Fate of Nations

Fate of Nations is the sixth studio album by English singer Robert Plant, released 25 May 1993 on Es Paranza Records in North America and Fontana Records internationally. It features former Cutting Crew guitarist Kevin MacMichael on all songs and as well as being a backing vocalist. In addition, the album also features violinist Nigel Kennedy on one song. The song "I Believe" is a tribute to Plant's late son, Karac.

Background
Plant explained his album in the following terms:

From the very beginning of this project, around January 1991, right after the Manic Nirvana tour, I knew what I was going to do: go back into my past, listening to [Moby] Grape, the [Jefferson] Airplane, Tim Hardin, Quicksilver, Traffic, and other turning-point artists in rock. These people were trying to tell the listener something, joining various traditions, with the sense of a quest being insinuated and bandied in their acoustic and electronic themes. I'm also proud of what I've attempted to do lyrically [on the album], trying to tell vivid tales that come from a hearty tradition of prose.

Reissues
Fate of Nations was remastered and reissued by Rhino Records on 20 March 2007, with five additional bonus tracks. In April 2019, the album was reissued on vinyl for Record Store Day 2019.

Personnel

 * Robert Plant – vocals, guitars (9), backing vocals (11)
 * Phil Johnstone – harmonium (3), acoustic piano (4), organ (9), electric piano (10, 11), backing vocals (11), electric orchestra (12)
 * Phillip Andrews – keyboards (6)
 * Kevin MacMichael – guitars (1-7, 9-12), backing vocals (4)
 * Oliver J. Woods – guitars (2, 6)
 * Francis Dunnery – guitars (3, 9)
 * Richard Thompson – guitars (3)
 * Doug Boyle – guitars (4, 12)
 * Maartin Allcock – mandolin (7, 8), guitars (8), bass (8), Aeoleon pipes (8)
 * Gurdev Singh – dilruba (12), sarod (12)
 * Surge Singh – sarangi (12)
 * Rainer Ptacek – resonator guitar (14)
 * Charlie Jones – bass (1-7, 9-12), all instruments [except guitar and drums] (2)
 * Pete Thompson – drums (1, 3, 9, 10, 11)
 * Chris Hughes – drums (2-5, 7-10, 12)
 * Michael Lee – drums (6, 12)
 * Chris Blackwell – drums (9)
 * Nigel Kennedy – violin (1)
 * Navazish Ali Khan – violin (12)
 * Nigel Eaton – hurdy-gurdy (3, 4)
 * Lynton Naiff – string arrangements (7, 10)
 * Máire Brennan – backing vocals (3)
 * Steve French – backing vocals (4)
 * Julian Taylor – backing vocals (4)
 * John Flynn – backing vocals (10)

Production

 * David Bates – A&R
 * Chris Hughes – producer
 * Robert Plant – producer
 * Michael Gregovich – engineer, mixing (9, 10, 12)
 * Tim Palmer – mixing (1-8, 11)
 * Henry Binns – second engineer
 * John Cornfield – second engineer
 * Ross Cullum – second engineer
 * Pete Lewis – second engineer
 * Mark O'Donoughue – second engineer
 * Danton Supple – second engineer
 * Jacquie Turner – second engineer
 * Martin "Cally" Callomon – sleeve design
 * Julian Broad – photography
 * Andy Earl – photography
 * Bill Curbishley – management