Robert Plant Fate Of Nations CD

Personnel: Robert Plant (vocals, guitar); Kevin Scott MacMichael (guitar, background vocals); Francis Dunnery, Richard Thompson, Oliver J. Woods, Doug Boyle (guitar); Martin Allcock (mandolin); Nigel Kennedy, Navazish Ali Khan (violin); Phil Johnstone (piano, keyboards, organ, harmonium, background vocals); Phillip Andrews (keyboards); Nigel Eaton (hurdy gurdy); Charlie Jones (bass, percussion); Pete Thompson, Michael Lee, Chris Hughes, Chris Blackwell (drums); Gurdev Singh (dilruba, sarod); Sursit Singh (sarangi); Maire Brennan, Julian Taylor, Steve French, John Flynn (background vocals).
Robert Plant's performance of "Calling To You" was nominated for a 1994 Grammy Award as "Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocal."
Personnel: Robert Plant (background vocals); Rainer Ptacek (guitar); Doug Boyle, Francis Dunnery, Oliver Jones, Richard Thompson (guitars); Nigel Eaton (hurdy-gurdy); Martin Allcock (mandolin); Sursie Singh (sarangi); Navazish Ali Khan, Nigel Kennedy (violin); Phil Johnstone (electric piano); Philip Andrews (keyboards); Charlie Jones (bass instrument); Chris Blackwell, Chris Hughes , Michael Lee , Pete Thompson (drums); Gurbev Singh (dilruba); Julian Taylor, Kevin Scott MacMichael, John Flynn, Máire Brennan, Steve French (background vocals).
Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Bill Inglot; Raj Das.
At first, Fate of Nations seems so light and airy that it slips away through the layers of acoustic guitars, violins, and keyboards. Upon further listenings, more textures appear, and the album gains a calm sense of tension and reflectiveness. It's also Robert Plant's most personal record ever; he addresses the death of his son in the beautiful "I Believe." Simultaneously, Fate of Nations is a political album -- "Great Spirit" and "Network News" are two of the most socially conscious songs Plant has ever written. Yet, the album is never heavy-handed and doesn't fall into sermonizing or sentimentality. Plant has always had a folkie heart; on Fate of Nations, he wears it on his sleeve. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
After a planned reunion with his ex-Led Zeppelin bandmates Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones fell through in the early 1990s, Robert Plant unsurprisingly returned to his solo career, while Page united with Plant soundalike David Coverdale. With its focused sound and songwriting, most longtime Zep/Plant fans point to his sixth solo release, 1993's FATE OF NATIONS, as one of his finest.
Plant and his backing band continue to explore the harder rock sounds of his previous two solo albums, as evidenced by "Calling to You" and "Promised Land," while turning down the bombast and letting the mood get more reflective on "I Believe" and "The Greatest Gift." A few years after FATE OF NATIONS appeared, Plant and Page finally reunited.Rolling Stone (6/8/93, p.114) - 3.5 Stars - Very Good - "...almost ceremoniously attempts to shake the Led out....Plant's technical achievements alone attest that some of rock's greatest performers are, like any legendary vintage, only improving with time..."
Entertainment Weekly (6/11/93, p.58) - "...[a] wonderfully textured and mature solo album, his best ever..." - Rating: A-
Q (1/94, p.87) - Included in Q's list of `The 50 Best Albums Of 1993' - "...there's a surprising delicacy about his performance and a new lightness in his step throughout...."
Q (6/93, p.105) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...this generously proportioned magic carpet ride over some varied, though well signposted terrain should be regarded as another notable notch on the belt...the venerable vocalist's most ambitiously constructed album to date..."
Musician (7/93, p.90) - "...Having tired of the post-modernism that pervaded NOW AND ZEN, Plant shifts gears and turns to...hippie music? Well, sorta. Although the thrumming acoustics and Celtic modality hearken to LED ZEP III, Plant's approach has less to do with nostalgia than emotional intensity..."