Search - Robert Plant :: Dreamland (Bonus CD)

A covers album that actually matters from an Artist who does

William Scalzo | Niagara Falls, NY | 02/23/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Robert Plant's Dreamland gives me the perfect excuse to go off on a rant about Classic-Rock Radio. Every radio market in America has at least one of these, the ones for whom time began around 1968 with the advent of psychedelic rock and ended ca. 1977 with the advent of Punk. The stations playing songs from a decade earlier than Classic Rock's birth at least have the honesty to call themselves Oldies stations. Meanwhile, the good old Classic Rock stations stay stuck in their endless, mindless time-warp loop of "Led Zeppelin A-to-Z Weekends" and "Let's roll some dice and see how many songs in a row to play by the Floyd Boys." What gets me about those stations is that I can understand their reluctance to play anything recorded since the invention of the CD. I disagree with them 100% but at least I understand the (closed) mindset. It is, after all, called Classic Rock for a reason, so it should be classic right? But what gets me is the way they turn on their own idols, worshipping only the fading black and white images of careers that are still extant and in some cases even vital.



Which brings me to Mr. Plant. Turn on a radio just about anywhere and spin the dial and you'll find Plant's three-decades-old work with Led Zep playing. But why in the name of all that is good and proper, is "Darkness Darkness" not played in heavy rotation? So the geezers love "Kashmir" so much it's practically a religion, while that song's spiritual descendent, and a hell of a great tune, gets ignored.



Dreamland is mostly made up of covers of old blues and folk songs, given the full-on psychedelic treatment, usually of the heavy variety. 36 years after he started, Plant is still reinterpreting classic blues songs like Bukka White's "I Believe I'm Fixin' to Die" exactly like he did back in the day. Only these days he gives proper credit to the original songs authors. The aforementioned "Darkness Darkness" was originally by the Youngbloods, and while I've never heard it I imagine it sounds little like the pachouli-scented skullcrusher that it becomes in the hands of Plant and his talented band (which includes former Cure guitarist Porl Thompson!) Ditto for the warhorse "Hey Joe," done a thousand times before but almost unrecognizable in this blasting psyche-out version.



Plant does bring down the room with a beautiful and heartfelt version of Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren" and the closing "Skip's Song" by legendary Moby Grape co-founder Skip Spence, but the overall feel of this CD is heavy psych-blues with Middle Eastern overtones at times. in fact if this CD has one flaw it might be the overly psychedelic feel which can make a stone-cold sober person dizzy. Perfect if you're in the mood for it, but a bit more of the levity of "Skip's Song" might have made it a slightly better CD.



Robert Plant is still making great music, still challenging himself, still fronting a great band. Lord knows he doesn't need the money, so my hat is off to him for refusing to become a Vegas act. You have to respect his continuing determination to matter. But I wonder how many people know he still matters, and I largely blame the cold robotic churn that American Radio has become."

Robert Plant covers the 60s folk scene

P. Nicholas Keppler | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania United States | 08/01/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Some aging classic rockers whose muses are not currently tending to them are smart enough to realize it (although evidently not many). A number of these artists responded by recording collections of cover songs while waiting for inspiration to return. While these releases are certainly not ambiguous and almost never on par with the said artists' top work, they are definitely better than hearing one's favorites stumbling at composing new originals. Bob Dylan, for example, followed 1990's mediocre Under the Red Sky, with two admirable collections of traditional folk songs, 1992's Good as I Been to You and 1993's World Gone Wrong. Metallica, who gravely upset fans with their MTV-conforming 1996 and 1997 albums, Load and Reload, regained some esteem with their 1998 covers album, Garage Inc. Paul McCartney concluded a decade of baffling creative decisions with 1999's Run Devil Run, a very fun collection of fifties pop songs. Robert Plant, who has not been heard from since Walking Into Clarksdale, his ploddingly boring 1998 collaboration with his former Led Zeppelin band-mate Jimmy Page, is the latest veteran rocker to release an album of (mostly) covers, this year's Dreamland.Dreamland consists mainly of songs from the American folk-rock scene of the nineteen-sixties. This is no new territory for Mr. Plant whose live repertoire has always included a few nods to Spirit, Love and Moby Grape. He understands the sonic textures and emotional atmospheres that make these songs tick and that is evident on each of Dreamland's ontarget renditions. He delivers a subtle, lush and ominous take on The Youngblood's "Darkness, Darkness," a gently lulling performance of Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren," an excellent, epic and urgent-sounding version of Bob Dylan's "One More Cup of Coffee" and a forceful and combative performance of Skip Spence's' chilling account of his self-destruction, "Skip's Song." The decision to write only scarcely (The album contains just two originals) was a good one for Mr. Plant, only because it clearly allowed him to focus more on vocals and instrumentation. On Dreamland, his vocals are delightfully airy and emotive and the instrumentation is always completely appropriate, warm and encompassing (without ever becoming mushy) on the dreamier songs and twinkling and eerie (without ever becoming sluggish) on the downbeaten ones. Dreamland is obviously a well-planned and proficiently constructed LP. Mr. Plant had likely maintained a thorough understanding of these tunes for years and knew precisely what he wanted when it came time to record them. Likewise, Dreamland is a pleasure to listen to. As mentioned earlier, such latter-day cover collections from classic rockers are unlikely to be great, but they often do make for very pleasing listening experiences. Dreamland is one of the most enjoyable to date."

The best Plant in years

T. Campbell | Guerneville, CA | 11/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'll have to admit up front that I've been a big Zepplin fan since I was a teenager. So now that I have grey hair and teenagers of my own I have had many years to let their music get into my soul. Now I have to admit that pretty much all of Plant's solo work has left me cold. I think it's just an utter lack of memorable music. Now I have to tell you how happy I was when I heard this CD. In my mind, this is easily the very best thing Robert Plant has done since In Through the Out Door. His voice, though clearly not as strong,is still plenty strong here, and more than that, it has that something extra that's been missing all these years, that edge, that feel that made him one of the greats. This CD is fantastic; the songs are great, and the band and the arrangements are again, better than anything Plant has done since Zep; superior! In many subtle ways the arrangements here sound like the best of Zep. This album could have come between LZIII and Houses of the Holy."