1983 UK BROADCAST

Robert Plant was just two albums into his solo career when he recorded a for-broadcast live performance in front of UK TV cameras in the summer of 1983, but already he was proving himself to be as fearlessly exploratory on his own as he had been while fronting hard-rock juggernauts Led Zeppelin throughout the 70s. A cover of Little Sister, a throwback rocker that Elvis Presley had taken to the top of the UK charts in 1961, flashed Plant's credentials as a one-man encyclopaedia of vintage tunes, while highlights from his then latest album, The Principle Of Moments - including the polished ballad Big Log and the synth-laden atmospherics of In The Mood - proved that he was more than capable of shrugging off the past in order to expand his sound into the future. An electrifying live performer with Led Zeppelin, as a solo artist Plant could still plug into the elements, as The 1983 UK Broadcast makes abundantly clear.