Robert Plant - Two Tracks from Mighty Rearranger previewed on French Radio

Courtesy of the frequently updated and always informative Tight But Loose Led Zeppelin website, I had the opportunity to check out the preview of Plant's new album (copy and paste this link into your Real Player if you're interested). A few comments...
I could be wrong, but contrary to what TBL says, it seems there are only two tracks from the album - the first single "Shine It All Around" was not played so far as I could tell. The time given (8:30) takes us into the latter part of "Enchanter," which starts somewhere around the 4:40-5:00 mark.
The composition of "Enchanter" sounds just great - the big drum sound overlayed with the great guitar work. A very cool song. A few quibbles though...the vocals sound like those on Dreamland (2002). I like Dreamland, but I REALLY think Robert sounds much better live than he has on the last two albums he's put out (1998's Walking Into Clarksdale with Jimmy Page and Dreamland). The production, which is at least partially, if not primarily credited to him, makes his voice sound thin and much weaker. I understand a desire to have that breathy, whisper-like quality on some songs, but it seems to appear on the majority. I've seen Robert on five occasions since 2001, and each time I've come away impressed with the way he sounded. There are breaks in his voice occasionally - like on "In The Light" from 2001 - but overall, he still had power and sounded really great in the lower and middle ranges (keep in mind he's 56 years old).
I remember being disappointed when I heard "If I Ever Get Lucky" from Dreamland. Although still a strong song, Robert sounded quite a bit different singing it for the studio version than he had when I first heard the song in May 2001 in Boston's Orpheum Theater. "Hey Joe" was another big letdown after hearing it live. I just don't think Plant's vocals have been captured effectively. It almost seems like he's holding back, and there's no reason for it. Perhaps it was understandable when he left out the "loooooove" scream (and indeed, the whole last section) of "Whole Lotta Love" on VH1 Storytellers - perhaps he didn't want a vocal 'break' captured for a television audience...I don't know - it's not like it was a live broadcast. But with the luxury of multiple takes in a studio, one would think it would give him more opportunity to get the best effort saved for digital posterity. I also understand that Clarksdale, under the direction of Steve Albini (who produced Nirvana, among other grunge bands), might have a certain sound to it. I like the album, but all the songs did much better when they were performed live - "When The World Was Young" and especially the beautiful "Heart in Your Hand." I'm not sure if "Sons of Freedom" was ever done live, but I always thought Robert sounded horrendous on that track.
Side note here - the general riff on "...Lucky" is taken almost verbatim from the first or second track on the Desert Road Justin Adams CD that was sold at some of Plant's 2002 gigs (Justin Adams is probably the member of Plant's Strange Sensation with the most creative influence. He plays guitar most of the time with Plant, but on Desert Road, he played all instruments and sang).
I just popped the "Morning Dew" single from Dreamland in, with the live version of "A House is Not a Motel," to see if that was any better - but it's not a great song to use for comparison.

The songs on Clarksdale are usually described as sounding "unfinished" because of the use of so many early takes. With another producer, things might have been different. One of the strongest songs, and one of the few originals on Plant's 2002 release (Dreamland was mostly a covers album), was "Dirt In a Hole," and that was left off the US release. I had to order a copy of the album from Amazon's UK site in order to get that song (it would later be available on the greatest hits/B-sides album Sixty-Six to Timbuktu as well). It should be understood that I'm not displeased with the songs on Dreamland - really just the production. I think it could sound better. However, after the early Zep years of screaming over three guys who were cranked up to '11' (see Spinal Tap) without a proper PA, is it any wonder now that Robert is in charge of the production that he prefers to whisper in our ears and just bring his own voice to the front of the mix? I guess not.

Any opinions on how much difference a producer can make? They pretty much determine the sound of the album - whether the drums are clear or compressed, whether the vocals are up front or buried in the mix, if the bass is a significant part of the song or just something you might notice in the background if you really search for it.

The second track available on the broadcast is "Somebody Knocking." Listening to it, I kept waiting for it to take off. I was pretty disappointed. I hope Robert doesn't think this is one of the stronger tracks on the album, because it lacks quite a bit in my opinion. I really dig the Middle-Eastern influence in Zeppelin, in Robert's work, and in the work of the bands that Zep has influenced (like The Tea Party - see their Edges of Twilight album). The Unledded (1994 with Jimmy Page for MTV Unplugged) project was great in large part due to the guys Plant called the "Egyptian Pharaohs" (Middle-Eastern musicians lead by Hossam Ramsey).

I heard a band in 2001 with Paul at our local Blue Heron festival called Turku that I thought was fantastic (they reminded me so much of the middle section of the Unledded-era "Kashmir" that I kept expecting them to break into a cover of that song, "Friends," or "Four Sticks") and I bought the only two albums of theirs that I could find...However, Plant's recent habit of laying old blues lyrics over Middle-Eastern music has now reached the point of being overdone.
Maybe repeated listenings will help, but the only really intelligible lyrics I heard were taken whole from the blues classic "Crawling King Snake." My first impression was one of boredom. It may have been alleviated had the song actually 'taken off' or changed direction a little. Alas, it did not.
Maybe I'll change my mind when the album comes out. When I first heard "Funny In My Mind (Believe I'm Fixin to Die)" from Dreamland, I was less than enthused about the accordion-like keyboard sound, but I got to like that a little.

All that said, I think "Enchanter" sounds like a song I'll have on REPEAT by May 4, the day after the album's release here. I hope Rearranger gets some good press and a little airplay. It seems as if every year, the media drags an aging superstar back into the limelight and they get their day in the sun (again) with a bunch of airplay on "adult contemporary" radio stations, an armful of Grammys, and a little overdue respect (see Steely Dan, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, et cetera).