I’m not sure if you can get more legendary than Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) or Alison Krauss (Union Station, Bluegrass Icon)–oh wait, you can…Robert Plant AND Alison Krauss together!!! This seeminly odd couple teamed up for a collaborative release this fall, releasing “Raising Sand” (Rounder) this week.
The first song “Rich Woman” is a good summary of the whole Album.
Unmistakeable–impossible to immitate–vocal harmonies, backed by simple, bluesy guitar drums and double bass.
“Gone Gone Gone” is the 5th track on the album and contrasts from the slow, sorrowful tracks preceding it, and picks up the bass to remind us that
this is in fact the same man who fronted one of the greatest rockbands
of all time. Still, the brilliant simplicity that always follows
Krauss is there–a simple two chord blues riff, and a quick shuffle
drum beat, left my, foot tapping.
“Fortune Teller” is a fantastic tune that turns up the old-school reverb on Plant’s vox and brings us back to “When the Levee Breaks” or “Whole Lotta Love.” Ms. Krauss steps back from the microphone on this one, and there is raw, bluesy, zeppelinesque rock in abundance!
From one of the more Zeppilinesque tracks, to a clear Kraussian ballad, “Through The Morning, Through The Night” could easily fit on an old Union Station LP. The slow brushes and double bass churn along with a lap guitar crying behind the two singers’ perfect harmonies.
Overall I would say that there is more here for the Krauss fan, than the Zeppelin head, but still there is plenty of great moments featuring each of them, and they’re moments together are stunning.
