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Review
There was a distant clue in Fate of Nations' If I Were a Carpenter. Nine years on from that Tim Hardin cover, Plant opted to pay homage to such American cult figures as Tim Rose (Morning Dew), Tim Buckley (Song to the Siren), Moby Grape's Skip Spence (Skip's Song), and the Youngbloods' Jesse Colin Young (Darkness, Darkness). Additionally, he tipped a wink to Dylan (Desire's One More Cup of Coffee) and – on a spooky, jagged cover of Hey Joe – to both Hendrix and Love's Arthur Lee.
Plant also parted ways with primary collaborator Phil Johnstone, creating a more organic feel around guitarist Justin Adams and bassist Charlie Jones. From the raggedly exciting opener – a Hurdy-Gurdy-propelled update of Bukka White's I Believe I'm Fixin' to Die that sounds more like Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds than like Now & Zen – Dreamland is instantly rough and ready, stripped of studio sheen. The mournful take on Morning Dew is built on Adams' spare backwards guitar and John Baggott's murky electric piano; Song to the Siren is more minimal still, but no less affecting than the version by This Mortal Coil. Darkness, Darkness becomes a statement of haunting despair. Skip's Song packs the euphoric punch that made a giant Moby Grape fan of Plant back in 1967.
Most striking is the change in Plant's voice. Close-miked, it has become an instrument of breathy intimacy – middle-aged, yes, but in its serene way as powerful as his full-throttle shrieking in days of old.
Interspersed with Dreamland's covers are several originals written by Plant with Adams, Jones, Baggott, drummer Clive Deamer, and former Cure guitarist Porl Thompson. Win My Train Home (If I Ever Get Lucky) is an African blues that incorporates elements of songs by Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker and Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup and anticipates Adams' production stints with the Malian troupe Tinariwen. Last Time I Saw Her is an outbreak of freak-funk, complete with unhinged synth oscillations and manic wah-wah guitar. Red Dress is raw, slide-slashed blues, Dirt in a Hole a powerfully driving finale.
--Barney HoskynsFind more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Customer Reviews
'Morning Dew' and 'Fixing to Die' contrast each other dramatically but open the album and set the tone perfectly - a great reflection of what's to come. Porl Thompson adds a second guitar so that the two players are almost fencing at times. Plant becomes a passenger. 'Red Dress' (a rocker)and 'Darkness Darkness' (a moody drawl) are also stand out tracks where I've never heard the originals but now I'm curious. I'll bet they sound nothing like these versions.
Plant has that unmistakable voice, but on this album it really is superlative. The music is a welcome change and proves that Plant can not only hack it with the rest, but clearly is better than the best. Try to take time to listen to the music with headphones on, as a lot of the subtle production & mixing is lost when listening through speakers. Don't judge this album based on the fact that most of it made up of cover versions, the Plant interpretation/execution is unique & very cleverly delivered. The other tracks are brilliant as well. The single I have no doubt will be received with great gusto by those who appreciate good music, but I don't think the current singles "charts" have a space for this type of quality music,(I hope I am wrong). Well done Robert Plant & band a superb work of art & something no doubt they are proud of.
This is an album which you must own, and I have no doubt that it will be a great addition to the Robert Plant collection.
BUY IT NOW.
We put it on the car stereo on the way home and listened to it from start to finish.
By the time we pulled up to our villa, both my father and I had vowed not to leave the country without our own copies.
This album is essentially a list of cover-versions, but don't be mislead. Each and every one of these tracks has been soaked in Plant's own styling and his voice drips rich textures over each track.
The opener, as I learnt from Mr Plant himself in concert at the Hammersmith Appolo, was written in 1939 by an old bluesman on death row in America and is as good a piece of simple blues done magnificently well as you could hope to hear outside of the mississippi delta.
Each and every song on this album would stand up on its own but there are two tracks that linger in my mind after listening.
Firstly, his version of Tim Buckley's "Song To The Siren" is so pitch-perfect to be truly moving and a song that both sinks you into a love-torn despair and lifts you with its sheer beauty at the same time. Just magnificent musicianship.
The second track is his version of "Hey Joe". Who else in their right minds would EVER even consider trying to out-do Jimi Hendrix?
The scary thing is he produces a version so dark, brooding and sinister whilst remaining totally controlled, that he pulls it off! This is a very different version to Hendrix' and as such it is not possible to say which is better. I simply say this is how I had always imagined that song should be. After all, the story is a dark one, so should the song be.
In conclusion, for anyone who likes Led Zeppelin, go have your faith reconfirmed. For those newer to the scene, go find the master at his best, setting the bar higher and higher for others to follow.
For purists, buy the CD, learn to appreciate the songs and then go see him play them live and marvel at how seamlessly they blend into his Zeppelin back catalogue.
Finally, a word to the doorman who took my ticket stub at the concert last night. I appologise for misleading you when you asked me if Robert Plant was from Def Leppard, I cheekily replied "no,ZZ Top". Too my amazement, he replied "oh yeah, that's right!" and ushered me on my way.
You musn't laugh, just buy the poor man a copy of this cd and he will never forget the answer.
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