Robert Plant - Dreamland • CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

Not if you prefer Plant in ballad mode. There's a lovely understatement to the White-derived blues "Funny in My Mind," while the dreamy, symphonic "Song to the Siren" out-aches Tim Buckley's original. Best of all is the lack of bombast: Plant's slow-burning "Hey Joe" (a nod to folkie Tim Rose) leaves plenty of room for the guitars to cut loose, but stops short at letting them rape and pillage. And that restraint is what ultimately illuminates this album, from the tart take on Dylan's "One More Cup of Coffee" to the dreamy, elegiac cover of Moby Grape's "Skip's Song."

J.D. CONSIDINE
(RS 902 - August 8, 2002)