Robert Plant - Band of Joy
Review by Jack Foley
ROBERT Plant likes to confound expectation as much as he enjoys stretching himself. Hence, anyone who enters into his latest solo album, Band of Joy anticipating what to expect is in for a big surprise… and a mightily pleasant one at that!
The name cheekily references the psychedelic blues group he originally fronted before the birth of Led Zeppelin, suggesting that perhaps he was returning to those values. But Band of Joy is a very different beast… an eclectic offering of reinterpretations of classic songs that finds Plant in peerless form.
Described as a timeless plunge into authentic Americana by its PR, the album was co-produced by Plant and Nashville legend and guitarist Buddy Miller, who steps into the void vacated by T-Bone Burnett on Plant’s last solo offering, 2007’s equally acclaimed Raising Sand.
As such, there’s a through line but only in the sense that the album contains a very American sound. But it could also be described as a road journey through time and influences, drawing on Fifties-style country-gospel harmonies, banjo-driven country, blues, drone rock and even English/Appalachian folk balladry.
In doing so, Plant remains virtually faultless throughout, accompanied as he is by a rich backing band of Memphis musicians, including Darrell Scott, who provides the mandolin, guitar, accordian, pedal, lap steel and banjo lines, country singer-songwriter Patty Griffin who adds the main vocal foils to Plant’s lead parts, and Byron House, who plays bass and percussion [and comes from Marco Giovino].
The highlights roll off the album… from the lively, mandolin laced opening of Angel Dance, a cover of Los Lobos’ classic track, to final offering, Even This Shall Pass Away, a 19th-century poem that features a modern back-beat, and some rousing, break-up guitar riffs that wouldn’t sound out of place on a White Stripes composition.
In between, the hits keep coming… House of Cards offering a thrilling reinterpretation of a Richard Thompson record that’s delivered with a thrilling bluesy refrain and a brisk duet with Griffin, Central Two-O-Nine entering Deep South/Soggy Bottom Boy territory and drooling beautifully over its gospel-tinged lyrics, and the six minute saga of Silver Rider adding haunting, brooding depth to a Low classic. Again, Griffin imparts a telling alternative vocal style to Plant that positively caresses the ear drums.
Just as you think the album might be content to meander through slow-burning territory, though, Plant kicks things up several gears, via the foot-stomping ‘60s New Orleans R’n‘B number, Can’t Buy My Love (which could even pass for Beatles-esque), and the soulful I’m Falling In Love Again – which even adds a little trace of Elvis into the reinterpretation of a classic ‘60s Kelly Brothers offering.
Having reached the midway point, the album them drifts effortlessly into the country breeze of The Only Sound That Matters, which also channels the sound of Mick Jagger.
Monkey layers in the atmospherics to terrifically moody effect, the guitars lending a moody vibe that’s matched by both Plant and Griffin vocally, Cindy I’ll Marry You Some Day strips things back to mostly desolate banjo for an English/Appalachian folk ballad, and Harm’s Way Swift brings an edgy makeover to a lesser known song from the late Townes Van Zant, complete with a cinematic/road movie kind of vibe.
The layered, slow-burning Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down, meanwhile, once again uses the banjo to disarmingly desolate effect… meandering its way towards a thrilling penultimate track.
In short, then, Plant has delivered an eclectic, often thrilling and sometimes beguiling masterpiece – another album to sit comfortably alongside (and possibly even surpass) many of the classics that already reside in his own personal record collection.
Download picks: Angel Dance, You Can’t Buy Me Love, Harm’s Way Swift, Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down, Central Two-O-Nine, House of Cards, Monkey, Even This Shall Pass Away
Track listing: