Retro Spins: Robert Plant - Now And Zen

 

When Robert Plant released his previous album, 1985's Shaken 'N' Stirred, it was met with critical backlash for its changed musical style, which Plant himself admitted was because of his fondness for Talking Heads. The singer had convinced himself he would be opening for the new wave band, though this would never come to fruition.

After a botched Led Zeppelin reunion performance at Live Aid that same year, he headed out on a solo tour. However, this wouldn't be a full-blown series of shows. Rather, select dates throughout the years. It wouldn't be until three years later that he'd return to the studio to record the tracks that would become Now And Zen.

Returning to form, Plant focused on a more direct rock and roll album, and with it came his biggest selling solo album of his career. Now And Zen would go triple platinum in the USA, and gold in the UK, peaking in the top fifteen, and in most cases top ten, across six countries. Singles, Tall Cool One, Heaven Knows, and Ship Of Fools would become major hits on the mainstream rock charts, with the first two taking the number one spot, and Fools peaking at number three. Tall Cool One and Ship Of Fools would also hit the Billboard Hot 100, but not fare quite as well, landing at twenty-five and eighty-four, respectively.

Personally, I bought this album for the hits, but I was glad to see this wasn't all it had to offer. I really dug The Way I Feel, Helen Of Troy, and Why. Overall, it's a solid rock album, and it's great to see that Robbie has gotten back to his A-game.

A fun aspect of Tall Cool One is the influence that the Beastie Boys had on it. With their 1986 breakthrough debut, Licensed To Ill, the trio sampled Led Zeppelin songs across three tracks. Taking inspiration from this, Plant would in turn do the same thing, sampling multiple Zeppelin hits on the song.

The fun doesn't stop there. If you owned the original CD or vinyl release of the album, you could have scored yourself a boss red satin flag packaged inside. This was included as Plant's own tribute to his favorite association football team, the Wolverhampton Wanderers.

These days, the flag isn't too common of an item, and as such, has become a forgotten piece of memorabilia.

At this point, I would normally close with my, "Where are they now" information, but I mean, come on. We're talking about Robert Plant. If you think he faded into obscurity after the 80's, dig yourself out from under the rock you've been living under. He's a legacy act, an icon, and a major influence on the world of music. He kept going, and he's still going. Probably the only thing that surprises me at this point is that he's only seventy-seven years old. I really expected him to be in his eighties by now.

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