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How Robert Plant Left Led Zeppelin Behind on ‘Pictures at Eleven’

Robert Plant stepped out of the imposing shadow of Led Zeppelin with the June 28, 1982 release of Pictures at Eleven , establishing a new musical identity for himself.

Plant wasn't positive he was up for the task. "I thought, maybe I should just quit now," he told NPR , because "nothing could be like that – but on the other hand, the great challenge was: What's it going to be like?"

The LP was released not even two years after the sudden death of John Bonham ended Led Zeppelin's time together. In his place, Plant assembled a band featuring Genesis 's Phil Collins on drums for all but two tracks, which instead featured former Rainbow drummer Cozy Powell.

Relatively unknown Robbie Blunt was chosen to step into the big shoes of legendary Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page – in the public's eye, at least. Plant insisted he had no intention of picking up where his former group left off.

In fact, Plant's biggest fear wasn't tied to the LP's commercial fortunes, but that it would sound too much like his former group. " Pictures at Eleven  is a lot smoother and a lot more kind of sophisticated if you like," he told Steven Rosen of Ultimate Guitar . "The qualities of Led Zeppelin can never be touched, never be matched; never be equaled ... and it cannot be anymore."

Pictures at Eleven trades Zeppelin's thunder for a far more polished sound. Plant doesn't waste time on a big dramatic introduction, instead opening with the straight-ahead, almost understated riff of "Burning Down One Side." The deep bass line that enters after the first verse is a welcome sign that Plant was at least partially responsible for – and still in command of – the creativity and inventiveness that marked much of Led Zeppelin's best work.

Watch Robert Plant's 'Burning Down One Side' Video

Other highlights include the beautiful, Spanish-tinged ballad "Moonlight in Samosa" and the appropriately titled slow-burner "Like I've Never Been Gone." Some of the dynamics and musical themes of his former group's later days come through in songs like "Pledge Pin" and especially on the epic "Slow Dancer."

The latter track features an arrangement and strings reminiscent of Page's work on Led Zeppelin's classic "Kashmir." Near the end of the song, Plant silences any concerns over whether he's still got the chops and charisma necessary to command attention with a simple "Ah-ah-ah" refrain.

Still, Plant's voice is by far the most familiar part of Pictures at Eleven , with its extremely '80s-sounding production, the songwriting and guitar playing contributions of Blunt, and Collins' clean, precise drum style. This new sonic palette may have been slightly disorienting to longtime Zeppelin fans, but they seemed willing to follow along – or were at least eager for any new music from one of their heroes.

Pictures at Eleven debuted in the Top 10 and successfully launched a solo career that would last decades. Plant would further solidify these exploratory methods with his next album, 1983's Principle of Moments , which featured the hit single "Big Log" and the classic "In the Mood."

Plant's former bandmate and songwriting partner Page was also supportive of his friend's solo efforts. "Jimmy was proud of me and pleased for me," Plant told Ultimate Guitar. "It was very emotional between the two of us — always will be."

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Robert Plant: Pictures At Eleven - Album Of The Week Club review

Instead of returning with a debut solo album that aped previous achievements, robert plant pleased himself on 1982's pictures at eleven.

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Burning Down One Side Moonlight In Samosa Pledge Pin Slow Dancer Worse Than Detroit Fat Lip Like I've Never Been Gone Mystery Title

In 1982 Robert Plant was in the classic no-win situation, two years after the death of his great friend  John Bonham  signalled the end of  Led Zeppelin . So instead of returning with a debut solo album that aped previous achievements, he simply pleased himself. 

With the help of Phil Collins and the late Cozy Powell on drums,  Pictures At Eleven  was smooth, very sophisticated and full of clever, understated hooks

"As you can imagine, I took a million pains to try and create my own individual sound," Plant told us. "Halfway through the thing I stopped and said to Benji the engineer, a guy who was with us for years with Zeppelin, the PA man, I asked him: 'Is it close? Because if it’s close we stop!' And he said: 'Oh no, the mood’s totally different.'

"I was just trying to pull away as much as I could… but then again you can only pull away so far. I wanted to leave Zeppelin the way it was and… just pull those reins a little to the right."

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Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute. 

Join the group now .

Other albums released in June 1982

• Private Audition - Heart
• Battle Hymns - Manowar
• Built for Speed - Stray Cats
• Chicago 16 - Chicago
• Screaming Blue Murder - Girlschool
• Killers - Kiss
• Beat - King Crimson
• Mirage - Fleetwood Mac
• Daylight Again - Crosby, Stills & Nash
• Eye Of The Tiger - Survivor
• Animation - Jon Anderson
• Eye In The Sky - The Alan Parsons Project
• Good Trouble - REO Speedwagon
• Nugent - Ted Nugent
• Sunshine Dream - The Beach Boys

What they said...

"If Robert Plant were young and hungry instead of nearly thirty-four and famous, this album might have been a real barn-burner. As it is, even though there’s nothing new going on in these grooves, the sheer formal thrill of hearing someone who knows exactly what he’s doing makes Pictures At Eleven something of an event almost in spite of its modest ambitions." ( Rolling Stone ) 

"The most apparent characteristic about the album's eight tracks is the fact that Plant is able to escape most of his past and still sound motivated. Without depending too much on his Led Zeppelin days, he courses a new direction without changing or disguising his distinct vocal style whatsoever. Pictures At Eleven peaked within the Top Five on both sides of the Atlantic, successfully launching Plant's solo career. ( AllMusic )

"In some ways Pictures At Eleven picked up where In Through The Out Door left off, though it's a better record. There’s a similar variety about its songs. Opener Burning Down One Side is a Stonesy strutter with Keefish riffing and trademark toms-and-cymbals flexing from Collins. Moonlight in Samosa is a seductively Spanish-tinged mid-tempo affair with pretty link sections, draped in lavish keyboards. ( BBC )

What you said...

Iain Macaulay: Paging Robert Plant. Has anyone seen Mr Plant? We know he’s here somewhere!

Mr Plant, please pick up the white courtesy phone.

OK, joking aside, while this is not a bad album, for me, there is nothing to really sink your teeth into. Most of the tracks seem to be a bit dialled in, hence the joke at the start. The writing, and the performance, lacks any spark to make it an album containing any memorable substance. There are better Robert Plant albums that stand the test of time and which could be considered to have a finger nail hold on that classic category title, unfortunately this is not one of them.

It’s almost as if he is wanting to branch out on his own but feels a bit apprehensive to cast off the legacy he’d spent the previous 12 years creating. If only he’d decided to start his solo career with an acoustic album instead.

Carl Black: This is more 80s than a pair of deeley boppers on top of a pair of leg warmers. Plenty of influences from around the time. 80s Rush, Talking Heads and one Led Zep song too, all played with a Chris Rea guitar sound. It's very much of its time and it's not aged well.

Alex Hayes: This was a good, solid start for Plant as a solo artist. I far prefer the second album though, The Principle Of Moments , which remains one of my favourite albums from 'Percy'. 

Bill Griffin: I guess it was to be expected after losing his son, probably his best friend, then his band but I always found this to be a melancholy and tentative affair. He seemed way more confident on his second album, but this one was still a good first step. Better, I might add, than any of Jimmy's various projects save the Coverdale/Page album, including Walking Into Clarksdale .

Paul Hutchings: Hadn't listened to this for years. It's definitely of its time, but Percy is one of the most important musicians this country has ever had. The start of his second career which is still going strong. Really enjoyed listening to it again.

Marco LG: In 1988, fourteen-year-old me was captivated by the video of Heaven Knows and despite knowing nothing about Robert Plant and his past glories decided to spend his weekly pocket money on the cassette tape of Now And Zen . It was a revelation, the album grew on me to the point I still play it regularly to this day. 

I arrived to Led Zeppelin much later, and it is fair to say I never entirely embraced Led Zeppelin in the same way I did Robert Plant. Now And Zen is however the fourth solo album by Robert Plant, released six years after this debut and, despite the presence of Jimmy Page and a few Led Zeppelin samples, it is arguably the first Robert Plant album with a clearly defined artistic direction.

Pictures At Eleven is an album suspended between two different musical personalities and dancing over the edge of two decades: outtakes from Led Zeppelin later years like Slow Dancer and Mystery Title coexist with softer, more adult oriented numbers like Moonlight In Samosa and Fat Lip . It is the sound of a man dealing with a massive legacy while trying to define his own artistic path, but while there might be value in seeing how the process unfolds the final results is not an album I would call a classic.

Despite all that, there is a lot to like in Pictures At Eleven , starting from the guitar work of Robbie Blunt and the drumming of Phil Collins. For this reason it deserves a good score in my opinion, albeit not a very high one.

Gary Claydon: Intriguing album, Pictures At Eleven . Oh, I know it might not seem that way now, but back then there were a lot of reasons to be very interested in its release. The first of the three remaining Zeppelineers to show his solo hand (if you don't count Jimmy Page's Death Wish II soundtrack) I personally couldn't wait to see what old Percy would come up with and I'll say right from the off, I wasn't the slightest bit disappointed. 

Of its time? Yeah, there is a clear early 80s feel to the production, especially the reverb on some of the vocals and the fact that Paul Martinez's bass gets a little lost but overall I think Plant does a decent job in the knob twiddlers chair and I don't think it's aged at all badly.The personnel he assembles around him is, not surprisingly, top notch. 

I don't really need to say anything about the drummers, Jezz Woodroffe's keyboards and synths don't overwhelm like was often the case in that period, Raphael Ravenscroft – of Baker Street fame – adds classy sax to Pledge Pin, but it's Robbie Blunt's guitar work that, alongside the vocals, really shines on this album. The songwriting, mainly in collaboration with Blunt, wasn't the strongest of Plant's career but there is some good stuff here.

Opener Burning Down One Side rocks smoothly then it's Percy the crooner for the pleasantly atmospheric Moonlight In Samosa . Pledge Pin opens with a slight tinge of The Police but soon settles into a groove with the aforementioned Ravenscroft sax adding some nice colour. Slow Dancer gives a slight nod of the head to Kashmir with its Eastern-flavoured arrangement. Worse Than Detroit has the feel of a bluesy jam at times, but features some neat slide work by Blunt which is nicely complimented by Plant's harmonica.

The laid back Fat Lip sees Woodroffe more prominent than elsewhere. The album closes with my favourite two tracks. Plant has always been able to produce the goods on slower, ballady tracks and he gives a fine, emotive performance on Like I've Never Been Gone , even though it meanders on a little too long, while Mystery Title gives Blunt another chance to shine.

At no point here does Ribert Plant cut loose but then he wasn't meant to. This was a smooth, almost understated start to his solo career. He would go on to make stronger, more interesting, much more diverse material but you know what? Pictures At Eleven still remains one of my favourite Robert Plant solo albums.

Brian Carr It seems odd to say now, but Led Zeppelin was actually a band I ‘discovered’ in the 80s rather than one (of many) I gleaned from my uncle (or my parents, for that matter). Eventually I went all in, for good reason. As far as Mr. Plant’s solo work, I remember In the Mood and Big Log getting quite a bit of MTV play and young me simply found those tunes fine but lacking anything that really grabbed me. Maybe that’s why I never sought out Plant’s early solo work. I did dig Now And Zen quite a bit and eventually purchased Manic Nirvana , though I don’t recall playing that one as often as Now and Zen .

At this point, I’ve reached the dreaded burnout point with much of the Zep catalogue, which has made Physical Graffiti my hands down favourite, and made this week’s album choice an absolute joy to discover. I don’t recall hearing any of these tracks in my preteen years, though I’ve heard them recently on some of the eighties themed radio shows I listen to on the weekends. Maybe the production is full eighties, but I love the songs and the playing throughout (even though the song titles confuse the crap out of me). 

Plant famously tried to distance himself from his previous band but isn’t ready to quit them completely here: Slow Dancer has the requisite Bonzo drum sound and I found Worse Than Detroit quite reminiscent of the poppier/groovier moments of Led Zep’s output. My primary takeaway is the joy I found hearing Plant’s voice on songs I haven’t heard a bajillion times, causing me to take it for granted. Pictures At Eleven makes me want to delve deeper into his solo work and possibly appreciate his contributions to the music world more than I have over the past few decades.

John Davidson: I've tried to approach this album from two angles. The first as a progression for Plant after Zep. The other as if this had landed freshly as a different artist without any expectations.

Opener Burning Down One Side sounds like a tame off-cut from In Through The Out Door . That it's one of the better tracks on the album probably says as much about me as it does about the album.

Moonlight .. is understated but the guitar work elevates it despite the slightly cheesy keyboards.

Pledge Pin reminds me of 80s Rush. It's not bad at all and the drumming has some groove, but then the saxophone kicks in and suddenly it sounds like a product of its time.

Slow Dancer should be heavy. It has the intent to be, but the arrangement lacks the brooding power to evoke the mood of a Kashmir .

Worse than Detroit has a bit more fire in its belly. With a bluesy groove and layered guitars this is the closest the album comes to classic Zep (albeit Houses Of The Holy rather than II, III or IV ).

Fat Lip returns us to 80s lounge rock, it's not bad but it is so safe it's almost offensively middle of the road.

Like I've Never Been Gon e is the kind of slow blues rocker that Zep made their mark with but sadly it's arranged more like a lounge room ballad, lacking any emotional heft. The tempo and even the guitar sound are almost chirpy when it should be drenched in tears (the live version is marginally better).

Mystery Title is a faster blues shuffle, but again it lacks oomph although the guitar solo is pretty good.

Far Post verges on country rock and is actually a decent song that I might have listened to without Plant's name on it. The piano refrain is so much better than the keyboard sound on other tracks I'm left thinking the whole album might have benefited from a bolder change of sound. It's also the first song that sounds like the band are all playing the same song, the same way and actually feeling it.

So overall, not a bad album, but there is something missing from the performance, the musical arrangement and production.

It's not surprising that a singers solo effort might struggle to hit the highs of a band chock full of talent. Page and Jonesy brought tremendous musical skill and knowledge into the studio. Bonham brought power and finesse to the beats. That's not to write off the musicians here but they just aren't operating at the levels of understanding of each other that Plant benefited from before.

Worth revisiting for sure, and I like it better than I did at the time it came out, but there's nothing hooking me in to want to add it to my collection.

Mike Knoop: Upon first listen, I am taken back to the "Great Dad Rock Debate" of 2018 that flared up in response to the club pick, Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits. If this album rocks, it generally rocks gently.

But as I have often learned with this club, not rocking is not the kiss of death I was once thought it was. While there is no way teenage me was ready for this album - Heck, at that time I had even written off Zeppelin as "old hippie music", but old and more open-minded me likes it quite a bit.

As others have noted, Burning Down One Side pretty much picks up where In Through The Out Door left off and Worse Than Detroit could be one of the less gloomy tracks on Presence . Slow Dancer shows Plant can still put together a great epic, albeit a kind of sad Kashmir , with his vocals weaving in and out through Jezz Woodroffe's synthesisers and Robbie Blunt's guitars, while Cozy Powell booms like Bonham.

But it's not all "Lite Zeppelin". Pledge Pin and Fat Lip are pleasing little new wave numbers in all but vocals. I don't normally call out the bonus tracks, but Far Post is especially fine, the highlight being Woodroffe's keyboard solo that is more Ray Manzarek than mainstream 80s.

With melancholy tracks like Like I've Never Been Gone and Moonlight in Samosa , and the aforementioned Slow Dancer and Far Post , Pictures At Eleven feels like Plant's breakup album, and I guess it kind of is. A goodbye to Led Zeppelin and the legend of the Golden God.

But then Plant and company end with a surprise. Original closer Mystery Title is probably the closest to the sound of heyday Zep, with Blunt and, on this track, Phil Collins doing pretty good approximations of Pagey and Bonzo. And, well, Robert Plant doing a great impression of a much younger Robert Plant. He's not hitting Percy's old range but the song would have fit nicely on the second half of Physical Graffiti .

Funny thing is that I've long been a big fan of Plant's solo work - but only since 2002's mesmerising Dreamland , and the mystic folk that followed. Apparently I need to check out what he was doing in the two decades before that.

Ian Kingston: I bought this on vinyl when it was released, and I must have liked it enough to buy its successor ( The Principle of Moments ). But while I've continued to listen to the latter, Pictures At Eleven simply got forgotten. So much so that on re-listening it rings no bells at all - almost as though I'd never heard it. Very strange. Anyhow - it's OK, but I'm not likely to listen again.

Gary Bowyer: Bought it when it was released as I thought the combination of Phil Collins and Cozy Powell on drums would give it something special but it was not to be. The best I can say is that it isn't terrible, it's OK.

Marco LG: I’m probably the only music fan in the planet who prefers the solo work of Robert Plant to much of Led Zeppelin catalogue... this is a treat!

Keith Jenkin: Great album, in many ways a logical progression from the more varied material on In Through The Out Door and just how good is Robbie Blunt's guitar playing!

Trace Anderson: Yes, time has served this album well. Yes, Cozy Powell and Phil Collins make some headlines, but Robbie Blunt's guitar playing is sublime.

Make sure to read the liner notes and check the history of the rest of the musicians. I believe that the sax player is the same gentleman who played on Baker Street.

Colin Livesey: When it was released we didn't know what to expect. At the time I thought it was great, a new development and hint of where Zep might have gone with tracks like Burning Down One Side , Slow Dancer , Like I've Never Been Gone and Moonlight In Samosa . Over time those tracks still stand out for me. It's half a great album. Picking up after Page in a band with Plant can't have been easy but Robbie Blunt put some great guitar down on this.

Saw the tour and for the life of me can't remember what else the band played but clearly remember all the calling out for Zep songs and of course Plant steadfastly refusing. We were disappointed at the time (even though he said he wouldn't play any before the tour) but can see now he was looking forward. Saw Plant last year and happily he now includes a fair mix of LZ in the set.

Darren Burris: I gotta say I wasn’t real wild about it when it came out. I liked a couple of tracks but it’s just a little too polished and slick for me. I hear a little In Through The Out Door in it but would like it to be a little rougher and maybe have a couple more rockers on it. It’s ok but not anything I’m gonna put on and listen to very often. 

Tony Woods: On release I must admit to not being a huge fan, played it a bit put it away and didn't revisit for some time. Glad I did because going back to it 10 years later I appreciated it so much more and still do today. He has such a varied body of solo work.

John Edgar: A really good album. This came out in 1982, and honestly, it fell well outside of my normal 1982 playlist. In 82 I was more into Gamma, Rainbow, Frank Marino, Scorpions, etc. Our local album rock station and MTV started playing cuts off of this release pretty much simultaneously. I was immediately taken by the overall smoothness of the band and the tastiness of the songs. I immediately bought the album and thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. I still spin the CD regularly and buying the 2007 remastered version was a no- brainer for me. Recommended.

Chris Poteat: To echo the sentiments of several earlier posts, this was a record that I didn't really like way back when, but time has been very kind to it. I love it now... and appreciate it more and more as the years go by. And yeah, Robbie Blunt is such an overlooked/underrated guitarist.

Roland Bearne: I was just in the first stages of my Road to Damascus with rock music, punk had suddenly paled in comparison to the likes of Zeppelin, Rush, Van Halen, AC/DC et al and then... boom, Bon Scott dies. Boom, John Bonham dies (or was it vice versa? anyway...) and Zeppelin, so recently discovered were no more. 

You can imagine my joy on discovering that Robert Plant was going to go solo. I was into town and down the record shop like white powder up a rock star's hooter! The pristine disc was placed on the platter and ...er, um wass this? It was nice but no crashing bombast, no banshee howling? I was puzzled but actually intrigued. 

Suffice it to say it was a quick grower and huge fun to figure out Robbie Blunt's licks too (what a beautiful, tasteful player he is!). There isn't a duff track here for me, but Slow Dancer is particularly mesmeric! This record very quickly became a firm favourite. And it was "mine". It was as though he had released this just for me! None of my friends were even interested. The older Zep crowd poo-pooed and that was fine for me, if I was the only one to "get it" that's fine with me. 

I still play this today, and Principle Of Moments and ... the rest (only Shaken And Stirred continues to leave me scratching my head!). Plant's musical journey and appetite for always looking forward is unique and inspirational. 

Of his generation and genre there are few if any who have been on such a journey (I would say Rush, but sadly, no more). Deep Purple continue to explore but it's Robert Plant who has ventured into unexplored musical jungles and emerged with tales and musical recipes which continue to delight and fascinate. Here at last, is my 10.

Final Score: 7.47⁄10 (131 votes cast, with a total score of 979)

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Pictures At Eleven by Robert Plant

Album Reviews 1982 Albums , 2012 Reviews , Album Reviews by Ric Albano , British Artists , Phil Collins , Robbie Blunt , Robert Plant 3

Buy Pictures at Eleven

Plant was in a unique state of mind during this period. He believed that the stardom in Led Zeppelin had in someway begotten the string of tragedies that struck his family in the late 1970s and, ultimately, Bonham with his death in 1980. In this light, he refused to perform any Zeppelin songs live and would not set out on a major tour until after he composed his second album, The Principle of Moments in 1983. For this debut solo album, Plant took the rock world by surprise, with a smoother and more stylized vocal style to complement the variety of diverse guitar motifs by Blunt. Still, Plant maintained the same high energy and dynamic output with some signature ad-libs and majestic wailing, which made him one of the most esteemed vocalists in rock.

Pictures At Eleven was also Plant’s debut as a producer and it has held up sonically through three decades. One critique of the sound is the very weak presence of bass by Paul Martinez , as Plant really focused on the guitars and drums in the mix. However, the performances are so strong by Blunt and Collins that Martinez is hardly missed.  

  The songs on Pictures At Eleven is generally standard in lyrical content, focused heavily on love, sex, and heartbreak. However, the bulk of the songs have odd and unexplained titles. “Pledge Pin” is one such title, nicely driven by Collins’ drumming and percussive effects, the song contains slow driving of musical rudiments and a great vocal melody by Plant. This song also features some extended saxophone by Raphael Ravenscroft and became a popular track on AOR radio. “Moonlight in Samosa” is a soft and pleasant ballad lead by Plant’s relatively new “crooning” voice (which he first developed on Zeppelin’s final album In Through the Out Door ) and Blunt’s potpourri of guitar textures and styles. The song has a dramatic edge towards the end of the final verse.

“Like I’ve Never Been Gone” is a true ballad with just a flair of Spanish styling by Blunt. This song is a little overdrawn but still not totally unpleasant. “Mystery Title” closes the album with a zany guitar riff that predominates the beginning of the song gives way to some very interesting and diverse parts in near schizo fashion, although it all somehow works.

Pictures At Eleven was a solid and successful launching of Plant’s solo career and, although it didn’t contain any really popular individual songs, it was probably the most solid and consistent album he put out.

Part of Classic Rock Review’s celebration of 1982 music.

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A really excellent review, but you might like to replace the eight references to ‘Robbie Blount’ with ‘Robbie Blunt’.

Thanks for catching that, Geoff. We have corrected the spelling.

Recently got a new turntable and broke out this record. “Like I’ve Never Been Gone” may be the closest Zep song post Zep that RP has ever done. Perhaps it’s the guitar, but PC completely channels Bonham on this track. Drumming perfection. And those 16th note accents before the one on the verses. Classic Bonham.

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‘Pictures At Eleven’: How Robert Plant Framed His Post-Zeppelin Career

With the solo album ‘Pictures At Eleven’, Robert Plant stepped out of the shadows of Led Zeppelin with a new sound and a brand new band.

Barely 18 months elapsed between Led Zeppelin announcing their split, in December 1980, and Robert Plant issuing his confident debut solo album, Pictures At Eleven , in the summer of 1982. Yet, while the singer’s transition from iconic frontman to credible solo star appears to be seamless enough, the journey was actually fraught with uncertainty – not least because Plant was labouring under the weight of some significantly heavy history.

Listen to ‘Pictures At Eleven’ here .

“i want to know if we can make a big sound without it being heavy”.

Unsure of how to greet his post-Led Zeppelin future, Plant initially moved sideways, forming an ad hoc covers band, The Honeydrippers, primarily for fun and to keep his hand in. However, after playing a series of shows on the UK club circuit, he began to feel the itch to do something new.

“There’s only so many times you can play Gene Vincent songs to 13 people in the Limit Club in Derby,” Plant said in a recent episode of his Digging Deep podcast. “I thought, I really want to know if we can make a big sound that sounds big without it being really, really heavy and tough. So I pulled a band together.”

Plant chose his new collaborators wisely. In fact, the core group who backed him on what became Pictures At Eleven – bassist Paul Martinez, former Black Sabbath keyboard alumnus Jezz Woodroffe and ex-Steve Gibbons Band guitarist Robbie Blunt – remained on board to shape future Plant outings, including The Principle Of Moments and Shaken ’n’ Stirred . However, the man who volunteered to occupy the drum stool gave Plant the impetus he really needed to launch his solo career.

“Phil Collins gave everyone a coating for playing too slow”

“I was helped absolutely and admirably by Phil Collins , who came along and said, ‘ John Bonham was probably the most important influence in my life. I’ll sit on that stool for you,” Plant recalled.

Taking the place of the late Led Zeppelin drummer was no small task, but Collins – then on the verge of launching his own humongously successful solo career courtesy of the Face Value album – remained behind the kit for most of Pictures At Eleven and its immediate follow-up, The Principle Of Moments . Recalling the Genesis mainstay’s “enthusiasm, unending energy and lots of humour”, Plant remembers with fondness their time recording at South Wales’ Rockfield Studios.

“We had really great fun,” the singer said on Digging Deep. “Then he came on tour with us. He said, ‘I can do this for a month,’ and that what when [Collins’ first solo hit] In The Air Tonight was just breaking. He gave everyone a coating every night on the bus for playing too slow… He’d stand up on the drum riser, sticks in his hands, ‘Get it right! Come on, let’s go!’”

Collins’ cheerleading was a positive boon, as Plant himself was a little intimidated by the standards he was expected to set in the studio. Indeed, the vocalist was the first to admit that Pictures At Eleven was a learning curve for him as much as everyone else involved, but the album’s highlights still sit comfortably among the best Robert Plant solo songs .

“I didn’t realise just how much patience you need”

“It was the first time ever I’d been away from the crèche of Zeppelin,” Plant admitted. “I really didn’t realise just how much patience and concentration you really need in a studio to get people to perform, to give you something really, really important – because Zeppelin seemed to just roll out in some magical way.”

However, hunkering down with his new charges proved beneficial for Plant, and he emerged with an extremely strong set of songs for Pictures At Eleven . Commencing with the confident, compact rocker Burning Down One Side, the album captured Plant in rich vocal form and contained precious little in terms of filler. Several tracks – most notably the rigorously bluesy Worse Than Detroit and the epic, Kashmir-esque orchestral flourishes of Slow Dancer – carried echoes of the best Led Zeppelin songs but, for the most part, Plant succeeded in his desire to forge ahead and break new ground.

Pledge Pin, for example, pointed the way to the brittle new-wave sound Plant would explore in more detail on The Principle Of Moments , while there were a couple of truly exquisite ballads courtesy of Like I’ve Never Been Gone and the chromatic Moonlight In Samosa, which was further embellished by Robbie Blunt’s delicate, Spanish-flavoured guitar filigree. The raunchy, rockabilly-tinged Mystery Title, meanwhile, made for a suitably in-your-face finale for an impressively lively record which suggested Robert Plant was back in the game – and on his own terms.

“I was trying to pull away as much as I could”

Following Pictures At Eleven ’s release, on 28 June 1982, the majority of reviewers agreed that Plant had successfully emerged from the long shadow cast by Led Zeppelin. Typical of the tone was a highly positive four-star Rolling Stone review which marvelled at Plant’s confident vocal delivery (“distinguished by a fullness and fluidity that’s richly satisfying”) before suggesting that the singer’s new band played with a power and cohesion which “sounds like it could kill onstage.”

Plant and company were keen prove that they could do just that on the album’s subsequent tour, during which time Pictures At Eleven also turned in an impressive commercial yield, peaking at No.2 in the UK and No.5 on North America’s Billboard 200, and going platinum in the bargain. All in all, it made for an enviable result for a record made by an artist seeking to establish a new identity, and who freely admitted he had to “bluff my way through it after all that success in Zeppelin”.

“I took a million pains to try and create my own individual sound,” Plant told Classic Rock . “Halfway through the thing I stopped and asked Benji the engineer, a guy who was with us for years with Zeppelin, the PA man… ‘Is it close [to Zeppelin]? Because if it’s close we stop!’ And he said: ‘Oh no, the mood’s totally different.’

“I was just trying to pull away as much as I could,” Plant added. “But then again, you can only pull away so far. So I guess I wanted to leave Zeppelin the way it was and… just pull those reins a little to the right.”

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Pictures At Eleven

By Kurt Loder

If Robert Plant were young and hungry instead of nearly thirty-four and famous, this album might have been a real barn-burner. As it is, even though there’s nothing new going on in these grooves, the sheer formal thrill of hearing someone who knows exactly what he’s doing makes Pictures at Eleven something of an event almost in spite of its modest ambitions. Plant’s freak-of-nature voice — the definitive heavy-metal shriek — has seldom been more sympathetically showcased, even with Led Zeppelin. You still can’t make out a lot of what he’s saying, but his vocals are distinguished by a fullness and fluidity that’s richly satisfying. The production, by Plant, is artfully simple, and the band he’s put together to back him — Robbie Blunt, the fine guitarist from the Steve Gibbons Band; bassist Paul Martinez; Jezz Woodroffe on keyboards; and Phil Collins and Cozy Powell, who share drum duties — sounds like it could kill onstage.

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Blunt, in particular, deserves a steady star gig. Not only is he an ace instrumentalist in the metal tradition (check out the schizo guitar lashings on the raving “Mystery Title”), but he also cowrote, mostly with Plant, the album’s eight tracks, and so presumably was responsible for such outré touches as the dense, ensemble lines toward the end of “Worse than Detroit.” One hopes that the Plant-Blunt collaboration will bear further fruit, because it’s a winner. “Burning down One Side,” the leadoff track, is a dead-on-target hit — a neck-wringing riff spiced with effortlessly atmospheric guitar leads — while the charming “Fat Lip,” a bluesy riff located at the other end of the emotional spectrum, could almost give laid-back a good name again.

Elsewhere, Plant trots out his trademark bellow for “Slow Dancer” and the aforementioned “Mystery Title,” and enlists the high, reedy tones of saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft (noted for his work on the Gerry Rafferty hit, “Baker Street”) for the slightly unfocused “Pledge Pin.” There are longueurs : “Moonlight in Samosa,” for instance, is sort of like “Stairway to Heaven” without the sonic liftoff, and “Like I’ve Never Been Gone” (“I see the sunlight in your eyeeeeeeeeee …”) is just sort of stupid. But when the good stuff on an album cuts all the other cock-rock competition in sight, only a curmudgeon would complain.

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By 97.1FM The Drive | June 28, 2022

Led zeppelin singer robert plant’s debut solo album, ‘pictures at eleven,’ celebrates 40th anniversary.

Robert Plant opened the first chapter of his post- Led Zeppelin career 40 years ago today with the release of his debut solo album, Pictures at Eleven .

The eight-track collection peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200, while reaching #2 on the U.K. albums chart. Four of the tracks broke into the top 20 of Billboard ‘s Mainstream Rock tally — “ Burning Down One Side ,” “Worse Than Detroit,” “Pledge Pin” and “Slow Dancer.”

“Burning Down One Side” was the most successful single released from the album, peaking at #3 on Mainstream Rock chart and at #64 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Phil Collins played drums on six of the album’s eight tracks, while journeyman rocker Cozy Powell was behind the kit for the other two songs. Other musicians featured on Pictures at Eleven included guitarist Robbie Blunt , keyboardist Jezz Woodroffe and bassist Paul Martinez . In addition, sax player Raphael Ravenscroft , best known for his memorable playing on Gerry Rafferty ‘s “Baker Street,” lent his talents to the song “Pledge Pin.”

Plant co-wrote all of the tunes with Blunt, with Woodroffe also helping to write three songs — “Burning Down One Side,” “Fat Lip” and “Far Post.”

Plant produced the album, which was recorded in Wales at Rockfield Studios, a famous facility where Queen worked on “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Pictures at Eleven has been certified Platinum for sales of over 1 million copies in the U.S.

Meanwhile, Plant launched a European tour with his Raise the Roof collaborator Alison Krauss  last Friday with a performance at England’s Glastonbury Festival. The trek runs through a July 20 gig in Berlin and will be followed by a second 2022 U.S. leg that begins August 15 in San Diego.

Here’s Pictures at Eleven ‘s full track list:

“Burning Down One Side” “Moonlight in Samosa” “Pledge Pin” “Slow Dancer” “Worse Than Detroit” “Fat Lip” “Like I’ve Never Been Gone” “Mystery Title”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

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Pictures at Eleven (Remastered)

After the storm and fury of Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant’s debut solo album is light and clean, with sharp New Wave guitars (“Fat Lip”) and angular Police-style rhythms (“Pledge Pin”) largely replacing the bludgeoning riffola of yore, “Mystery Title” aside. His voice retains its pleading edge, sobbing against the flamenco guitar of “Moonlight In Samosa” and bolshy and confident against the funky blues of “Worse Than Detroit.” And in the opening seconds of “Slow Dancer,” there’s still room for the odd blood-curdling scream.

January 1, 1982 10 Songs, 54 minutes ℗ 2007 Es Paranza

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MARTIN POPOFF To Publish New Book, Pictures At Eleven: ROBERT PLANT Album By Album, In February

December 27, 2023, 4 months ago

news hard rock robert plant led zeppelin martin popoff

Wymer Publishing has announced the February 16 release of Martin Popoff's new book, Pictures At Eleven: Robert Plant Album By Album.

Description: When John Bonham died, Led Zeppelin icon Robert Plant quickly picked up the pieces and moved on. His creative spirit was too restless to hang it up, although he seriously had considered it. Instead, Plant set about building one of the most remarkable second act careers in the history of rock. It would be inaccurate to compare his trajectory to the chameleon-like zigs and zags of David Bowie, but as a straight-line evolution, the pace of change proved to be just as rapid.

Pictures At Eleven: Robert Plant Album By Album attempts to make sense of Plant’s musicologist-level canon, with author Martin Popoff assembling a panel of experts to roll through the records one by one, no stone unturned, no songs left unaddressed. Popoff’s used this structure before, and it’s proven to be a productive and effusively received device. Here the effect is intensified, as there’s been little written about Plant’s journey from solo icon of the ‘80s through to his repeated deep-dives into Americana, world music, tributes to other writers, and the singular symphony of sounds that results when he mixes these parts.

This book attempts to remedy that void in the critical history, with Martin calling upon a core team from his YouTube channel The Contrarians (along with some esteemed honorary Contrarians!) to help deconstruct each of Plant’s 11 thought-provoking albums. It’s hoped by the author that the reader emerges with a new and nuanced appreciation for what Robert’s been trying to achieve over the decades since the retiring of the Led Zeppelin brand.

Pre-order here .

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