Robert Plant
Band of Joy
Rounder Records - 2010
A lot of the pre-release press I read made this album sound as if it was more of a collaboration between Robert Plant and Patty Griffin, akin to the the Plant/Alison Krauss Raising Sand CD.
It is not. This is a Robert Plant solo album with guest appearances. Only one original song with the other 11 tracks being covers, but worth the investment.
There was a full beefy or muscular sound to the the album's quite uptempo opener "Angel Dance".
"House of Cards" was decent but the backing vocals on the song's chorus tended to overshadow Plant's own singing.
The one original track was "Central Two-0-Nine". It was co-written with Buddy Miller (who also co-produced the album). It was a decent uptempo little number.
The song "Silver Rider" had a much more deliberate pacing and the track just didn't work for me in the least.
"You Can't Buy Me Love" was fantastic.
Another slow track "The Only Sound That Matters" was an example of how to slow the pacing of a song and still have it be fantastic. It is probably my favorite song on the album.
Plant has been exploring the southern country/folk/bluegrass type of sound the last couple of discs and he is doing a really good job at it. Two songs that stand out in particular on Band of Joy in this area are "Cindy I'll Marry You Someday" and "Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down".
A couple of other tracks featuring the uptempo feel are "Even This Shall Pass Away" and "Harm's Swift Way" which was just a great song.
Robert Plant is in great voice on this CD and while it is a markedly different approach than his collaboration with T-Bone Burnett and Alison Krauss on Raising Sand, it is an album worth checking out.
Grade: B Plus
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Norma Jean Fox
(11/30/1945-9/7/2010)
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