Robert Plant 11: Band Of Joy

Never one to go for a surefire cash cow, Robert didn’t push a second collaboration with Alison Krauss, but kept his interest in Americana fresh with an album named after one of his pre-Zeppelin bands. Band Of Joy even keeps his old Es Paranza imprint afloat; has anyone else had that label? Such luminaries as Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller round out the band for a sound closer to Dreamland than Raising Sand.

For the most part, he’s content to reinterpret other people’s material here, starting with Los Lobos’ “Angel Dance” and an older Richard Thompson songsong, “House Of Cards”. “Central Two-O-Nine” continues the Americana fascination, but while it’s credited as an original, it sounds awfully derivative. There are two, count ‘em, two songs by Minnesota slowcore pioneers Low—“Silver Rider” features Patty cooing just like Alison might have, and “Monkey” is even more brooding and scary. “You Can’t Buy My Love” has a nice Merseybeat guitar part in between all the drums, which makes sense since the song dates from about 1964, while “Falling In Love Again” manages to straddle country, gospel and doo-wop.

“The Only Sound That Matters” is a recent tune by the defunct Dallas band Milton Mapes, and good for Robert for finding it. If somebody’s watching out for Townes Van Zandt’s estate, they’ll likely be pleased by the rendition of “Harm’s Swift Way” here. The balance of the tracks are new arrangements of traditional songs, and with titles to match: “Cindy I’ll Marry You Someday” are fairly swampy “Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down”, but “Even This Shall Pass Away” is given a trip-hop treatment.

Once again Robert made a decent album, and even got critical kudos for it. Band Of Joy isn’t remotely annoying, but it doesn’t exactly leap out of the speakers. It can be enjoyed, and filed.

Robert Plant Band Of Joy (2010)—3