Re: Robert Plant Rocks the house

[Steve Sauer <sauerlemon@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, Sep 13, 2009 at 1:17 AM, Wyatt Brake <wyattbrake@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> This is purely subjective, and everyone is certainly entitled to their
> own opinion at his arrangements of Zep tracks.  How would you feel if
> he were playing note-for-note covers of Zeppelin tracks in their
> studio arrangements, but with other musicians?

Great hypothetical, and I hope to see some honest answers to the
question. But I can already foresee what Nech's will be, based on his
earlier comment, "I would prefer a couple of other cats...."

My opinion is that the studio arrangements were not what was intended
to be played live. Zeppelin always varied from them. This was, after
all, the band of nods. And look how many times "Whole Lotta Love"
changed over the years. I know people have their preferences for
performances from the Zeppelin era, and there are even those among us
who despise certain Zeppelin performances or live song arrangements.

Plant's arrangements of "Black Dog" -- I've lost count how many we're
up to now -- are way different from anything Zeppelin ever did. Was
Zeppelin not adventurous? Hahaha. Zeppelin was adventurous. But it
took the Page/Plant collaboration in the '90s to deliver on some of
the things they intended to do in 1972 when they originally wanted to
play NEW ARRANGEMENTS OF ZEP TUNES with the Bombay Symphony Orchestra!
Listen to that new version of "Kashmir" on Unledded! How many of the
people complaining now about arrangements of Zep tunes had a problem
with that arrangement in 1995? Did you like it immediately? If you
didn't like it then, have you grown to like it over time?

Here's a fact I would like to know: How many of Plant's new
rearrangements of Zep tunes from this decade came from his own head?
My hunch is they're more the work of the ever-changing lineup of
musicians surrounding him. This is a guy who admitted that when it
came time to becoming a solo artist, he didn't know anything about
arranging songs and had to learn about music.

I have a feeling that when he was preparing for last year's tour with
the Raising Sand lineup, the musicians arrangements were the
brainchild of T Bone Burnett and the other musicians onstage --
everybody except Plant. I bet you Alison Krauss, who brought a fiddle
to the stage, had more input than Plant, who might have played a
guitar every once in a while onstage and some nights went without any
instruments.

When he took the stage at the WOMAD festival in Abu Dhabi this April,
and again at the O2 Rockwell event on Friday, he was with Justin Adams
and Juldeh Camara. I don't know who else was playing with them, but I
bet you the song arrangements also came from outside Plant. All he's
doing up there is singing along with whatever the guys are playing.
Sure, he might make a suggestion here and there, but I highly doubt
he's providing much initial guidance. If anything, he's probably
saying he's up for anything they come up with.

So, if this is the case, that Plant is not the mighty rearranger but
the people he surrounds himself with are responsible for the
rearrangements, does this let Plant off the hook in your eyes, people?

And yes, of course, some of the arrangements will meet one person's
musical tastes, and others will not. So even if you liked the
"Kashmir" on Unledded, you are free to dislike every other
rearrangement of every other song. Furthermore, Plant's trend of this
constant redevelopment of songs is obviously grating on some people in
FBO. I'm sorry to hear that. It may not be creative on one hand,
especially if I'm right and Plant has little or nothing to do with
these arrangements, but on the other hand a new arrangement is NEVER
the guaranteed crowd pleaser that playing Zeppelin numbers
note-for-note would be. And I think he likes stunning audiences that
way. Isn't that taking a risk?

Anyway, it's Plant's choice to play a Zeppelin song or not. And these
next questions are directed toward those of you who are saying he
should drop all Zeppelin songs since he seems so intent on not making
any music with the other Zeppelin guys. Is that really what you want?
Would you avoid Robert Plant coming to your town to play a concert
simply because you know he's playing Zeppelin songs? And if that's the
case, then would you DEFINITELY go to a Robert Plant concert in your
town if you knew he was going to play all new material and not a
single thing from his past?

And if you said yes to that last question, then I hope you jumped at
the chance to see Plant in 1983 because that's exactly what he was
doing at the time. His second album was out, and between that first
one's material and that second one's material, he was playing little
else onstage -- certainly not any Zeppelin songs.

It sounds like some of you have been suggesting this 61-year-old go
out and play a concert of nothing but the songs that make people leave
their seats and head for the bathrooms.

"This one's from the new album. ... This one's ALSO from the new
album. ... This one's, yep, you guessed it -- well, why are you
leaving? You all wrote on FBO that I wasn't allowed to sing 'No
Quarter' without Jonesy and Jimmy, and they're not here tonight, so,
as I said, this one's from the new album... Where are all of you
going?" [crickets]

Is this really what you want? That would make you happy? It just seems
an asinine position to espouse.

Another question: Would you go to a John Paul Jones concert in your
town if you knew he was going to play all new material and not a
single thing from his past? In other words, if Them Crooked Vultures
scheduled a gig in your town, would you be undecided about going
simply based on the fact that you haven't heard any of their music and
you were rather certain they wouldn't be doing a single song from
Jonesy's past?

I hope all of you within a reasonable distance of a Vultures show were
enthusiastically trying to get tickets when they went on sale, barring
family emergencies and the like, or else you look pretty hypocritical.

Steve "The Lemon"