Band of Joy

Robert Plant: hard worker and inspired creator

What will force Robert Plant to put a full stop in his brilliant musical story? As time shows, the age is not a big deal for the singer as the maestro turned sixty without slowing down a bit. Moreover, no matter how many rewards and titles he has now and will have then, they won’t be enough to satisfy Robert’s desire to create more and more. Although Led Zeppelin and Robert Plant’s credits as part of this magnificent band will always stand atop in the rays of their superiority, we can not assess the singer’s achievements by only looking at what he did in the Zeppelin times, because ignoring his other projects would be an unforgivable mistake. For thirty years, Robert has been working as a solo artist and cooperating with vocalists and instrumentalist presenting most various genres you can imagine. In 2007, the audience was blessed with the CD called Raising Sand prepared by Robert working side by side with the country-singer Alison Krauss. This thing of art gathered so many praiseful reviews and sold so many copies that the absolute majority expected a continuation of this story. However, the two vocalists did not get along too well, and their partnership was suspended for a undefined period of time. Still, Robert knew what he needed to do.

A new vocal alliance on the Band Of Joy album

Band Of Joy looks rather like a title of a band than a title of an album, but in the end it surfaced as the name of Plant’s new studio record released in the autumn 2010. Since the very start, this work was seen as a sequel to the extremely successful Raising Sand; and even Alison’s departure did not undermine Plant’s plans. Having teamed up with the folk-diva Patty Griffin and producer Buddy Miller, the singer prepared an amazing record where music took up fancy various shapes without losing its solid stylistic ground. The instrumental basis for this cocktail consists of guitars, banjo and drums, but the most essential ingredients are the voices of Plant and Griffin. You may rest sure that independent of the music background, whether this is blues in Central Two O Nine, or rock-n-roll in You Can’t Buy My Love, these voices will not let you down. The tracks off Band Of Joy are remakes of old songs that were penned by different authors to be performed in different styles, which kills any idea of musical unity of the album. What unites the songs is Plant’s fondness of mysticism, religious research and supernatural phenomena. This, probably, is the main reason why Band Of Joy saved some space even for the gospel material: Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down, and Even This Shall Pass Away.

Shadows of the past in the new works of the grand master

Band Of Joy is also the name of the outfit where Robert Plant used to sing even before Led Zeppelin appeared. There is no secret that, albeit collecting favorable feedback for his later works, the singer can’t fight his longing for the times that are long gone with much from that period being reflected in this or that way in what Robert is making nowadays. Phantoms of Led Zeppelin haunt practically each solo album that Plant has ever released after his most popular band collapsed. Since time immemorial, the vocalist has been deeply interested in occultism, mythology and religion; and he still is, even today. Sure, ordinary people in their sixties usually take interest in different things, but is Robert Plant an ordinary person? In this connection, we must admit that Band Of Joy is also a work where all instrumental passages are veiled by specific arrangements that create the effect of puzzling and mystery. There is a possibility that in the beginning Robert Plant had a different idea of Band Of Joy in his mind, because the female singer was later substituted. Griffin’s responsibilities are not as significant as Krauss’s ones were when she was in charge, but what Patty did remains an integral part of this work and certainly decorates the album. In conclusion, we get one more magnificent present from the established master who can not live without music.