It's been a long while since the legendary Led Zeppelin vocalist, Robert Plant offered up a new platter as a solo artist. Plant has been busy through the 90's, but mostly with former Zeppelin bandmate Jimmy Page. When Plant releases a solo effort it turns into a big guess as to what you will get. Plant has definitely done a variety of things with his solo albums and 'Dreamland' is not going to be the exception to the rule. The music on this album is a bit like the Plant/Page stuff, but also has a bit of Zeppelin influence in places. Actually, I guess the Plant/Page stuff was in the same vein as well. Anyway, the music has a ton of atmosphere which is always good for presentation. The album opens with 'Funny in my mind (I believe I'm fixin' to die)' which reminds me of late Zeppelin. It's definitely one of my favorites and has a great groove. What can really be said about the album is consistency. All of the rest of the album displays a lot of mood and atmosphere as mentioned before and never really strikes a heavy tempo. This is where the comparison comes in to Zeppelin. They were masters at this particular thing. It is important to mention that ths album really has it's own personality. Some of my other personal favorites include 'Last time I saw her', 'Song to the siren' which is light and has some very good orchestration, 'Darkness, Darkness', and 'Red Dress'. While this album is not exactly predictable, after spinning the disc you do expect this kind of music from Plant and his delivery is exceptional.
Overall
It's probably not going to be his biggest release to date, but Plant has delivered what fans of his legendary career would expect. The album has a lot of atmosphere and provides a very good listen. The music tends to lean towards the classic rock vein naturally and will really appeal to fans of that genre, but is not limited to those fans exclusively. Definitely give it a spin.
