Zepp & Plant

[blackrose87]

I am nuts about Zeppelin but really don't like Plant's voice at all. Just wondering is there any Zepp fans that feel the same?

[The_Universal_Sigh]

There's certain phrasings and voices he does that can be annoying or grating but he's really awesome. Sort of like Axl, in a way, I can't stand his Bad Obsession chorus voice or his low voice that sings "knock knock knockin on heavens door hey, hey, hey hey hey" ugh. That doesn't mean he's not awesome overall though.

Even his more tame solo stuff is good specifically Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation's 2005 record Mighty Rearranger. It's better than the last two Zep albums, even.

[RandallFlagg]

I love Axl's lower register and love Plant's vocals, esp. the oooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo shit he has going on sometimes

[Crash Diet]

I like his early voice only

[ZoSoRose]

I ticking love zeppelin. Them not playing a Usa show in2007 was a huge blow to me

[moreblack]

After '72, his voice changed considerably. It didn't have the same range anymore. He's made decent use of it but it just wasn't the same.

And no, no solo Plant is better than any Zeppelin. Although Fate Of Nations is probably the closest he ever came. But since 2000, all he's done on his own is hire a bunch of mediocre jam band players and ramble over top of the loose arrangements with little or no result.

Edited May 30, 2012 by moreblack

[The_Universal_Sigh]

I'd rather put on Mighty Rearranger than Presence or In Through the Out Door.

BUT I'd rather put on Achilles Last Stand or In The Evening than any particular song from any Plant solo album.

[moreblack]

I tried them out, but they never went anywhere. The playing is too weak, and the ideas kind of fizzle out. At least with Presence and ITTOD there's some fury to the playing, even if not all the ideas panned out. Plant's musicians are just limp.

The Nashville guys on the Raising Sand album on the other hand are top notch. And the ideas seem a lot more finished.

Edited May 30, 2012 by moreblack

[Zeppelin]

I tried them out, but they never went anywhere. The playing is too weak, and the ideas kind of fizzle out. At least with Presence and ITTOD there's some fury to the playing, even if not all the ideas panned out. Plant's musicians are just limp.

The Nashville guys on the Raising Sand album on the other hand are top notch. And the ideas seem a lot more finished.

This is pretty much how I feel. Plant's solo work never really compared for me, although I do love some of the albums.

I still love Plant's voice after '72. It's different, but not bad or anything. I actually prefer his later vocals, but I know I'm probably in the minority there.

[moreblack]

I tried them out, but they never went anywhere. The playing is too weak, and the ideas kind of fizzle out. At least with Presence and ITTOD there's some fury to the playing, even if not all the ideas panned out. Plant's musicians are just limp.

The Nashville guys on the Raising Sand album on the other hand are top notch. And the ideas seem a lot more finished.

This is pretty much how I feel. Plant's solo work never really compared for me, although I do love some of the albums.

I still love Plant's voice after '72. It's different, but not bad or anything. I actually prefer his later vocals, but I know I'm probably in the minority there.

It was a case of him coming to grips with what he could and could not do anymore. Just hearing bootlegs from 73 75 and 77 tours, he was croaking and missing stuff all over the place, had to sing things very differently. But by the time the 79-80 gigs came around it was like he got a grip of his limitations and worked around them much more smoothly than in the previous tours.

[Zeppelin]

I tried them out, but they never went anywhere. The playing is too weak, and the ideas kind of fizzle out. At least with Presence and ITTOD there's some fury to the playing, even if not all the ideas panned out. Plant's musicians are just limp.

The Nashville guys on the Raising Sand album on the other hand are top notch. And the ideas seem a lot more finished.

This is pretty much how I feel. Plant's solo work never really compared for me, although I do love some of the albums.

I still love Plant's voice after '72. It's different, but not bad or anything. I actually prefer his later vocals, but I know I'm probably in the minority there.

It was a case of him coming to grips with what he could and could not do anymore. Just hearing bootlegs from 73 75 and 77 tours, he was croaking and missing stuff all over the place, had to sing things very differently. But by the time the 79-80 gigs came around it was like he got a grip of his limitations and worked around them much more smoothly than in the previous tours.

That's why I love the boots from '79 because it just seemed like their magic was back. I guess it was a good time to get it back, considering.

[moreblack]

Shame is, by that point Page was so strung out he could barely hold the guitar.

[Zeppelin]

It was definitely hit and miss, but I definitely still enjoy them.

[Vincent Vega]

I tried them out, but they never went anywhere. The playing is too weak, and the ideas kind of fizzle out. At least with Presence and ITTOD there's some fury to the playing, even if not all the ideas panned out. Plant's musicians are just limp.

The Nashville guys on the Raising Sand album on the other hand are top notch. And the ideas seem a lot more finished.

This is pretty much how I feel. Plant's solo work never really compared for me, although I do love some of the albums.

I still love Plant's voice after '72. It's different, but not bad or anything. I actually prefer his later vocals, but I know I'm probably in the minority there.

It was a case of him coming to grips with what he could and could not do anymore. Just hearing bootlegs from 73 75 and 77 tours, he was croaking and missing stuff all over the place, had to sing things very differently. But by the time the 79-80 gigs came around it was like he got a grip of his limitations and worked around them much more smoothly than in the previous tours.

What happened to Plant was that from singing the way he did, combined with smoking, he had nodules on his vocal chords by 1973. Nodules are caused by straining your voice or damaging it. He could still hit all the notes but they were coming out more and more raspy (close to an Axl-type of voice). Listen to how raspy he sounds on the song Ten Years Gone, for example. He had vocal nodule surgery sometime between 1975 and 1977, which is why his voice lacks the power and range it had from '69-'75 or so. With the surgery, his voice became deeper as well--Compare his voice's tone on In Through the Out Door to Led Zep IV. It's a deeper voice with less range, and it isn't just age: He had vocal nodule surgery, which removes a lot of a singer's range.

Elton John had the same surgery and he lost most of his upper register which is why he sings much deeper than he did in the 70s.

Freddie had nodules, but knew the risks they had to his voice and never got surgery for them. It's why if you listen to him at Wembley in 1986 he sounds pretty much the same as he did in the '70s, except raspier.

Axl had vocal nodules too. He repeatedly "blew out his throat" during in the late 80s, and also during the UYI tour which required him to cancel shows at times and from what I've read he had the nodules removed sometime in the mid 1990s which is why his voice has been different ever since he came back into the public eye.

[dalsh327]

I love the interaction that Led Zep had, more than picking out the individual pieces of it.

To me the 75 bootlegs are still great, the 77 and Knebworth shows hurt to listen to, and the 1980 bootlegs are okay except there's something going on with the effects on his voice which get irritating. I liked how they got back to basics, but I don't think they had much left as a band, and would've parted ways in the MTV era. Just from the stories, Plant was prob. ready to try new things.

His first solo album prob. gives you some idea of what the next Led Zep might have sounded like, good but not great, mix that in with The Firm, it's prob. for the best they ended it, regardless of Bonham's fate. Seeing Led Zep in the MTV era? If you want to count that 15 minutes on Live Aid, the show they considered bad enough to give proceeds from UnLedEd so Geldof would keep it off the Live Aid DVD. Generous on their part.

[wasted]

I love his vocal on Sick Again.

[GivenToFly]

I can't stand it when he overdoes that blues voice, on the first album especially and a bit on the second. I can stomach most of the songs if the song is otherwise good enough. You Shook Me is borderline. Communication Breakdown is unbearable.

[moreblack]

If you're a fan, you owe it to yourself to watch this BBC Doc. Plant talks thru every era of his carreer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0GCVg0S7Qs

[Guest Len B'stard]

Axl is pretty much an updated Robert Plant.

[moreblack]

Vocally I'd say he was more like Dan Mccafferty, there's a lot of old Nazareth in Axl's voice.

[Vincent Vega]

Vocally I'd say he was more like Dan Mccafferty, there's a lot of old Nazareth in Axl's voice.

Bit of a mix really. Early Axl (83-86 or so) sounds a lot like Plant. It's more the late 80s-early 90s Axl that sounds like Mccafferty. Axl was turned down for a punk band in the early 80s because he "sounded too much like Robert Plant". Nowadays he sounds like Plant sounded at the 1985 Live Aid show.

[moreblack]

Vocally I'd say he was more like Dan Mccafferty, there's a lot of old Nazareth in Axl's voice.

Bit of a mix really. Early Axl (83-86 or so) sounds a lot like Plant. It's more the late 80s-early 90s Axl that sounds like Mccafferty. Axl was turned down for a punk band in the early 80s because he "sounded too much like Robert Plant". Nowadays he sounds like Plant sounded at the 1985 Live Aid show.

Started singing high and clean, and later on got that rasp happening, once the rasp came in it was very remisicent of McCafferty.

The Live Aid comparison is not a compliment, is it?

[Vincent Vega]

Vocally I'd say he was more like Dan Mccafferty, there's a lot of old Nazareth in Axl's voice.

Bit of a mix really. Early Axl (83-86 or so) sounds a lot like Plant. It's more the late 80s-early 90s Axl that sounds like Mccafferty. Axl was turned down for a punk band in the early 80s because he "sounded too much like Robert Plant". Nowadays he sounds like Plant sounded at the 1985 Live Aid show.

Started singing high and clean, and later on got that rasp happening, once the rasp came in it was very remisicent of McCafferty.

The Live Aid comparison is not a compliment, is it?

Basically yes, excellent summation. Listening to Axl on the Hollywood Rose recordings, it's different from the GN'R era. Axl really starts to get his trademark voice on Lies. I'd argue that the voice on AFD is a transition between the high and clean to a more raspy sound, which was fully realized on Lies.

No, the Live Aid comparison is definitely NOT a compliment. It is generally considered the worst performance of Plant's career. Plant literally sounds just like Axl at the 2002 VMAs there.

[moreblack]

I remember getting into Zeppelin in the early 90s, and when 1994 came around they had a 10 year anniversary re-broadcast of the entire Live Aid concert over here (Canada). I remember staying glued to it waiting for the Zeppelin show which came in the evening sometime, and once they started I was taken quite by shock at how awful they sounded, Plant especially. Having just seen The Song Remains The Same the year previous, this was night and day compared to that. Made me very happy they stopped when they did and didnt try to keep going in the 80s, Plant and his early solo albums confirmed that happiness...

Now thanks to youtube, I get to relive the awfulness: