Robert Plant's new album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, is out now. The album's release was featured in the New York Times list of 100 "events that have us especially excited" this season. The LA Times says he's created "a compellingly eclectic landscape." The Boston Globe calls it "a kaleidoscope that shows he still has much to say." American Songwriter says he "remains as creative, curious and truly artistic as ever, perhaps more so. And this stunning entry into his already impressive catalog shows he refuses to rest on his laurels." The Christian Science Monitor finds that "these are golden days" for Plant. The album earns four stars from the Times, Independent, Financial Times, and Guardian. The Irish Herald says this "brilliant" album is "a cause for celebration" and among the "most entertaining and sonically thrilling collections of the year."
Robert Plant's new album, lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar, is out now on Nonesuch / Warner Bros. Records and has already been met with critical acclaim around the world. Produced by Plant, the album is his label debut and features 11 new recordings, nine of which are original songs written by Plant with his band, The Sensational Space Shifters—Justin Adams: bendirs, djembe, guitars, tehardant, background vocals; John Baggott: keyboards, loops, moog bass, piano, tabal, background vocals; Juldeh Camara: kologo, ritti, Fulani vocals; Billy Fuller: bass, drum programming, omnichord, upright bass; Dave Smith: drum set; and Liam “Skin” Tyson: banjo, guitar, background vocals. To pick up a copy of the album, visit your local record shop or head to iTunes, Amazon, or the Nonesuch Store, where CD and vinyl orders include a free MP3 download of the complete album at checkout.
Plant celebrated the album's release with a performance at the iTunes Festival in London last night—he kicks off a US tour later this month—and answered fans' questions about the new album in a Facebook chat this morning, which you can read here. The official video for the album's first single, "Rainbow," premiered via The Colbert Report earlier today; you can watch it here.
The New York Times featured the release of lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar in its Times 100 list of "events that have us especially excited" in the fall season.
"Not one to repeat himself, Robert Plant seeks his latest ancient-modern modal alchemy on his new album, lullaby and...The Ceaseless Roar," writes Times music critic Jon Pareles. "In songs about spirit and flesh, he swirls together instruments from Africa and Appalachia, Celtic-rooted melodies, circular ritual-music riffs, some of the most gently otherworldly vocals in his catalog and, every so often, a roar of electric guitar."
Pareles also spoke with Plant for a feature article in yesterday's Times and finds that the singers/songwriter "has determinedly followed his instincts and impulses" in his career. Expanding upon his brief in the Times 100, Pareles writes of the new album: "American, Celtic, Middle Eastern and African styles get a technological shake-up in his new songs, as the album transforms and reconfigures elements that have been part of Mr. Plant’s music since the 1960s. Hypnotic world-music grooves mesh with blues and country, as loops and programming mingle with banjo, electric guitars, synthesizers and a one-stringed West African fiddle."
Read what Plant has to say about the new album at nytimes.com.
The legendary singer/songwriter spoke with NPR's Morning Edition yesterday. "Since the glory days of Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant has covered a lot of ground," says Morning Edition host David Greene. "He has restlessly pursued interests in world music, blues, and country. In 2009 he won five Grammys for Raising Sand, an Americana album with the bluegrass singer Alison Krauss ... He says this new album captures exactly where he wants to be: on his own personal journey." Listen to the interview at npr.org.
Robert Plant is also the subject of a feature article in the Los Angeles Times.
"It's a compellingly eclectic landscape he has created on "lullaby and…The Ceaseless Roar," says the LA Times's Randy Lewis. Referencing recent successes with Alison Krauss, Buddy Miller, and Patty Griffin, he explains: "Where those outings delved deep into the body of American blues, country, folk and gospel music, Plant pushes the parameters outward by adding generous doses of Celtic-influenced sounds and polyrhythmic excursions from the musical traditions of western and northern Africa."
The Boston Globe's Stuart Munro calls Plant's new album "a kaleidoscope that shows he still has much to say." Read the review at bostonglobe.com.
American Songwriter gives the album four-and-a-half stars. "Now in his mid-60s with nothing left to prove, he remains as creative, curious and truly artistic as ever, perhaps more so," writes reviewer Hal Horowitz. "And this stunning entry into his already impressive catalog shows he refuses to rest on his laurels." Read the review at americansongwriter.com.
Paste magazine rates the new album a 9.3 out of 10. "Cinematic. Organic. Dervish. Delta. Industrial. Celtic. Tribal. Gypsy. Yearning. Thrilling. The words to describe lullabye and... The Ceaseless Roar, Robert Plant’s tenth solo album, are endless," writes reviewer Holly Gleason. "Made with the aptly named Sensational Shape Shifters, the musicians merge and converge in ways that confound on paper, yet delight as they fall together ... Through it all, Plant is like foam on a wave, almost weightless, yet utterly incandescent."
The Associated Press also calls attention to Sensational Space Shifters. "With players from various continents and musical traditions, the band follows effortlessly as Plant leads the charge over the common ground connecting American country and blues, English folk, African rhythm, riff-heavy rock and even electronica," writes AP reviewer Christopher Weber. "The album throbs with ambition and subtlety and rewards replays," Weber concludes. "Who needs nostalgia?"
The Christian Science Monitor selects the album as one of its Top Picks.
"The singer’s 10th solo record, lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar, deserves to be heard at volume," the Monitor exclaims. "For the singer with golden locks and a golden voice, these are golden days."
Plant also spoke with Minnesota Public Radio's The Current, which is giving away a trip to see Plant and his band at the Riviera Theater in Chicago on Thursday, October 2. You can hear the interview and enter to win at thecurrent.org.
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In the UK, the album, having previously earned four stars from Q, which said "he’s produced his best solo album yet … a beautifully moving, soul-stirring, bravely genre-blurring album," and Mojo and nine from Uncut, earns perfect five-star reviews from Mail on Sunday, Daily Telegraph, and Sunday Express; four-and-a-half stars from MusicOMH; and additional four-star reviews from the Times, Independent, Independent on Sunday, Financial Times, Guardian, and Scotsman, the latter two of which name it Album of the Week.
Plant has "aged magnificently," raves the Financial Times reviewer Ludovic Hunter-Tilney in his four-star review.
"His voice is simply remarkable on A Stolen Kiss," writes Times reviewer Will Hodgkinson, calling particular attention to a particular album track in his four-star review. "You feel that Plant has never revealed himself more, or that his audience will ever get closer to him."
The Guardian, in its four-star review, adds praise for Plant's collaborators on helping to bring his diverse musical interests to life on the new album.
"The songs' impact is aided by his hugely impressive backing band, the Sensational Space Shifters," writes reviewer Alex Petridis. "[T]here's something almost alchemical about their ability to draw together incongruent musical influences into something coherent and exciting."
That mix "sounds fantastic: gritty, dark and satisfying," says Petridis. "You could apply those adjectives to almost all of lullaby and … the Ceaseless Roar."
Read the full review at theguardian.com.
MusicOMH gives the album four-and-a-half stars.
"From the outset, it is clear that this is not a case of Plant retreading former glories, but rather something bold and new," says OMH reviewer Daniel Paton. "His lyrics achieve a finely nuanced balance of the candid and the oblique, often concerned with roots and rootlessness, and the complexity of matters of the heart."
The reviewer concludes: "These outstanding songs, imaginatively and intuitively balanced by clever production, cohere to form a serious work reflecting on landscape, memory, regret and the pull of our roots."
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In Ireland, the Herald gives four stars to this "brilliant" album.
"Discovering the mystery in music and then successfully conveying it to listeners is something only the really gifted artists can achieve," the Herald suggests. "Luckily, every so often someone comes along with a musical offering that's at times daft, dazzling or downright dangerous. These are the moments we should celebrate." Plant and his new album bring just such a cause for celebration.
"On this new 11-track album, Plant's 10th solo studio release, he attempts the impossible, a blend of the varied musical styles that motivate him," the paper explains. "Plant and his band The Sensational Space Shifters, have succeeded in making one of the strangest, most entertaining and sonically thrilling collections of the year."
Read the complete review at herald.ie.
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