DREAMLAND

As Mystic Fred quite rightly says, this is an album of covers, yet it is so good that one does barely even notice it. I think I can honesly say that most cover albums done by true artists seldom succeed unless you are purely in the pop domain where the repeat formula is easy. Annie Lennox's Medusa springs to mind as hitting the mark and so does Robert Plant with Dreamland. And for both artists, they did not cover pop songs!

As usual excellent back up. I mean what can one say about Porl Thompson on guitar? And Charlie Jones on bass? Whew! The opening track " Funny In My Mind" has a very awkward time signature but it is the perfect start to Dreamland, hinting that this will not be the atypical RP release. My favorite has to be his rendition of " Morning Dew", the Zeppelin like " Darkness, Darkness" and the dark and lurking " Hey Joe" .Ok I am a stickler for Plant's more laid back approach and on Dreamland he is in fine form. Highly recommended for those wanting to explore Plant's work, even as I said with covers, he does an awesome job here.