Jimmy Page & Robert Plant
Walking Into Clarksdale

"Walking Into Clarksdale": Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Act Two. After the first real reunion between the guitarist and singer of Led Zeppelin, which resulted in a new album, "No Quarter" (featuring only reinterpretations of Zep songs with an eastern twist), and a subsequent tour between 1994 and 1995, Page & Plant returned to the studio in 1997 to produce another album, the first to contain new tracks by the famous duo since 1980, the year Led split up. For the creation of "Walking Into Clarksdale", Page & Plant brought Charlie Jones on bass and Micheal Lee on drums into the studio. The result is a decent album that alternates between brilliant moments ("Shining In The Light", "When The World Was Young", just to name a few) and not-so-excellent episodes ("House Of Love", "Walking Into Clarksdale"), although the whole is good overall.

The album opens with "Shining In The Light", a truly delightful electro-acoustic track, followed by the album's masterpiece: "When The World Was Young" is an intense and heartfelt song that bursts into the final electric chorus. "Most High", on the other hand, is a very successful and captivating track with an oriental flavor, while "Blue Train" is another slow and sweet but very enjoyable piece, just like "When I Was A Child", a very intense electric ballad. However, there are also tracks that are not very successful, such as "House Of Love", a somewhat disappointing track, or "Heart In Your Hand", a slow piece more suited to serve as a soundtrack to a western film than to be included in an album like this, and other tracks that have unrealized potential, meaning they were not fully realized: this is the case with the rock "Burning Up", the title-track "Walking Into Clarksdale", a rock-blues without real punch, and "Upon A Golden Horse", a track that's neither ugly nor beautiful, which doesn't deliver many emotions. But there are also some really well-crafted rock tracks: "Please Read The Letter" is a track with a robust riff, while "Sons Of Freedom", a tense, biting and nervous piece, with a raw and incisive sound, beautifully closes the album. The album, released on April 21, 1998, achieved excellent sales: it reached eighth place in the US charts and third in the UK charts. Surely such sales do not reflect 100% the real value of a somewhat commercial album and the appeal of big names like Page & Plant cannot have gone unnoticed. However, it cannot be denied that the change in the music business and the (consequent) progressive commercialization of music has somewhat stifled the intentions of those who, like Jimmy and Robert in Led Zeppelin, produced albums twenty years earlier such as "Physical Graffiti" or "Houses Of The Holy" or "II". From this point of view, "Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded: No Quarter", the duo's first album, is certainly much more interesting than "Walking Into Clarksdale", which nevertheless should not be unfairly underrated, because overall it is very enjoyable and remains a little different from the albums typically marketed these days.

Today Page is 62 years old, while Plant is approaching 56. Will we still be able to see them together? Or was "Walking Into Clarksdale" the final act of a duo that profoundly marked the history of music? In reality, it is very unlikely that Jimmy and Robert will collaborate again. But many still like to think that the guitar wizard and his legendary-voiced (!) disciple will once again enchant us with their magic.

NB. The rating is not a full 4, but it's closer to 3.5