Can you
think of any legendary front-man who has worked as hard to reinvent
himself as Robert Plant has? The former Zep wailer has been crafting
a powerful and diverse discography to pin his name to ever since the
classic rock titans disbanded under tragic circumstances in 1980. In
the 21st century he has been a remarkably hard artist to
pin down. It started out with revision on his
greatest-hits-but-not-really release Dreamland. This was
followed by a pattern of re-invention after re-invention. Plant has
since tried his hand at everything from worldly, hard-hitting blues
(Mighty Rearranger) to adult contemporary (the multi-Grammy
winning Raising Sand with Alison Krauss). His is indeed a full
palette. Old Robert is back once again, sounding newer than ever,
with a new band of like-minded fellows on hand to present his latest
opus, Lullaby and … The Ceaseless Roar.
The free-wheeling, anything goes
attitude that he brought with him on 2010’s Band of Joy is
present and accounted for. Malian blues and nebulous Americana
collide with the pulsating electronic heartbeat on album opener
'Little Maggie'. It's an audaciously bold track that opens your eyes
to the world that Plant and friends are trying to create here. Anyone
who has paid close attention to Plant, even in his Zeppelin days,
will have noticed penchant for non-Western music. But here he has
taken his opportunity to go all in and push those boundaries as far
as they will go.
Much of the credit for this astonishing
diversity goes to the latest incarnation of Plant's backing band, The
Sensational Space-Shifters. Some of these esteemed gents have been
tagging along for some time under different versions of the band
while some are totally new to the ensemble. A particular standout is
Justin Adams, who plays an array of unusual instruments on the record
including bendirs, djembe, and tehardant . He brings an amazing
eclectic bent to the record and shines brightly whenever given the
opportunity. But that is not at all to downplay what the rest of the
band brings to the table. The Sensational Space-Shifters are the most
engaging and powerful group that Plant has worked with in nearly
forty years.
Unlike many of his contemporaries
Robert Plant has never shied away from modernity. 'Pocketful of
Golden' harkens back to the moody, bass-driven days of trip-hop –
all clattering snares and synthesized strings. The same goes for the
Industrial-tinged 'Turn It Up' which takes the prize for heaviest
song on the record. None of this should come as a surprise given his
current entourage and their previous positions within the greater
realms of music. The best songs are where all of these disparate
elements come together in unison. ‘Embrace Another Fall’ dazzles
with its dizzying combination of jungle beat, violins, guitar solos,
and the stunningly feminine vocals that come in at the end. If you
were to pick out one song from Robert Plant’s solo work to show to
the uninitiated I think that ‘Embrace Another Fall’ would be a
valid contender.
But even with all of these stylistic
diversions the heart of all of these songs is still recognizably
Plant. ‘Rainbow’, the lead single from the album, is not far
divorced from the muted country sway that won him all those awards
(and a legion of new fans, no doubt) in Raising Sand. Sure,
the soft brushed drums and tender fiddles have been replaced with
tribal percussion and mournful washes of guitar but the principle is
exactly the same. This is just a small part of the scintillating
fusion of modern and ancient styles of music we are treated to on
Lullaby and … The Ceaseless Roar. It is a canvas on which
Leadbelly's blues can co-exist with the type of futuristic shamanism
that Plant effortlessly commands.
Robert Plant lives in the rarefied
company of the likes of David Bowie and Neil Young. These men are
survivors of another era who have refused to fade into memories of
yesteryear. They all feel as though they still have something to
contribute to the world, even if those contributions come with mixed
results. Lullaby And … The Ceaseless Roar is a bold and
timely statement that Robert Plant does not want to be relegated to
the past tense just yet. He still has something left to say and if he
keeps saying it as emphatically as he has in 2014 we would all do
well to heed such statements.
Rating: A-
Recommended tracks: Embrace Another Fall, Little Maggie, Turn It Up
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