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Reviews of: Raising Sandby Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
Product Description Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and bluegrass crooner Alison Krauss may not be the likeliest of musical combinations. But on this welcome collaboration album, they work beautifully together, wringing a kind of magic from other people’s songs. The key to the album is its versatility. Between them, Krauss and Plant can handle a vast repertoire on their own, and here they take on the lot, from folk laments and country soul to searing blues and upbeat rock & roll. Overseen by Elvis Costello producer T Bone Burnett and backed by high caliber musicians like guitarist Marc Ribot and multi-instrumentalist Mike Seeger, Raising Sand sees the duo create stellar covers of songs by Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, Mel Tillis and The Everly Brothers, among others. Highlights include a killer version of Roly Salley's "Killing the Blues", and a cover of the Plant-Page collaboration "Please Read the Letter," though in truth, it’s difficult to find a weak spot on the whole album. --Danny McKenna Reviews Through The Morning, Through The Night, I want to listen to this album. I bought this album because I loved Led Zeppelin and much of Robert Plant's solo work and because it kept being recommended to me by Amazon. I was a little put off at first as I know Alison Krauss is a country singer and it's not a genre of music I am so keen on or familiar with, but this gamble really paid off. It's a brilliant album. It almost feels as if I shouldn't be listening as it sounds so intimate and gentle between the two of them as they sing, much as Mojo magazine said. The only song I'd heard before buying this was Gone Gone Gone, which was upbeat and catchy. The rest of the album is more mellow and very relaxed and relaxing. Every track is wonderful and thoroughly easy and enjoyable to listen to. It sounds as if it wouldn't be out of place back in the 1950s, but also as fresh and modern as it actually is, having been released in 2007. This reminds me a little of Johnny Cash and Neil Young with the more blues/folk take on country music which makes it a bit more mainstream and accessible. 2009-01-04 Damp squib This didn't do it for me. I normally like Alison Krauss, but the tracks on this are bland and repetitive. Pretty much unlistenable. 2009-01-01 Wonderful - if I'm in the right mood I bought the CD in my lunch hour at work and excitedly looked forward to playing it on my long drive home. My car has a pretty good audio system, but still too many of the subtleties on this record get lost in the ambient noise. Likewise through the iPod dock speakers in my kitchen. But get in a quiet room, play it through some decent kit (and, excuse any hints of snobbery, this means a good four figures' worth) and it comes quietly, subtly but deliciously alive. In an era where some producers go for volume at the expense of everything else, here's a record that's all in the details. The voices are perfectly positioned; you can hear whether the drums are being tickled or whacked for all they're worth; and what sounds in the car like a fuzz of acoustic bass and electric distortion resolves itself into a truly coherent accompaniment. The songs aren't all stunners - this isn't a five-star collection - but the best ones - Nothin', Killing the Blues and, especially, Sister Rosetta, raise an insistent prickle on the back of the neck. It's not for every day, but on the right day, it's exquisite. 2008-12-26 Beyond Dad Rock I really loved Zep and I'm very into most of Robert's solo work, but this is cringeworthy. It's music for dancin' Granddads. Sorry, Robert, but I'm just too young to want to feel that old. I just wish he wasn't devoting so much time to this project. It's not that I want a Zep reunion tour, because it would spoil the legend in a blitz of tacky media gimmicks, corporate sponsorship and a Zep that just isn't really Zep. It would be Plant and Page, with John Paul Jones. I guess he's more than earned the right to go country, but it would be nice to have Robert Plant the English musician back with us. This album is just a bland out, sadly. 2008-12-12 Don't waste your money. I can respect Robert Plant for his work with Led Zeppelin (nearly 40 years ago) and Alison Krauss is a major talent with the Union Station but this just does not work. The production by T Bone Burnett is good but the material is poor and boring. It neither one thing (Rock) nor another (Country/Bluegrass). Having read the reviews beforehand I borrowed this CD from my library prepared for a probable disappointment and it certainly lived up to that. 2008-11-28 |
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