Robert Plant

Robert Plant's 1982 solo debut quelled any thoughts that his creative spark would dim once he was away from Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Here, Plant continues to experiment with tempo and rhythm, bringing a flighty bite to rather ethereal rock that is etched with world music. The album went Top Five on the pop charts while "Pledge Pin," "Worse Than Detroit" and "Burning Down One Side" (what the heck is he singing about?) all earned heavy FM rock rotation throughout the 1980s.

Plant's recreations of Led Zep's sonic feel with more mundane musicians is quite impressive, always the operative superlative with him. It's also more insinuatingly hooky than Led Zep ever was. But the insinuation makes one wonder what's being insinuated, which brings one to the question of meaning, which brings one full circle back to almost nowhere. (Grade - B)