ROBERT PLANT
Mighty Rearranger
Sanctuary Records
· Robert Plant joins Morrissey and Billy Idol in the Sanctuary Records Retirement Castle, but fails to fossilize.
On Mighty Rearranger, Robert Plant combines the shuffle of Elvis Presley’s Sun Sessions with the texture of 1960s psychedelia, and relocates the results to the southern Sahara – home of Touareg group Tinariwen, a current Plant enthusiasm. Add the Portishead-Massive Attack pedigree of Plant’s band the Strange Sensation, a nod to acolyte Jeff Buckley, and Plant surveys nearly every decade of rock, aside from the one he characterized, the 1970s.
The reason may be found in Plant’s implication that he is sicker of "Stairway to Heaven" than you. Mighty Rearranger isn’t free of Led Zeppelin-isms, but those undermine the alchemy. In fact, the album doesn’t find its pace immediately – a fatal move in iPod shuffling times.
"All the King’s Horses" is a hurtin’ song Plant sings tenderly in a setting more reminiscent of Phil Manzanera than Jimmy Page. The "Mighty Rearranger" of the title track could have come from the Son House songbook, while Strange Sensation reconstruct Little Richard – a significant influence on Led Zeppelin. This and the closing vamp "Brother Ray" are reminders Plant and his contemporaries grew up besotted with the U.S., so it must be galling to criticize the country’s international actions on "Freedom Fries" and "Takamba," the latter with handclaps resembling the sound of guns being cocked.
With his interests as a map, Plant finds undiscovered ground on Mighty Rearranger. Consider that Eric Clapton’s recent Robert Johnson tribute carried a Pro Tools credit, and ask yourself if you’d welcome social commentary from him. Commend Plant for going further.
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