The Robert Plant Appreciation Thread
 

Firstly, I have noticed that there is a Led Zeppelin thread but just to reiterate to the mods (before they merge it with something else) that this is solely dedicated to Robert Plant's solo work.
I first came across his solo work when I heard '29 Palms' on Planetrock radio.
I then went out and bought 'Fate Of Nations' (1993) and was blown away, such a great album from start to finish.
I love his vocals and to me he is one of the best vocalists & frontmen of all time. I never used to be that big on Led Zeppelin but since I have really gotten into his solo works I am getting more and more into Zeppelin & recentley purchased the 'In Through The Out Door' album after hearing one of the tracks on the Planetrock station (yes its the only radio station Ill listen to). I have all of his studio albums which I have attached the cover of each one in order of release (so I dont have to list them all).
My favourites are 'Fate Of Nations' but more recentley I have discovered 'Pictures At Eleven' which is also a great album & I think might even surpass 'Fate Of Nations' even though they are both 2 totally different albums.
Anyway just looking to see if anybodys heard any of his solo works as I think it is pretty unsung & a lot of people would much rather listen to Led Zeppelin (apart from me lol).

I like Led Zeppelin just as much as Robert Plant's solo work. I like the guitar playing of Robbie Blunt, his approach is quite different from Jimmy Page, he has a clean chorusy Strat tone. I love the song, Big Log, the guitar playing the lyrics, it is a personal favorite of mine.

You should've posted the album-covers for Concerts for the People of Kampuchea and The Honeydrippers: Volume One, too. Robert Plant only has one track, Little Sister,on "Kampuchea" it a coversong originally done by Elvis, he does with Rockpile. The whole Honeydrippers EP is great, with only 5 sngs, it's too short, too bad they didn't do other albums.

And apart from me, too. People often don't understand how I can be a Robert Plant Fan and not really be a fan of Led Zeppelin. I appreciate their iconic status and they certainly have a fine body of work, but (obviously) Robert's solo material is my favorite.

I don't think I could really pinpoint a "favorite" among all his albums. One great thing about what Robert does is that he never does the same thing twice. So each album has merit on its own. Right now, today, Raising Sand is on the playlist. Tomorrow it might be Fate of Nations or Mighty Rearranger.

If anyone is looking to get a good overview of Robert's solo career I highly recommend getting the Nine Lives Boxed Set. It has all of the solo albums up to Raising Sand, plus a fantastic DVD that includes an hour long documentary. The documentary has Robert talking about his career and the choices he's made, along with guests like Ahmet Ertegun, Phil Collins, Tori Amos, Lenny Kravitz and more.

I've tried, but just can't get into Plant or Zeppelin. Don't get me wrong, I get it. I just don't think they are anywhere close to as good as a lot of people think. Half the albums are filled with lazy riffs and writing and their lyrics are drippy at best. The reason I bring this up is simply that I would like someone to actually explain it to me so that I could enjoy them as much as everyone else seems to.

Sorry man I actually have the Honeydrippers album (got it about a week ago & really liked it- probably didnt include it as it isnt a Robert Plant Solo effort- its a supergroup he did with Jeff Beck & Jimmy Page doing swinging 50s type rock n roll songs.) As for 'People Of Kampuchea' I had never heard of it before & read up on it on wiki and is totally inappropriate for this as it is only a live compilation album where his only appearance is guesting with a group called 'Rockpile'.:bonkhead:
Yeah I heard about that Nine Lives boxset I think you get some kind of live material as well do you not? I was gonna buy it but was only just getting in to him at the time & now have all the albums so not really any point but I will probably buy it sometime just to add to my collection.

In my opinion you shouldnt buy the boxset an an 'overview' as it is very expensive & you may not like his solo stuff. I personally went on Wiki as I usually do with any artist and read up on him and all his albums.
I use that as a navigational for when Im buying albums each month.

Fate Of Nations was the first I bought. Im actually listening to Dreamland right now for the first time in ages. Forgot how good it is considering its a covers album- the Dylan cover 'One More Cup Of Coffee' is fantastic. Also have you heard on 'Fate Of Nations' a song called 'If I Were A Carpenter' originally by Tim Hardin- simply fantastic.
I think the songs towards the end of FON are outstandingly brilliant as the same could be said of the album.
By the way you may be interested to know I managed to get hold of a bootleg on downloads called 'In The Mood' its during his 1993 FON tour & features an intimate live performance where he does tracks off Fate Of Nations & previous albums as well as some Zeppelin tracks.
Also have you heard his first 2 albums 'Pictures At Eleven' or 'Principle Of Moments'? I stupidly only just recentley got 'Pictures At Eleven' and it is absolutely fantastic and the only one hes done to rival 'Fate Of Nations' (IMO). Also 'Principle Of Moments' is basically just a continuation of 'Pictures At Eleven'.
Pretty cool like, I can sort you out with some of the tracks if you cant find it.
I totally know where youre coming from , I agree Led Zeppelin are massively hyped and I dont think they are as good as all these people say they are but they are still a good band to me & I like their music.
As for Robert Plant I think it is much the opposite,
I think his Solo work doesnt get as much recognition as it should do.
Finally Im sad to say there is nothing to 'explain' as such to you to make you all of a sudden 'like' an artist. I cant change your own personal perception of music.
If your personal taste doesnt include his music or you dont like him to the level that we do, dont worry about it man.
If you want to get into him though I would get 'Fate Of Nations' & then 'Pictures At Eleven' which i stupidly took a long time to get.

I agree the boxed set is pricey but if you've tried one of Robert's albums and liked it, it's well worth the price. In addition to the albums being remastered nicely, there are live tracks and they also include all the bonus tracks that didn't appear on all the albums especially the U.S. releases. The set also includes a large book that has a history of each album and what went on during the recording. The new individual releases are also remastered and include the bonus material, so you can get them as singles, but you miss out on the DVD and the book.

The thing about getting into Robert's music is that no one or two of his albums is representative of what he does. Raising Sand was far and away different and yet got more critical acclaim than anything. Mighty Rearranger finally showcased his love of African roots. Dreamland delved into his love of the whole 60s psychedelic thing. I think that's why people often overlook him. They can't fit him in a nice, neat little genre.

I have a few live tracks from various shows throughout Robert's live history up on my website (check my sig). I'll have more up over time. I've got quite a few boots from the 90s and have most of the shows from 2001 onward.

Look for some boots of the Priory of Brion stuff. Robert never recorded with that band but some of the song versions they did were outstanding, including early workings of some of the things that showed up on Dreamland.

Yeah well Im always interested in artists who embrace different styles of music & I think Plant is one of them each album is different from the other the only 2 similar ones are the first two 'Pictures At Eleven' & 'The Principle Of Moments'. Yeah well Ive now got all his albums but it sounds really good especially to read up on how the albums were made and also bonus tracks from each session. I will most definitely be getting this soon.
By the way i checked your 'sig' assuming thats the link to the Robert Plant website but couldnt find anything about bootlegs or that. Do you have any from Fate Of Nations tour, I have the one I mentioned 'In The Mood' but the quality is pretty ****.
So what albums of his have you got? Whats your favourite?
Or did you just get the Nine Lives boxset.

I saw him on the Mighty Rearranger tour. Fantastic show, that band was full of awesome musicians. The Plant & Strange Sensation songs were great and they did interesting takes on Zeppelin songs, too.

Yeah Ive seen some stuff on youtube with some foreign lass singing 29 palms but its a much slower version.

Thanks for posting the Honeydrippers:Volume One cover. Yes it's not Solo material but it's cool including it because who knows you could turn someone on to The Honeydripper, who didn't know about them, by doing that.

A totally inappropriate video for Robert Plant fans
YouTube - Rockpile w/ Robert Plant - Little Sister

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Exactly man.
As for the video, I thoroughly enjoyed it and will need to check out this Rockpile band sometime.

thanks, Rockpile (Dave Edmunds & Nick Lowe) and Robert Plant are some of my favorite artists.

I was listening through some Robert Plant songs tonight, trying to find the ones that used to affect me when I had a tape and played it, usually while driving cross country.

I identified that one of my favorite songs was "The Way I Feel" because of its mood of unease and repeated discontent.

I can tell that back then I listened much less to lyrics and much more to the overall feeling of the song than I do now, because it didn't bother me then that I didn't understand exactly what the song was about. However, I do recall the chorus and my favorite line, which I felt matched the song's somber feeling well: "The mirror tries to please me. The image wouldn't stay."


Robert Plant -The Way I Feel - YouTube

Yup, yup to the idea of feel mattering more than lyrics. I've evolved to care more about the lyrics' meaning. And I still have that cassette :) I had not listened to that song in full, but as of today I like it, despite not understanding the subject matter. It has Plant's typical musical and lyrical complexity, as usual in dark form. Now and Zen probably is his deepest album, though I haven't listened to any complete Robert Plant album; and I believe it's one of his keyboard-heaviest albums, which increases my enjoyment. If I had to choose my favorite Plant straightforward rock song, however, I'd pick "Hurting Kind (I've Got My Eyes on You)," from Manic Nirvana; it could even be in my Top 10 of such songs from any artist.

I think I have said this in another thread - but Led Zeppelin overrated, Robert Plant underrated.

That's nice you still have your Now and Zen cassette. Maybe someday you'll listen to the full album. ;)

I hadn't realized until now that you must especially like keyboards, such as in Now and Zen. (I recall you also appreciated them in your favorite Great White song.)

"Hurting Kind" is solid and I like the vocal chorus and layering of sounds in the song. I see there's a video for it, too (which of course I hadn't seen). I didn't notice videos for the other songs from the album, so I'm assuming Robert Plant also felt this was the catchiest song and thus warranted being made into a video:

"Hurting Kind (I've Got My Eyes on You)"
Roller coaster! :) I don't recall seeing many videos with roller coasters in them.


Robert Plant - Hurting Kind - YouTube


Two other songs from the Manic Nirvana album caught my attention. I liked "Your Ma Said You Cried in Your Sleep Last Night" because the punk vibe and Plant's voice surprised me. His voice reminded me of Billy Idol's. :)

My favorite song turned out to be "Anniversary." I wasn't expecting such a gloomy, somber-sounding song after all the peppy, light-hearted ones on that album. I gravitated to this one the most. Listening to the song made me wonder if gloomy songs like this one do good by providing a place to sequester sadness away from oneself, or if they allow people to keep old feelings alive that perhaps best rest dormant.

"Anniversary"
I like the way the song expresses unrest by gradually transitioning from the calm start to the more chaotic finish.


Anniversary-Robert Plant - YouTube

I can only think of a few other videos where a roller coaster is featured prominently. One of them is a great Joe Lynn Turner-era Deep Purple song....

Anyway, I'm not a fan of old-fashioned sounding songs, and therefore I have never much liked "Your Ma Said You Cried in Your Sleep Last Night." Honeydrippers stuff - bleh.

That "Anniversary" song is okay. Good at some points, but it's disjointed and it drags. I think it illustrates something about Robert Plant, at least in the first half of his solo career - solid even on the album tracks, not one of those artists with lots of "filler" material.

Interesting point on Robert Plant selecting his own singles (which harkens back to a thread of mine that flopped). I don't know if that is true, but he probably has had much more control over that than many other artists.

I agree completely that "Anniversary" drags and is disjointed. The first time I listened to it, I almost didn't make it through the long intro. Once I did and listened to the whole song, I liked the way the dragging feel of the music could be a metaphor for this man's dragging his sadness and memories around with him when he doesn't want to. The song made me sad...so I liked it! :)

"Your Ma Said You Cried in Your Sleep Last Night"-- I felt it showed Robert Plant was venturing out to try different styles rather than just locking himself into one sound, so I appreciated that about the song.

I wasn't aware that musicians didn't *always* select their own singles (I assumed they did)! I also wasn't aware of your flopped thread. Ah. Now I see it. You and you had a nice little conversation there. ;) I feel that thread topic is a good one. It's one I haven't thought about before. If Robert Plant *did* choose "Hurting Kind" to be a single, then I feel he made a good choice.

P.S. I can't find the Deep Purple song video with a roller coaster in it! Which is it?

The video is "King of Dreams," released very near in time to "Hurting Kind."

I now remember I was distinctly unhappy that Plant didn't make a video for "Your Ma Said You Cried in Your Sleep Last Night" and that "Tie Dye on the Highway" was a live version that's far worse than the good studio track (including harmonica). Totally missed chances to promote the singles to the public (although neither would ever have been a big hit). The album wasn't promoted properly, which might have sped the decline in in Robert Plant's solo career.

Thank you!

I haven't thought very much before about the promotion decisions that can affect someone's career. Plant certainly looks popular here singing "Tie Dye on the Highway," and so it is interesting to learn what may have hastened the fall of his popularity:


Robert Plant - Tie Dye on The Highway - YouTube

I'm also realizing that Robert Plant made quite a few fairly complex videos incorporating grand scenery, which probably reflects the height of his fame at one time.

For example, I thought it was a cool surprise to see that the video for "I Believe" recreates the scene from Millais' painting of Ophelia. I am curious if you had noticed that when watching the video? I know you are very attentive to the videos that accompany songs, and so I thought you might like to know, in case you didn't, that they made this artistic reference:


Robert Plant - I Believe - YouTube

http://0.tqn.com/d/painting/1/0/9/i/...is-Ophelia.jpg

I haven't watched that video for a long time. The song is one of his best, and the video is well done, very artsy. Me not being into art, I had no idea of the painting. As a matter of fact, now that I think about it, almost his videos are interesting. I presume he's had plenty of input into them. My impression is that Robert Plant is someone who only does what he wants to do. My guess is that the few singles without videos are so because no treatment satisfied him or he just didn't feel like showing up.