Jimmy Page and Robert Plant - 'Walking Into Clarksdale'


This disc is the first album of new material in almost twenty years on which Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have collaborated. Page and Plant teamed up in 1994 to record the very successful unplugged album, 'No Quarter', but that consisted mostly of reworked Led Zeppelin classics. Last year, the duo booked Abbey Road Studios to record this album and enlisted ultra-cool indie producer Steve Albini (of Nirvana, PJ Harvey and Pixies fame) to boost their credibility and creativity.

Clarksdale is one of the small towns in the Mississippi Delta where Robert Johnson and others invented the blues. However, it is a misleading reference as this album is not a return to their blues-rock roots. Think instead of mid-tempo late-period Led Zep minus the musical pretensions and you'll be close enough. The musicianship is excellent although Plant's vocals show a surprising narrowness of range, possibly due to his age.

It has been frightening to see the current photos of former hippie sex symbol Robert Plant looking like an old crone. Should we petition him to have a facelift like Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys? Of course, their looks have no bearing on the music, but their ages (Plant 49 and Page 54) remind us that a new album forces them to demonstrate their relevance to a younger generation.

Regrettably, 'Walking Into Clarksdale' is a mediocre album despite being better than most of their solo post-Zep output. To be fair, I must add that Q, Mojo and Rolling Stone have all praised the album and it did reach the top ten of the American and British album charts. It won't win them any new fans but their loyal supporters may well love it. I'll listen instead to the Zep classics and wait for Page's collaboration with Puff Daddy for the 'Godzilla' soundtrack.

Farell Russak

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