Robert Plant's Solo career: classic, dud, search, destroy, etc.

Recently? It's more than ten years old now!

I never heard that Coverdale/Page record. I bet I'll probably hear it before I die, though. Then again you never know. I've gotta believe there are at least one or two well-constructed riffs on there somewhere; it's Page, after all. About half of Outrider was actually really good.

Man, this track-listing for the Plant best-of is pretty wack. How the heck can you leave off "In the Mood"? And they should have put "Far Post" on there ("Big Log" B-side, and a good tune in its own right), instead of like 5 (?!) tracks from Fate of Nations.

Still I'm pretty curious to hear that early track recorded with Alexis Korner.

Completely correct, Steve. For some reason, I inexplicably deleted "iron". I'm losing my mind. In any event, it's still an abjectly crap lyric. That particular track is littered with similarly cringe-worthy couplets.

OH NO! That naughty Thom Jurek is at it again! Check out that line about Lester Bangs.

OH NOES! That naughty Thom Jurek is at it again! Check out that line about Lester Bangs.

I totally loved "Tie Dye to the Highway" at the time (Grade 6/7). I really liked "Hurting Kind" too. I also remember "Liar's Dance" being good. Some of the rest too. I remember writing a review of Manic Nirvana for a Gr 7 English assignment and saying that it was pretty good but leaves the listener wanting a little more.

I think the coolest thing about his 80s solo career was how he reinvented his persona as this button-down shirt-wearing English gentleman artiste, sort of a hippie Peter Gabriel.

"Tall Cool One" was great, WTF? Or at least I thought so then. "Ship of Fools" too. I don't remember that album as well.

Yeah, "In the Mood" is good.

and yes, some of his solo stuff is pretty good ... i always liked "in the mood," "little by little," and "heaven knows" (though the lyrics are sorta c-grade bryan ferry [OF ALL PEOPLE FOR MR. DOES-ANYONE-REMEMBER-LAUGHTER TO TRY TO IMITATE COULD YOU SEE THE FAVOR BEING RECIPROCATED?!]). the honeydrippers "sea of love" remake is silly, but it lead me to the original version so it's all good in the end (plus the video was prime mid-eighties cheese and the chick therein looked like a high-school teacher i really crushed on big time).

http://www.borntoboogie.net/Images/premiere/tv_robplant_rolan.jpg

(That's Tony Visconti and Rolan Bolan, Marc's son, on either side of him at an event for the Born to Boogie DVD.)

An unmentioned song I still go back to: the beautiful synth ballad "Thru With The Two Step" from Principle of Moments. Man, I wish he'd locked into that sound/vibe and just stayed there....

I like Robert Plant's first three records (the Robbie Blunt trilogy) a lot, and appreciate the effort on Plant's part to make them NOT sound like Zeppelin. Which would've been a mistake, considering how his voice has deteriorated over the years - couldn't hit the high notes anymore. His next few weren't very good at all, although sampling the Beastie Boys was a clever move. "Calling To You" and "Tie Die On The Highway" were pretty spacey. (Incidentally, what the heck was up with those ultra-arcane song titles, anyway? Were they dope-inspired? pulled at random out of a hat? i-ching toss-results? or just inside jokes? Dunno; but one of the few that made sense: "Mystery Title"!

He has since irritatingly renounced said efforts, alas.

Actually I didn't even know there was one!

I have to say I kinda regret not getting The Principle of Moments back when I heard "Big Log" and "In the Mood" on the radio in upstate New York -- both reasonably big hits and spun quite a bit. I was 12 then and had I picked up the album and really gotten into it, it would have been interesting to see how I viewed Led Zep and much else in retrospect.

I think Zeppelin's cover art is/was unfairly derided...most of it is really good. Obv. it was Page (the former art student), who was in charge of hiring Hipgnosis.

One of the Hipgnosis guys (most likely Storm Thorgerson) proposed artwork for Houses Of The Holy with a picture of a tennis match on the cover. When asked what it meant, he said "Don't you get it? Racket!" and that was the end of that.

Funny that PIL ended up doing Kashmir live

I saw them do as their opening number on the Album tour....only the band played it before Lydon took the stage (releaving him of the burden of singing it).

I can't belive how many times I've heard the latest single in the last six weeks; it's not something that would make me search out this album, but the one acoustic track I did hear was surprisingly good. How many songs on the album are like that?

Oh, the pumping irony.

100 Best Album Covers

If these are the 100 best, rock and roll is a very boring beast.

I recieved this book as a gift a few years ago, and man, is it pretentious and dull. Here is 2% of the list:
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000025NCI.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004YS2O.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

That's right. Yer lookin' at TWO OF THE ONE-HUNDRED BEST ALBUM COVERS OF ALL TIME.

Some of the list is some of the hundred best, but there's a lot of stinkers in there, too. I would only suggest reading this at the bookstore while waiting for your mate to finish shopping.

(I would've put this on another thread, but A.) Storm Thorgerson's name has already been dropped in here like he was Candyman and B.) This is an Alex in NYC thread, so album cover talk shouldn't be discouraged.)

Take a wild guess which LZ cover they liked the best?

http://www.starland.com/sf-sc/sf01/images/Monolith/Monolith.jpg

Funny that PIL ended up doing Kashmir live
Someone, somewhere HAS to have a copy of this...?

Did he ever say exactly why he dislikes those early solo records?

*does* he dislike them? where did you ever get that impression?

I may be under the spell of xhuxk's interview/review of Now & Zen, but so what: the album sounds great now.

I remember being a kid and hearing "In the Mood" and just feeling like it was so wonderfully from outer space. Classic for all time.

Sorry, "Tall Cool One" is entirely awkward and embarassing.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, November 4, 2003

as usual so wrong

I love the spooky robert plant song with the finger snapping and liquid guitar solo

lil by lil

Pictures At Eleven and Principle Of Moments are awesome! I particularly like Robbie Blunts watery Strat playing on POM. Big Log and In The Mood are gorgeous songs.

Gonna be smoking a phat one alfresco to this tune during those long summer evenings.

That I guarantee ;D
CnutRexAnglorum 2 months ago 42

I actually still adore "Heaven Knows." But, again, "Tall Cool One" is just lame, lame, lame.

he's had an admirable career i think, definitely followed his own path without really seeming to be weighed down by the legacy of zeppelin

after Peter Gabriel no lead singer has Done His Own Thing to more rewarding effect.

Pictures At Eleven and Principle Of Moments are awesome! I particularly like Robbie Blunts watery Strat playing on POM. Big Log and In The Mood are gorgeous songs.

― Brooker T Buckingham, Wednesday, August 3, 2011 11:46 AM (1 hour ago)

Eeek, the tone is way too nasally and dry for my tastes.

Big Log is the biggest WTf moment of the past few weeks. Guitarist tone is so awful, his pull-offs amateur. Whole song sounds like some lounge effort. Drums and pads are almost modern sounding. "...and the coming of night time" ok

http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/03/robert-plant-teams-with-pixies-for-north-american-tour/

I think "Lullaby and... the Ceaseless Roar" is as good of an album I would expect or want from Robert Plant on the 21st Century.

Yep!

solid perce

anyone listening to his podcast? it's kind of nice. He's all over the place but enjoyable to listen to.

Also learned that Richie Hayward played on Shaken n Stirred, now I have to go listen to that one

Robert Plant and Phil Collins backstage at Madison Square Garden, NYC during Plant's 1983 'Principle of Moments' tour pic.twitter.com/7vrEJWZ5ta

— Barney Hurley (@barneyhurley1) May 2, 2021

boss business

“The break is in 7/8”

"Lighten up, baby, I'm in love with you!"

you were pumping iron while i was pumping irony

Heaven knows!