Customer Reviews

Band Of Joy

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A confident and textured follow-up to 'Raising Sand', Robert continues his foray into bluegrass and roots music, while refining his mastery of blues and 50's rockabilly. He has found a new foil in Buddy Miller, who brings a wealth of knowledge of Americana, and a bumper crop of Nashville backing musicians. While his voice may have become a brittle instrument over previous solo albums, here he works in a new, more comfortable register, and tackles the vocal gymnastics and filigree he was once famous for with finesse. It sounds like he had a ball recording this album, and it shows (he even had a hand in designing the sleeve graphics). Plant has always had a golden ear for discovering material that is both obscure, yet strong enough to validate his choices; there's is not a duff track to be found. (Indeed, this could be the only lament on this album - apart from 2 shared songwriting credits, it's all cover tunes; perhaps that will be addressed on his next album...).

If you're expecting the kind of music from Robert Plant that you and I grew up with, you won't find it here. Here you will find a mellow Robert Plant. In this disk he explores a totally different genre of music than what we're used to, more countryish, softer, and easier on the ears. For those of you that like the old Robert Plant, continue listening to Led Zeppelin. But for those who are ready to hear a different and unexpected side of Robert Plant, you will be pleasantly surprised as I was with this disk.

Be the song traditional or be it modern, Band of Joy is a purely contemporary fusion of sound. In short, it is simply the coolest sound around.

In places so cool that it provides chills, Robert Plant builds on the roots sound of Raising Sand with an album that further blends modern day musical genres into just plain good music. Whether it is a wall of sound like the superb Monkey, an infectious rhythm like Angel Dance, or the balladic Falling in Love Again, there is something here that should appeal to just about everyone, and every song is listenable.

Way cool.

Thank-you Robert Plant and Buddy Miller.

Robert Plant keeps reinventing himself in recent years, and in doing so he joins the exalted legends Bob Dylan, Neil Young and (to a lesser extent) Tom Waits and Mark Knopfler, all of whom I have seen in concert in the past four years and all of whom still have the capacity to give us great joy. This latest by Robert Plant to my mind is much better and less constrained than his previous effort with Alison Krauss. Here, Plant demonstrates once again his ability to mine various genres and to come up with an entirely new sound. The album sounds both familiar and new at the same time, but above all Plant's rock roots keep shooting up. In my view not all the songs are great, especially in the middle section, but the five last songs are superb and amply worth the 5 stars. Start with track 8, crank up the volume, and enjoy! You will return to this disk again and again.

If you're looking for classic Robert Plant, this isn't it. I'm a big fan of Robert Plant. I love all his solo work, with "Now and Zen" and "Fate of Nations" being my favourite albums. I had heard his new album was leaning towards country music (which I can't stand by the way) but I just couldn't resist buying the new album to at least hear his beautiful voice. I also figured how bad can it be, after all "Raising Sand" with Alison Krauss for the most part wasn't too bad. Well let me just say there's country and then there's hillbilly complete with banjos. I hate to say anything against Robert Plant and I know he's being praised by reviewers for this new album and his collaborations of guest singers and players on it, but this is how it sounds to a rock fan. The opening and closing songs are the gems of this album. The rest are okay if you can stomach the voice of a Rock God being mixed with the opening theme to the Beverly Hillbillies.

Here's a break down of the songs:
1. Angel Dance - 4/5 - Good.
2. House of Cards - 1.5/5 - No matter how much Robert Plant wants to sound country it's impossible for his golden voice which can only have been a gift from the gods. And this song could have been okay until the chorus kicked in which had my mind screaming "Noooooooo! This just isn't right." In fact I enjoyed the second verse. This would be a great song if you could just take out the other people singing on the chorus.
3. Central Two-O-Nine - 1.5/5 - Robert Plant's effort to sound country at the beginning of this song would bring a shudder to any Led Zeppelin fan. The only good part of this song was the "Un-hm-hums" at the end.
4. Silver Rider - 3/5 - Robert's hushed voice in this song could be illegal in it's seductiveness. It's a duet, but I'd prefer to hear Robert Plant's voice alone. This is actually not a bad song. It's non-country, but unfortunately there aren't many lyrics.
5. You Can't Buy My Love - 3.5/5 - This is a nice bouncy, non-country song. Though the recycled theme prevents it from being really exciting.
6. Falling In Love Again - 2/5 - This song could have been great if it was done in the 50's Honeydrippers style instead of the classic Western style. I wish I could just take the guitars and backing singers out and listen to Plant's voice again.
7. The Only Sound That Matters - 2/5 - Similar tune as previous song.
8. Monkey - 3.5/5 - Another whispered song. This one is good, unfortunately there's few verses, and again I would prefer to hear RP's voice alone, or at least on the verses.
9. Cindy, I'll Marry You Someday - 0/5 - Enter the banjos. Honestly I cannot tolerate this song at all.
10. Harm's Sift Way - 2/5 - I'd take out half the music and chorus.
11. Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down - 3/5 - Again gorgeous RP vocals mixed with country and western music.
12. Even This Shall Pass Away - 4.5/5 - After listening to this whole album this song sounds awesome, but on it's own it doesn't compare to Robert Plant's other work. There's great electric guitar work on this song. It's almost as if it's saying, "Now that you've listened to my little experiment into country music, here's a taste of the real stuff." I hope he goes more into this direction on his next album.

In conclusion the other songs I might have enjoyed were ruined by the conflicting country music. All I wanted to do was separate them. I guess I'd say at least give this a listen to see what Robert Plant is up to these days. Angel Dance definitely deserves some attention. If you like country music then by all means go out and buy this album.
2 Great songs
3 Good ones
1 Not bad
Rest of album Hard to listen to.
30.5/60 points for the album

Robert Plant's Band of Joy is an excellent album for what it is, covers with a very melodic folk type of sound to them. The album has an acoustic blues and folk sound put together. Plant is known primarily for his work with classic rock legends Led Zeppelin but he continued to release solo albums after Led Zeppelin was over not wanting to just live off past glories. It is true that listening to this album gives you the feel that Plant simply loves music. Not only can you feel it but if he was not passionate about the music and was all about money then he would do the most profitable thing for him; Led Zeppelin tours and such. Plant chose another path (yes there were some Zeppelin reunions over the years but for the most part they were single shows with John Bonham's son, Jason. The 2007 reunion shows could have been the start of something big but Plant was not up to it and preferred to pursue other musical projects) and did what he wanted and played the music he felt like and for the most part it sounds like Robert really enjoyed himself and had fun making Band of Joy.

Fans, however, will not necessarily find this album to their liking. Hardcore fan of Led Zeppelin might have preferred the album to rock more and have less of the folk and acoustic elements to it. I think just about any fan of Zeppelin will love the song Angel Dance, it has a Zeppelin feel and vibe to it, plus Robert's voice on the song sounds a lot like his younger days, when he was in the band. I agree that Robert should do more rock oriented songs but I have to say I also like what he did with this album and most of his solo career, so I'm still enjoying BoJ. If you have an open mind or if you like this type of music (maybe you should listen to the samples) then I suggest you give Band of Joy a try.

I have to say I am surprised at how strong Plant's voice is for his age. He might be in his early 60s but the man still has it, it's that same powerful voice I've always loved. There is no other voice like Robert's it's a very unique voice. He shines throughout the album with the help of the musicians who support him; they come up with interesting sounds and music, kudos to them. Angel Dance is receiving much promotion and rightfully so, it is one of the album's strongest song, quite catchy too. You Can't Buy My Love is a happy more up-tempo song that is really enjoyable. I love Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down, it's simple but also very melodic and Robert's voice is particularly strong on this voice. There are very good songs like Central Two-O-Nine and Monkey but like I said, the album won't appeal to everyone.

Band of Joy is very mature musical effort and it's a very good one as well. I have to say that I am not a huge fan of folk and acoustic (or whatever you define the sound of this album) but it works very well for Robert Plant and I found the whole album enjoyable. Not exactly my cup of tea but a good and passionate effort from a legend. 3 1/2 stars.

I bought the latest Robert Plant CD and compared to other sellers this supplier was awfully slow in sending the product.

Sometime back before the release of "Band Of Joy" Robert Plant said that his next LP would be somewhere between "Led Zeppelin III" and "Raising Sand". I think he got it right as there are echoes of both of those works which were each great in their own right.There's also some new territory here, like the haunting track 'Silver Rider'.Band Of Joy

If you love Led Zeppelin, but don't care for Plant's Solo stuff...better grab a listen to this album by borrowing it from a friend first. But if you love Robert Plant...you'll love this album. It takes you all over the road, and it sounds like he had a great time recording it. Give it a chance to grab you, by listening to it through 3 or 4 times. By the fourth listen, getting familiar with the words, and the melodies, it had me hooked. Don't expect it to hit you over the head upon first listen, it's a work of art, not a pop cookie cutter formulated same old song and dance. You'll like it at the least, or like me...love it, and hope there is more where this came from.

drivel. I know it may not be about money for Robert, but this CD was a waste of the stuff. I wish I'd saved it and bought Shaken 'N' Stirred (Remastered / Expanded.) I have listened to this thing quite a number of times and am not finding much interest. Amazon reviewer Brian Ashe was right: there is nothing innovative in this one. Reminds me of Bob Dylan's recent offerings starting with Time Out Of Mind: songs that sound like they were sung from somebody's deathbed. I even find myself asking whether they used modeling amps to create the horrible distortion sound on track 4: Silver Rider, which is one of the better tracks. You'd have to be quite drunk on red wine to appreciate this one. Ya, he would never have made it in the music business if he'd started with this demo. But I suppose we are going to forgive him, because he started off great!!

I don't know how I could make such a mistake!? I guess they must have uploaded only the very best sections of the songs on Amazon, which sounded good at the time.

#8. Monkey is OK. Some kind of dirge, of which there are lots on this product. #9. Cindy I'll Marry You Some Day - OK, slow deathbed with banjo and other sad strumming. Strange how all the guitar work on this album sounds like hyped amateur. And on top of that, who wants to hear Robert Plant do gospel? The final song is also OK.