Robert Plant was once derided as the least-talented member of Led Zeppelin. His voice was notoriously uneven live and his prissy stage manner earned him the derogatory nickname “Percy” among his band mates. It is widely known that Plant was not even Jimmy Page’s first choice for Zeppelin frontman – Steve Winwood was among those who passed on the gig before Plant signed on.
In the post-Zep era, however, something surprising happened. John Bonham passed away (God rest his smutty soul). John Paul Jones retreated largely to the background as arranger and producer for various artists. And Jimmy, well, Jimmy has had long stretches of inactivity, punctuated by mostly mediocre albums with mostly mediocre collaborators (some are upset by Jimmy’s recent visit to Cuba, but I submit that Coverdale and Page is by far the worse crime).
Plant, meanwhile, has had a profoundly diverse and prolific solo career. In the 1980’s he reigned the Top 40 charts with slick, well-crafted pop hits like Big Log and Tall Cool One. The 90’s saw his best and hardest-rocking solo album, “Fate of Nations,” as well as a briefly resurrected partnership with Page that produced two albums and several tours.
In the 2000’s, Plant went solo again, going smaller and deeper with intimate, intricate albums like “Mighty Rearranger” and “Dreamland.” Then in 2007 Plant surprised everyone by teaming up with bluegrass songbird Alison Krauss to produce an unlikely smash record – “Raising Sand” won five Grammy Awards, including Album and Record of the Year, and garnered Plant the best reviews of his career.
The pressure to make a follow up was enormous, and indeed plans were put in motion to again record with Krauss. About the same time, the three surviving Led Zeppelin played a one-off reunion concert in London’s ’02 Arena in tribute to recently deceased and much beloved Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun; again the pressure to capitalize on the critical and artistic success of the concert (with Bonham’s son Jason taking over on drums) was white hot. Rumors swirled that a full-on Zep reformation was imminent.
But Plant refused to cash in, either with Krauss or Zeppelin. He chose instead to form a new band comprised of old-school Nashville pros, record a new album of reverb-drenched Americana, and hit the road – now in his sixth decade, Plant was starting all over again. The new album, like the new band, is called “Band of Joy.” And once again, Plant’s determination to defy of expectations has resulted in fantastic music for which he has earned lavish praise.
At a February 1st concert in Washington DC, Plant confounded the audience by stubbornly refusing to acknowledge whole decades of his career. His considerable 80’s corpus was represented by only two substantially reworked numbers, including a gorgeous “In the Mood.” Even the very recent “Raising Sand” songs were strangely overlooked. Instead, Plant and Co. concentrated largely on “Band of Joy” numbers, as well as some folk and bluegrass standards.
Fortunately, the new songs sounded luminous and vibrant; “House of Cards” and “Monkey” simmer to a slow burn, while “Harm’s Swift Way” and “Angel Dance” shimmer and shuffle respectively with a languid grace. Plant himself seemed thrilled to be in the company of such esteemed musicians, including Buddy Miller on guitar and Patty Griffin on backing vocals; proud to share the stage and spotlight with them. In short, he looked like a man having the time of his life.
Perhaps surprisingly, given his conflicted relationship with his former band, Zeppelin gems were scattered throughout the set; most were barely recognizable, their distinct Page riffs and Bonham rhythms having been stripped away. The results ranged from staggering success (a sweltering “Gallows Pole”) to unnecessary (a boogie woogie “Black Dog”) to downright sketchy (a hot-mess “Houses of the Holy”). “Tangerine” and “Ramble On,” both rarely played live by Led Zeppelin, translated particularly well to Plant’s current rustic aesthetic – both received some of the longest and loudest applause of the night.
It is probably a bitter sweet for Plant that Zeppelin songs will always be the crowd-pleasers in his show. But he seems at long last comfortable with that, so long as he can do those songs his way, on his terms, and so long as he can also make the music that matters to him now. And that, perhaps is the biggest difference between Plant and Page: Jimmy loves Led Zeppelin. Plant loves music.
That is all you need to know to understand their respective careers.
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