Robert & Alison-Raising Sand

If you come to this recording expecting to hear either Alison Krauss or Robert Plant in their previous incarnations you'll be surprised, at best, or disappointed.

This album is mostly about T-Bone Burnett's production and Mark Ribot's guitar and banjo. That's a good thing, and the addition of Krauss and Plant's vocals with those elements is strange and wonderful.

Dreadful dreck. Robert should be ashamed of himself. Maybe he just needs the money.

Just when you thought a tune might go somewhere it plunged back into mediocrity.

I took it back and got a $5 used CD credit.

like the album with mark and emmy lou, there is no point to it.

Can we go back to this playing against type thing? Willie Nelson does a horrible reggae record, "Highwayman", Van Morrison does a country album, "Pay The Devil", Paul Simon writes a stage play, Roger Waters composes derivative symphonic music, Yo-Yo Ma noodles on popular music, the list could go on and on. And now we have Plant slumming in the easy listening category. Is there something very wrong with this picture? Does judgement go away with age?

Well, I like it just fine. Yes, it takes some getting used to, especially if you are expecting the sonics to approximate those on the Alison Krauss/Union Station albums, but it has a sort of haunting, ethereal quality that grew on me after a few plays. I especially like the Townes Van Zandt cover.