ROBERT PLANT AND THE STRANGE SENSATION: MIGHTY REARRANGER

"The Mighty ReArranger is a fate-like entity that controls the affairs of humanity, and the album explores mysticism" - Wikipaedia

Released on 25th April 2005 on Sanctuary, "Mighty Rearranger" Plant continues to explore world music mystical and sometimes cynical themes with his now established "Strange Sensation" band of musicians, and covers a variety of previously explored styles and elaborates on them.

The opening track "Another Tribe" carries on the Kashmir stye eastern music theme, "Shine It All Around" has a very strong rhythmic core, decorated with double tracked vocals from Plant. A Rockabilly vibe on "Freedom Fries" , which is believed to be critical of George W.Bush and the climate in the U.S. after the 9/11 attacks, many songs such as "Tin Pan Alley" benefit from the earlier ideas on "Dreamland", "All The King's Horses" also a beautifully played acoustic song.

"The Enchanter" has a very earthy mysterious bluesy guitar feel which fits in with its mysterious subject, "Takama" a heavier number but "Dancing in Heaven" very reminiscent of Led Zep III mets the Byrds, the jangly guitar sound must be a Rick?

"Somebody Knocking" has an eastern tabla style rhythm, "Let the Four Winds Blow" and the title track "Mighty Rearranger" have a more distinctive country rock sound, though a Soul /Jazz /Blues vibe on "Brother Ray", a tribute to Ray Charles who died around the time the band were making this album. An extra country rock track "Red White and Blue" was included as a bonus track on remastered versions of the album also "All the Money in the World" .

3.5 stars really!!!

After such an excellent album such as Dreamland, the public was again expecting much from Percy, so Mighty Rearranger was eagerly awaited for. It was very well received by the press and fans alike, often being cited as his best post-Zep work (included or excluded the No Quarter thing), but it sold rather well. While this writer likes MR very much, I don't think that it tops its predecessor, partly because the choice of covers rendered Dreamland particularly strong, while the present was mainly made of original material. With a slightly changed line-up over Dreamland (long-time bassist Charlie Jones) is gone, this is the first album to bear the Strange Sensation name.

If all of the tracks on MR are written by the band shows that indeed the group gelled fairly well; but to expect from this album to be a masterpiece might be a tad unrealistic. Some tracks bear some kind of resemblance to Dreamland or even slight Zep reminiscences, such as the opening Another Time, Shine It (a better version in the DVD), the excellent Tin Pan Valley, the haunting Enchanter, the enthralling Takamba and the tense Four Winds. Some are less successful like Freedom Fries (a piece of its time), the sleepy King's Horses, the uninspired Dancing In Heaven, the ethnic-sounding Somebody Knocking and the overplayed title track. Other tracks have a more synthetic feel like the middle section of Tin Pan or the closing throwaway Brother Ray tidbit, but mostly the hidden section, which is a Shine It techno-rework. Clearly, the album tends to run out of steam in its second half.

One of my main gripes from the present album is that it appears less musically brilliant, especially in terms of solo. Maybe this was voluntarily so, in order to let the band appear very tight by keeping the songs shorter (max 5½ mins), but after the sheer heroics of the previous album, one cannot help but be a bit disappointed. Prog, you ask? Not in the least, but it shouldn't stop you from enjoying one of Plant's better solo career album, even if it won't age as well as its timeless predecessor.

I can honestly say I have lost touch with Robert Plant's work since this 2005 release. I am aware he has forged ahead with considerable continued success with the likes of his collabaoration with Alison Krauss and his more recent release Band Of Joy, but still Mighty Rearranger for some reason marked and end point for me. Maybe I will revisit those works some other time.

Mighty Rearranger is a fine work, almost encapsulating his most progressive work from 1993, Fate Of Nation. Close but not quite :-) " Another Tribe" hinting again at Eastern philosophy and mysticism. " Shine It All Around" carries Plant's brand sound to the fore and is a great track with equally good lyrics. " All The King's Horses" my personal favorite with excellent accoustics and great storytelling delivery, reminiscent of Rune album days....The title track is also one of the highlights as is the Ray Charles tribute " Brother Ray". Don't expect ground shaking music, but this is definitely one of Plant's solo high points in his career. So check it out, spin the wheel and enjoy the Mighty Rearranger. Three and half solid stars.