Robert Plant
Saving Grace
NONESUCH
Anyone left waiting for Robert Plant to reform Led Zeppelin became disheartened earlier this year by his gentle refusal of a slot singing at Ozzy Osbourne’s living self-memorial (Plant said he wasn’t of the metal world any longer), and later by his gathering of Anglo-folk, blues-baring, holy-rolling souls, Saving Grace. While on the surface it may seem as if Plant’s lemon-squeezing days are over, there’s a soft-spun sensuality to his singing as well as his new ensemble’s choice of covering African-American spirituals, woody-hooded blues, and ambiently haunted contemporary folk (e.g. Low’s “Everybody’s Song”).
Understanding that the lurid, lion-like sexuality of his singing past is for younger vocalists (if he could only clue Jagger into this reality), Plant does, however, keep his loins flexed by moving in serpentine and sultry fashion through the backing sounds of Saving Grace—highlighted by the vocal skills of Suzi Dian, who triples as this album’s accordionist and co-producer—and their willingness to stretch into additionally ancient forms. By accessing the tangled Saharan blues of Tinariwen, the psychedelic ruralism of Fairport Convention, and the drone folksiness of John Fahey into its churning combine of influence, there is, indeed, something menacing and melancholic—even unique—in its slumber.
With Dian acting out the Allison Krauss portion of Plant’s predilection for country-cousin duets and female-vocal atmosphere, string-besotted and rustically tactile moments such as “Chevrolet” (a version of Donovan’s “Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness),” which is itself is a version of Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy’s “Can I Do It for You”) and the piney, traditional “Gospel Plough” slither their way effortlessly into the likes of a churning “Soul of a Man” (penned by Blind Willie Johnson) and the fur-bearing psychedelia of Moby Grape’s “It’s a Beautiful Day Today.”
In some ways, having Plant and company slip through each track as if flipping through a moss garden’s jukebox can get a bit same-y. But then again, having one of classic rock’s towering voices use subtlety rather than bravura while remaking the rural-folk, blues, and gospel songbook is a cool new trick for an old dog.
