Led Zep legend overcomes writers block with a sensational collection of personal favourites

The Lowdown: former Zeppelin front man ditches Jimmy Page, hires new band and releases first solo album since 1993's "Fate of Nations". What's more, it's a covers album.

After a few years of touring the enormodomes of the world with his old pal and partner Jimmy Page, Robert Plant has finally tired of screaming past Zeppelin hits and decided to go out and do something less boring instead. The man has always been mindful of falling into the self-parody trap that has affected so many other rock stars from his era. This, I believe, is the reasoning behind his latest move, and Plant has been keen to stress at interview that he has not fallen out with Page, nor has he ruled out playing with him again at some time in the future.

But before you go thinking that Plant has finally released a follow-up to his career defining "Fate of Nations" album, he hasn't. The album contains 11 tracks, 8 of which are cover versions. This is Plant returning to the music that influenced him to find inspiration (he has admitted to suffering writer's block, for the first time in his career, after penning "heart in your hand" for the Page/Plant album "Walking into Clarksdale").

So what's it like? For the most part the idea works brilliantly and Plant gives sympathetic and original readings of some well-loved classics. The album opens with a cover of the old Bukka White standard "Fixin to die", also covered by Bob Dylan on his 1962 debut. Plant's rendition is much folkier and upbeat than Dylan's and provides an effective opening salvo and pointer for the rest of the album. The Dylan influence doesn't end there, as the album also contains a cover of Dylan's "One more cup of Coffee" from the 1975 album "Desire". Here Plant gives a beautifully stark reading of one of Dylan's more unusual songs. On first airing the vocals on this track, and the album in general, sound shockingly raw and very far forward in the mix, but this really is part of the beauty of the record. No attempt has been made to provide a contemporary production, or to wreath the singer's voice in effects that make him sound like he did in the Zeppelin days.

Tim Buckley's "Song to the siren" is sung in a plaintive relaxed manner with only sparse musical backing, Plant using the resonance and depth of his voice, rather than its power, to wring maximum emotion from the song. This is followed by an exhaustive blues workout entitled "win my train fare home" which combines elements of a number of blues standards. The guitar solo on this track, provided by Justin Adams, is something special and really evokes the playing style of original blues masters such as John Lee Hooker.

The most surprising cover of all however is what can only be described as a re-imagining of Hendrix's "Hey Joe". Now Hendrix didn't write this song, it is in fact one of those old folk numbers that has been recorded by literally hundreds of artists down through the years. Plant, not wanting to make a mess of something sacrosanct, has gone back to a pre Hendrix version for inspiration, re-inserting the first verse dropped by Hendrix and building the track up along very different lines until he is left with a powerful driving blues masterpiece. Hendrix's riff only makes fleeting appearances during the recording and the band reach a really convincing frenzy by the time the track is over.

Plants own compositions on here are by no means the best he has written and he doesn't really get to grips with his song writing muse until "Dirt in a Hole" the closing track. The first two original numbers "Last time I saw her" and "Red dress" are both rather jammy in style as opposed to being fully written, in fact they sound more like the man and his new band working through song ideas than actual finished songs. "Dirt in a hole" however is a corker, and rather similar in tone to the closing "Sons of Freedom" from "… Clarksdale". It definitely shows that Plant has re-discovered his zest for song writing and bodes well for the future.

So what next for the legend known as "Percy"? Will he join with Page and Jones for another flog at the Zeppelin legacy, as suggested in some media circles? I don't think so. Will he comeback from touring this album with a bunch of ideas and make a new solo album to rival "Fate of Nations" or "Principle of Moments"? Lets hope he does, as he is one of the few artists of his day who can still make a convincing artistic statement in the 21st Century.

Further Listening: Robert Plant "Fate of Nations", Page/Plant "Walking into Clarksdale".
Contact Duck with any comments