YYYY Excellent!
On the album opener, a cover of Los Lobos’ “Angel Dance,” you’ll hear remnants of his post Zep solo years minus the dated over production. On the second track, Richard Thompson’s “House of Cards,” we are introduced to the subtle female harmony of Patty Griffin. Like Miller, Griffin is a star in her own right. Much like Krauss her career is well established. On this record she is very comfortable taking a low profile compared to the role Allison Krauss had on Raising Sand, but then again, this is a Robert Plant record and you know it. Griffins harmonies with Plant on two covers, “Silver Rider” and “Monkey,” both by the band Low, are two of the outstanding songs on the album. They shine because the these versions do not change that much from the near perfect original and while reminiscent of the Krauss Plant chemistry on Raising Sand the songs are uniquely Band of Joy. Interestingly, the first full out roots/folk tune is the Plant/Miller penned “Central Two-O Nine;” which would have sounded at home on the “O Brother, Where Art Thou” soundtrack; and the rearranged “Cindy, I’ll Marry You Someday” which to my ear should have been on the soundtrack for "Cold Mountain".
Robert Plants’ current offering, “Band of Joy,” is a beautiful amalgam of everything he has learned over the last 45 years. No stranger to reinventing the work of other artists, Plant and co-producer/multi-instrumentalist Buddy Miller have followed the model of Raising Sand and created a list of carefully selected covers, reworked traditional songs, and a few originals penned by Plant and Miller. This record is certainly in the same “roots” music category as the last record but has a somewhat grittier and deliberately less polished feel than its predecessor.
On the album opener, a cover of Los Lobos’ “Angel Dance,” you’ll hear remnants of his post Zep solo years minus the dated over production. On the second track, Richard Thompson’s “House of Cards,” we are introduced to the subtle female harmony of Patty Griffin. Like Miller, Griffin is a star in her own right. Much like Krauss her career is well established. On this record she is very comfortable taking a low profile compared to the role Allison Krauss had on Raising Sand, but then again, this is a Robert Plant record and you know it. Griffins harmonies with Plant on two covers, “Silver Rider” and “Monkey,” both by the band Low, are two of the outstanding songs on the album. They shine because the these versions do not change that much from the near perfect original and while reminiscent of the Krauss Plant chemistry on Raising Sand the songs are uniquely Band of Joy. Interestingly, the first full out roots/folk tune is the Plant/Miller penned “Central Two-O Nine;” which would have sounded at home on the “O Brother, Where Art Thou” soundtrack; and the rearranged “Cindy, I’ll Marry You Someday” which to my ear should have been on the soundtrack for "Cold Mountain".
Plant decided against touring with Led Zeppelin to do this project, and while many may have felt this was a poor choice you have to respect someone who is willing to try something else. He says it best on the album closer, Even This Shall Pass Away: “Stood before his sculptured name/Musing meekly, what is fame/Fame is but a slow decay/Even this shall pass away” reminding us that there is more to him than being a hammer of the gods.
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