Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Please Read The Letter (Decca)
UK release date: 28 January 2007
Yes, the Led Zeppelin reunion was all good fun - who didn't attempt to literally sell their granny on Ebay so they could afford the astronomical amount that tickets were being flogged for? - but in a way, that much heralded gig at the O2 Arena in December had the effect of overshadowing one of the best albums of the year.
Zep frontman Robert Plant's collaboration with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss, Raising Sand was a low-key treat - one of those rare albums where you could hear the chemistry between the lead players catching fire in the studio. Please Read The Letter was its stand-out track, Plant taking lead vocals, while Krauss' lovely, soothing tones making the most successful, if unlikely, pairing since Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell a couple of years ago.
It's about as different to Led Zeppelin as you can get - instead of Page's thunderous riffs and Bonham's furious drumming lie lightly strummed guitars and gently brushed percussion, while Plant sounds more yearning and mournful than ever before. A wonderful record, well deserving of its chance to shine outside of the mighty Zep shadow.
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