Re: Robert Plant as an unknown

["JR Sroufe" <jrsrouf@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 25 Jul 2002 at 17:19, Brock Heiney wrote:

> Let's take this thing a bit further. Let's say he wasn't the lead
> singer for LZ and we only had his solo stuff, minus "Dreamland",
> where/how would he rank then?

In my opinion, if Plant hadn't been the lead singer for LZ, he'd 
still be doing good in the business, but nowhere near his status now. 
As for having the solo albums as a yardstick to measure by, each one 
has at least two strong tracks each, but I could maybe see 'Shaken 
and Stirred' as being the one that would be the least-selling. From 
*my* particular demographic group, 'Pictures At Eleven' would be the 
big seller. His solo work (having been afforded the leverage to do 
so) has been tremendously diverse, so therefore each release is an 
amalgam of whatever mood he's been in at the time. I believe if you 
took the strong tracks from each of the solo albums and put together 
kind of an "RP's Greatest Hits" package, it'd be much more listenable 
from start to finish than any of the individual releases. My fast-
forward button gets a real workout on Plant's solo material, not that 
it's bad or anything, it's just not contextually consistant enough 
for me. 

But back to Brock's hypothesis - I don't believe we'd even *have* the 
solo stuff in it's present form if Robert *wasn't* the former lead 
singer for Zeppelin. We would still have Robert Plant music, but I 
feel like it would be much, much more "focused" (for lack of a better 
word). 

> One can always get a small local indie label to make a recording, but I
> doubt it would find its way over the seas. 

I think Robert would definitely be signed to a big label, or at least 
one of the off-shoot labels thereof. Reason being, is because indie-
labels, while *so* much more prominent and viable in recent years, 
are more able to showcase artists with a truly *unique* sound and 
attraction. Most of the indie-artists that come to my immediate mind 
are people that have a "gimmick" or are cutting-edge 
punk/shlock/garage types. 
So if Robert was signed to an indie-label, I'm afraid he'd be really 
"regional" with his record sales.

Of course, these are only *my* opinions, your mileage may vary.

Later,
JR