WOMAD

Robert Plant & The Strange Sensation

From United Kingdom

There’s no doubt that Robert Plant’s pitched it just right. Like Ry Cooder and the late Joe Strummer, he knows that being a fiftysomething rock’n’roll musician doesn’t necessarily mean re-heating past glories on the chicken-in-a-basket circuit. Still in possession of an inquisitive spirit and inspired by the music of other continents, he’s rejuvenated his career by taking a left turn down some highly intriguing routes (for instance, he was last seen hanging out with the Touaregs deep in the Sahara at the Festival In The Desert). Not that Robert’s a recent convert to non-Western music, of course. At the height of Led Zep’s fame, his sojourns spent sampling the finest culture India and Morocco could throw at both him and Jimmy Page became the stuff of legend – and this was a good 15 years before anyone came up with the tag ‘world music’. Fast-forward three decades and Robert’s brand-new album, Mighty Rearranger, shows that this planet’s magical sounds continue to inform and beguile him. An incendiary mix of rock, blues and North African flavours, the album also proves he’s a dab hand at putting together a top-notch band, with The Strange Sensation boasting international-man-of-guitar Justin Adams and impeccable Portishead/Reprazent drummer Clive Deamer among their ranks. No chickens, no baskets, no compromise.