walking Into Clarksdale, which I'll probably review at some point because YES! Ah-HAH IIIIIIIIIIIIIII LIKE IT!
Ah there's nothing like a Modern Problems reference, is there? Chevy Chase had girl problems, car problems! Bar problems - and a troubled mind. Until a nuclear shower! Gave him the power! To get even. And make this holiday season the funniest ever!
What do you mean, you don't remember that legendary film trailer from December 1981? So yes the record is in NO way obnoxious like some of Planty's stuff is. He isn't trying to rocky and kick asshole - he's trying to be ecological-minded and act his age. He acts his age very well - this is by far his most level-headed, mature release. And that's good! It's just that the songs tend to tow the line of "pretty good," not "really, really awesome!" It's at least consistent in its pretty goodness though, so as a whole, it's a pleasantly enjoyable listen no matter what time of day you listen.
Except dusk. It blows at dusk.
The show(s) I saw last summer were splendid, even though the Vegas, at the Hilton show was kind of chaotic with all kinds of logistical problems and lots of other bullshit. It is always a joy to me to see and hear Robert Plant, no matter what kind of horseshit is going on around me.
The San Diego show, a few nights later was a completely different affair. A beautiful summer night, under the stars. Robert Plant sounded like he was singing to the heavens. It was a wonderful performance.
A few weeks prior to seeing the show at the Hilton, I saw Whitesnake at HOB at Mandalay Bay. Not that this is in any way relevant to the serious buisness of Robert Plant, but David Coverdale was on my mind this morning, as he often is. I will say only that David Coverdale is still a walking, talking orgasm and still the subject of many of my favorite fantasies. My daughter once said it perfectly ( she was talking about Lenny Kravitz), "He's a sexy bitch...David Coverdale still is...if you like that kind of thing... ...and I do.
A week after Whitesnake I saw Judas Priest . I had seen Judas Priest at the Whiskey A Go-Go in 1978. The show last summer was considerably toned-down but great nonetheless.
I saw some good shows last summer in anticipation of the Robert Plant shows, which proved to be worthy of the months worth of anticipation and preparation which for me are a part of every Robert Plant tour.
The first time I heard a song from Fate of Nations, the song was Calling to You and I was driving around in my car, on my lunch hour. I actually had to pull over to the side of the road and stop to listen...and then to give thanks.
I watched Robert Plant perform songs from Fate of Nations on VH1. I think one of my kids taped it for me. I remember that the hair on my arm stood up and that I had a heartfelt sense of joy when I saw it. I still have that sense when I listen to Fate of Nations.
Robert Plant's show at San Diego State University, to which I had second row tickets, was cancelled at the last moment. I was deeply disappointed, no doubt.
When I saw the Plant and Page shows in May and September 1995, Calling to You was one of the songs on the setlist at the San Diego show.
29 Palms and I Believe are two of my favorite Robert Plant songs. I like the Fate of Nations version of I Believe more than the version that was recorded on Sixty-six to TBT.
A lot of people say that Robert Plant should give up, that he's too old, that he'll never be able to match the power and majesty of his work with the Honeydrippers. But those people haven't heard Dreamville. 80% of the songs on this new compact disc are fantastically well-written folk and blues songs. Interestingly, out of 10 tracks, only two are original Robert Plant compositions! Coincidence!?!?!!?!??!???~?~??
No it's not, the new songs suck.
My guess would be that Bob Plant wanted to put out a new album and maybe tour, but he didn't have any song ideas in his head. This is no crime, people! The crime is when you write and record a new album ANYWAY (Jackson Browne has been ESPECIALLY guilty of this, subjecting us to such hacked-up stomach bile as Lawyers In Love, Hold Out, World In Motion, Looking East, I'm Alive, Lives In The Balance, Running On Empty, The Pretender, Late For The Sky, First Album (Unreleased), Jackson Browne, Saturate Before Using, For Everyman and The Best of Jackson Browne).
So taking a trick from something Bob Dylan did twice in the early 90s (following his career peak Under The Red Sky, featuring the protest anthem "Wiggle Wiggle"), he decided to have his band perform extremely dark, minor-key updates of several folk & blues songs from days gone yore. Both the songs and the performances are cold and evocative, with the acoustic guitars, ukuleles and accordians of yestertimes sloshing uneasily in time with modern scuzzy, fuzzed-out electric guitar, electric piano and strange backwards electronic noises -- all topped with an unpleasantly loud plate of Robert (Egg) Plant Quesadilla, voice more quivery and off-key than ever before, as befits Mr. Wrinkles-So-Plenty in his golden years.
Dreamtown isn't the most emotionally diverse record in my erection (there's like 4 or 5 others in there - I've got a pretty big vas deferens), with only the two confused, rhythmically upsetting originals serving as "happy" times to balance out the eight parables of darkness and death spread among the rest of the C-Disc (I totally just made up that abbreviation for "Compact Disc" - now FINALLY people won't have to write out the entire phrase "Compact Disc" anymore! With the time saved, we can fix up a park! Clean a neighborhood! Mentor a child! All to pay tribute to those lost on September 11th, as part of the Unity in the Spirit of America (USA) Act -- when this comes up on google, I'm totally counting it as a placement). Classics include a one-chord version of "Hey Joe" that abruptly breaks out into Hendrix's psychedelic break a couple times, an update of Bukka White's "Fixin' To Die" and an "original" (my ass) that "borrows" the lyrics from four old blooze songs you know so well. Here they are by name:
Songs you may also know, even though I didn't, include Tim Rose's "Morning Dew" (I had to listen to it 58 times before I realized he wasn't talking about his dog taking a 7 AM poop in the yard!), Bob Dylan's "One More Cup Of Coffee" (I had to listen to it 72 times before I realized he wasn't talking about drinking poop!), Tim Buckley's "Song To The Siren" (Song to the POOP!), Skip Spence's "Skip's Song" and the Youngbloods' "Darkness Darkness." Every one of these is somber, beautifully arranged and entirely unembarrassing.
Then there's the two originals. Peyooo-ey! Talk about.....
.....
POP MUSIC! Talk About! POP MUSIC! POP POP POP MUSIC! POP POP POP MUSIC!
See, that's what flabbergasts me - how could an album of folk/blues covers not include anything by M?
"Oooooohhhhh....yyyyeeeaaaahhhh...and simulated orgasmic wails were his style. That may have sounded innovative in 1972, but by 1980 it sounded trite and silly. Plant has a great vocal range...so what? So do a lot of other cockjock frontmen for bands...who cares? Give me Johnny Rotten.
I mean look at the Beatles....they each did a few good things after splitting...but nothing like the Beatles. Can you expect someone to be in their prime constantly? Good on them all for following their bliss. After the gift of such moving music, I think we should be thankful and wish them all health and happiness.
Think about early Chicago...and late Chicago. Even worse...early Moody Blues vs late Moody blues....and my favorite case of going stale....Elton John. Love the early...hate the late!Those are some real cases of losing the plot!! Smashing Pumpkins cranked out some masterpieces...and some flat crap!Anyhow...I digress. No one can crank out non stop masterpieces all the time. That they did as much as they have and the genius behind all the players and the way it all came together is a gift. Enjoy it and don't bite the hand that feeds!!
Look, nothing against you personally but I've spent all fucking day copy editing articles by idiots and retards ("Deeuuuuur, say there, Mr. singer in the band Franz Ferdinand -- where did you get the name of your band? DEEEEEUUUUR") and now it's 10:52 PM and I still have to eat dinner and take Henry The Dog to the park before bed so you'll have to excuse me if I come across as a little curt in this review of this Robert Plant double-CD.
First of all, who the hell is this package supposed to entice? Robert Plant completists would already have most of the tracks on the "greatest hits disc," and newfers interested in a quick overview of his biggest hits are (a) going to have no use for the dozens of cover tunes sprawled across both discs, and (b) going to be really pissed off when they realize that the so-called "greatest hits" compilation fails to include two of the biggest hits he ever had ("In The Mood" and "Hurting Kind"), as well as ignoring his kickass debut solo album entirely! And is there ANYBODY who honestly believes that Fate Of Nations had FIVE hits on it? Well, I was there! And believe me -- it didn't!
For more specifics, the title of the disc means that the earliest track is from 1966 and the newest is a live track recorded in Timbuktu. See? The humor! :7D Also, I personally like Robert Plant's songwriting. Most of his best songs have been original compositions. So why on God's Hell of Earth Shit do TWENTY-ONE of these 36 tracks feature no Plant co-writing input at all!? Oh, but enough griping. I did after all give it an 8! That's because I love all his hits and disc two collects a ton of rarities, b-sides and compilation tracks all in one easy-to-lose package. Ahem. Disc one = 1 Honeydrippers song, nothing from Pictures, one each from Principle, Shaken and Manic, 2 from Dreamland, 3 from Now And Zen, five (???) from Fate and two rarities (one horrendous unreleased electro-rock track and one U2-ringingly-good Dreamland international bonus track). Disc two starts with five pre-Zeppelin songs -- a Young Rascals cover (I'm told) with a band called Listen, a solo ballad single, two obnoxious cover tunes with Band of Joy ("Hey Joe" and "For What It's Worth") and a generic blues with Alexis Korner. After that, you got your unreleased numbers, your Crawling Kingsnakes song from the Porky's soundtrack, your Rainer Ptacek, Skip Spence, Arthur Alexander and Elvis Presley covers, your b-sides, your collaborations with Afro Celt Soundsystem and Jools Holland -- PIZZA'S HERE! FUCK OFF!!!
(the next day)
When I said "Fuck Off," I wasn't at all intending to be rude. I was actually trying to promote a new bug spray called "Fuck Off." Apparently a lot of times, ticks, fleas and mosquitos jump onto your person because they want you to ram them with your big fuckin' cock and or big fuckin' vagrana. But with "Fuck Off" (new from K-Tel), you spray it all over yourself and a bunch of tiny ass dildos grow out of your pores so the mosqjitos, tix and ants "get theirs" without you losing all your blood in the process like those American Corpses that were dragged around by Iraqis today. I have something to say about Islam, by the way. Moslems can all suck the dick. Every one of them. Fuck you bunch of assholes.
Oh shit, did I say "Moslems"? I'm sorry - that was a typo. I have a confusing new computer keyboard and every once in a while, I accidentally write "Moslems" when I mean "that guy who used to sing for Hot Chocolate."
While I don't understand why there are so many songs from Fate of Nations and none from Pictures at Eleven (meh...I never liked Pic @ 11, anyway), it is a wonderful compilation of both Percy's greatest hits and his pre-Zeppelin work. I won't list every song, just the ones that stand out.
CD 1 kicks off with my favorite song from the album Manic Nirvana: "Tie Dye on the Highway". This is just a cool song anyway you slice it. The sampling of Stephen Stills' comments from CSN&Y's Woodstock performance just add to the dimension of this song about the long lost hippie days of the 60's (We must be in heaven, man!)
"Little by Little" (the only good song from Shaken 'N Stirred) is included. The bass line in this song was always impressive to me.
And of course, there's "Tall, Cool One". The MTV Big Vid Pic of the late 80's with the cool video where Bob was sporting a mullett, eye shadow and leather.
CD 2 begins with the track "You Better Run" from Robert's Band of Joy days. The sheer, raw power of his then, 18-year old voice was a precursor of one of the things that would make Zeppelin so mighty.
The live version of "I Believe" is, IMHO, better than the studio version on Fate of Nations. Any image of Robert's legendary cockiness melts away when you hear the emotion in his voice while he sings this song in memory of his late son.
"Rude World" is easily the 2nd fave track and has Robert teaming up with Jimmy Page on guitar. Great edgy vocals and riffs in the classic Page/Plant style.
Gotta admit - I REALLY like "Let's Have a Party" This was obviously an outtake from the Manic Nirvana period and starts out with this country, twangy, Hank Williams-ish steel guitar intro then suddenly morphs into a ripping rock-a-billy instrumental with Robert coming in about 8 measures later. I liked the Manic Nirvana era. It was good.
The track "Life Begin Again" was recorded for the Afro Celt Sound System and is a beautiful, heavy Morrocan-themed, Kashmir-sounding song which may as well have been an outtake from the album "Unledded - No Quarter."
"Win My Train Fare Home" is the closing track on CD 2 and was recorded in where else? TIMBUKTU! Really cool number that grows on you each time you hear it. It's a flawless performance by Plant and his band.
I give the entire CD a 10. (Just skip over the grueling 80's number"Red Is For Danger")
Are you gonna jump on the "lets be nice to old warhorses and write a nice little review like all the kids who were still pooping in diapers when Plant was still worthy, " or, will you shoot from the hip like a true critic and unveil it for the whinning oddness that it is?
(five days later)
Guess what Mark? It turns out that I never gave the CD a chance on a good audio system - only the basic sound coming off of my home computer spkrs. I was wrong. I just got to hear it on an excellent car system and the mix on it , if not the tunes, are probably the best he's done as a solo guy. I don't care much for the middle eastern flavor that he's been puttng in since Fate Of Nations, but aside from that, I was wrong in my early opinion. Take a listen when you can.
(one week later)
This is to correct my previous statement about Mighty Rearranger: I should have waited to hear the CD in HiFidelity before making such an opinion. Wow, was I ever wrong. It's a great CD and the best thing he ever did solo, as a whole.
I also asked if Mr. Plant had ever recorded or performed music in any languages other than English. To the best of my knowlege he hasn't.
Whoops, there goes another Robert "Ree" Plant (album)! Please understand that I love Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant and eagerly look forward to each new release. However, I'm not going to lie and claim that this album is stronger than it is. It is in fact the weakest and least melodic release of his entire career (aside from perhaps the Honeydrippers EP, which is nearly unlistenable aside from "Sea Of Lub").
Recorded with a boring band called The Strange Sensation, this disc presents a novel squishing-together of the 'old' and the 'new.' Unfortunately, the 'new' side of that equation refers solely to weird synth noises, electronica beats and crystal digital production; the music meanwhile is just a bunch of 'old' folk-country and blues-rock cliches, further marred by Robert's failure to come up with any memorable vocal melodies. The record certainly SOUNDS neat, with tons of interesting guitar tones and effects, wildass 'moog bass' effects, and instruments with names like 'Bendir' and 'Tehardant." But once you get past the first two winning tracks (very lovely "Another Tribe" and groovy/bombastic "Shine It All Around"), there are almost no gripping melodies at all.
So enjoy the five billion times they play an acoustic chord from high note to low, get wig-wild about the zany 5/4 and 6/4 time signatures, and go "aw man!" every time the moog bass does a freaky swoop, because if you're not careful, you might notice that all the riffs are empty, simplistic and boring, the closest thing to a hook is a Byrds/Beatles ripoff ("Dancing In Heaven"), and the most interesting guitarwork is total Jimmy Page idolatry (the big soaring echoey solo in "The Enchanter," the "All My Love" bendy notes in "Dancing In Heaven," and what's with naming a song "All The King's Horses"??? Does the name 'The Firm' mean NOTHING to you people?!??!).
Let me make one thing clear, though: I don't hate a single song on here. Hell, I like Robert's voice a lot and, as I said, the whole thing just SOUNDS neat because of the interesting instrument choices, warm and wonderful guitar tones and intriguing old-meets-new mix. It's just that, damn, the melodies themselves don't stick to the ribs of my ear. Shit, I like the first two songs a lot, and the odd twiggly-wiggly/punching loud rock dichotomy of "Takamba" is quite interesting, but fuck, there are no "Big Log"s or "Little By Little"s to be found here at all. Assballs, I still get "Come Into My Life" stuck in my head all the time, and there's not even anything on here like THAT! I mean butthole, you know? Ream cream. Quiff.
Nevertheless, I eagerly await his next project, though I would prefer that it be a Page/Plant album. Unlike every other creature ever born or to be born at some point in the future, I actually really liked Walking Into Clarksdale.
Ooo, you know what'd be even cooler though? If Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham got together and recorded a new album as "Bonham." Goddamn man, with a line-up like that, the resultant album might even be as good as The Disregard Of Timekeeping!
Not Mad Hatter though, I mean what world are you living in?
I bet a lot of Robert Plant fans rag you about your opinions when it comes to the different Robert Plant CDs. I do have to agree with a lot of what you have said about Mighty Rearranger.
For me there is something missing and I can not put my finger on it. I know that when I say this many people assume I do not like the CD and that's far away from the truth. I do like it but I'm not in love with it--the only thing for me is I don't keep going back to this CD and I don't need to hear it which is something I have been trying to figure out why.
I think it's because I believe Robert Plant was holding out on us when he made this CD. Perhaps, the thing I think is missing from Mighty Rearranger is Robert Plant's soul. Mighty Rearranger has a lot of good songs and lyrics on it and Robert's voice still has the power to send chills but I don't hear his soul speaking to me. I think when the songs are performed live they have the energy that's missing from the CD.
I do not feel that this is Robert Plant's best CD and perhaps that's a good thing because it keeps the bar high for more Plant greatness. I do think it's good for Robert and the Strange Sensation to have fans like yourself, because it's people like you and non fans that they should be enchanting and that's where the truth test of the music lies. Thank you for your honesty. Of course there will be people who say that those who do not enjoy this CD just do not "get it" which I do not agree with that...I get it alright...I'm a Plant fan but I'm not satisfied and this should be a good thing for Mr. Plant and the Strange Sensation to know because if I was then I'd probably be moving a long like this...
Stop holding out on us Robert Plant...Push it, Punch it-- just give it to us!
and Mark...Page/Plant/Jones--that's what I want!
while this album is by no means his best work i think it is as good as anthing being produced by performers more than half his age
I read several reviews of Mighty Rearranger and of the U.S. tour. Unfortunately, the reviews I read were somewhat less than favorable, such as the one written by Dan Aquilante for the New York Post which couldn't have been any more scathing. The concert review describes Robert Plant acting as though applause are his birthright and insinuated that Robert Plant regards the adoration of fans as more important than the music. Mr Aquilante had some very unkind things to say about Robert Plant's show at the Beacon in NYC. Things which only prove that he doesn't know a thing about Robert Plant...or true greatness. Show some respect
Y'all just don't seem to get it, do you?? The whole "Zeppelin" saga... the whole shmear! You say: "Oh, well this is so weak for a R. Plant album" or: "it's the marketing. If only he had promoted it .. but of course he doesn't need to , because.." etc., etc - Yadda, yadda, yadda. Get lives! Would ya'all!?? Wake up and smell the damned cappacino! - 'cause.. WELL, SURPRISE!!!!, I've got news for all you mis-directed blindered sheep out there! - I say "blindered sheep", because you've ALL been played into this entire thing; yep,.. worse than a trail of dead gnat corpses in a flourishing venus fly-trap, you have!
Think about it.. I mean Led Zeppelin in of itself. From the moment the band formed, they.. well, EVERYONE who knows and enjoys Rock Music, KNEW what they had here. It was a combination of genius that was to become "stellar". "Immortal" even, if you will. Ok, that's a given. And that's exactly what it became. Then, somewhat tragically; Bonham kicks the bucket. Sad, true - but hey, .. that's life.
What to do now? Well, Zep could go the usual route of all the great Rock 'n Roll bands. Either they stick it out (like the Who; if somewhat pathetically!), or disband (like the Beatles; Those bastards!). Aaah, ...but wait! Suppose they did something completely different? Something not only "different", but something ... well, EPIC! in every sense of the word? - because, after all, this is LED ZEPPELIN we're talking about.. Not some flash in the pan two-bit group like ("fill in with the name of any of hundreds of rock bands"- here).
So here's what we'll do, agree Jimmy , Jonesy and Robert. We seperate.. tell 'em we're through. A few "flashes" 'round & about, a handful of "sparks" here and there (i.e. - The No Quarter stint).. nothing "too" grand though; maybe a few monkey wrenches thrown in here and there too (like, maybe make it look like Jimmy has lost his touch, ('scoff!'), even) - just to add a bit more "realism" to it all).
Then, lets say, ..oh, 30 years from now, we pull it all back together - full force! Pump that Leaden (No, not "leeden"; you stupid Americans!) Blimp back up!! And thus, proceed to give the world the answer to their long savoured, yet unquenched, JONES they've been drooling for all these many decades. We'll go down as not just greatest rock and roll group ever, but the ultimate musical ensemble of all time! Now THERE's your ultimate Marketing Plan for ya! And all you half-wits bit into it (the scheme).. hook, line and sinker. Suckers! All I can say is: "God BLESS capitalism!!" ( Lol. )
Alison Krauss is a 36-year-old bluegrass singer/fiddler who has won 30 grammy awards -- one each year starting at age 7 (possibly). Nevertheless, having not seen O Brother Dude, Where Art My Car?, I've never heard a single song she's recorded. In fact, I've never even heard a single song she's heard, which tells you exactly how different our upbringings were. Nevertheless, Bob Plant called her on the mimeograph and said, "Hay, let's make a ablum."
A collection of 13 mostly old-timey cover tunes, Raising Sand is the sort of project that seems specifically designed for rock critics, yet surprisingly I like it too! Covered artists include Sam Phillips, Dillard & Clark, Everly Brothers, Tom Waits, Mel Tillis, Doc Watson, Townes Van Zandt and Page/Plant. Covered genres include country/western, 3-penny opera, jumpin' jive jazz, rock'n'roll, 50's balladry, brooding modern rock, and r'n'b. Covered songs include "Trampled Rose," "Fortune Teller," "Please Read The Letter" and ten songs I've never heard. Covered wagons include pioneers and supplies.
But enough facts and figures. Data's great and all, but you can get data by shittin in your hand and opening a book. Hell, you don't even have to shit in your hand most times, that's just an added bonus. But my point is this: the reason that this CD is so good is because Robert Plant has at some point over the course of his career learned the skill of 'restraint.' Let me illustrate this point with a real-life story that's not very interesting.
I was out in Sam Frank's Disco a couple of weeks ago shopping in Amoeba Records while my friend Brandan did some work in a nearby coffee shop. Five thousand hours later when I was finished shopping, Brandan told me, "They played Led Zeppelin II in its entirety, and I think it may be the worst album I've ever heard." After I finished picking my jaw up off the floor - sorry typo, after I finished picking this Jew up off the ground, with his big nose and running Hollywood, I asked Brandan, "Are you fucked up the fucking ass, you fucking piece of fuck? That album has 'Thank You' on it." And he replied, "Well, if you can find me an instrumental version of the album, I'll give it another chance." I saw where this was heading, but he continued: "I realized something I'd never noticed before. They double-tracked Plant's gibberish at the end of 'Ramble On.' Which means that some studio engineer heard the original ending, with all that "whooo yeah! whoo yeah!" bullshit and thought, 'You know what this song could use? Some more of that gibberish at the end.' So now you get two tracks of 'Whoo yeah! Whoo yeah! Ma ma ma ma ma! Ramble on baby! Doo! Doo! Doo! Doo!'" And you know? I hated to say this, but you were right, Brandan.
And it's not just Brandan. My wife can't stand Robert Plant's Led Zeppelin voice either. Even I have trouble sitting through his ridiculous The Song Remains The Same performance (ex. "You need coo-ooo-lin'! Ah baby I'm not ah-foolah-foolah-foo-foolin'!"). So imagine the surprise that we all would feel when/if we all sat down to Raisin Bran and heard how Mr. Plant completely buries his ego in order to merge his voice like a (castrated) male angel in gorgeous, heartbreaking harmony with 30-time Grammy Winner Alison Krauss. When these two put their voices together for a depressing country ballad ("Killing The Blues," "Through The Morning, Through The Night," "Your Long Journey," the not-country-but-I'll-put-it-here-anyway "Stick With Me, Baby"), the results are absolutely breathtakingly harrowingly beautifully beautiful harrowing breathtaking absolute results. "Your Long Journey" is a song sung to a dying life partner, for Pete's Christ! Talk about SADD! (Students Against Dying Dearests)
Unfortunately, they don't sing harmony in every track; some feature one lead and the other backup, and a couple seem to be missing one or the other entirely(!), but even a few of these are as strong as anything Robert's released in years. How so, you wonder? Let me paraphrase Bill Clinton: "The economy, stupid." (except replace "economy" with "musical accompaniment" and "stupid" with "you stupid, stupid asshole") T-Bone Burnett handles the bandmaster and production duties with impressive results, particularly in his ability to create an appropriate ambiance for a full half-century's worth of music. In other words, when he wants a song to sound like a 1950's ballad, it sounds like a 1950's ballad, down to the correct amount of tremelo and reverb on the guitar. When he wants to capture the feel of a suicidal country ballad, the pedal steel purtiness puts you right there in that Waffle House. And when he wants to bring things Up-To-Date a bit, the instrumental approaches and stereophonic mixes sound as futuristic as an Eno (particularly in Robert's awesome foreboding rock cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Nothin'").
I'm not Bill Fanatic about every song they chose to cover (hence the 7/10), but there are only three real misfires:
(1) I love the Rolling Stones' version of "Fortune Teller," so it's a kick in the teeth to hear Robert Plant ruin it with his (solo) oversinging. Does the previously dark'n'mean song really need cock rock asides like "Ooo, yes I did!"? Ooo, no it doesn't.
(2) "Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson" is probably intended to be an r'n'b song, but Alison's twangy delivery and Burnett's surprisingly over-slick mix put it right in the company of modern shit-country artists like Garth "Chris Gaines" Brooks and Tim "Chris Gaines" McGraw.
(3) I appreciate Sam Phillips allowing Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash to record at her famous Sun Studios, but her "Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us" song is fucken gypsy music. And you know how I feel about gypsies, ever since one of 'em knifed a farmer and stole his horse. Never caught the gypsies, nor the horse.
The music creates a really nice mood. The band's excellent use of reverb, tremelo and light delay helps create an old-timey yet timeless feel. Most of the songs are very slow though, so don't go into it expecting another grindcore album like The Honeydrippers, Volume Two: The Bathtub Shitter Catalog.
Alison Krauss is goddess.
Plant went up miles in my estimation by working with her. Even with her gazillion Emmy's, she's criminally underheard.
It's a charity case by Plant because he is repenting for the many tunes he ripped off the po' black blues men of years gone by. Your penitence has been paid Mr. Plant. Now go back to LZ where you belong.