Some newer favorites: Mount Moriah Megafaun The Love Language Mumford and Sons The War On Drugs The Decemberists

Watch and listen as DIckey tears "Blue Sky" a new one.

I remember AMC when there were no commercial breaks. It seemed the fare then leaned much more towards black and white fare. I enjoyed that because I got to catch up on lots of films I'd never seen, plus some off the beaten path gems you probably wouldn't see anywhere else on cable.

Not sure if you picked up the 25th Anniversary editions of Murmur and Reckoning (which both included live shows from those respective eras) but my only complaint about those would be that they aren't the entire concerts. Then again, some of the tunes left off were covers so that may have something to do with it, at least from a licensing standpoint. Fables is my favorite R.E.M. record but since purchasing the 25th Anniversary edition of it last summer, I haven't exactly found myself going back to revisit the demos from it very often (if at all). Maybe that's because they aren't markedly different from what made the finished album, at least not from a lyrical and musical structure perspective. However, the demos for Pageant offer just enough differences in those two departments that I feel like I will be listening to them more. In fact, like the demos on the Fables reissue, they are the first thing I listened to before giving the remastered version of the album itself a spin. One of the first things that struck me about the Pageant demos is the glimpse into the future they offer via the early versions of "King of Birds" (labeled as "March" here) and "Bad Day" (which would be reconfigured as "It's the End of the World As We Know It [And I Feel Fine]") which portend the more discordant and crunchy sounds that would characterize much of Document. Since I haven't listened to either on high end audio equipment and I've never exactly been an audiophile, I can't say I've ever really noticed the compression thing but I've heard similar complaints about Accelerate. That, I can sort of notice but it's never really bothered me, at least not as much as it's bothered other people. In regards to the "Loudness Wars", I just posted a new article on that very topic to the The Loudness Wars thread in the Ramble On section of the board that you may enjoy reading.

From TheAtlantic.com: The Loudness Wars: Is Music's Noisy Arms Race Over? High-volume sound engineering may finally be falling out of fashion Sleigh Bells Flickr user Erica Cassella The loudest album of 2010 was almost certainly Sleigh Bells' acclaimed Treats, a collection of songs with the volume and distortion of nearly every element pushed into the red. Drums became blasts of noise, the lyrics were nearly impossible to decipher, and even though it was very much a pop album, it was almost painful to listen to. That, of course, was precisely why it thrilled. Sleigh Bells had designed the album to sound that way. "I love the physical aspect of music," guitarist Derek E. Miller said in an email to The Atlantic. "I want people to have that experience of standing in front of a rack of sub-woofers, being blasted with air and feeling the center of your chest crush a little. I usually blur the vocals so people spend less time thinking about the lyrics and more time responding on a purely emotional level. Overdubs, hard pans, extremely short delays." To read the rest of the article, click here.

By Little Steven Van Zandt: And the river opens for the righteous, someday I was walking with my brother And he wondered what was on my mind I said what I believe in my soul It ain't what I see with my eyes And we can't turn our backs this time And I ain't no Communist, and I ain't no Capitalist And I ain't no Socialist and I sure ain't no Imperialist And I ain't no Democrat And I ain't no Republican either And I only know one party and it's name is freedom I am, I am, I am, I am a Patriot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzne77cKdqc&feature=player_embedded

My band is No Carbon Footprint. That means no touring and no recording. We have the endorsement of Thom Yorke and Bono so at least we're off on the right foot (so to speak).

There's already a thread for this topic here.

Are you referring to this one?

Not necessarily true of Zep 3 but the Band of Joy record also features some Middle Eastern textures which you can find in Zeppelin's sound throughout various other points in their career.

You should give this one a spin sometime:

I'm not talking about being off-topic, I'm referring to the endless chit-chat that could just as easily take place via PM's.

This board has a handy little thing called the PM feature. Perhaps y'all ought to give it a try sometime.

According to Q Magazine, Ryan Adams will have a new album out this Fall called Ashes and Fire. Song titles include: Dirty Rain, Kindness, Till I Found You, Lucky Now. Produced by Glyn Johns and features Norah Jones and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' organist Benmont Tench. A tour of the UK is also apparently in the works for the Fall.

Not Zep related as they never played here but the Boathouse in Norfolk, VA is a fine example of a once thriving venue (it was severely damaged by a hurricane several years ago) that has just been left to rot. There's a group of folks in that area who are very interested in bringing it back to life but they're up against some pretty insurmountable odds, namely the $$$$ to pull it off. Meanwhile, it's become an eyesore and is polluting the body of water surrounding it. According to the what I've read, the powers that be in Norfolk are perfectly ok with that and are making no efforts to demolish or salvage it. Sad.

One of my favorite skits from the heyday of SNL. Makes me feel bad for those that missed out on the days when the Album Oriented Rock format meant just that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzne77cKdqc

I'm not waiting for a reunion tour. If one happens, that'd be great but I'm not waiting for one. What I'd actually like to see is Page finally delivering on releasing some new music, which he has been promising for so very long now. I thought some news of it might materialize with the debut of the website but alas, nothing. Plant "constantly" puts Zeppelin down? That's a new one on me. So, his site doesn't make mention of his time in Led Zeppelin, maybe because it's meant to focus on his solo career? The webmaster here has a hand in that site, so maybe he could shed some light on that aspect of it. It's not as though Plant designed it himself. So, if Plant wanted to increase his bank account, don't you think he'd actually pursue a big money reunion tour with the other surviving members of Led Zeppelin? Instead, he's following his heart by pursuing his true muse. It doesn't have a damn thing to do with $$$$$.

Some vintage Mother's Finest from back in the day: http://youtu.be/vtTzmwDtgOU

Been hearing a lot about her in recent years but only got around to listening to some of her stuff in the past few months. May have to check her out the next time she and the Nocturnals roll into town. I understand former Cardinal (Ryan Adams' backing band) Catherine Popper is her bass player these days. That can't hurt either.