I want Robert Plant to Record My Voicemail Message

The collaboration between Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand, is good for you. It’s like watching PBS, reading a book, eating your vegetables, or hanging out with that family friend once a year. It’s good for you, but it feels a bit like work along the way. It’s not very sweet to the taste.

Raising Sand is in many ways precisely why I engaged in the Music Martes project in the first place. It’s an album, but more than that it’s an experiment with two different artists crawling around inside the same idea. It’s interesting, and that’s why I picked it. And the part that’s cool for me is I wouldn’t have bought it if I weren’t doing this. I now look at the record rack with a “that’s interesting” sense of curiosity I hope I keep after these 52 weeks.

Raising Sand didn’t disappoint. I’ll caveat this review by saying Raising Sand won’t fit neatly on radio. The Plant Krauss record is a bit like the Into the Wild soundtrack. It’s the sort of record music lovers will checkout from the library. It’s not going to have you screaming from the backseat, “turn this up!”

From the start of Raising Sand we know we’re going on an adventure. The first track “Rich Girl” sounds like something straight out of O Brother, Where Art Thou. Makes sense as producer T Bone Burnett (Wallflowers) was responsible for that soundtrack and he wastes no time putting his stamp on the record. The next thing you notice about the record is the virtuoso vocal performance, mainly by Plant. I've heard it said that Led Zeppelin came together because one of the members wanted to assemble true virtuosos on vocal, guitar, bass, and drum—and only the best would do.

Even in his later Johnny-Depp-looking-pirate-days it’s clear Robert Plant remains a master on the mic. He’s capable of sounding like a half dozen different people delivering half dozen styles, and to be honest he completely overwhelms Krauss for most of the record.

On Raising Sand Plant shifts between haunting vocals on “Killing the Blues” and “Polly Come Home” where his voice alone delivers a chill on the neck as if a spirit just walked into the room. I would encourage everyone to click on samples from these two just to see how the late stages Plant can still hold court for a track and create an entire mood using largely just his voice. Trouble is next to Plant most of the Krauss led songs are forgettable on Raising Sand. An interesting point of note is because the record is a series of covers Krauss often sings from a male perspective calling out to her “little darling” and fretting “to know that another man’s holding you tight.” The gender POV creates an interesting and fresh result and another example why Raising Sand is a record for music lovers.

Some standouts tracks include the Everly Brothers cover “Gone Baby Gone” which sounds like something Quentin Tarantino would dig up for one of his soundtracks. You can imagine one of his skinny tied killers turning on the blood sprinkler after listening to this one. It’s got a nice “Little Green Bag” vibe to it. It has to be nice to do anything with Plant because if he cuts loose even a little bit and starts making some noises and starts getting excited –all of sudden it’s Zeppelin II all over again—and friends that is a good thing. Plant “gets the Led out” towards the end of “Gone Baby Gone” and especially in “Please Read the Letter.” “Please Read the Letter” is a great ride as Plant keeps it together until the end shifting from a polite ask to rising up to a more impatient “read the damn letter already” level of intensity. It makes sense that Jimmy Page co-wrote "Please Read the Letter" as it’s the most rock & roll thing on the album. It’s one of the best on Raising Sand offering a nice little lyric towards the end, “there’s nothing here that’s left for you check with lost and found,” a fiddle solo, and some well placed screams and moans from the master. This is the one they’d play on a late show as it has the most energy to it.

Another upbeat gypsy groove that will grow on you is “Fortune Teller.” It has a nice bluesy feel to it with pirate Plant holding the big wheel.

The high point on Raising Sand is easily “Stick With Me Baby,” a lovely ballad that is the perfect cocktail of Plant and Krauss and sounds like some of my favorite new Springsteen ballads. “Stick With Me Baby” is the first and only time we get equal parts Plant and Krauss and the result is 1+1=3. It’s just a simple love song, but with these two singing it’s a whole lot more than that. Pay the .99 and bring it home for your gal, it sounds as nice as fresh cut flowers from the farmers market.

Any vocal collaboration with Robert Plant is like putting A1 on a steak –it’s not necessary. But Raising Sand is a successful experiment in that the result is a genuine album. The spotlight is clearly on the vocals and it works—you don’t miss the band as these two are more than capable of commanding your full attention. Raising Sand is a couple artists with nothing to prove trying something new and getting to a few really nice tracks in “Please Read the Letter,” “Gone Baby Gone,” “Stick With Me Baby,” and “Fortune Teller.” With four nice tunes, the album passes my purchase test or at least a checkout from the library.