Robert Plant – Lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar

"The whole impetus of my life as a singer has to be driven by a good brotherhood,” says Robert Plant of his new album. Recorded with current touring set-up The Sensational Space Shifters it is, in his own words, “African trance meets Zep." Much of lullaby…and The Ceaseless Roar is uncompromisingly true to that folk heritage: Little Maggie is a hot desert throb, a bustle of djembe drums and upright bass.

It has little in common with the restless roving that has characterised Plant’s recent work of late and yet, certainly when the electric guitars set Embrace Another Fall alight, it’s easy to trace a line to the psychedelic undertones of Led Zeppelin III or Physical Graffitti. Throughout, you marvel at the man’s continuing hunger. With so many of his peers content to piss their riches, and their talent, up the wall, lullaby… illustrates why there’s still little reason to point Percy at the porcelain. [Gary Kaill]