Robert Plant is magnificently well-equipped to shine as a consummate musical survivor: not only has his voice kept its magic, with a range from sensual caress to ecstatic howl, but he’s deeply rooted in timeless music, Scots-Irish and American folk as well as the country blues.
These qualities were well in evidence when he exploded onto the rock scene with Led Zeppelin, a pioneer of heavy metal, whose fire was tempered by an affinity with the magical side of British folk and the melancholy beauty of the blues. His latest album, the first with Saving Grace, his regular touring band for the last few years, is relatively low-key. With the Strange Sensation and other earlier musical companions, and the presence of Justin Adams on lead guitar, haunted by the ghost and fury of Jimmy Page but also an explorer of African and North African trance rhythms, he remained noisy. The latest offering delights in a mix of nostalgia and romanticism. Surrounded by a talented bunch of like-minded musicians, who serve his vocal brilliance and love of well-crafted traditional music with sensitivity and brio, he has pulled off yet another excellent album.
There are echoes here of the albums he made with Alison Krauss, and co-produced by with T-Bone Walker, as he continues to mine, with incomparable taste, the compositions of others as well as works from the traditional canon. But this record is different, not least because Suzy Dian is more sweet folk than country-style Krauss, bringing softness to the vocal mix and some beguiling solos with less ego than the country and bluegrass star she has replaced.
The wow-factor consistently runs through the album, each covered song lovingly given a new sheen, rather than slavishly duplicated: from Blind Willie Johnson’s classic “Soul of a Man”, as intense as anything the blues gospel growler ever recorded, and yet very much Plant’s take on the song, to a wonderful take on “Gospel Plow”, an African-American masterpiece made famous by Bob Dylan on his first album. While Zimmy raised the spirit with hallucinating speed, Plant treats the song as a slow hymn, luring us gently towards spiritual salvation. Dian sometime takes the lead as on Sarah Siskind’s “Too Far From You”, a small masterpiece of softly sung romance, elevated for a thrilling moment by an almost Zep-style guitar break from lead guitarist Tony Kelsey, brilliant and never showy throughout.
