I almost bought a book by Victor Davis Hanson called The Dying Citizen. There's a fantastic interview of him on YouTube discussing some very relevant issues happening in the US, particularly in Silicon Valley. The discussion revolved around how drastically things have changed in the area over the past 40 years which is something I'm all too familiar with. It also gets into the destruction of the middle class, small business owner and autonomy of our citizens. He's incredibly intelligent and well-spoken and has a great knowledge of history, particularly greco-roman, that fuels the book. Unfortunately, some reviews I've read have said he intermingles politics into the book which is a deal-breaker for me. I don't wanna hear about Trump/Fox or people who hate Trump/Fox, or CNN or any of that. I just wanted to read a good book lol, It would have died a lonely death in the kindle queue anyway. I have about 8 books that have been waiting to be read for over a year now. I need to make the time.

A little bit of a link to Zep - I've always loved the bass on Eddie Cochran's "Somethin Else".

Oh yeah, Tom Hamilton! That bass line is indeed a killer. And of course, "Sweet Emotion", maybe the most famous bass line in all of rock? I haven't heard of Gayden so did some YouTubing. I played "Frozen" with Albert Collins ... pretty dope

Good one, how could I forget this guy. Just about everyone on my own list has cited him as a major influence. Elvis Costello should have listed him as a co-writer on Get Happy lol

Yes indeed 💯

Paul McCartney John Entwistle Les Claypool Mike Watt Geddy Lee Bruce Thomas Aston Barrett Steve Hanley Jim Hughart

Good question. I'd second Paul's suggestion of 2/16 and throw in Detroit 1/31 for best-blend of sound and quality for 75. If sound quality is the major consideration, then I'd go with the 2 Vancouver shows. Best-sounding 75 NQ and both killer versions.

^ Same here. The recently revised version breathes new life into it, it's incredible. I like how in some parts of Dazed and some other songs from this night, Plant doesn't even bother with enunciating the lyrics, he just makes vocal sounds. It sounds like he's "feeling the spirit" and just emoting, and it works really well.

By God, I think you're onto something (in Norm Macdonald voice)!

6-3-73 would be my choice as well, for all the reasons you mention. My second pick would be Leicester 71. The 71 UK Fall tour might be my fav for them, and it would be awesome to see them in such a small venue at the height of their powers. The atmosphere from the boot sounds amazing .. sounds like a polite, well-behaved crowd that at the same time were very appreciative. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was the "best" show of 71, but it does have a quality to it. Plus, most of the songs they played that night are among my fav versions. 😃

I got the remastered Fun House with all the extra session tracks when it came out back in 2005 ... such a great record, one of my favorites. This should be required listening for all rock fans.To your original question, if Ron Asheton isn't the quintessential punk guitarist, I don't know who is.

Actually, I steered you wrong. Been listening to 5/17 lately, and sound quality is atrocious. I have a feeling you already knew that tho and were being polite lol.

A few favs: When the Levee Breaks Like I've Never Been Gone Big Log Live - WLL from Bradford 1-18. There's a richness to his voice, combined with just the right amount of raspiness and swagger. For me, this is the sweet spot of 73 Plant vocals, just sounds timeless. And the delivery is absolutely perfect.

I have a tough time ranking 75 shows as they're so wildly inconsistent song to song, sometimes within the actual songs themselves. Each show def has something to offer, and NQ is the song that is consistently listenable for me. At the moment, the shows I enjoy listening to all the way through are: 1-22-75 Chicago 2-7-75 MSG 2-8-75 Philly For whatever reason, these are the shows I connect to and find the most enjoyable as a full listen. I've been listening to 5/17 lately and could see that one being added to the list as well. It's a lot better than I remembered from previous listens!

Happy holidays everyone!

Bonzo owning that shit, Such a great tour. I had a cd back in the early 90s that combined this show with Bradford (DC, WLL,IS) that I listened to a lot

Re-listened to this one recently. NQ is fun, reminds me a bit of the Baton Rouge version. They're just fucking about and having fun. Jonesy even does a piano gliss, Jerry Lee Lewis style lol

Good for you. The msm "news" outlets we have are all bought and paid for, designed to elicit an emotional response and further a viewpoint, depending on which corporate interest has paid for said outlet. I was just talking about this the other day. The vitriolic anger some people have in our country, the myopic refusal to be open-minded or consider other viewpoints ...it's all fueled by media. Creating camps is good for business, it's as simple as that. There is some hope, though. You can read headlines/articles and still parse some basic info from it, and there are outlets on youtube and across the web that aren't biased that will present information in an unbiased manner You just gotta seek them out.

I'd be happy with anything we haven't heard from either Spring 71 or Fall UK 71. Beyond that, Pittsburgh 2-1-75 because I'm currently obsessed with early 75 Zep, Page In particular.

Great post. This album has anxiety ALL OVER IT which is not in itself a bad thing, I've always felt the angst over their tax status, Plant's injuries, and very likely more personal (maybe even unspoken) feelings about where they were in general at that time (re: the elephant in the room, drugs) made for some amazing inspiration musically. I felt this way myself about CSR vocals for a while. As time went on, they really grew on me. They have a smoldering feel to them which makes the "payoff" section at the end really land, i.e. Plant lets go with the release after creating the tense build-up. It's like a weird take on old rockabilly that transforms at the end into something new. Kind of like how Dy'er Mak'er goes through it's own transformation but with zero good vibes this time lol. I think the whole track is genius, from how Page created an unsettled feeling with the opening guitar to how they played with the drum rhythm at the beginning (apparently it's in 4/4 but I never would have guessed it) and then at the end Bonham is doing this stuff that is just amazing (sorry I can't get more technical here lol). I used to wish they were all more intense at the end, but now I think the approach they took was perfect. It's a release, but a cooled off release - minus the joy, minus the euphoria. Something about the whole thing sounds a little "druggy" to me. Not in the execution but with the general vibe of it. But then maybe that's just my imagination. Also - Merry Christmas to anyone reading!

Haven't heard Carouselambra in forever, forgot how much I loved it. I'm not a drummer, but even to my untrained ears it's pretty obvious Bonzo was just getting better and better, Thanks for pointing this out, I never took the time to appreciate what he was doing on the outro. I just went back and listened, and damn it's incredible. Just stupid how good that guy was. I also love what he's doing on the outro with Candy Store Rock, it just makes the song for me.

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

My gf and her family really, really love their cat. It's a quintessential house cat. Has one of those faces that says: "I'm useless and have no clue - but am also worshipped". This cat gets presents every year, I kid you not. Don't get me wrong, I love all animals, but the whole thing is really comical.

Re-watched No Country For Old Men recently. That movie seems to get better every time I watch it,, definitely destined to be a classic.

Reading this kind of stuff is interesting to me as a non-musician. I'm generally more focused on where my ears take me and the end result of a recording or live performance I enjoy, but reading all this provides great context and is a lot of fun, especially with references to other bands where you can connect dots aurally like above. I actually like the processed sound of the solo on "Fool in the Rain", I think it suits the vibe of the song.