Mighty Rearranger (Remastered)

Robert Plant sounds truly engaged on this 2005 release, which takes the core of the band that played on 2002’s Dreamland and renames them The Strange Sensation. Guitarists Justin Adams and Skin Tyson work with keyboardist John Baggot and the phenomenal rhythm section of bassist Billy Fuller and drummer Clive Deamer to create that vaguely Middle Eastern sound that’s long been among Led Zeppelin’s finest contributions to rock music. Plant takes the tension of Zep’s “Kashmir” and applies the strings and Moroccan bendir drums to the material with a passionate hand. “Freedom Fries” turns up the angst for a true sense of how Plant can co-mingle his folk music interests with the harder rock of his youth. Baggot’s keys guide the smoldering frustration of “Tin Pan Valley” until Deamer’s drums offer moments of release. “All the King’s Horses” offers a look at Plant’s English folk side. Throughout, the Zeppelin lineage is toyed with, played against, devilishly recalled, and essentially recast in Plant’s modern image. Plant accepts elements of the myth and sounds like a man enjoying the mastery of his talents.