Now and Zen

Now and Zen
Studio album by Robert Plant
Released	29 February 1988
Recorded	1987
Genre	Rock
Length	46:59
Label	Es Paranza
Producer	Robert Plant Tim Palmer Phil Johnstone
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Rolling Stone link
Robert Plant chronology
Shaken 'n' Stirred (1985) Now and Zen (1988) Manic Nirvana (1990)

Now and Zen is an album by the former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant, released in 1988 (see 1988 in music) under the label Es Paranza. The album spawned two mainstream rock hits, "Heaven Knows" (#1 for six weeks) and "Tall Cool One" (#1 for four weeks).

With a new band and a new perspective on his music, Plant returned in late 1987 with more of the sound that had previously defined him in Led Zeppelin. Although Plant continued to utilize computerized audio technology in a similar fashion to his previous solo albums, for this album Plant integrated the blues that had all but been abandoned on his most recent album Shaken 'n' Stirred (1985). A prominent guitar sound and an exotic feel to the recordings also marked another change in direction for the artist, who now added Middle Eastern tones in songs like "Heaven Knows". This is a direction that he would eventually follow in the 1990s with Page and Plant.

The tracks "Heaven Knows" and "Tall Cool One" featured Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. (On the liner notes, Page's participation on the songs was noted with a Zoso symbol.) In response to the Beastie Boys' unauthorised sampling of some Led Zeppelin songs on their 1986 album Licensed to Ill, Plant also used samples from Led Zeppelin songs ("Whole Lotta Love", "The Ocean", "Black Dog", and "Custard Pie") on "Tall Cool One", additionally singing words from "When the Levee Breaks".

"Walking Towards Paradise" was originally a bonus track available only on CD versions of the album. Rhino Entertainment released a remastered edition of the album, with bonus tracks, on 3 April 2007.

Plant performed "Ship of Fools", "Tall Cool One" and "Heaven Knows" at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in 1988. "Ship of Fools" was also featured on the final two-hour episode of Miami Vice titled "Freefall". It is the musical accompaniment to Crockett and Tubbs return to Miami via motor yacht after rescuing General Bourbon (a thinly-veiled Manuel Noriega-type character) from the fictional Central American nation of Costa Morada.

In an interview he gave to Uncut magazine in 2005, Plant commented that "by the time Now and Zen came out in '89, it looked like I was big again. It was a Top 10 album on both sides of the Atlantic. But if I listen to it now, I can hear that a lot of the songs got lost in the technology of the time."^[1]

Track listing

1. "Heaven Knows" (Barratt, Johnstone) – 4:06
2. "Dance on My Own" (Crash, Johnstone, Plant) – 4:30
3. "Tall Cool One" (Johnstone, Plant) – 4:40
4. "The Way I Feel" (Boyle, Johnstone, Plant) – 5:40
5. "Helen of Troy" (Johnstone, Plant) – 5:06
6. "Billy's Revenge" (Johnstone, Plant) – 3:34
7. "Ship of Fools" (Johnstone, Plant) – 5:01
8. "Why" (Crash, Plant) – 4:14
9. "White, Clean and Neat" (Johnstone, Plant) – 5:28
10. "Walking Towards Paradise" (Williams) – 4:40

2007 remaster bonus tracks

11. "Billy's Revenge" (live) – 6:00
12. "Ship of Fools" (live) – 10:35
13. "Tall Cool One" (live) – 5:07

Chart positions

Album

Singles

Personnel

• Robert Plant - Vocals, Producer
• Phil Johnstone - Keyboards, Producer
• Tim Palmer - Producer
• Jimmy Page - Guitar (on tracks 1 & 3)
• Doug Boyle - Guitar
• Phil Scragg - Bass
• Chris Blackwell - Drums, Percussion
• David Barratt - Programming, Keyboards
• Marie Pierre - Vocals (Background)
• Toni Halliday - Vocals (Background)
• Kirsty MacColl - Vocals (Background)
• Rob Bozas - Engineer
• Martin Russell - Engineer
• Richard Evans Design & Art Direction

References