You Never Know....

I thought I'd change tactics for one issue. Normally, I wouldn't do something like an album or artist review or biography, but I think this one is worth a few words, at least. Feel free to let me know what you think in the discussion or comments sections, and maybe I'll do more of these.

ROBERT PLANT'S MIGHTY REARRANGER

Robert Plant's new album came out in the US today, and although I've heard snippets of it the last few weeks on the air, it's always more fun to hear the deeper tracks, too. If you listen to music news, you know this fellow was the keynote speaker at Austin Texas' South by Southwest Music Festival, and actually played a showcase there. If you get a chance, go out and buy his new album-it's currently really cheap at Best Buy, and they include a bonus CD with an interesting interview on it. If you do Rock or Pop writing, you might feel the interview disc alone covers the cost of the CD. Easy to see why this guy gets to be a guest professor at his local university, and why so many of us love to hear what he has to say within a few minutes of hearing either disc. It's currently #4 on the British charts, and I'm curious to see how it does in my country after this week. You can learn a lot from a guy who's been there, done that, but decided to "leave it all behind" and do something he feels is relevant. Here are a few reasons why I think this dude is worth listening to....

DO WHAT YOU THINK IS FUN

For some songwriters, getting in front of thousands of people and making obscene amounts of money is what it's all about. For others, it's making music that knocks your own socks off and makes you want to dance around the room. Plant did the first with Led Zeppelin, and even did some of the second with them for a while. Now, he's found a bunch of newer musicians, who do, he says, get him dancing around the room at 56. He's also playing smaller venues, so he can see the people he's playing for, not just the backs of security keeping people from jumping the stage. Some musicians like to get audience reaction, to know if what they did is impacting the listeners, and play off that reaction, not hold it away at arm's length. That decision also caused him to change labels, and not work with high-profile artists of his own generation--it wasn't fun for him anymore, he says. If you have the chance to do what you like and not have to care whether or not you make money at it, what would you do? You may not personally like the mix of musical styles you hear on this disc, but it does get your attention. I found myself even trying to tap my feet to the songs with the odd time signatures. Oh, did I not mention those? Who says everything has to be a standard rhythm? There is this saying about making sure to go out on a limb, because that is where the fruit is...some of these songs may have folks throwing fruit, but you have to admit they get a strong reaction, and this group of people are very much daring to not play things safe.

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