This years best albums countdown

# 12. Robert Plant & Allison Krauss - Raising Sand (Rounder Records)

This is one of the best duet-albums I have ever heard. That doesn't suprise me though. Allison Krauss has maybe the best harmony voice on the planet. She has even got me to like Brad Paisley, well that "Whiskey Lullaby" song at least. Back to this album then. Who knew that Robert Plant had this love affair with classic american music. We could see some hints of it way back in '73 on the Zep's third album with the song "Tangerine" but this time it's all out there in the open. Along with producer T-Bone Burnett, Plant and Krauss has picked out songs that fit their voices very well. And they have chosen songs that deserve to be heard again and again. Especially the almost forgotten Gene Clark gems "Polly" and "Through the Morning, Through the Night" from the second Dillard and Clark album are starkingly beautiful. Also the Everly Brothers "Killing the Blues" and "Gone, Gone, Gone" are really great. Not to forget Plant's reworking of the late great Townes van Zandt's "Nothin'". The absolute highlight for me is when Krauss sings "once I had myself a good women, but I just didn't treat her right" in "Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson" at the end of the album. It's so far away from where she usually are, and still she is so at home. Classic, indeed.

Comments

Anonymous said…
bra skive! hørt om Anna Fermin’s Trigger Gospel?
Stian said…
nope, den har jeg ikke hørt. Verdt å sjekke ut?
Anonymous said…
ja, jeg mener det.

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