I'll always favor early ska the best but I definitely like the two tone era stuff way better than the ska revival we saw in the early to mid 90s.

I first heard of both bands around the same time, probably sometime in the late 70s/early 80s when that whole 2 tone ska movement was first catching on. I seem to recall one of the newsmagzines doing a feature on punk rock that also included a look at some of the 2 tone ska bands. The song they featured by the Specials was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2oXzrnti4. I saw a greatest hits album by The English Beat the other day that seemed to be calling my name, I may just have to pick it up.

There were never any plans to call it "Led Zeppelin" without Plant. Perhaps but I doubt the suggestions will stop. There's some that are still holding onto the notion that there will be some sort of project involving Page, Jones, Jason Bonham and a vocalist despite Jimmy Page's managers' comments to the contrary.

Before Page's manager made the announcement that the project that would have included Page, Jones, Jason Bonham and an as yet unnamed vocalist was dead in the water, Jones had said they'd be recording a new album to tour behind first. So, that was part of the plan at one time.

I thought so too, that's why I requested two copies. Of course they included that same recording as the b-side to one of their singles years later but I had no way of knowing that at the time. I'd love to post a link to the YouTube clip of it but the sound has been disabled for that particular track.

I don't know that I had any but I definitely remember 'em: More here. Cool station they link off of too (WFMU). I do have a couple of flexi-discs, Gall In the Family Fare, a parody of All In the Family that came with an issue of Mad magazine. If you so desire you can hear it (and read the accompanying feature) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhIpR1x1-fI. I also have a copy of R.E.M.'s cover of Syd Barrett's Dark Globe that came with an issue of Sassy magazine. My Dad had the unenviable task of picking up a couple of copies of that for me.

That fella's name was actually Mr. Rogers.

I'd rather Plant continue to do exactly what he wants to do.

Or maybe they did and still consider it their least favorite. This coming from someone that considers it their favorite. IV may be a bit overexposed since it's the one that includes Stairway but I think the other cuts (particularly The Battle of Evermore) are anything but "mediocre".

Thanks for the info. It's always kind of fucked up when there's two versions of the same band in existence. I'm not a fan of what's come to be known as "hair metal" but it seems to be pretty commonplace amongst several of those bands. On the topic of the English Beat, when I saw R.E.M. in concert last summer Stipe prefaced Harbor Coat by saying he had inadvertently stolen the melody of that song from an English Beat tune from back in the days when they used to tour together. I forget the name of the English Beat song in question but we heard it on XM on the ride home.

I'm wondering if some folks would have been happier if Coda had never been released? I remember back in that time period my friends and I couldn't wait for it to come out. Is it their best record? Is it what we were expecting? No, but at least they released it when they very well could have kept those songs in the vault.

I prefer embedded videos so if I do want to watch it, it's right there. I'm not that put out by having to scroll past videos I have no interest in seeing. Plus, the way YouTube labels their videos now you can see who the song and the artist are. Some folks here seem to have trouble using the link function to label videos so that also saves some time in clicking on a lilnk for a video you may have no interest in seeing. As for lengthy excerpts I try not to post entire articles anymore. I normally just post the first paragraph or so, then provide a link. That way the site gets the hits they deserve. I know in some instances, those hits are very crucial for them staying in business so the more visitors, the better.

Why would you even consider The Song Remains the Same when you said in the subject line yourself that this thread was devoted only to studio albums? Personally, I wouldn't even put Coda in the running. Not because it's a bad album but because it's a collection of rarities and outtakes released after the fact, not a proper record like the rest of them. With that in mind, my list of favorites to least favorites (at least for today): Presence Physical Graffiti IV II Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy In Through the Out Door III

From CNN: Bassist For Pearl Jam Mugged In Atlanta The attack took place on April 27 at Southern Tracks Recording in Atlanta, Georgia. ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- So much for Southern hospitality. The attack took place on April 27 at Southern Tracks Recording in Atlanta, Georgia. When Pearl Jam -- the Seattle, Washington-based grunge rock band -- was in Atlanta late last month, bass guitar player Jeff Ament and a band employee were mugged outside a recording studio, a police report shows. According to the DeKalb County Police Department, Ament and Mark Anthony Smith were attacked shortly before noon on April 27 when they arrived at Southern Tracks Recording, a studio in north Atlanta. Southern Tracks is the home base of producer Brendan O'Brien, with whom the band has worked before. According to Rolling Stone, the band is recording a new album with the producer. Three men reportedly emerged from a nearby wooded area wearing masks and brandishing knives. They smashed windows of the rented Jeep Commander, snatched a BlackBerry phone and other belongings, and demanded money, the police report shows. The suspects allegedly got away with more than $7,300 in goods and cash. Ament jumped from the passenger side of the vehicle and started to run, but he was chased by a suspect and knocked to the ground, said Mekka Parish, a public information officer with the police department. Watch surviellance video of the attack » She said he "suffered some lacerations" on the back of his head and was treated at the scene. His backpack was also snatched, she said, and included inside was Ament's passport. "At this time detectives believe the victims were not specifically targeted," Parish said. "But they believe the suspects were familiar with the studio because of its isolated location." Though surveillance cameras captured the incident, the masks worn by the attackers have made identifying suspects difficult. Witnesses reported seeing the suspects flee through the woods and hop into a waiting black Maxima, Parish added. Anyone with leads on this case is encouraged to call 770-724-7850.

I wonder how many of the original members are left? I notice The English Beat are also on tour this year but there's only one original member in the lineup which greatly diminishes my desire to see them.

Some of those are ones I could live the rest of my life without hearing, particularly Babe, Too Much Time On my Hands, The Best of Times, Mr. Roboto and Come Sail Away. In other words, the songs Classic Rock radio has played into the ground as well as the ones that just out and out suck.

I know he's not exactly a household name but I'm wondering when J.J. Cale became "obscure", especially since he's been covered by everyone from Clapton to Skynyrd.

Don't you receive minus points for including Nickelback?

I was reminded of this thread when this topic came up on another board. It's about a teenage girl committing suicide after her ex-boyfriend spread a nude photo of her around that she had sent to him via her telephone. Reading the responses to such a tragedy reminded me of a segment I saw last weekend on CBS' Sunday Morning. As mentioned below, the segment is not available online but I did find this blog entry that mentions it: Also heard a think piece by Jeff Greenfield on the Mother’s Day edition of CBS Sunday Morning. His subject, which is unfortunately not captured online in video or text, was “Blackberry Mania.” He cited the Laputa society of Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels,” so consumed with their own deep thoughts they required floggers to keep them from crashing into themselves. All this led into a b-roll shot of pedestrians on cell phones and iPods. With that image in mind, I’ll lead in to the ultimately closing act of all time, Bob Dylan. His current Rolling Stone interview is not available in its entirety online, so I’ll cite his golden quote here: "It’s peculiar and unnerving in a way to see so many young people walking around with cell phones and iPods in their ears and so wrapped up in media and video games. It robs them of their self-identity. It’s a shame to see them so tuned out to real life. Of course they are free to do that, as if that’s got anything to do with freedom. The cost of liberty is high, and young people should understand that before they start spending their life with all those gadgets."

It was a joke. You must not have clicked on the Viking kitties. Which was most likely the author of this thread's intention. Anyone notice they've only checked back in once since starting the thread?

I got an email earlier today from Live Nation advertising a special one day only sale on $10 lawn passes for certain shows this summer at the local shed, one of which is the Aerosmith/ZZ Top bill. The sale starts at midnight. More info here.

I admit I rarely ever picked up an issue until they went all Radiohead last year and offered subscribers that "name your own price" deal. Now it seems it may be that very sort of thing that's helping to do them in. More info here.

I still have my official Banana Splits fanclub certificate as well as some plastic handpuppets I got inside a box of cereal.

I went on a Zep listening binge somewhere around 2002 or so then went in search of a Zeppelin site and stumbled upon the original board. It just so happened to be not long before the Led Zeppelin DVD was released so it was a very active period for the board. I've been a big fan since the early 70s and have read most anything I could get my hands on about Zeppelin but have learned a lot more about them here than I ever did from most of those books or magazines. One improvement I would love to see is the ability to embed videos rather than linking to them.