Raising Sand |  | Creators: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Robert Plant, Alison Krauss
Label: Rounder
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
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Rating:  633 reviews
Sales Rank: 103
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.8 x 0.4
UPC: 011661907522
EAN: 0011661907522
ASIN: B000UMQDHC
Release Date: October 23, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Rich Woman | | • | Killing the Blues | | • | Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us | | • | Polly Come Home | | • | Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On) | | • | Through the Morning, Through the Night | | • | Please Read the Letter | | • | Trampled Rose | | • | Fortune Teller | | • | Stick with Me Baby | | • | Nothin' | | • | Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson | | • | Your Long Journey |
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Product Description
No Description Available.
Genre: Folk Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 23-OCT-2007
Amazon.com
Perhaps only the fantasy duo of King Kong and Bambi could be a more bizarre pairing than Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Yet on Raising Sand, their haunting and brilliant collaboration, the Led Zeppelin screamer and Nashville's most hypnotic song whisperer seem made for each other. This, however, is not the howling Plant of "Whole Lotta Love," but a far more precise and softer singer than even the one who emerged with Dreamland (2002). No matter that Plant seems so subdued as to be on downers, for that's one of the keys to this most improbable meeting of musical galaxies--almost all of it seems slowed down, out of time, otherworldly, and at times downright David Lynch-ian, the product of an altered consciousness. Yet probably the main reason it all works so well is the choice of producer T Bone Burnette, the third star of the album, who culled mostly lesser-known material from some of the great writers of blues, country, folk, gospel, and R&B, including Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, Milt Campbell, the Everly Brothers, Sam Phillips, and A.D. and Rosa Lee Watson. At times, Burnette's spare and deliberate soundscape--incisively crafted by guitarists Marc Ribot and Norman Blake, bassist Dennis Crouch, drummer Jay Bellerose, and multi-instrumentalist Mike Seeger, among others--is nearly as dreamy and subterranean as Daniel Lanois's work with Emmylou Harris (Wrecking Ball). Occasionally, Burnette opts for a fairly straightforward production while still reworking the original song (Plant's own "Please Read the Letter," Mel Tillis's "Stick with Me, Baby"). But much of the new flesh on these old bones is oddly unsettling, if not nightmarish. On the opening track of "Rich Woman," the soft-as-clouds vocals strike an optimistic mood, while the instrumental backing--loose snare, ominous bass line, and insinuating electric guitar lines--create a spooky, sinister undertow. Plant and Krauss trade out the solo and harmony vocals, and while they both venture into new waters here (Krauss as a mainstream blues mama, Plant as a gospel singer and honkytonker), she steals the show in Sam Phillips' new "Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us," where a dramatic violin and tremulous banjo strike a foreboding gypsy tone. When Krauss begins this strange, seductive song in a voice so ethereal that angels will take note, you may stop breathing. That, among other reasons, makes Raising Sand an album to die for. --Alanna Nash
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 633
 Truly signficant October 30, 2007
Dave Goldberg (40 miles north of NYC)
233 out of 259 found this review helpful
This is wonderful listening. Even more, it's truly significant. That's in part because of the reaction _ I don't how many times in the last few months I've read about what seems to "critics'' and others to be a truly strange pairing. Something like: "You'd never expect two singers so far apart to team up, but it seems to work.''
That's nonsense (except the part about it working _ it doesn't "seem,'' it's real.) That's because the "critics'' and others put music in boxes and can't understand a pairing of "bluegrass,'' (the quotes are intentional) and heavy metal. This is Americana, but Americana as interpreted by Plant, Krauss and T-Bone Burnett that transcends category in a way that few albums do. Look on top. How many different categories does it rank No. 1. _ Rock, pop, folk, international. That's what music should be but too often isn't because the folks who run record companies and radio stations want to put music in the narrowest possible category.
It's also a breakthrough for all three artists, including Burnett, but especially Krauss, who in her last few albums has boxed herself in with very nice listenable material that's too often predictable. A couple of the albums won Grammys(she has 20)and they're incredibly well produced and performed, but after a while one Robert Lee Castleman song turns into another and the effect is underwhelming.
On this one, she uses all her talents, even, perhaps even as the excellent producer she is _ Burnett clearly took her advice and Plant's on some of the songs. Her country/bluegrass fiddle turns into gypsy violin on "Sister Rosetta,'' producing a haunting effect that's rarely heard in this kind of music.
Beyond that, I've never heard an album where the voices blend so well that it's hard to tell where one stops and the other picks up _ Tom Waits' "Trampled Rose'' is the exemplar of that and the most fascinating and haunting song on the album.
But it's almost all wonderful and it ends with what sounds very much like a little game being played by Burnett and Krauss in particular. The last number begins with Mike Seeger on autoharp leading into a Doc Watson gospel tune. Seeger discovered Elizabeth Cotten, who was his family's housekepper, and he was one of the pioneers who convinced record labels to record roots artists, Watson among them. It's also the most Krauss-like _ it's closest to what she does, right down to using a gospel number to close her albums (and her shows.)
But most of this is totally new territory for both artists. Maybe Krauss should have gone there a decade ago or maybe the timing is perfect. It's one of the few albums _ Luncinda Williams' "Essence'' is another _ that can get away with slow tempos and minor keys on two-thirds of the songs and not sound repetitious or boring.
Again, it's most important because it defies category. Other artists are trying _ Ben Harper and Norah Jones, with whom Krauss guested on a Bonnie Raitt show/CD/DVD are mingling pop, rock, country, gospel and reggae (in Harper's case.) The more the younger generation goes beyong genre and into "just music,'' the better off we'll all be. (Uh, no, Plant, at 59, isn't exactly the younger generation, but he's been looking for new frontiers for a decade or more.)
He's also a Brit and Brits tend to understand American music better than most Americans. In any case, people like Mark Knopfler, Steve Winwood, Van Morrison and even Jagger/Richard stay away from boxes. (And, by the way, I just heard Krauss do a wonderful version of Winwood/Traffic's "I Can't Find My Way Home'' on XM) It was issued three years ago as part of a TV Soundtrack. So yes, she's known for a long time that there's a big wide world of music out there.
This landmark album makes that point even more strongly.
Everything You Wanted it to Be! October 23, 2007
A* (New York, N.Y. United States)
136 out of 156 found this review helpful
I have been waiting on this disc. I mean really waiting, like marking off the days on a calendar waiting. We don't have to go over the basics, how Plant and Krauss are gifts from the VOCAL GODS!! But what surprises me about this disc is how understated it all is. The music is the winner here -- well, the listener is.
The opening song "Rich Woman" with its elastic bass line and krauss almost purring into an oft-kilter bluesy tone is pure magic, but its also eerie as all get out. But so is most of this disc. It's almost as if Burnett turned up the gothic horror to a Tim Burton soundtrack and planted it down in the South.
Clark's "Through the Morning, Through the Night," gets more than an honest reading, the harmony between the two bleeds into one soft cushion that hugs the melody. And is honest and bitterly romantic. Wait's "Trampled Rose" gets another great reading, with Krauss howling just above a thumping beat. "Killing The Blues" gives Plants voice such softness and lilt that for some reason it reminds me of vintage Righteous Brothers.
The disc is excellent, and so far is my running for album of the year. They have taped an episode for CMT Crossroads and they have both stated that they are more than willing to work with each other again. And I will be marking off those days as well on my calendar. A gem of an album from two amazing singers with extremely rare gifts.
Raising Sand raises the bar for collaborative work October 31, 2007
R. Kyle (USA)
76 out of 90 found this review helpful
A self-named "Led Head" friend of mine told me about this CD. His thoughts were that the world as we knew it was coming to end when Robert Plant joined up with a 'country musician'. Having somewhat more eclectic tastes--I didn't think so.
What a treat to open the CD and hear "Rich Woman" on Halloween. A.D.D's headliner review gives the best description of the Southern Gothic 'feel'.
Another particularly eerie song is "Fortune Teller," where Plant sings the tale of a young man who goes to a fortune teller and discovers that he will fall in love with the first woman he sees--which turns out to be the Fortune Teller herself--now he's happy as can be and he gets his fortune told for free. (Yup, corny as KS--but the sound is very cool!)
For the most part, the music will probably suit Alison Krauss fans more than Plant's, but Plant's fans need to listen--just to hear how strong the man can be on soft music.
The best of any profession are the people who raise the bar for the rest. The test of a great collaborative work is -- is the whole better than the sum of its parts? Plant, Krauss, and Burnett started out at the top of their respective forms, but this CD is truly a masterwork among their individual collections, too. "Raising Sand" is going to open the door for a long more mind-bending work.
Contrasts Complement Each Other October 28, 2007
Ken C. (MA)
21 out of 24 found this review helpful
Robert Plant fans best forget the heavy Led and embrace the light Zeppelin as their man collaborates with bluegrass star Alison Krauss for a surprising set of mellow-to-upbeat songs that, after repeated listening, grow on you. Krauss's voice was new to me -- but, to my surprise, Plant's distinctive voice was, too, despite the fact that I'd heard his rocking tunes many a time. You see, it's like this: here Plant slows down, puts his cowboy boots up, and sings the blues, a little country, and even some early 60's rock and roll. Can you say "eclectic"?
Among the covers from the past are such diverse numbers as Gene Clark's 1969 wailer, "Polly Come Home," the Everly Brother's 1964 sock-hop rocker "Gone, Gone, Gone," and Tom Waits's mellow romancer from 1960, "Stick with Me Baby."
Although there are a few upbeat numbers like the opening track from 1955, "Rich Woman," and the aforementioned Everly Brothers piece, this album is for the mellow-minded who like to relax with their music by taking a rich, oaky glass of red wine in a dark room and sinking into the couch as it plays. Or, if you will, a hot cup of coffee to the same couch on a Sunday morn when the kids are out and the spouse on an errand. Sip it in, in other words, and swirl.
Remarkably, despite being from different planets, Plant's voice and Krauss's complement each other. Best of all is the glue that holds bluegrass star and rock and roller together -- T Bone Burnett (producer) and his band, the Blue Glow. They are technically and artistically perfect in putting new wrinkles in this mix of covers and new music.
If you're a Robert Plant fan who's set in your hard-rocking ways, pass. If you have an open mind and admire a singer willing to take chances and extend himself (with a talented singer/fiddler in her own right, Ms. Krauss), buy and savor it slowly.
T-Bone Strikes Again October 25, 2007
Ian Chalmers (Birmingham, AL USA)
24 out of 29 found this review helpful
When I heard about this CD, in a really twisted way it made all sorts of sense. I had to get it. I wasn't disappointed.
I grew up getting stoned to Black Dog, Kashmir, Misty Mountain Hop, Immigrant Song, the whole shebang. In the eighties, while I was buying Robert's solo records, I discovered this odd-ball Texan named T Bone Burnett with his own take on life and morality and art that really made me sit up and take notice. And lately I've been turned on by a mean fiddle player with an ethereal voice named Alison Krauss.
The Brits have always been taking American music of all genres far more seriously than we ourselves have (what's that about prophets in their own land?), and feeding it back to us in ways both familiar and alien. If not for Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Slim Harpo, John Lee Hooker, Elvis, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Howlin Wolf, etc. etc. etc., would we have ever had Led Zeppelin, The Stones, The Beatles, The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Fleetwood Mac, Joe Cocker, Robert Palmer, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, etc. etc. etc. (you get the point). And, if you had paid attention to Plant's solo albums, including the foray into 50's pop and ballads as The Honeydrippers, you would know that he is more than capable of handling subtler vocal stylings (in other words, he really can sing).
Alison Krauss (aside from the fact that if angels were capable of so base an emotion as envy, her voice would rank high on their hit list) has been, from the start, deeply grounded in the rich veins of musical and artistic ore that the Brits have been so profitably mining for decades.
But for me, the real clincher on this deal was T Bone as producer. Yes, his success as producer (O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack, the Johnny Cash / June Carter biopic Walk the Line soundtrack, Roy Orbison's A Black and White Night, and for artists like Counting Crows, Los Lobos, Gillian Welch, Marshall Crenshaw, The BoDeans, and Bruce Cockburn to name a few) gives him more than a little "Americana" cred. But to really get the picture, you need to listen to his own recordings. Listen to Proof Through the Night and T Bone Burnett and the rest of his critically lauded work (though apparently not many people have) if you want to hear where this CD is grounded, why it can seem optimistic and dark in the same breath. T Bone is an artist's artist, a producer's producer. In the same way that Daniel Lanois elevated U2's and the Neville Brothers' game, that Brian Eno elevated David Bowie's and Talking Heads' games, that John Hiatt and Nick Lowe elevate each other's games, T Bone as an artist / producer brings a depth of feeling and a certain sensibilty to this weird combination that makes it work on so many levels.
This is one of those serendipitous occasions when the right people and material find each other, the planets line up, you draw against all odds to an inside straight, common sense and commerciality are thrown to the wind, and the CD stores and radio stations can't figure out which pigeonhole to stick the damn thing in.
I won't take up more space rehashing the kudos other reviewers have heaped on particular cuts, and I haven't listened to it enough times to develop my own favorites. I will say that I will be merciless in making room on my iPod for this entire CD.
If you have any faith in the essential goodness of man, any hope that art is a good thing, a taste for good music regardless of the labels slapped on it, experience that love will break your heart, but you'll fall into it anyway, and a suspicion that Rounder Records has more artistic sense in its (figurative) little toe that all of the major labels combined, you'll buy this CD. And besides, looking at the jacket photos, I have to wonder if Robert and Alison don't share a hair stylist.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 633
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