Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, ‘Walking Into Clarksdale’: Retro Review

Walking Into Clarksdale is the album Led Zeppelin followers have resigned themselves to by no means getting. The group put a definitive cap on its profession virtually instantly after John Bonham died in 1980, and the surviving three members – Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones – regrouped just for dubiously particular performances at Live Aid in 1985 and the Atlantic Records’ Fortieth-anniversary live performance in 1988. There was actually a clamor for extra, and Plant and Page specifically circled the concept by guesting on one another’s solo albums (Page on Plant’s Now and Zen, Plant on Page’s Outrider). Those collaborations confirmed they may nonetheless play good collectively, even when they weren’t collectively.

The tide modified with 1994’s No Quarter: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded, an MTV particular turned reunion (sans Jones, acrimoniously) that reworked a batch of Zep favorites and tantalized with 4 songs. “Never” turned “What if?” Four years later the Page-Plant duo solutions the latter query to irritating if often pleasing impact. Walking Into Clarksdale is not a Led Zeppelin album – could not be, for thus many causes each apparent and hidden within the complicated internet that’s the Page-Plant relationship. What it does is return the 2 to a extra fundamental rock band format, a quartet (with occasional embellishment) that seeks to strip again the orchestrated ambitions of No Quarter and convey Page and Plant again to their consolation zone. It’s time to get the true Led out once more, or so it appears, for the primary time since In Through the Out Door in 1979.

But anybody who’s paid consideration in the course of the interim, notably to Plant’s work, is aware of we aren’t bustling within the hedgerow anymore. The singer has forayed into all kinds of sonic terrain, embracing influences and ambiences that separate him from the Golden God of yore. Page has made his strikes, too, extra so on Outrider and his soundtrack work than with the Firm, his two-album team-up with Paul Rodgers. Growth and evolution aren’t simply cliches for these two by the late ’90s.

Page and Plant are additionally conscious of what is going on on round them and wish to be related to the scene that has sprouted in the course of the decade main into Clarksdale. That leads them to usher in Steve Albini – an alt-rock kingpin whose hip cred consists of work with Pixies, Nirvana, PJ Harvey and his bands Big Black and Shellac – to engineer the periods and put the duo on a contemporaneous sonic footing. That a lot is achieved: Albini brings a very jagged, low-cost amp tone to Page’s guitar and a dry, clear spaciousness to the band atmosphere that gives a distinct type of punch than we bought from the Zeppelin releases of the ’70s – extra of a jab than a haymaker, and acceptable for the pristine CD period. It actually feels recent and even crisp, although it takes a minute to get used to if Houses of the Holy or Physical Graffiti are extra your meter.

Listen to Jimmy Page and Robert Plant’s ‘Shining within the Light’

Clarksdale, which was launched on April 21, 1998, begins by strolling out of Led Zeppelin III territory, with the shimmering acoustic strum of “Standing in the Light,” embellished by strings and a dancing bass line earlier than Page cranks up the electrics for the refrain. It’s a joyous celebration of affection, extra buoyant than In Through the Out Door‘s “All My Love” and a hopeful begin for this new chapter of Page and Plant’s affiliation. Standouts embrace “Most High,” a swaggering, Moroccan-flavored rock raga that updates “Kashmir” with assist from Tim Whelan of Britain’s Transglobal Underground on keyboards. More polarizing is “Please Read the Letter,” an abrasive and electrified front-porch Hill Country blues with Plant’s harmonies echoing again from the holler.

That steadiness of ethereal roots and trendy rock is Walking Into Clarksdale‘s crossroads, together with the tempo-shifting title observe, the anthemic “House of Love” and the blues and surf collision of “Burning Up.” The two longest tracks, every operating greater than six minutes, are evocative: “When the World Was Young” is a shotgun marriage ceremony of the Middle East and desolate Texas with numerous air, area and vibe, whereas “Blue Train” sounds prefer it was focused for U2’s The Joshua Tree till it bursts into Page’s late-song fusillade. Their makes an attempt to recapture rock ‘n’ roll Valhalla on “Upon a Golden Horse” and the closing “Sons of Freedom” do kick up some mud however will not substitute “Whole Lotta Love” or “Rock and Roll” in your playlists.

And that is the leveling concern right here: Plant and Page need it each methods on Clarksdale – to be embraced due to their previous however to not relive it, which is admirable however difficult and an everlasting wrestle for any musician getting into “revered veteran” standing.