Music “There’s no slack”: The album Robert Plant saw as the culmination of his musical life
There are certain sounds in the canon of classic rock that are easily identifiable. Jimi Hendrix’s guitar playing, The Beach Boys’ harmonies or dramatic keys of Elton John’s piano. From the simple utterance of that sound, you know who is in charge and what to expect. When it comes to the vocal equivalent of that attribute, it’s hard to look past the mighty Robert Plant and his soaring singing that soundtracked a decade of opulent rock.
His career with Led Zeppelin typified the sex drugs and rock and roll adage that, perhaps now, seems like an ironic chapter in the history of music. But in Plant’s heyday, it was a very real reality. Both in the studio and on stage, he embodied that grandiose image of a long-haired rock god whose magnetism didn’t just come from the lyrics and stage presence but a soaring and primal vocal style.
Such fierce and immediate brilliance sets out a tricky stall for any future work. Particularly when so much of your appeal is built upon a sense of youthful freedom. So in 2005, when Plant was a lot longer in the tooth and the days of open-chested sexualism were somewhat past him, a new artistic avenue had to be forged. He released Mighty Rearranger that year, an album that saw him grapple with universal themes of love, fate and time but with a snarlier and more world-wearing sense of cynicism.
Despite it’s relatively modest reputation in comparison to his works with Zeppelin, it’s a record Plant views with great fondness. In an episode of Charlie Rose Conversations, he quite forthrightly explained, “This album is a place that I could never have believed I could have found. Quite honestly, it’s an absolute moment for me in all my life of trying to be creative because the whole thing works.”
Enthused by the fact he had managed to channel all his influences and experiences into the one album that represented him best, he added, ”The combination of music, lyric, vocal, and the intention of each song, there’s no slack. There’s nothing to do with trying to join the big time again, trying to get back into some kind of groove. It’s just about being in the right place again.” Much like when Led Zeppelin shrugged off criticism back in the day, Mighty Rearranger saw Plant put his ego to one side.
The very fact Plant alludes to being in the right place again nods to a return to something more enate—something where the kernel of his success was born and on the surface, you’d be forgiven for thinking that was lyrical and performative exuberance. But on the contrary, as he explained to Charlie Rose.
When asked what the right place was, Plant simply answered, “Symmetry. Some kind of cohesive state where music and lyric and the whole lot comes together and it’s not a compromise on any level at all. You can’t sing songs about love at 56 years old without really scrutinising how you deliver this.”
Be it a Plant in his mid-20s or mid-50s, the point at which he feels artistically concise is when he is pursuing whatever natural voice speaks to him at that time. During the heady days of Zeppelin’s 1970s success, Plant’s allure was rooted in his natural exploration of performance and lyricism. Repeating that at a riper age is anything but natural, and so a return to following the instincts led him to a different albeit equally as interesting place.