Robert Plant
launched the Digging Deep podcast in 2019 as a way for him to explore the intricacies and oddities of his body of work. A year later, he released
Digging Deep: Subterranea
, a double-disc deep dive that effectively functions as a soundtrack to the podcast.
Plant
talks about
Led Zeppelin
tunes on Digging Deep, but
Subterranea
pointedly concentrates on his solo career. It's a compilation that strives to make overarching connections, so it doesn't proceed in a chronological order, nor does it have all of his hits. Neither his oldies folly
the Honeydrippers
nor
Raising Sand
, his Grammy-winning collaboration with
Alison Krauss
, are here, nor are there big rock radio hits like "Little by Little" and "Tall Cool One." Instead,
places 1993's
Fate of Nations
at the forefront and follows its strands front and back, creating a moody, adventurous bit of autobiography. Maybe it doesn't deliver the hits the way most compilations do, but it certainly captures the musical wanderlust that defines
's career. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine