New Robert Plant Album ~ Band of Joy

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Some of you Zep fans will remember that Plant & Bonzo were in a group together before Zep called Band of Joy.
Well Plant's calling his new band Band of Joy now too!!
Album was released today on Decca.

Haven't got it yet but I will. What I've heard is cool.
It's very laid back & tame.

Plant seems to be aging gracefully....not too disgracefully anyway. lol

[uwe]

That is one thing I credit him for: He could be making shitloads of money in a Zep reunion, but rather ploughs his own field.

[Dave W]

He was on the Today Show this morning and did a number, can't say which because my phone rang at the time. Whatever it was, it was much less annoying that his Led Zeppelin voice. And much better than the synth-dance-pop artists they usually feature.

[uwe]

Probably the new single?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LREVZSIcL8&feature=related

It certainly still echoes the folk elements of Zeppelin, but not in an embarassing way. And Plant has found an age-appropriate tone of voice. He should have a chat with David Coverdale about that sometime.

[Lightyear]

I was prepared not to like that!  I was pleasantly surprised - pretty interesting

[Pilgrim]

Overall, I did too.  I thought his voice sounded rather whiney through much of it, but the chorus sounded pretty cool.  Sounded like a bit of uke in there, too.

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

I've got all Plant's solo stuff so I got this one too.

I gotta tell ya that after my first run thru I ain't diggin' it much; it's probly his weakest solo effort yet & of all his catalog only his album with Page called Walking into Clarksdale is worse.

I can understand why he ain't carrying on with Zep. He's mellowed out A LOT.

He's trying to grow old gracefully & not too disgracefully but he's shot himself in the foot with this album.

Last year he had a plausible reason for not doing an album & tour with Zep, after winning a grammy or 2 with Allison Krauss.

Now he just looks stupid & wimpy for not ROCKIN' with ZEP!!!!

I'd personally love to see him RALLY & get FIRED UP to make another go of it with Page & Jones & Bonzo jr.

C'mon, Robert! Get your head out & call Page!!!

[birdie]

That's a Los Lobos tune. You can see two of them in the front seat of the car. I like this just fine. Wish I could "shoot myself in the foot" like Mr. Plant any day of the week!

[nofi]

some people would rather move forward in their careers than beat a thirty year old dead horse. i admire him for that.

[birdie]

Hear  hear!!

[Chaser001]

I'm way more of a Cream fan than a Led Zeppelin fan.  So I don't much keep up with Robert Plant.  However, it appears he created some controversy on that program when he mentioned being influenced by spook music.  I had never heard the term before.  However, some people are interpreting this as a racial slur.  This may be a tempest in a teapot and, like I said, I'm not really interested in Robert Plant, so I'm not going to look into this.  Out of curiosity, though, it might be interesting to know what spook music is supposed to mean and what he was actually talking about when he used the term.  I really do find it hard to believe that Robert Plant would have intentionally said something that might be considered racially insensitive.  

Edit: 
I'd rather not post any links since I feel that would potentially be bringing excess baggage on to this forum.  But anyone interested shouldn't find it difficult to google this. 

[uwe]

I'm no Robert Plant fan, but I'd be very surprised if he had anything against blacks and their musical tradition he has plundered for his wealth!!! Seriously, Zep had an overt share of blues riff stealing on their first two albums, but you could always hear the adoration they held for that music too. Plant is a thoughtful man, even intelectually aloof, like Petty, when accused of using the word nigger in a song, he could probably say: "I ain't no racist, I don't even drive!"

Back to the album. Terr, what did you expect after his outing with Ms Krauss? The new album is recorded in Nashville and sounds like it. Looking at Plant's solo output, with a few exceptions, he has become more and more esoteric over time. I think he's sincere in carving his own path even though the Led Zep crowd is yearning for him to do something else. His career choice reminds me a bit of what Clapton did after Cream, disengaging from being a guitar hero in a power trio and becoming a singer/songwriter (not that he's excellent at either!) playing a fluid, if less than daring blues lead guitar (he is excellent at that, he uses the same words everybody ion that field uses, but has his own langugage).

I gave the Plant album a first listen today, it's not immediately accessible, but then very few of his solo work is (he left that part of the market to Kingdom Come). Have to give it a few more spins, but it seems to be a logical follow-up to his work with Krauss (and that album was far from being immediately accessible too). 

[uwe]

Ok, I read a little now. I don't care whether he meant "spook music" as black music or as spiritual folklore of his home isles (the main ingredients of Zep are, after all, American Blues and British Folk, an unlikely combination, but they forged a sound with it that set America raving mad), him using that term is really a non-topic. He most likely used it because it was the term applied back then in the early sixties. So what. I sometimes jokingly refer to black music as "Negermusik", but that doesn't hopefully turn me into a KKK devotee or let me forget the overriding influence of black music on most contemporary music today. Even hard rock and heavy metal, largely regarded as "white", are just amplified blues with a few classical chord changes. A pot may call the kettle "black" as long as it doesn't forget its origins.

[OldManC]

That's a Los Lobos tune. You can see two of them in the front seat of the car.

If they're in the video at least that means Robert probably didn't take sold songwriting credit on this one.

I read about the 'spook' comment this morning and had a sad laugh at the state of things. I won't wade into it because I don't know that I could and express myself effectively (without giving offense to somebody ). I'll add this though; I doubt Robert Plant harbors racial animus toward people of any particular color. He strikes me as thinking on a deeper level than that (at least as an older guy - that mud shark thing might betray a more juvenile mind from back in the day).

And no, there's no double entendre intended there either!

[Grog]

I've got all Plant's solo stuff so I got this one too.

I gotta tell ya that after my first run thru I ain't diggin' it much; it's probly his weakest solo effort yet & of all his catalog only his album with Page called Walking into Clarksdale is worse.

I've got Walking into Clarksdale. I had a tough time listening to it the one time I tried.