Robert Plant’s new album Band of Joy sounds like a collection of Robert Plant tracks that didn’t meet the cut of Dreamland, the fantastic Mighty Rearranger, or even the near perfect Rising Sand with Allison K. That, and there is the faintest hint of desperation in trying to replicate the T Bone Burnett sound from the latter album. This might not be a fair observation, since both Dreamland and Rearranger established the hard-edge, psychedelic tribal blues style that Burnett softened (and improved) with the singer’s colaberation with Ms. Krauss. Band of Joy seems to contain tracks that could have been recorded during any one of the sessions, which wouldn’t be a bad thing if they were semi-consistent. To his credit, Plant has a legacy rivaling Zeppelin. And deserving so. His voice has aged beautifully, and arguably better than any possible contemporary. Its easy to take for granted a voice as an instrument, one that can adapt a style and subsistence over time that can be expanded upon and still never perfected.
