Chemistry of Plant, Krauss clicks again on follow-up
Pairing Alison Krauss’ angelic soprano with Robert Plant’s roguish tenor once sounded like a bizarre idea — until they started to sing together. The improbable partnership produced the hit album “Raising Sand” in 2007, and their chemistry clicks again on the longawaited follow-up, “Raise the Roof.”
Plant and Krauss stick to the formula that worked before and still ignores pop trends.
Producer T Bone Burnett returns to oversee spare, rootsy arrangements and direct a stellar supporting cast that includes guitarist Marc Ribot, drummer Jay Bellerose and Krauss’ brother, bassist Viktor Krauss.
The songs are again an eclectic collection that includes covers of obscure rockabilly, country and folk tunes, with sources ranging from the Everly Brothers and Allen Toussaint to Calexico and Merle Haggard.
Krauss and Plant focus on love and loss, with death a recurring character. “Leave me out, let the buzzards eat me whole,” they sing on “Last Kind Words Blues.”
In spite of the album title, former Led Zeppelin frontman Plant lets loose only occasionally. The strongest echoes of his former band come on a delightful rendition of the Pops Staples gospel tune “Somebody Was Watching Over Me,” pushed along by Jimmy Page-style guitar that lingers at the end.
But it’s the vocal mix that leaves a lasting impression. Harmony involves difference, and as Krauss and Plant draw on their disparate backgrounds in bluegrass and
arena rock, what emerges is a musical marvel. Singing together at the end of the British folk tune “Go Your Way,” they each squeeze 12 notes from a single syllable, finding beauty even in the word “woe.” — Steven Wine, Associated Press
Sting’s new album is aptly titled “The Bridge” — we need one. In almost every song there is water.
It is rushing in the opening song, in the form of rain in another and as a cold gray sea in a third. Water is in a glass the parched singer asks for in the second song and in mist in the seventh. The title song tells of a swollen river, and the fields are drowned.
“The Bridge” is a moody and varied collection in an unmoored time, with nods to Scripture, ancient allegories and malevolent characters. It’s a strong album from a singer-songwriter who sees warning signs ahead. “This is my lonely mission/ To wake the world up to its fate,” Sting sings.
The outlier is the first single, “If It’s Love,” a relentlessly cheerful tune with happy whistling, a Broadway-like song delivered with a smile that seems to surprise even
the singer who created it. (“The reason’s hard for me to trace,” Sting acknowledges.)
Elsewhere is dread and a steady menace. One of Sting’s wastrel characters wakes up in a married woman’s bed in “The Bells of St. Thomas” and notes drily of “The last days of judgment upon us.”
In the Celtic-tinged “The Hills on the Border,” a malevolent spirit tempts a traveler, and a husband confronts a cheating spouse in the murky synth-laden “Loving You,” singing “I pray the waters of forgiveness/ Will rain down on you and me.”
Repeated listens reveal connections between songs.
The terrifically funky “Rushing Water” references the Book of Numbers, which is the title of the third song. A hammer to the head is repeated in “Rushing Water” and “The Bells of St. Thomas.”
And, of course, water is everywhere. Even the bonus tracks are drenched with it: the traditional “Waters of Tyne” and a cover of “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay.”
It is an album to raise a glass — of anything but water — and cheer. — Mark