Robert Plant, Carry Fire, A Review (2017)

Robert Plant, Carry Fire, A Review (2017)

By: Erreh Svaia

Trascendental Music

If he continues walking down this road it won't take long for British legendary former metal god Robert Plant to cross his path with former post punk turned world beat experimentalist Jah Wobble, the once legendary bass player with John Lydon´s PiL, that would certainly be a un usual meeting of minds, but just remember the great music Beatles’ legend Paul McCartney has recorded with Killing Joke´s Youth, Carry Fire is the newest Plant recording, and Robert is once again in his best shape ever, Carry Fire is a kind of romantic record in the middle of the desert night, with sparks coming from a fire made to keep yourself warm during the cold desert night, opener The May Queen is a great performance by Plant recalling one of his greatest influences ever, Elvis Presley, here Plant perfectly captures Presley romantic persona, translates it into the exotic hot sands of Dubai along a wonderfully tender melody, an incessant tambourine and some exuberant rockabilly tuareg guitars and strings to create a wholly multicultural complex event, while a very solid drum work takes New World… into a completely rock n roll dimension, soaring guitars accompanying Plant into another slow burning top notch performance, full of blistering guitars and a non-stopping lurking bass.

Season´s Song is a definite show stopping piece, with Plant perfectly following the pristine and ethereal melody, is a simple and beautiful song, leaving ample room for Plant to deliver a very warm vocal line, followed by mesmerizing tender guitars, slowly moving towards an epic and enjoying delivery, but the big surprise included here comes in the form of Dance With You that definitely reminds me musically of the Velvet Underground’s Venus in Furs, with arrangements full of the immortal “ostrich” guitars that Lou Reed used to play, and Maureen Tucker´s heartbeat pulsing percussion, an enigmatic and mystic tune with Plant magic all over the place, musically and vocally a triumph, with some sympathetic guitars nearly at the end and Plant flying high once again, and then with another surprise waiting for us in the form of Carving Up the World Again…A Wall and…a song that seems to fall into Wobble´s territory, an almost rockabilly rocker with deep drum and bass sounds, with Plant double tracking vocals and taking full command at a wonderful rocking tune, and more incendiary guitars.

On the title track Plant again shows his irrepressible love for Tuareg blues, but is on the great Bones of Saint where sparks really fly again with a powerful rhythm section revealing a rocking vein in the way of some early Plant solo records, turning this into one of the most up beats songs in the record, with the following Keep It Hid as another interesting experiment in the realm of drum and bass, again taking Plant into closer territory with the great Jah Wobble, a truly engaging piece with great guitars and fierce drumming, the perfect antecessor for a cover named Bluebirds Over The Rainbow, a classic rock song once covered by the Beach Boys, treated here as  really thunderous loud song with some of the best Plant singing in years, sounding even close to the great Buddy Holly.

Carry Fire is another right step on Robert Plant solo career, is an outstanding record with great performances and arrangements, another piece that shows Plant moving forwards and reaffirming his career as a solo artist, capable of reinventing himself and making great innovating records, Plant opens in front of us a dense and rich universe of sounds coming from the middle east, never sleeping on his “hard rock/heavy metal legend bed”, risking it all, using his enormous talent and coming out as a complete winner, once again.