NEVER one to rely solely on his Led Zep glories, Plant has produced possibly his best solo work to date.

Comparisons to Zeppelin are obvious and you can draw all the parallels you like between his new songs here and various Zep classics.

However, on its own merits this album stands apart as a work of superb originality and fresh ideas, creating a contemporary feel for a few of his favourite touchstones - blues, folk and the rhythmic sounds of North Africa.

On tunes such as Tin Pan Alley and Brother Ray, he experiments with modern ambience, almost moving into Radiohead territory.

Elsewhere on Dancing In Heaven and Somebody Knocking, he returns to his love of folk music and subtle but beautiful melodies.

But if you yearn for the tub-thumping thunder of Zep, Plant reminds us of his provenance with the stop-start riffing of Freedom Fries and Shine It All Around, while Mighty Rerarranger takes us a little further back and sounds much like a mid-sixties John Mayall blues.

His voice is on remarkable form too, still sounding superbly vital and young albeit a little calmer than days of old.

JS