The album was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini over a five-month period at Abbey Road Studios. The single "Most High" was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1999.
Clarksdale is a town in the Mississippi Delta, a historical home of Delta blues music.
For all of the acclaim it received, there's no denying that No Quarter was a tentative reunion for Page & Plant, containing only a handful of new songs that were scattered among many reworked old favorites. Since its supporting tour went well, the duo decided to make their reunion permanent, setting to work on an album of entirely new material.
Taking the world music dabblings of No Quarter as a cue, Page & Plant tempered their eclecticism with a healthy dose of their monolithic guitar army, hiring Steve Albini, the indie rock producer notorious for his harsh, brutal recordings, to helm the boards.
In other words, it sounds perfect on paper -- groundbreaking veteran artists still taking chances and working with younger collaborators who would challenge them. If only Walking into Clarksdale actually played that way.
It's certainly possible to hear where the duo was intending to go, since the circular melodies, Mideastern drones, sawing strings, drum loops, and sledgehammer riffs all add up to an effective update and progression of the classic Zeppelin sound. The problem is, the new sound doesn't go anywhere.
There's potential in this metallic worldbeat rock, but only a few cuts, such as the stately "Most High" and the shimmering "Shining in the Light," realize it. Much of the album disappears under its own mass, since their are no well-written songs, catchy riffs, or memorable melodies to support the sound. And that's what makes Walking into Clarksdale so frustrating -- you can hear the potential, and even enjoy the album on the musical surface, but there's nothing to make you return to the album once it's finished.
And that ultimately means that the album simply reiterates the promise of the reunited Page & Plant instead of fulfilling it.
Tracklist
- "Shining in the Light" – 4:01
- "When the World Was Young" – 6:13
- "Upon a Golden Horse" – 3:52
- "Blue Train" – 6:45
- "Please Read the Letter" – 4:21
- "Most High" – 5:36
- "Heart in Your Hand" – 3:50
- "Walking into Clarksdale" – 5:18
- "Burning Up" – 5:21
- "When I Was a Child" – 5:45
- "House of Love" – 5:35
- "Sons of Freedom" – 4:08
- "Whiskey from the Glass" – 3:01
All songs by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Charlie Jones, and Michael Lee.
Note
- "Most High" and "Shining in the Light" were released as singles, with a music video for the former. "Most High" was also featured as a CD single with the b-sides "Upon a Golden Horse" and "The Window".
Page & Plant
- Jimmy Page – acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, co-production
- Robert Plant – vocals, co-production
- Charlie Jones – bass guitar, percussion
- Michael Lee – drums, percussion
- Steve Albini – engineering, recording technician
- Anton Corbijn – photography
- Cally – design
- Paul Hicks – assistant engineering
- Lynton Naiff – string arrangements on "Upon a Golden Horse"
- Ed Shearmur – programming and string pads on "Most High"
- Tim Whelan – keyboards on "Most High"
Notes
Released: 21 April 1998
Recordes: Studio: Abbey Road Studios, London, England
Genre: Rock
Length: 64:32
Label - Atlantic Records
