Former Zeppelin frontman hits stride on new solo project
After spending the past 20-odd years delivering albums that failed to live up to his legacy as the voice of the mighty Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant follows up a triumphant comeback performance at this year’s SXSW music festival with the best work of his solo career. Flanked by his new group The Strange Sensation, a ragtag band of U.K. musicians who’ve worked with the likes of Sinéad O’Connor, Roni Size and Portishead, Mighty Rearranger finds Plant in fine form. Tracks like “Freedom Fries” and the incredible “Let The Four Winds Blow” prove he can still pack quite a wallop. And the Strange Sensation does an incredible job backing him up throughout, providing a backdrop swirling with Eastern flourishes, trip-hop grooves and guitar crunch that makes you wonder if this is what Zep would’ve sounded like had Bonzo lived through his fatal pub crawl. Manic nirvana, indeed.