SIXTY SIX TO TIMBUKTU

by

Robert Plant

Edit

You can ignore all the crybabies around here who are blubbering about the song selection in this package. First of all, there are two discs, and Disc 2 is where the true treasures abound, while everyone is expecting Disc 1 to be a standard greatest hits package. Our whiny friends apparently didn't notice that this collection is NOT called "Robert Plant's Greatest Hits," and they also didn't notice in the liner notes that Robert himself didn't want to create that kind of package. Sure Disc 1 features a very lopsided compilation of Robert's proper solo work, with the earlier albums being almost totally neglected in favor of the later ones. If that's a problem for you, just listen to the original albums again. Of course, Robert meant for this package to focus on the more adventurous aspects of his music, which can be felt throughout Disc 2, and that's the real reason for this collection's existence.

Zep collectors will be fascinated by the first few cuts on Disc 2, which are long-lost selections from Robert's pre-Zeppelin work. The first two tracks are obscure British singles in which the teenage Robert was trying to be a pop heartthrob and sounded very little like his future blues-metal self. Robert finds his voice in the next two tracks by Band of Joy, his pre-Zeppelin group with John Bonham on drums (one of these two tracks is a surprisingly sinister version of "Hey Joe"). The collection then skips to 1983 and proceeds to take us on a tour of post-Zeppelin tracks that were often so offbeat and adventurous that they didn't even fit onto the solo albums. Here is where Robert fans will be truly reminded of his unappreciated love for the experimental and his mastery of non-Western sounds. Most rewarding are a variety of quirky covers, collaborations with Afro Celt Soundsystem and avant-garde guitar virtuoso Rainer Ptacek, and a live selection from Timbuktu (Mali) that truly integrates the authentic sounds of that land. Prepare for adventure, not a selection of radio hits. [~doomsdayer520~]

When I saw the song listing for this album a few weeks back I had the same feeling as I did when the "Van Halen: Best of volume 1" came out - who put this together and what criteria was used? When I found out that Plant put it together himself, I was perplexed.

Now I want to go on record that I have practically everything Plant has ever recorded, and most of what's on here is excellent. But is it truly representative of Plant as an artist? It seems that Plant wanted to highlight the eclectic nature of his work, which I agree is one of his strengths. However, songs like "slow dancer", "in the mood", "horizontal departure", "watching you", "come into my life" and "network news" are easily superior to some of what's included on disc one, and more importantly, give a more accurate picture of the Robert Plant musical persona. At the very least, "upside down" should have been switched to disc 2 and one of the songs which I mentioned put in it's place.

Of course, it should be said that anyone can put together their own collection of favorite Plant songs by virtue of the cd burner. What I'm thinking of is the young music fan of the future who 20 years from now probably won't be able to find Plant's back catalogue but will only have access to this. For them, they'll only be getting half the story.