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ROBERT PLANT - LULLABY AND... THE CEASELESS ROAR


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Really dig the first song...Rainbow. Unfortunately, I'll never get to see LZ live, but I've made my peace with that. Robert has moved on and continues to produce solid, fresh tunes. Unlike some bands (cough...Rolling Stones...cough) that chase mega paydays and play the same tired warhorses. Anyway, nice to hear that Robert will be taking it on the road in the fall. Got to see him in Berkeley, CA last year. Great show. Hope he comes this way again.

I was at that show, it was fantastic. Totally agree with you about Robert's solo career.

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Its cool that Robert is turning out new material. And I'll also reserve judgment until I hear the rest of the album. But with the two songs Ive heard so far I'm just not getting into it. That's not a knock on the material, art is subjective, and of course like a lot of stuff maybe this could "grow on me" later.

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The strongest parts of both songs are the vocals, which of course is not surprising. The instrumentals lack the complimenting energy. I don't mean they should be heavier, but especially with Rainbow, it should be less "backing track."

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That's cool. Some people will dig his new album...others won't. But what I admire is Robert's dedication to creating new music. Not many artists his age are doing that. Robert, Paul McCartney, and who else? I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, but it's a pretty short list.

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Anyone know if the Brooklyn Academy shows have gone on sale. Perhaps, it may be different for sales, considering the venue.

I noticed one of the songs in the listing for the new album...House of Love...also the name of a tune from Page/Plant's, WITC. Very strange indeed!

And "Pocketful of Golden" references his line in "Over the Hills and Far Away".

Yes, the "Rainbow" track is pretty mellow (being in the U.S., it won't let me listen to "Little Maggie" so I cannot comment on that song yet), but that doesn't necessarily mean the entire album will sound like that. Some people seem to be in a rush to bury the project before it even comes out without giving it a fair listen.

And frankly, Robert Plant is nearing 70...I really don't need any more lemon-squeezing and inches of his love anymore. There are plenty of young bands out there singing about drinking and fucking, if that's what you're after. I don't require my interest in Robert Plant to be predicated on him re-enacting 1973 in perpetuity.

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Well said Strider, many listeners don't actually give serious thought before they post and can't let go of the past, he ain't the rock god anymore we grew to love but he proved himself back then and has my total attention whatever he decides to do because he's a musician not a pop artist that churns out record label garbage, sure not all of it's great but it don't have to be, so I listen and wonder where he's at at this point in time, anyway, enough dribble from me…….

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Great posts ..the 2 above this...Sometimes I feel on here one can't be a fan of LZ and what Plant is doing now without catching hell...frustrating...Considering pat Boone and Dolly parton covered Stairway, I think Robert can rework songs anyway he likes and for people that "don't like him or what he is doing" all the more easier to get tix for the rest of us I enjoyed seeing him in from of 2000-3000 people much more than in a large spectacular venue of 40,000...maybe I am stadiumed/arena'ed out after 51 years... I love it all from I to Rainbow. I was wondering, as someone perpetually near broke, if someone could post a pic of a stereo system that is hundreds of thousands of dollars I am not being sarcastic or jealous ...same reason I'll look at the Porsche parked near me...I'd really like to see it even if they send me pic privately. Truly none of my friends that aren't musicians even have a home system anymore except one...anyway looking forward to new cd from Robert I like what I have heard ...almost like trippy SS music combined with BOJ and blues and some African influence thrown in.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Robert Plant on His New Album and Favorite Supermarket

It’s been 45 years since Robert Plant made his recording debut with Led Zeppelin, though you’d never guess that from his new solo album, Lullabye ... and the Ceaseless Roar, on which his vocal cords still seem to be in mint condition. “I think the more I sing, the better my voice gets,” says Plant, who recorded Lullabye with his new band, the Sensational Space Shifters, after road-testing the material — Zeppelin-esque rock, occasionally drawing on Celtic and African influences — for the past couple years.

Most of the other artists who have been at this for 40-plus years seem to have run out of gas. What is it that you’re doing right, and why have the other guys lost it?
Well that’s a really provocative question, young man, and you must go stand on the naughty step. I don’t think anybody’s lost it. It’s the company you keep. The company I keep is very empowered, humorous, creative, and energetic, and there’s an enjoyment in stretching the parameters of what we do. We’ve been on the road for a year, just playing around the planet, which gave us the opportunity to be quite selective about the ideas that we pursued [on this album].

Do you still enjoy touring?
Oh, yeah, I wouldn’t do six weeks of festivals in Europe if I didn’t like it. I’m coming to the greater New York area soon, actually. The Capitol Theater [in Port Chester, on September 25], and then the Brooklyn Academy of Music [on September 27 and 28]. I love touring — especially now that we have Juldeh Camara, our West African guy in the band. He’s very humorous, very comical. It’s all confusing when he keeps calling me “uncle.” A term of endearment, apparently.

You’ve said the song “Turn It Up” was inspired by taking long drives through the American South.
I’ve been taking drives like that for years. As a kid in England, I was really drawn to the music of Mississippi. I went on various pilgrimages as the years went by, just to see where my heroes came from. But Mississippi today has got nothing at all to do with the vibe of the musical Mississippi of the ‘30s and the ‘40s. Culturally and socially, I’m sure it’s just a very pale reflection of what it might have been. So I was looking for ghosts, to be honest. I was listening to AM radio, which is riveting. If you ever want to lose faith in life, be very careful which station you tune into down there. There are so many Americas, and I didn’t really know which America I was in.

The album opens and closes with your versions of “Little Maggie,” a Stanley Brothers song from the '40s. You recorded a version with Alison Krauss for 2007’s Raising Sand. Why didn’t it make that album?
It was dreadful. It helped cement the friendship that Alison and I share, but it was very funny and very bad and very wrong. I tried to sing it in a traditional, Smokey Mountain Tennessee way, a yee-haw way. So Alison had to pick herself up off the floor because she was laughing hysterically. Then we moved on. But I didn’t forget the song, and we tried it again for this album. The British having a crack at it — there’s something quite ironic about that, but it did work.

Earlier this year, Led Zeppelin’s catalog went up on Spotify. Does it bother you that those albums, with all their warmth and dynamic range, are being listened to in cold, compressed streaming audio?
Yeah, it does. I don’t champion too many things, but I do champion the sound of music. It’s a hell of a compromise. For example, with Lullabye ... and the Ceaseless Roar — never mind Zeppelin — I spent a lot of making sure the vinyl sounds really good, so people have that option. But it is slightly heartbreaking to think that anything can be dismissed sonically and put to the sword by the confines digitalized, computerized sound reproduction. It’s hell.

I see that you have a Twitter account. Is that really you Tweeting?
Sometimes. If it’s a little bit oblique, or about something you wouldn’t expect, then I guess it must be me. I’ll call [my team] saying, “Put this up! Put that up!” At other times, it’s just them keeping people up to speed on what’s going on.

You recently moved back to England after a couple years in Austin, Texas. What was it like living there?
I was very fortunate to enjoy great friendships in Austin, which I sadly miss. I found their hospitality and charm in Austin second to none. But I was yearning for a musical project. My work with American musicians has faltered and come to a natural, suitable finale. My family was saying, “Where has he gone?” And I was thinking, Where have I gone? I’d gone to sea. So I had to come back.

I have a friend in Austin who said he saw you shopping at Whole Foods. Did that actually happen?
No, no, no, I was working at Whole Foods [laughs]. You know, Whole Foods is more of a dating agency than a shop. If you’re gonna go shopping for food in Austin, go to Fiesta, the supermarket with a difference. You can get a pork enchilada there whilst picking up some British tomato ketchup and some teabags, and you can do the whole transaction in Spanish.

http://www.vulture.com/2014/08/robert-plant-on-his-favorite-supermarket.html

http://newyorkcastingcalls.net/robert-plant-on-his-new-album-and-favorite-supermarket/

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Robert continues to explore new trails and keeps dropping bread crumbs for Jimmy to follow.

Like him or his music - or not - Robert is a craftsman working to better his craft. That's all.

He has had some success and sometimes not as much. This makes him human and approachable.

To me - all his efforts have not been in vain, his measure of success is "ever onward".

Listening Jimmy?

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To me - all his efforts have not been in vain, his measure of success is "ever onward".

Listening Jimmy?

"The Song Remains The Same" (The Song Remains The Same)

"The Road Remains The Same" (Lullaby...and the Ceaseless Roar)

"If The Sun Refused To Shine" (Since I've Been Loving You)

"If The Sun Refused To Shine" (Lullaby...and the Ceaseless Roar)

"With Help and Consolation" (Please Read The Letter)

"For Help and Consolation" (Lullaby...and the Ceaseless Roar)

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"The Song Remains The Same" (The Song Remains The Same)

"The Road Remains The Same" (Lullaby...and the Ceaseless Roar)

"If The Sun Refused To Shine" (Since I've Been Loving You)

"If The Sun Refused To Shine" (Lullaby...and the Ceaseless Roar)

"With Help and Consolation" (Please Read The Letter)

"For Help and Consolation" (Lullaby...and the Ceaseless Roar)

Like I said - Robert keeps dropping bread crumbs for Jimmy to follow. Steve has kindly listed them here and as you can see the breadcrumbs if you will are getting larger. Robert is no longer disguising the clues for Jimmy to follow. He is blatantly referencing the past in hopes that Jimmy awakens to some sort of clever ideas for a partnership. Robert is open to NEW ideas not just rehashing old glories. Jimmy can easily bridge whatever gaps remain for writing again with Robert.
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"The Song Remains The Same" (The Song Remains The Same)

"The Road Remains The Same" (Lullaby...and the Ceaseless Roar)

"If The Sun Refused To Shine" (Since I've Been Loving You)

"If The Sun Refused To Shine" (Lullaby...and the Ceaseless Roar)

"With Help and Consolation" (Please Read The Letter)

"For Help and Consolation" (Lullaby...and the Ceaseless Roar)

You forgot "The Western Shore" line.

"And when I think about it now, it's the House of Love burned down" WTF.

"in pieces on the ground"

And "if the Sun Refused to Shine" is from TY, not SIBLY

There are tons of LZ and P/P quotes on this record.

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Hm.
Just finished listening to the album on the preview live stream.
Deeply unimpressed, sadly. His voice is nice, if very understated, but he seems to be gluing many of the same melodies and lyrics from Dreamland onwards into these 'new' songs. Is he really so bereft of inspiration that we have to hear another song with the line 'pretty little girl with a red dress on', for example?

The overall feeling I get from the album is melancholy and overwhelming exhaustion, and looking at the promo photos & vids that have been circulating you see what looks for all the world like a worried unhappy looking man with a furrowed brow. Much of the album is very obviously about his split with Patty Griffin, and it makes me wonder if he got the Sensational Space Shifters back together just for something to do to fend off the 'get in touch with Jimmy' brigade. He realised he didn't really fit into the USA, and has come back here, perhaps to try and make some peace with himself, but for somebody who has been so determined to tread the path ever onwards this feels like a 180 degree turn with his arms spread wide to try and scoop up all the bits of the last 12 or so years that made him relevant again after the Page/Plant era. I do find some of his musical choices increasingly difficult to understand. He has such a wealth of songs from his solo career to dip into - 32 years worth - but he still feels the need to force Black Dog into different boxes rather than pick from any of that. He still commands an audience, on his own terms, and he's vocally (and justly) against the crowd pleaser that would be making music with his old compatriots, under whatever name, yet still he seems to coast along using the Zep material as a safety net that he blatantly doesn't need.

It's very odd.

If this is his solo Swan Song, I think I shall pretend it never happened and stick with Mighty Rearranger, which feels so much fresher and vibrant in comparison.

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Love the album title.... "Lullaby (song to sing to put some-one/thing to bed, ie Led Zeppelin) and the Ceaseless Roar" (the never ending call for Zeppelin activity.)..Well maybe, probably not.

Anyway...Roll on next Monday looking forward to getting this one.

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Like I said - Robert keeps dropping bread crumbs for Jimmy to follow. Steve has kindly listed them here and as you can see the breadcrumbs if you will are getting larger. Robert is no longer disguising the clues for Jimmy to follow. He is blatantly referencing the past in hopes that Jimmy awakens to some sort of clever ideas for a partnership. Robert is open to NEW ideas not just rehashing old glories. Jimmy can easily bridge whatever gaps remain for writing again with Robert.

What Robert's dropped with this new album ain't a breadcrumb, but I digress. I was listening to the album earlier this morning and before it put me to sleep I realized we can add one more example of lyrical laziness, I mean coincidence..."House of Love".

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Hm.

Just finished listening to the album on the preview live stream.

Deeply unimpressed, sadly. His voice is nice, if very understated, but he seems to be gluing many of the same melodies and lyrics from Dreamland onwards into these 'new' songs. Is he really so bereft of inspiration that we have to hear another song with the line 'pretty little girl with a red dress on', for example?

If this is his solo Swan Song, I think I shall pretend it never happened and stick with Mighty Rearranger, which feels so much fresher and vibrant in comparison.

That really needed to be said and it compliments what I've said, that there's nothing happening on stage or on record with Robert right now that has not already been done during the Strange Sensations era. Mighty Rearranger was his artistic zenith with world music (or whatever one wants to call it) and that was nearly ten long years ago. It has all been done before!

Frankly, this new album sounds like a compilation of Walking Into Clarksdale, Dreamland & Mighty Rearranger outtakes. I say that because aside from the lyrical rehashing none of these new songs is good enough to make the cut on any of those albums. It's just my two cents, keep the change.

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That really needed to be said and it compliments what I've said, that there's nothing happening on stage or on record with Robert right now that has not already been done during the Strange Sensations era. Mighty Rearranger was his artistic zenith with world music (or whatever one wants to call it) and that was nearly ten long years ago. It has all been done before!

Frankly, this new album sounds like a compilation of Walking Into Clarksdale, Dreamland & Mighty Rearranger outtakes. I say that because aside from the lyrical rehashing none of these new songs is good enough to make the cut on any of those albums. It's just my two cents, keep the change.

I agree with this. I was hoping for a successor to Mighty ReArranger which, despite being nearly 10 years old, is one of Robert's best solo albums.

Lullaby was, to be frank, a real let-down. Robert has talked up his world-music leanings and new band in interviews, but the album that I've heard really doesn't reflect the band he's built over ten years. While Juldeh is an incredible musician, and an asset to Robert's live performance, his appearance on the tracks on Lullaby signals yet another bland foray into world music.

I also can't help but notice that Embrace Another Fall is quite literally the reworked version of Black Dog that he's been performing live, but with new vocals. And the female vocals on the tracks were first sampled by Robert in 2001 for his Afro Celt Soundsystem song Life Begin Again. So there's really not that much new there, and perhaps that sums up the album as a whole.

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^^ I can respect everyone's opinion of the music as I truly feel music is personal. As for me I cannot wait to get this album. There is just something about Robert's voice that has kept me following him most of my life! A Stolen Kiss is amazing IMHO:-)

It is missing two songs: Up on the Hollow Hill and Arbaden.

Robert Plant - Lullaby And… The Ceaseless Roar (Full Album)..sort of:-)

http://youtu.be/IwXGK5HATLk

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