Fun to intentionally listen to some music I wouldn't intentionally seek out a lot of the time. I'd heard quite a bit of Sam Cooke before, but I really should make a point of seeking out live recordings, especially of older music. Really brings a new dimension to the recordings.
I'd never listened to much past Bittersweet Symphony, but I can see why. There wasn't a lot for me here, nothing really stuck out.
Spent way too much time in my earlier years thinking Zeppelin was too overhyped. While there has been so much musical innovation in the last 60 years several bands/artists certainly get talked about more than they should. There's a lot of other incredible artists doing incredible things we could be dissecting. But at the same time being a drummer and intentionally listening to Bonham play is such an incredible experience. Praise being heaped on drummers that just play really fast or hit a lot of different things has always bugged me. But I love that Bonham can hit really hard, but also show restraint and serve the groove so much better than most highly acclaimed drummers can.
Paige also gets a ton of praise and rightfully so, a lot of the sound of the band gets attributed to him and learning about their production techniques and experimenting and trying new things is one of my favorite things to learn about bands from the 60's - 80's. Plus he really is the embodiment of playing with soul, he can fuck up a bunch of notes in a solo and it doesn't make my skin crawl cause he makes it work.
Robert Plant also gets his share of praise for being a great vocalist and honestly I have the least insightful commentary, but yeah he sings good.
But the guy I feel like gets the least amount of talk is John Paul Jones, not surprising the bassist gets the least acknowledgment, but damn does he just hold everything together. But that's what bassists, especially blues bassists do. Hearing Them Crooked Vultures (UNFORTUNATELY, ONE AND ONLY ALBUM) really cemented that. Just absolutely holding it down while writing his own fun riffs and playing keys occasionally. So much respect for that guy. Also Them Crooked Vultures please make another album, I beg you please.
Anyway, this album is incredible and totally deserving of 5 stars from me.
I'd never intentionally listened to Abba, they've just always been around. The hits here are classics, Dancing Queen, Money, Money, Money, and Fernando. The rest are more forgettable for me, especially the first track on the album , oof.
Such a great album I hadn't listened to in so long. Easy to see why this is an influence on so many singer/songwriters. Great production and sound throughout, I got sucked in to listening and forgot to write anything until it was over.
Hell yeah, now we're getting weird with it. Another one of those bands I've never sat down and intentionally listened to. While it can be hard at times to do that while not on drugs it's worth it when the grooves settle in. The fathers of prog rock can at times sink into the more grating parts of the genre for me (a bunch of disjointed segments that never really let me settle into a groove), but I was able to get past it most of the time.
Love some Elton John, but this album didn’t feel as deep as a lot of his others. Still good though.
