Robert Plant - Mighty Rearranger



Straight off, we got kind of world drums, tribe, world music. Then Robert Plant's voice kicks in. It's not his fault, we just know him so well. Its tattooed on my brain from childhood. He's just raised my expectations of the album. And straight off, its not too bad. The guitars are quite tasteful. That's the second bit of Robert Plant's voice, I immediately expect to hear Jimmy Page side by side. Every now and again you hear a little mannerism in his voice, and you say to yourself "holy fuck. That nearly sounded like led zep, who are these new people", but then you remember, this is a 1/4 of the holy grail of rock; You will get tingles. The danger is that a watered down version of Led Zep sounds like a watered down Robert Plant. That's called David Coverdale, but thankfully so far, we're doing okay.

In the first few tracks it reminds me of Euphoria Moon by Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Not a bad album, but it feels like someone pushing the envelope away from Rawk. It has smatterings of pro tools stuff in the same way as Chris Cornell did. What a shame for Robert Plant, 25 years after the breakup of Led Zep, I find it impossible to listen to his voice and take it seriously as an innovative artist.

I'm starting to get into this, I caught a bit of less-world-music guitar. The end of Freedom fries sounds like Dave Navarro. What a bizarre notion, who is plagiarising who? Freedom fries on first listen ain't a bad track.


Now Tin Pan Alley. We start with moog type filter sounds. Robert Plant has done quite well. He blends what he wants to do - world music - with some modern stuff, and he manages not to make it cringeworthy. Compare this to some of the dabblings Mick Jagger has made with contemporary music. Or pink Floyd. Robert Plant! Tasteful????

Then it kicks in. Its protools and modern, but it does approach rocking.

Track 5. Fingerstyle acoustic folk. All the kings horses, fairly standard, a bit close to some Led Zep to be good, but acceptable.

Now I'm settling into it and getting on with work. I'm quite impressed.

Track 6 - not bad dancey vibes, but the drugs that that man has been around this should have come as expected. I have to enter the disclaimer here, that I'm not a big dance fan. I kind of know what I like, I'm not very consistent. There are probably people with a good handle on this music who think he is being cringeworthy. Maybe I've become too old to have my ear to the ground on what is cringeworthy. Ah. I'm an adult!

there's also the elements that are just too close to Led Zep. Glassando Strings, Tabletop guitars etc.

Now I'm settling into it and getting on with work. I'm quite impressed. It's on the iPod, so time will only tell if it gets played enough to become a good album.