Rober Plant |
lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar |
Rober Plant — lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar
♠→ The album is Plant’s first full project since Band Of Joy in 2010, and is a “celebratory record”, he says in a statement.
♠→ “It’s really a celebratory record, powerful, gritty, African, Trance meets Zep (Led Zeppelin) ... The whole impetus of my life as a singer has to be driven by a good brotherhood. I am very lucky to work with The Sensational Space Shifters. They come from exciting areas of contemporary music ... I have been around awhile and I ask myself, do I have anything to say? Is there a song still inside me? In my heart? I see life and what’s happening to me. Along the trail there are expectations, disappointments, happiness, questions and strong relationships.
♠→ “... And now I’m able to express my feelings through melody, power and trance; together in a kaleidescope of sound, colour, and friendship,” he continues in the official statement.
♠→ One of a generation of British kids, drawn without rhyme or reason, to sounds from a far away world. A world of field holler, despair, Levee camp and chain— gang moans; of Saturday night fish-fry and Juke Joint foot stomp.
♠→ A million miles lay between the brooding pulse of Mississippi Delta life and the sanitized shelter of the timid English boy, circa 1962.
Birthname: Robert Anthony Plant
Nationality: British
Born: August 20, 1948
Location: UK
Album release: September 9th, 2014
Record Label: Trolcharm/Nonesuch/Warner Bros.
Duration:
Tracks:
01 Little Maggie 5:05
02 Rainbow 4:17
03 Pocketful of Golden 4:12
04 Embrace Another Fall
05 Turn It Up 4:05
06 A Stolen Kiss
07 Somebody There 4:32
08 Poor Howard
09 House Of Love
10 Up on the Hollow Hill (Understanding Arthur)
11 Arbaden (Maggie´s Babby)
© 2014 Robert Plant & Nonesuch Records
℗ 2014 Trolcharm Ltd. / Under license to Nonesuch Records Inc. for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
♠→ Nine songs of which were written by Plant and members of his band, The Sensational Space Shifters (Justin Adams, John Baggot, Juldeh Camara, Billy Fuller, Dave Smith and Liam “Skin” Tyson).
Credits:
♠→ 50 years on — drawing from a lifetime of adventures, tracking the dark, beautiful resonator, Plant follows his heart and lifts his voice higher and joyous ever away — and beyond —
♠→ A voice of experience and learning from the sounds of Southside Chicago Electric Blues; of Griot mantras from West Africa; from Louisiana Dance Halls; Greenwich Village Folk hangover; Haight Ashbury indulgences; Moroccan medina breakbeat; the early English radical techno materials, Texas two-step and Bristol Dubstep.
♠→ Before his recent projects in Nashville with Alison Krauss and Band of Joy, Plant worked alongside the very interesting force, “Strange Sensation”, recording the critically acclaimed, multi-Grammy nominated albums — “Dreamland” and “Mighty Rearranger”. ♠→ From this platform, Sensational Space Shifters has developed. Now together these confederates and conspirators dig deeper and more intensely, always twisting and turning, bringing the past into a brilliant technicolour present.
Personell:
It is impressive company:
♠→ Justin Adams — a childhood in the Middle East and teenage years with a soundtrack of UK punk set the tone for Adams ' musical adventures. He has produced Grammy winning Desert poets Tinariwen and Algerian Rai rebel Rachid Taha, as well as playing guitar and writing with Jah Wobble, Sinead O' Connor , Natasha Atlas and many more. Three award winning albums with Juldeh Camara for Peter Gabriel's Real World label have been the latest in a series of collaborations with Master Musicians from North and West Africa.
♠→ John Baggott — one of the originators of the Bristol Trip hop sound, Baggott cut his teeth as a teenage piano prodigy playing with visiting US legends like Jimmy Witherspoon and Charlie Feathers. He contributed to seminal work by Portishead, combining musicality with cutting edge sonic texturing and sampling, which led him to become a member of the Massive Attack team. He has also composed film and tv music for Emmy award winning documentaries and most recently worked with songstress Anna Calvi on a new album.
♠→ Juldeh Camara — Juldeh was taught the Ritti ( one— string African Violin) by his blind Griot father , who was reputedly taught himself by the forest spirits of Gambia who took his eyesight in return for the gift . A traditional Fulani village musician, Juldeh's exceptional talent and charisma took him first to Banjul, Gambia's capital and then around the world with Ifang Bondi. Hearing Adams' Desert inflected Blues he decided the two should collaborate , which led to the groundbreaking Juju records, and in turn to his work with Plant, where the connections between the Blues and Mother Africa turn full circle.
♠→ Billy Fuller — Fuller has been exceptionally creative in the past few years, as a founder member of post rock trio Beak , together with Portishead's Geoff Barrow, he has made two albums and played at the ultra— cool All Tomorrow's Parties Festival amongst many others. He has contributed to albums by Massive Attack, the soundtrack for the Banksy movie "Exit via the Gift Shop", guested with Portishead, and toured with Adams and Camara in JuJu. A rock solid bassist he is a vinyl junkie with consummate taste.
♠→ Liam “Skin” Tyson — a surreal Scouser (Liverpudlian) who now lives in the Misty Mountains of North Wales, his combination of Pastoral acoustic open tuned guitars and electric 21st century psychedelia make him a perfect foil for Plant’s balladry and fire. He made a massive impact with Brit Pop group Cast in the 90s who had a succession of chart hits, mentored by figures like producer John Leckie. He built a studio in his Barn where he recorded his Men from Mars project and from where he nurtures local bands in between surfing and touring.
♠→ Dave Smith — originally trained as a jazz drummer and orchestral percussionist, a chance encounter with West African music led Smith to study sabar drumming in Gambia over a ten year period. He is the hub of a scene of Jazz and electronic improvisers based around the Vortex club in London, where he leads groups such as Fofoulah and Ruhabi, incorporating polyrhythmic African drive into their music. Headhunted by Adams and Camara, he brought a Ginger Baker like energy to their music which now moves to another level in the context of the Sensational Space Shifters.
♠→ Plant revels in the excitement generated by the collision of these remarkably powerful forces. Though his contribution to Pop Culture began with his work with Led Zeppelin, his path since has been uncompromising: keep it fresh, spin the bottle, dig deep, embrace the past — visit it — celebrate it — but don’t build a home in it.
_______________________________________________________________
Members / Band of Joy:
♠→ Rober Plant (voice, tambourine)
♠→ Darrell Scott (acoustic guitar, mandolin, octave mandolin, banjo, accordion, pedal steel and lap steel guitar)
♠→ Byron House (bass)
♠→ Marco Giovino (drums and percussion)
♠→ Miller (electric guitar, baritone, 6-string bass, mandoguitar)
LP + CD + MP3 + ART PRINT
Includes:
♠→ Album on two-LP, 180-gram vinyl
♠→ Album on CD
♠→ Exclusive print featuring album artwork
Digital Content:
♠→ Digital downloads of multiple album tracks delivered prior to street date
♠→ Digital download of the complete album delivered on street date.
Editorial Reviews
♠→ Robert Plant s 2014 album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, his label debut for Nonesuch/Warner Bros. Records, was produced by Plant and features 11 recordings, nine of which are original songs written by Plant with his band, The Sensational Space Shifters Justin Adams: bendirs, djembe, guitars, tehardant, background vocals; John Baggott: keyboards, loops, moog bass, piano, tabal, background vocals; Juldeh Camara: kologo, ritti, Fulani vocals; Billy Fuller: bass, drum programming, omnichord, upright bass; Dave Smith: drum set; and Liam "Skin" Tyson: banjo, guitar, background vocals.
♠→ lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar is Plant s first record since 2010 s Band of Joy, which followed 2007 s six-time Grammy Award winning collaboration with Alison Krauss, Raising Sand. Justin Adams and John Baggott of The Sensational Space Shifters appeared on Plant s 2002 release Dreamland, while all but Camara and Smith appeared on 2005 s Mighty Rearranger. The 2014 line-up toured the world before recording lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar at Helium Studios in Wiltshire and Real World Studios in Bath, UK. The track "Rainbow" was recorded in Contino Rooms in London. Tchad Blake mixed all but three tracks on the album.
♠→ "It s really a celebratory record, powerful, gritty, African, Trance meets Zep, " Plant says. "The whole impetus of my life as a singer has to be driven by a good brotherhood. I am very lucky to work with The Sensational Space Shifters. They come from exciting areas of contemporary music...I have been around awhile and I ask myself, do I have anything to say? Is there a song still inside me? In my heart? I see life and what s happening to me. Along the trail there are expectations, disappointments, happiness, questions and strong relationships, " Plant explains, "... and now I m able to express my feelings through melody, power and trance; together in a kaleidescope of sound, colour, and friendship."
REVIEW
Posted by: Allison Hazel June 24, 2014
♠→ Legendary singer-songwriter Robert Plant released “Rainbow”, the first single off his upcoming album lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar which debuts September 9th. Plant is the producer behind the highly anticipated new album.
♠→ Lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar will feature 11 new recordings, nine of which are original songs written by Plant with his band, The Sensational Space Shifters. “It’s really a celebratory record, powerful, gritty, African, Trance meets Zep,” Plant says. “The whole impetus of my life as a singer has to be driven by a good brotherhood. I am very lucky to work with The Sensational Space Shifters.” Plant added. Plant believes that all members of the band come from exciting areas of contemporary music.
♠→ “…I have been around awhile and I ask myself, do I have anything to say? Is there a song still inside me? In my heart? I see life and what’s happening to me. Along the trail there are expectations, disappointments, happiness, questions and strong relationships,” Plant expressed. “….and now I’m able to express my feelings through melody, power and trance; together in a kaleidescope of sound, colour, and friendship.”
♠→ Pre-orders of the album are available at robertplant.com and include a limited-edition print and an instant download of “Rainbow”. The track is also streaming at NPR Music. Shortly after the release of the album in this fall, Plant and the band will embark on a U.S. tour.
Tracks written:
01. Little Maggie
(Trad. arr. by Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
02. Rainbow
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Tyson)
03. Pocketful of Golden
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Camara/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
04. Embrace Another Fall
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Camara/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
05. Turn It Up
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
06. A Stolen Kiss
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Tyson)
07. Somebody There
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
08. Poor Howard *
09. House of Love
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
10. Up on the Hollow Hill (Understanding Arthur)
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Tyson)
11. Arbaden (Maggie’s Babby)
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Camara/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
Website: http://robertplant.warnerreprise.com/eu/
_______________________________________________________________
Biography:
♠→ Why is it that we’re still hanging on every word Robert Plant sings? Why are his recordings so eagerly anticipated over 40 years into his career in pop music? Two reasons stand out above all others.
♠→ First: his voice. Surely the predominant element in reaching listeners, in making a connection with each individual, is a compelling voice. Plant’s vocals are compelling in spades: the tone, capable of everything from heartbreaking tenderness to a trademark edginess, the phrasing that lends a distinct urgency, and, perhaps most importantly, the sense of poetry, of mystery.
♠→ The second reason for Plant’s enduring ability to draw us in is that through all of these years, he’s remained curious — really curious. Not content to reconstruct one of the most successful bands in the history of rock or even to stay with a particular sound for too long, Plant seems to have an unquenchable thirst for music that moves him — whether it is to be found in Northern Africa or deepest Appalachia.
♠→ Robert Plant made his first commercial recordings in 1966. In 1967, he had also formed a group called the Band of Joy, with drummer John Bonham. Soon, Bonham, Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, and bassist John Paul Jones assembled to become The New Yardbirds which became Led Zeppelin.
♠→ The Led Zeppelin era ended in 1980 when John Bonham died. Since that time, Plant has put his wide-ranging musical fascination to good use on solo albums, with Jimmy Page, and in recordings with bands like The Honeydrippers, Priory of Brion, and Strange Sensation. His performances have reflected his embrace of West Coast psychedelic rock, roots blues, African music, and traditional folk.
♠→ Plant continued to expand his horizons with 2007’s Raising Sand, a collaboration with Alison Krauss. Produced by T-Bone Burnett, the album’s unlikely but magnificent blend earned innumerable critical raves as well as six Grammy® Awards, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year (for “Please Read the Letter,” a Plant/Page song).
♠→ For Band of Joy, Plant enlisted his Raising Sand bandmate Buddy Miller as co-producer. “I approached Buddy Miller because he had been lighting every room that I played in when I was with Alison — and his knowledge and his gaze; he’s like a curator of a rock and roll museum packed away in three or four guitar cases and you could take these guitars out and tune them accordingly...and create some juju.”
♠→ Why give the album the name of one of his earliest bands? “In the Band of Joy, when I was seventeen, I was playing everybody else’s stuff and moving it around, and it’s kind of…time to reinvoke that attitude and sentiment.”
♠→ Plant’s overwhelming impulse was to make the music his own. “I wanted to bring my personality to other people’s songs and kick the door open a little bit…or edge it open with my hips. I mean…basically I sing the way I sing and to attack those songs in that particular way, I can only do them Plant-like, so I was thinking about Zeppelin III, I was thinking about the mixture of acoustic and powerful electric.”
♠→ The band — Darrell Scott (acoustic guitar, mandolin, octave mandolin, banjo, accordion, pedal steel and lap steel guitar), Byron House (bass), Marco Giovino (drums and percussion), and Miller (electric guitar, baritone, 6-string bass, mandoguitar) — goes right to work, providing an irresistible groove for the opening track, Los Lobos’ “Angel Dance.” The Middle Eastern melody that accompanies the chorus is a reminder of Plant’s far-flung influences. Richard Thompson’s “House of Cards” follows and updates the folk-rock sound of British bands like Fairport Convention and Pentangle. Plant calls Thompson “Another music nut,” and pronounces the song “so good and so finite; the lyric is superb.”
♠→ “Central Two-O-Nine” by Plant and Miller is an acoustic tune with a chant-like chorus. “It’s a bit like “Hats Off To Harper” on Led Zeppelin III — it’s a throwaway of every great blues line I could think of at the time.”
♠→ “Silver Rider” and “Monkey” from the husband/wife group Low are the closest this album comes to replicating the ethereal blend of Raising Sand. This time Plant’s partner is Patty Griffin, whose voice meets his with a tone he describes as “something between This Mortal Coil and the Shangri-Las.” Whatever it is, it works, as Plant and Griffin use these two songs to create a delicate, enigmatic mood.
♠→ Plant found Barbara Lynn’s recording of “You Can’t Buy My Love” on a giveaway CD from the Oxford magazine compilation “and it was just cute. It is a pop song. So I just pushed in a kind of little ‘ooh ooh’ bridge and Patty just got her personality around it and we kicked ass. It comes out of a cupboard that your uncle might have closed up in 1963; you open the door and it comes roaring out.”
♠→ The same era gives us “I’m Falling in Love Again,” originally recorded by The Kelly Brothers. “I don’t know whether it was the Anglo-Saxon aspect in the room but it moved into a Honeydrippers country cousins song…and the thing that it does probably best of all is it brings in other voices. I really wanted this record to be A Band of Joy — you hear voices all around my voice. I’ve been spoiled I think in the past with Stuart Duncan and Buddy singing and Alison…I’ve gotten really used to hearing voices around the voice.” The voices around the voice here (Buddy Miller and Darrell Scott) sound like a Southern Gospel quartet and give the track a classic country feel.
♠→ “The Only Sound That Matters” has an easygoing feeling, but that doesn’t diminish how important its theme is to Robert Plant. “I think that the thrill of hearing people ‘mean it’ is one of the greatest gifts, just to be arrested by somebody, by some group of people who really, really mean it…you hear a great lyric and you go wow, (‘the only sound that matters,’ is what you need)…and the theory behind the lyric is great.”
♠→ Plant and Miller based their version of the classic folk song “Cindy I’ll Marry You Someday” on a recording by folklorist Bascom Lamar Lunsford. The song may be the most basic folk song on the album, but it played a pivotal role in achieving the right sound. “…We all found our common world, three hours into the session. I mean we started off probably in the toughest place by starting off with ‘Cindy I’ll Marry You Someday’…I had to bring Me into the performance, but at the same time I had to find out where the band might take it to…what might happen. So, once we were on a roll the personality and the character of the combination of musicians got stronger and stronger…”
♠→ Plant interprets Townes Van Zant’s reflective “Harm’s Swift Way” as an almost anthemic rock song. “I heard the version that Townes recorded and it was kinda like a demo. And again the lyric is dumbfounding — it just wipes you out completely. His delivery was quite disturbing, if you like. It was like the last demo you make before you put the guitar down and never pick it up again, ever. Was just like the end of everything. And it was very mournful and dirge-like and I just thought well there may be another way of doing this because the lyric is strong and maybe we can turn it into something that actually is, not a monument to him, but just another reflection of his work.”
♠→ To close out the album, the very spare arrangement and pleading vocal of the old-time country song “Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down” is followed by a driving, almost psychedelic version of a mid-19th century poem “Even This Shall Pass Away.” The two songs harken back — or should I say forward — to Robert Plant’s astonishing musical legacy.
It’s 2010 and we’re hanging on every word.
Website: http://www.robertplant.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ROBERTPLANT
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertPlantVideos
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertplant
Press: Ken Weinstein —
Picture: Robert Plant (centre) and his new band, The Sensational Space Shifters.
_______________________________________________________________
Rober Plant |
lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar |
Rober Plant — lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar
♠→ The album is Plant’s first full project since Band Of Joy in 2010, and is a “celebratory record”, he says in a statement.
♠→ “It’s really a celebratory record, powerful, gritty, African, Trance meets Zep (Led Zeppelin) ... The whole impetus of my life as a singer has to be driven by a good brotherhood. I am very lucky to work with The Sensational Space Shifters. They come from exciting areas of contemporary music ... I have been around awhile and I ask myself, do I have anything to say? Is there a song still inside me? In my heart? I see life and what’s happening to me. Along the trail there are expectations, disappointments, happiness, questions and strong relationships.
♠→ “... And now I’m able to express my feelings through melody, power and trance; together in a kaleidescope of sound, colour, and friendship,” he continues in the official statement.
♠→ One of a generation of British kids, drawn without rhyme or reason, to sounds from a far away world. A world of field holler, despair, Levee camp and chain— gang moans; of Saturday night fish-fry and Juke Joint foot stomp.
♠→ A million miles lay between the brooding pulse of Mississippi Delta life and the sanitized shelter of the timid English boy, circa 1962.
Birthname: Robert Anthony Plant
Nationality: British
Born: August 20, 1948
Location: UK
Album release: September 9th, 2014
Record Label: Trolcharm/Nonesuch/Warner Bros.
Duration:
Tracks:
01 Little Maggie 5:05
02 Rainbow 4:17
03 Pocketful of Golden 4:12
04 Embrace Another Fall
05 Turn It Up 4:05
06 A Stolen Kiss
07 Somebody There 4:32
08 Poor Howard
09 House Of Love
10 Up on the Hollow Hill (Understanding Arthur)
11 Arbaden (Maggie´s Babby)
© 2014 Robert Plant & Nonesuch Records
℗ 2014 Trolcharm Ltd. / Under license to Nonesuch Records Inc. for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.
♠→ Nine songs of which were written by Plant and members of his band, The Sensational Space Shifters (Justin Adams, John Baggot, Juldeh Camara, Billy Fuller, Dave Smith and Liam “Skin” Tyson).
Credits:
♠→ 50 years on — drawing from a lifetime of adventures, tracking the dark, beautiful resonator, Plant follows his heart and lifts his voice higher and joyous ever away — and beyond —
♠→ A voice of experience and learning from the sounds of Southside Chicago Electric Blues; of Griot mantras from West Africa; from Louisiana Dance Halls; Greenwich Village Folk hangover; Haight Ashbury indulgences; Moroccan medina breakbeat; the early English radical techno materials, Texas two-step and Bristol Dubstep.
♠→ Before his recent projects in Nashville with Alison Krauss and Band of Joy, Plant worked alongside the very interesting force, “Strange Sensation”, recording the critically acclaimed, multi-Grammy nominated albums — “Dreamland” and “Mighty Rearranger”. ♠→ From this platform, Sensational Space Shifters has developed. Now together these confederates and conspirators dig deeper and more intensely, always twisting and turning, bringing the past into a brilliant technicolour present.
Personell:
It is impressive company:
♠→ Justin Adams — a childhood in the Middle East and teenage years with a soundtrack of UK punk set the tone for Adams ' musical adventures. He has produced Grammy winning Desert poets Tinariwen and Algerian Rai rebel Rachid Taha, as well as playing guitar and writing with Jah Wobble, Sinead O' Connor , Natasha Atlas and many more. Three award winning albums with Juldeh Camara for Peter Gabriel's Real World label have been the latest in a series of collaborations with Master Musicians from North and West Africa.
♠→ John Baggott — one of the originators of the Bristol Trip hop sound, Baggott cut his teeth as a teenage piano prodigy playing with visiting US legends like Jimmy Witherspoon and Charlie Feathers. He contributed to seminal work by Portishead, combining musicality with cutting edge sonic texturing and sampling, which led him to become a member of the Massive Attack team. He has also composed film and tv music for Emmy award winning documentaries and most recently worked with songstress Anna Calvi on a new album.
♠→ Juldeh Camara — Juldeh was taught the Ritti ( one— string African Violin) by his blind Griot father , who was reputedly taught himself by the forest spirits of Gambia who took his eyesight in return for the gift . A traditional Fulani village musician, Juldeh's exceptional talent and charisma took him first to Banjul, Gambia's capital and then around the world with Ifang Bondi. Hearing Adams' Desert inflected Blues he decided the two should collaborate , which led to the groundbreaking Juju records, and in turn to his work with Plant, where the connections between the Blues and Mother Africa turn full circle.
♠→ Billy Fuller — Fuller has been exceptionally creative in the past few years, as a founder member of post rock trio Beak , together with Portishead's Geoff Barrow, he has made two albums and played at the ultra— cool All Tomorrow's Parties Festival amongst many others. He has contributed to albums by Massive Attack, the soundtrack for the Banksy movie "Exit via the Gift Shop", guested with Portishead, and toured with Adams and Camara in JuJu. A rock solid bassist he is a vinyl junkie with consummate taste.
♠→ Liam “Skin” Tyson — a surreal Scouser (Liverpudlian) who now lives in the Misty Mountains of North Wales, his combination of Pastoral acoustic open tuned guitars and electric 21st century psychedelia make him a perfect foil for Plant’s balladry and fire. He made a massive impact with Brit Pop group Cast in the 90s who had a succession of chart hits, mentored by figures like producer John Leckie. He built a studio in his Barn where he recorded his Men from Mars project and from where he nurtures local bands in between surfing and touring.
♠→ Dave Smith — originally trained as a jazz drummer and orchestral percussionist, a chance encounter with West African music led Smith to study sabar drumming in Gambia over a ten year period. He is the hub of a scene of Jazz and electronic improvisers based around the Vortex club in London, where he leads groups such as Fofoulah and Ruhabi, incorporating polyrhythmic African drive into their music. Headhunted by Adams and Camara, he brought a Ginger Baker like energy to their music which now moves to another level in the context of the Sensational Space Shifters.
♠→ Plant revels in the excitement generated by the collision of these remarkably powerful forces. Though his contribution to Pop Culture began with his work with Led Zeppelin, his path since has been uncompromising: keep it fresh, spin the bottle, dig deep, embrace the past — visit it — celebrate it — but don’t build a home in it.
_______________________________________________________________
Members / Band of Joy:
♠→ Rober Plant (voice, tambourine)
♠→ Darrell Scott (acoustic guitar, mandolin, octave mandolin, banjo, accordion, pedal steel and lap steel guitar)
♠→ Byron House (bass)
♠→ Marco Giovino (drums and percussion)
♠→ Miller (electric guitar, baritone, 6-string bass, mandoguitar)
LP + CD + MP3 + ART PRINT
Includes:
♠→ Album on two-LP, 180-gram vinyl
♠→ Album on CD
♠→ Exclusive print featuring album artwork
Digital Content:
♠→ Digital downloads of multiple album tracks delivered prior to street date
♠→ Digital download of the complete album delivered on street date.
Editorial Reviews
♠→ Robert Plant s 2014 album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, his label debut for Nonesuch/Warner Bros. Records, was produced by Plant and features 11 recordings, nine of which are original songs written by Plant with his band, The Sensational Space Shifters Justin Adams: bendirs, djembe, guitars, tehardant, background vocals; John Baggott: keyboards, loops, moog bass, piano, tabal, background vocals; Juldeh Camara: kologo, ritti, Fulani vocals; Billy Fuller: bass, drum programming, omnichord, upright bass; Dave Smith: drum set; and Liam "Skin" Tyson: banjo, guitar, background vocals.
♠→ lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar is Plant s first record since 2010 s Band of Joy, which followed 2007 s six-time Grammy Award winning collaboration with Alison Krauss, Raising Sand. Justin Adams and John Baggott of The Sensational Space Shifters appeared on Plant s 2002 release Dreamland, while all but Camara and Smith appeared on 2005 s Mighty Rearranger. The 2014 line-up toured the world before recording lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar at Helium Studios in Wiltshire and Real World Studios in Bath, UK. The track "Rainbow" was recorded in Contino Rooms in London. Tchad Blake mixed all but three tracks on the album.
♠→ "It s really a celebratory record, powerful, gritty, African, Trance meets Zep, " Plant says. "The whole impetus of my life as a singer has to be driven by a good brotherhood. I am very lucky to work with The Sensational Space Shifters. They come from exciting areas of contemporary music...I have been around awhile and I ask myself, do I have anything to say? Is there a song still inside me? In my heart? I see life and what s happening to me. Along the trail there are expectations, disappointments, happiness, questions and strong relationships, " Plant explains, "... and now I m able to express my feelings through melody, power and trance; together in a kaleidescope of sound, colour, and friendship."
REVIEW
Posted by: Allison Hazel June 24, 2014
♠→ Legendary singer-songwriter Robert Plant released “Rainbow”, the first single off his upcoming album lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar which debuts September 9th. Plant is the producer behind the highly anticipated new album.
♠→ Lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar will feature 11 new recordings, nine of which are original songs written by Plant with his band, The Sensational Space Shifters. “It’s really a celebratory record, powerful, gritty, African, Trance meets Zep,” Plant says. “The whole impetus of my life as a singer has to be driven by a good brotherhood. I am very lucky to work with The Sensational Space Shifters.” Plant added. Plant believes that all members of the band come from exciting areas of contemporary music.
♠→ “…I have been around awhile and I ask myself, do I have anything to say? Is there a song still inside me? In my heart? I see life and what’s happening to me. Along the trail there are expectations, disappointments, happiness, questions and strong relationships,” Plant expressed. “….and now I’m able to express my feelings through melody, power and trance; together in a kaleidescope of sound, colour, and friendship.”
♠→ Pre-orders of the album are available at robertplant.com and include a limited-edition print and an instant download of “Rainbow”. The track is also streaming at NPR Music. Shortly after the release of the album in this fall, Plant and the band will embark on a U.S. tour.
Tracks written:
01. Little Maggie
(Trad. arr. by Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
02. Rainbow
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Tyson)
03. Pocketful of Golden
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Camara/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
04. Embrace Another Fall
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Camara/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
05. Turn It Up
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
06. A Stolen Kiss
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Tyson)
07. Somebody There
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
08. Poor Howard *
09. House of Love
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
10. Up on the Hollow Hill (Understanding Arthur)
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Fuller/Tyson)
11. Arbaden (Maggie’s Babby)
(Plant/Adams/Baggott/Camara/Fuller/Smith/Tyson)
Website: http://robertplant.warnerreprise.com/eu/
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Biography:
♠→ Why is it that we’re still hanging on every word Robert Plant sings? Why are his recordings so eagerly anticipated over 40 years into his career in pop music? Two reasons stand out above all others.
♠→ First: his voice. Surely the predominant element in reaching listeners, in making a connection with each individual, is a compelling voice. Plant’s vocals are compelling in spades: the tone, capable of everything from heartbreaking tenderness to a trademark edginess, the phrasing that lends a distinct urgency, and, perhaps most importantly, the sense of poetry, of mystery.
♠→ The second reason for Plant’s enduring ability to draw us in is that through all of these years, he’s remained curious — really curious. Not content to reconstruct one of the most successful bands in the history of rock or even to stay with a particular sound for too long, Plant seems to have an unquenchable thirst for music that moves him — whether it is to be found in Northern Africa or deepest Appalachia.
♠→ Robert Plant made his first commercial recordings in 1966. In 1967, he had also formed a group called the Band of Joy, with drummer John Bonham. Soon, Bonham, Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, and bassist John Paul Jones assembled to become The New Yardbirds which became Led Zeppelin.
♠→ The Led Zeppelin era ended in 1980 when John Bonham died. Since that time, Plant has put his wide-ranging musical fascination to good use on solo albums, with Jimmy Page, and in recordings with bands like The Honeydrippers, Priory of Brion, and Strange Sensation. His performances have reflected his embrace of West Coast psychedelic rock, roots blues, African music, and traditional folk.
♠→ Plant continued to expand his horizons with 2007’s Raising Sand, a collaboration with Alison Krauss. Produced by T-Bone Burnett, the album’s unlikely but magnificent blend earned innumerable critical raves as well as six Grammy® Awards, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year (for “Please Read the Letter,” a Plant/Page song).
♠→ For Band of Joy, Plant enlisted his Raising Sand bandmate Buddy Miller as co-producer. “I approached Buddy Miller because he had been lighting every room that I played in when I was with Alison — and his knowledge and his gaze; he’s like a curator of a rock and roll museum packed away in three or four guitar cases and you could take these guitars out and tune them accordingly...and create some juju.”
♠→ Why give the album the name of one of his earliest bands? “In the Band of Joy, when I was seventeen, I was playing everybody else’s stuff and moving it around, and it’s kind of…time to reinvoke that attitude and sentiment.”
♠→ Plant’s overwhelming impulse was to make the music his own. “I wanted to bring my personality to other people’s songs and kick the door open a little bit…or edge it open with my hips. I mean…basically I sing the way I sing and to attack those songs in that particular way, I can only do them Plant-like, so I was thinking about Zeppelin III, I was thinking about the mixture of acoustic and powerful electric.”
♠→ The band — Darrell Scott (acoustic guitar, mandolin, octave mandolin, banjo, accordion, pedal steel and lap steel guitar), Byron House (bass), Marco Giovino (drums and percussion), and Miller (electric guitar, baritone, 6-string bass, mandoguitar) — goes right to work, providing an irresistible groove for the opening track, Los Lobos’ “Angel Dance.” The Middle Eastern melody that accompanies the chorus is a reminder of Plant’s far-flung influences. Richard Thompson’s “House of Cards” follows and updates the folk-rock sound of British bands like Fairport Convention and Pentangle. Plant calls Thompson “Another music nut,” and pronounces the song “so good and so finite; the lyric is superb.”
♠→ “Central Two-O-Nine” by Plant and Miller is an acoustic tune with a chant-like chorus. “It’s a bit like “Hats Off To Harper” on Led Zeppelin III — it’s a throwaway of every great blues line I could think of at the time.”
♠→ “Silver Rider” and “Monkey” from the husband/wife group Low are the closest this album comes to replicating the ethereal blend of Raising Sand. This time Plant’s partner is Patty Griffin, whose voice meets his with a tone he describes as “something between This Mortal Coil and the Shangri-Las.” Whatever it is, it works, as Plant and Griffin use these two songs to create a delicate, enigmatic mood.
♠→ Plant found Barbara Lynn’s recording of “You Can’t Buy My Love” on a giveaway CD from the Oxford magazine compilation “and it was just cute. It is a pop song. So I just pushed in a kind of little ‘ooh ooh’ bridge and Patty just got her personality around it and we kicked ass. It comes out of a cupboard that your uncle might have closed up in 1963; you open the door and it comes roaring out.”
♠→ The same era gives us “I’m Falling in Love Again,” originally recorded by The Kelly Brothers. “I don’t know whether it was the Anglo-Saxon aspect in the room but it moved into a Honeydrippers country cousins song…and the thing that it does probably best of all is it brings in other voices. I really wanted this record to be A Band of Joy — you hear voices all around my voice. I’ve been spoiled I think in the past with Stuart Duncan and Buddy singing and Alison…I’ve gotten really used to hearing voices around the voice.” The voices around the voice here (Buddy Miller and Darrell Scott) sound like a Southern Gospel quartet and give the track a classic country feel.
♠→ “The Only Sound That Matters” has an easygoing feeling, but that doesn’t diminish how important its theme is to Robert Plant. “I think that the thrill of hearing people ‘mean it’ is one of the greatest gifts, just to be arrested by somebody, by some group of people who really, really mean it…you hear a great lyric and you go wow, (‘the only sound that matters,’ is what you need)…and the theory behind the lyric is great.”
♠→ Plant and Miller based their version of the classic folk song “Cindy I’ll Marry You Someday” on a recording by folklorist Bascom Lamar Lunsford. The song may be the most basic folk song on the album, but it played a pivotal role in achieving the right sound. “…We all found our common world, three hours into the session. I mean we started off probably in the toughest place by starting off with ‘Cindy I’ll Marry You Someday’…I had to bring Me into the performance, but at the same time I had to find out where the band might take it to…what might happen. So, once we were on a roll the personality and the character of the combination of musicians got stronger and stronger…”
♠→ Plant interprets Townes Van Zant’s reflective “Harm’s Swift Way” as an almost anthemic rock song. “I heard the version that Townes recorded and it was kinda like a demo. And again the lyric is dumbfounding — it just wipes you out completely. His delivery was quite disturbing, if you like. It was like the last demo you make before you put the guitar down and never pick it up again, ever. Was just like the end of everything. And it was very mournful and dirge-like and I just thought well there may be another way of doing this because the lyric is strong and maybe we can turn it into something that actually is, not a monument to him, but just another reflection of his work.”
♠→ To close out the album, the very spare arrangement and pleading vocal of the old-time country song “Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down” is followed by a driving, almost psychedelic version of a mid-19th century poem “Even This Shall Pass Away.” The two songs harken back — or should I say forward — to Robert Plant’s astonishing musical legacy.
It’s 2010 and we’re hanging on every word.
Website: http://www.robertplant.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ROBERTPLANT
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertPlantVideos
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robertplant
Press: Ken Weinstein —
Picture: Robert Plant (centre) and his new band, The Sensational Space Shifters.
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