Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: Raising Sand

I didn't buy this for myself; I bought it as a Valentine's gift for Lucy last year. But then I spotted two other CDs I thought she'd like even more, an Au Pairs anthology and a Cowboy Junkies album. To give three CDs seemed like an overstatement — the kind that raises suspicion of some guilt that requires penance — and also a dangerous precedent. So I did the prudent thing and held back one of them — coincidentally the one I thought I'd like the most — for myself.

It was interesting, the way this album took wing after it was released. I first heard a track when Gideon Coe was sitting in on Bob Harris's Radio 2 programme, rehearsing for his transition from daytime to late-night DJ. Next, exactly two years ago, Guy had a copy of the album that we played in the Chevrolet people-carrier as we drove up and down Skyline Boulevard before Rust Fest. It wasn't that popular in that setting — not great driving music — and only Guy and I defended it at all (I wonder what the boys are listening to on this year's trip; probably that classic rock FM station that Paul likes, if he can find it). I heard tracks on Late Junction, too. But soon after that, and possibly related to the Zep fuss, the record company must have sensed a beckoning opportunity: didn't they advertise it heavily on TV? And before you knew it, the bourgeois liberal intelligentsia (people like me, how I loathe them) had clutched it to their breasts in a way not seen since Norah Jones and the Buena Vista Social Club. Number 1 in the charts, or close to it. And ironically it seems that may have helped give Percy the resolve to resist extending the Zep reunion beyond the one-off.

Like Norah Jones and the Buena Vista Social Club — or so I'm told, having heard neither album in full — the sound of Raising Sand has that aura of analogue authenticity. When I played Trampled Rose loud this morning, I could hear the background hiss that had been engineered into the recording somehow. Fake surface noise. I was expecting the album to sound as good as last weekend's listening (1, 2), and was surprised that it didn't quite. Earlier this week, I listened on Spotify, and there you get Allmusic.com reviews served up to you willy-nilly. I'm not sure about that: sometimes I want to be left to make up my own mind. But Thom Jurek's observations helped clarify how I felt about it:

The proceedings are, predictably, very laid-back. Burnett has only known one speed these last ten years, and so the material chosen by the three is mostly very subdued. This doesn't make it boring, despite Burnett's production, which has become utterly predictable since he started working with Gillian Welch. He has a "sound" in the same way Daniel Lanois does: it's edges are all rounded, everything is very warm, and it all sounds artificially dated.

It feels to me that the production is very self-conscious, checking itself in the mirror to ensure that its décolletage is all as it should be.

As soon as I put this on this morning, Lucy shouted through the door to ask who it was, so I guess my original instinct was right.

MusicBrainz entry for this album Wikipedia entry for this album Rate Your Music entry for this album Listen to this album in full at Last.fm Listen to this album in full at We7 Listen to this album in full at Spotify

Comments

[BrandNewGuy]

I have a feeling that this album won't age well, despite my initial enthusiasm. I agree with your comments about the deliberate 'authenticity' of the production - and indeed the choice of songs. I haven't played it for months...

For your info, this year the boys drove along Skyline Boulevard listening to The Bottle Rockets new album "Lean Forward". Very good it is too. It's all I could do to stop Paul putting on AC/DC...

[David]

Hmmm, that's a new one on me. I... might... check it out. I was leaning every which way when Paul was driving.