Led Zeppelin’s first contact, 50 years later
It’s been half a century since the first Led Zeppelin album was released, and we’re still feeling the aftershocks.
Not to pat myself on the back, but I wrote this six years ago and I still stand by it (it’s now been 56 years since their first record).
Also, I don’t know how that six years went by this quickly, but here we are.
Just in time for the year’s end, I finished a way-too-long thing on Father John Misty’s “The Next 20th Century” that I’ve had kicking around as a draft for more than a year. Which is unusual for me. But it seemed fitting to tie this one off and send it out into the ether, though.
Enjoy. (But be warned, this is heavily into naval-gazing territory…).
I haven’t written anything semi-long about hockey in months. So as the puck drops for the Bruins in St. Louis, here’s a quick appreciation of Morgan Geekie and how he just seems to score in every game he plays lately.
So 60 years ago today (Dec. 3), the Beatles released Rubber Soul, and a few months ago, I wrote a thing outlining how it went from virtually not existing to being a 14-song masterpiece in stores in the space of a couple of months. So if that’s of interest, here it is.
Okay, that’s enough of that. I’ve spent the past few days listening, writing, re-writing and deleting a lot of stuff about Anthology 4, but now I think I’m done.
So here’s, like, way too much about this album, about 1,500 words worth, if you’re interested. It’s not as good as just listening to the thing, but it’s a fun thing to work through while listening, I think.
And it’s the Beatles. I can’t be subtle or chill about this stuff. It’s impossible.
I’ve spent enough time the past few days listening to Robert Plant’s Saving Grace that I decided to pull together a review of it. So here it is, if you’re interested.
I wanted to get this out before I go to see the movie, so here are too many words on Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska, the new box set and some other nonsense that’s really just for me.
A couple of days after the fact, I finally pulled my thoughts together on that obscenely good Queens of the Stone Age show I caught in Boston. And, my god, I’m still having trouble describing it. I tried here, though, if you’re interested.
Additionally, this guy was right in the front (about 10 rows in front of me) getting some absurdly good video of parts of the show. This is still only about 10 percent of what it was like in there, but it’s still worth checking out:
Supergrass was in Boston last night to close out the I Should Coco tour, and they were incredible. Awesome. Holy shit, it’s been too long.
Anyway, you can read about that here. But if you’re interested, I have a mix tape for your enjoyment of all things Supergrass.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - “Wildflowers”
I’ll stop yammering on and posting things about this when the folks at Petty’s estate stop posting cool shit. This is an overhead view of one of the rehearsals before his 1995 tour.
And while I’m here: I’ve have written a lot about this album through the years. Like, a lot of words and a lot of useless naval gazing, if you were interested for any reason. You don’t have to be, though.