| Product Summary | | Label: Philo Records/rounder Records | | UPC: 00011661907522 | | Release Date: 10/23/2007 | | Buy.com Sku: 205696757 | | Item#: M3SXSU | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 100 | Format:  CD |
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| Song Listing |  |
Disc 1
| | Song Title | Sample | | 1. Rich Woman ~ Robert Plant/Alison Krauss |  | | 2. Killing the Blues ~ Robert Plant/Alison Krauss | | | 3. Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us ~ Robert Plant/Alison Krauss | | | 4. Polly Come Home ~ Robert Plant/Alison Krauss | | | 5. Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On) ~ Robert Plant/Alison Krauss | | | 6. Through the Morning, Through the Night ~ Robert Plant/Alison Krauss | | | 7. Please Read the Letter ~ Robert Plant/Alison Krauss | | | 8. Trampled Rose ~ Robert Plant/Alison Krauss | | | 9. Fortune Teller ~ Robert Plant/Alison Krauss | | | 10. Stick With Me Baby ~ Robert Plant/Alison Krauss | | | 11. Nothin' ~ Robert Plant/Alison Krauss | | | 12. Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson ~ Robert Plant/Alison Krauss | | | 13. Your Long Journey ~ Robert Plant/Alison Krauss | |
| | The musical collaboration of the decade, Raising Sand is the sound of two iconic figures stepping out of their respective comfort zones and letting their instincts lead them across a brave new sonic landscape. Despite hailing from distinctly different backgrounds, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant share a maverick spirit and willingness to extend the boundaries of their respective genres.
This spirit, expertly honed by producer T Bone Burnett, has resulted in an album pitched three steps beyond some cosmic collision of early urban blues, spacious West Texas country, and the untapped potential of the folk-rock revolution.
Supported by the unparalleled musicianship of Marc Ribot, Dennis Crouch, Mike Seeger, Jay Bellerose, Norman Blake, Greg Leisz, Patrick Warren, and Riley Baugus, Plant and Krauss - as both solo and harmony vocalists - tackle an intriguing selection of songs from such tunesmiths as Tom Waits, Gene Clark, Sam Phillips, Townes Van Zandt, The Everly Brothers, and Mel Tillis. Raising Sand finds Robert Plant and Alison Krauss exploring popular music's elemental roots while still sounding effortlessly, breath-takingly contemporary.
| | Album Notes and Credits |
Notes & Personnel Info |  | Those who find the pairing of '70s rock god Robert Plant with contemporary bluegrass queen Alison Krauss unlikely have probably not been paying attention to Plant's latter-day work, which is full of intimate, acoustic-flavored balladry. While the organic-sounding, low-key Plant/Krauss collaboration, RAISING SAND, is a far cry from Led Zeppelin's stadium rock, it offers up some hauntingly moody textures that should appeal to "Battle of Evermore" admirers. | | Consisting mostly of sagely chosen cover tunes, the album finds Plant and Krauss bringing their warm-but-eerie harmonies to everything from Townes Van Zandt's nihilistic folk poetry ("Nothin'") to the crumbled beauty of latter-day Tom Waits ("Trampled Rose"). Determined not to rest on their laurels or cater to expectations, the 59-year-old icon and his junior partner craft a subtle and intriguing sound built on their shared love of folk forms and gift for interpretation, bringing to light esoteric gems by late Byrds visionary Gene Clark and the Everly Brothers along the way as well. | | What seems to be an unlikely pairing in the duo of former -- and future apparently -- Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant and bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss is actually one of the most effortless-sounding pairings in modern popular music. The bridge seems to be producer T-Bone Burnett and the band assembled for this outing: drummer Jay Bellerose (who seems to be the session drummer in demand these days), upright bassist Dennis Crouch, guitarists Marc Ribot and Burnett, with Greg Leisz playing steel here and there, and a number of other guest appearances. Krauss, a monster fiddle player, only does so on two songs here. The proceedings are, predictably, very laid-back. Burnett has only known one speed these last ten years, and so the material chosen by the three is mostly very subdued. This doesn't make it boring, despite Burnett's production, which has become utterly predictable since he started working with Gillian Welch. He has a "sound" in the same way Daniel Lanois does: it's edges are all rounded, everything is very warm, and it all sounds artificially dated. (Anyone looking for the adventurous bravery he put into Sam Phillips' Martinis & Bikinis will be disappointed.) Speaking of Phillips, her "Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us" is a centerpiece on this set. It has Phillips' fingerprints all over it; she recorded it herself already and has her own version on her website. This tune, with its forlorn, percussion-heavy tarantella backdrop, might have come from a Tom Waits record were it not so intricately melodic -- and Krauss' gypsy swing fiddle is a gorgeous touch. There is an emptiness at the heart of longing particularly suited to Krauss' woodsy voice, and Plant's harmony vocal is perfect, understated yet ever-present. It's the most organically atmospheric tune on the set -- not in terms of production, but for lyric and compositional content. Stellar. | | Plant's own obsession with old rockabilly and blues tunes is satisfied on the set's opener, "Rich Woman," by Dorothy LaBostrie and McKinley Miller. It's all swamp, all past midnight, all gigolo boasting. Krauss' harmony vocal underscores Plant's low-key crooned boast as a mirror, as the person being used and who can't help it. Rollie Salley's "Killing the Blues" sounds like it was recorded by Lanois, with its cough syrup guitars, muffled tom toms, and played-in-bedroom atmospherics. Nonetheless, the two vocalists make a brilliant song come to life with their shared sorrow, and it's as if the meaning in the tune actually happens between its bitter irony in the space between the two vocalists as the whine of Leisz's steel roots this country song in the earth, not in the white clouds reflected in its refrain. There is a pair of Gene Clark tunes here as well. Plant is a Clark fan, and so it's not a surprise, but the choices are: "Polly Come Home" and "Through the Morning, Through the Night" come from the second Dillard & Clark album from 1969 with the same title as the latter track. The first is a haunting ballad done in an old-world folk style that Clark would have been proud of. It reflects the same spirit and character as his own White Light album, but with Plant and Krauss, the spirit of Celtic-cum-Appalachian style that influenced bluegrass, and the Delta blues that influenced rock, are breached. "Through the Morning, Through the Night" is a wasted country love song told from the point of view of an outlaw. Plant gets his chance to rock -- a bit -- in the Everly Brothers' "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)." While it sounds nothing like the original, Plant's pipes get to croon and drift over the distorted guitars and a clipped snare; he gets to do his trademark blues improv bit between verses. To be honest, it feels like it was tossed off and, therefore, less studied than anything else here: it's a refreshing change of pace near the middle of the disc. It "rocks" in a roots way. | | "Please Read the Letter" is written by Plant, Page Charlie Jones, and Michael Lee. Slow, plodding, almost crawling, Krauss' harmony vocal takes it to the next step, adds the kind of lonesome depth that makes this a song whispered under a starless sky rather than just another lost love song. Waits and Kathleen Brennan's "Trampled Rose," done shotgun ballad style, is, with the Phillips tune, the most beautiful thing here. Krauss near the top of her range sighs into the rhythm. Patrick Warren's toy piano sounds more like a marimba, and his pump organ adds to the percussive nature of this wary hymn from the depths. When she sings "You never pay just once/To get the job done," this skeletal band swells. Ribot's dobro sounds like a rickety banjo, and it stutters just ahead of the bass drum and tom toms in Bellerose's kit. Naomi Neville's "Fortune Teller" shows Burnett at his best as a producer. He lets Plant's voice come falling out of his mouth, staggering and stuttering the rhythms so they feel like a combination of Delta blues, second-line New Orleans, and Congo Square drum walk. The guitar is nasty and distorted, and the brush touches with their metallic sheen are a nice complement to the bass drums. It doesn't rock; it struts and staggers on its way. Krauss' wordless vocal in the background creates a nice space for that incessant series of rhythms to play to. | | The next three tunes are cagey, even for this eclectic set: Mel Tillis' awesome ballad "Stick with Me Baby" sounds more like Dion & the Belmonts on the street corner on cough syrup and meaning every word. There is no doo wop, just the sweet melody falling from the singers' mouths like an incantation with an understated but pronounced rhythm section painting them singing together in front of a burning ash can. This little gem is followed by a reading of Townes Van Zandt's "Nothin'" done in twilight Led Zeppelin style. It doesn't rock either. It plods and drifts, and crawls. Krauss' fiddle moans above the tambourine, indistinct and distorted; low-tuned electric guitars and the haunted, echoing banjo are a compelling move and rescue the melody from the sonic clutter -- no, sonic clutter is not a bad thing. The weirdest thing is that while it's the loudest tune on the set, it features Norman Blake on acoustic guitar with Burnett. This is what singer/songwriter heavy metal must sound like. And it is oh-so-slow. The final part of the trilogy of the weird takes place on Little Milton Campbell's "Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson," a jangly country rocker in the vein of Neil Young without the weight and creak of age hindering it. Krauss is such a fine singer, and she does her own Plant imitation here. She has his phrasing down, his slippery way of enunciating, and you can hear why this was such a great match-up. The band can play backbone slip rockabilly shuffle with their eyes closed and their hands tied behind their backs, and they do it here. It's a great moment before the close. The haunting, old-timey "Your Long Journey by A.D. and Rosa Lee Watson," |
Producer: T-Bone Burnett |
| | Compilation Appearances |
| | Associated Artists and Works | | Jimmy Rogers All-Stars (The) | | Page, Jimmy | | Page, Jimmy | | Page, Jimmy | | Walking Into Clarksdale ~ Page, Jimmy | | No Quarter: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded [Re ~ Page, Jimmy | | Page, Jimmy | | Page, Jimmy | | Page, Jimmy | | Page, Jimmy | | Page, Jimmy |
| | Technical Info | | Release Date : 10/23/2007 | | Original Release Date : 2007 | | Catalog ID : 1166190752PA | | Label : Rounder Select | | Number of Discs : 1 | | Runtime : 57m : 20s | | Studio/Live : Studio | | Mono/Stereo : Stereo | | SPAR Code : n/a | | UPC : 00011661907522 |
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| | Professional Reviews | | Rolling Stone (p.85)
- 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Skilled and inspired....[With] relaxed, smoky harmonies and reverbed midtempo rockabilly..."Rolling Stone (p.112)
- Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Top Albums of the Year 2007" -- "They harmonize with natural worry and warmth against a midnight Mississippi chill..." Entertainment Weekly (p.65)
- "They ultimately meet in a roots-rock commonwealth....[E]xercises in sublime harmony..." -- Grade: A- Uncut (p.115)
- 5 stars out of 5 -- "The partners' close harmonies are especially ravishing -- intimate as Gram & Emmylou on Gene Clark's 'Through The Morning, Through The Night'..." Down Beat (p.62)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "Doc Watson's 'Your Long Journey' finds Plant and Krauss attaining a state of grace, their shared spiritual strength interlocked with sorrow over a loved one's death." Dirty Linen (p.56)
- "[O]ne listen to these songs, and you'll quickly appreciate how they -- and Burnett and the other musicians -- effortlessly blended different genres into one gorgeous stew of pop music..." No Depression (p.92)
- "Their harmonies couldn't be more fetching on 'Killing The Blues'....The emotional landscape of RAISING SAND stretches far and wide." Record Collector (magazine)
(p.90)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "The pair drift in an out of the tracks, supplementing each other with subtlety and charm on a stunning set..." |
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