ROBERT PLANT & THE STRANGE SENSATION
Mighty Rearranger Sanctuary ****

While Jimmy Page has settled into his self-appointed role as the custodian of Led Zep's legacy, Robert Plant has beaten out his own solo path, roving restlessly from adult contemporary to Moroccan roll to pastoral psychedelia, and keeping his primal yell permanently sheathed. When he did get the Led out again, reuniting with Page on No Quarter, fans looked forward to the return of the Percy of old, but Plant replied with the wilfully obscure Dreamland and the patchy solo retrospective Sixty Six to Timbuktu.

So when, halfway through Tin Pan Valley, Plant suddenly unleashes that feral howl, it feels as invigorating as a bungee jump over Victoria Falls. Mighty Rearranger is the closest Plant has ever come to sounding like his band of old, but he's not exhuming past glories here; Shine It All Around, Freedom Fries, The Enchanter and Takamba could never be mistaken for Zep songs, although they are signposted with many familiar motifs: bluesy guitar licks (courtesy of Justin Adams and ex-Cast member Skin), thumping drums (from Portishead's Clive Deamer), the odd dippy lyric and, of course, that voice.

Add mellotron, Malian musical instruments, and some inspired playing and interplay, and you've got what must undoubtedly be Plant's solo career high, in which he pulls together all his conflicting influences and sets out confidently towards the next horizon. You can feel the masterful touch on All the King's Horses, Dancing in Heaven and Let the Four Winds Blow, and you can picture the likes of Jack White, Damon Albarn, Moby and a dozen young would-be rock gods listening carefully to these tracks and learning a trick or two. Take it from an old Zep-head - this is mighty. www.robertplant.com