A man who used to front one of the biggest and most influential rock bands in the world demands respect
A man who used to front one of the biggest and most influential rock bands in the world demands respect, but has little left to prove. Led Zeppelin weren't just a band; they were (and still are) an institution. The only challenge left to their erstwhile singer Robert Plant is how to find a way of shaking off the shackles of his glorious past, and somehow to remain relevant in 2005.
Robert Plant's solo output thus far cannot be described as inspiring stuff. So it was with some trepidation that I pressed the 'Play' button - but 'Mighty Rearranger' gets off to a startlingly good start. A musical comparison between Robert Plant and Razorlight seems unlikely, but the verse bars of opening track 'Another Tribe' bear a striking similarity to the latter's 'Stumble And Fall', albeit with a slightly Eastern feel. Next up are the loose beats and muted, backwards organs of the similarly surprising 'Shine It All Around', which glides smoothly along like Portishead, before exploding into a big rock chorus à la Lenny Kravitz.
From this point on, though, the album takes on a more familiar feel. It seems that Plant has never quite abandoned his seventies-born obsession with 'mysticism' and story telling. You can't help thinking to yourself 'This is Spinal Tap', and picturing Plant stood at the foot of a mountain, hair streaming in the wind, with helmeted Norsemen thundering around inside his head. Song titles like 'All The Kings Horses' and 'The Enchanter' do nothing to dispel this image, though the former is a pleasant but unremarkable acoustic lament, brushed with touches of folk. 'The Enchanter', by contrast, is a lengthy, winding jam of a song, about as close to original Led Zeppelin as this album gets.
Midway through 'Mighty Rearranger', your attention starts to wane a little. 'Takamba' is typical, lyrically, of the record as whole, opening with the lines "Sing a song of freedom, write it in the skies / A pocket full of secrets and a belly full of lies". You'd think this was a Kula Shaker rip-off, but then you have to remember that Kula Shaker were ripping off Led Zeppelin in the first place. From here on in, it starts to feel like a marathon in which the finishing line just keeps getting further and further away. 'Dancing In Heaven' is blander and stodgier than a bowl of unflavoured porridge, and the trance-inducing Eastern feel of 'Somebody Knocking' does little to lift the listener from their torpor.
So it's a thankful ear which comes across the title track, late on in proceedings. A throbbing bassline, sparse instrumentation and some sharp bluesy riffs give 'Mighty Rearranger' itself the aspect of an overblown White Stripes song. But it's too little, too late. 'Mojo' readers are gonna be in raptures over this album, but anybody under the age of twenty-five will just shake their heads in bored confusion, and look elsewhere for their thrills.
~Chris Watkeys
5.
