Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More

Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More

Published - October 2009

Wikipedia

So, I'm back.

I'll let that sink in here for a minute before we get to the music.

I'm back, and I realized how much this got me through the first couple of months here in Korea, and how much I enjoyed the fits and starts in which I wrote a bunch of these.  Actually, a respected blogger friend of mine (I mean a friend who I respect and writes a blog, not that his blog is widely respected, although it should be, like go read some of it now) asked me when it was going to return, after my enigmatic last post.  So here I am, back at the computer, slamming out words about music again.  I hope you're back too.

Here is the plan.  52 weeks in the year.  52 album projects.  That is the bare minimum I will allow to happen.  One a week is a pretty low number, to be sure.  So if I can get more, I will.  What does this mean for you?  Every seven days, I'll come up with a new one.  These will all be suggestions from other people.  This makes my job easier, because that leaves time open for everything else I want to write just for myself, and allows me to go back and do classics and stuff on my own terms.  So,  I've got my list started, and of course, if you have more suggestions, send them to me.  I'll try to keep everyone updated with what is coming up soon, and what I think I'll be writing about next.  Hopefully, we'll end up with something more like 100 album projects, but of course, that depends on one thing.  Me.  The unreliable as far person.  I'm working on this though.  So, hopefully for the next year, until next Christmas at least, some album will be talked about, at great length, by me.

Speaking of which, let's get to this weeks album.  Sigh No More was suggested to me by two different people.  So, I'd like to thank Mr. Grant Hamming and Ms. Rachel Nusbaum, for the suggestion.

I don't know if I have a lot to say about this album.  This is not for any other reason than it appeals to me on a visceral level, where I really enjoyed every part of it separately, and I loved the whole, but it didn't really make me have a strong opinion about it.  It was consistently good, enjoyable, and made me really fall for the depth of it.

The wikipedia would lead you to believe that this is a "freak folk" album.  I don't understand what that means. This actually just sounds like a modern folk album to me.  If Bob Dylan had been born in the early 80's and had nearly the same life, I think this is what his music would sound like, with a bit different vocals, and more incomprehensible lyrics.

Talking about the lyrics, they are beautiful.  It's an incredibly moving album, you feel the things that they are singing, and the depth of the vocals is very impressive.  The lead singer is frequently backed up by what sounds like a half a dozen singers.  The lyrics are clear, defined, and sound like hooks to me.  This is folk at it's best, where it conjures up a small, dusty, packed room, with the group singing to a group of people, ready to seize the song and sing back to them.  Their music is incredibly close to you.  You feel as if it is surrounding you and permeating you.  It's darkly toned, and soars when it should.

I think that is why I reject the "freak folk" label, it's just too good as genuine folk.  They aren't commenting on it, they aren't satirizing it, and they aren't using it in any way other than as a the formula from which the music comes.  The modernity could be lost if it were recorded on ancient equipment, and if they cut out some of the layering, but to do that would be to lose the thought and what seems to be important to the band.  They seem to be inspired by the ideas of folk, and they took them to the logical next step, a place with soaring vocals and more instruments than just a banjo, guitar and bass.  To make them out to be avant guard is to reject Bob Dylan once he went electric.  It's not against the grain of the music that was being performed, it is to constantly be trying to update, to become a better musician, and express the thoughts that 'are' to that group, at that time is the next step for this particular group.

Now, this is another album that will completely turn people off, because it is niche in the extreme.  If you don't like mountain folky sounding music, you probably won't get enamored of this album.  If you are looking for something uplifting, I'd listen to particular tracks, but overall, you won't be uplifted by this.

However, if you are down, and want to hear moments of brightness against a background of melecholy, or if you want to hear something beautiful, and yes, a little hipsteresque, you should pick this up.  If you wanted to just look at a couple of the songs, to see if you would like it, I'd suggest you listen to Dustbowl Dance, which is just an incredible song.  The album sounds very similar from song to song, which is not a criticism, but more that it paints a portrait of the band in its time.  It sounds like a complete album.

Anyway, let me say thanks again to Rachel and Grant, two incredibly cool people on opposite sides of the world.  I hope that each of you are doing well in your respective positions.  I'd like to hear more from you two about what this album did for you, because I'm still working on it, but I really enjoyed it.

I am the very model of a modern major general,
Matt

Oh hey, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all that stuff too.

PPS. Next week, Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs - Andrew Bird

Dethklok - Dethalbum II

Dethklok -  Dethalbum II

Published in 2009

Wikipedia

What do you do when your joke band actually starts making some pretty awesome music?  If you're Brendon Small, apparently you just keep on rolling.  I think that metalocolypse is one of the most original and funny shows on tv but if you hate cartoons or something stupid like that, you need to listen to their album. Actually I'd suggest this album for one specific reason.

Comedy albums, as a rule have this tendency to include these things called skits. These are usually cute little asides that acknowledge tha their music is actually a joke and that they are meant to be funny. ( presumably they don't want to get confused with real bands like the guys who wrote 'bush was right'. Look it up. If it were a comedy, it would be the best parody ever. ). However, my favorite comedy albums never have this shit. It's something to add a little flavor, but a great comedy or anything album should be filled to the brim.

The Dethalbum I had these asides and they just didn't add anything to the procedings. They were just too jokey, which is weird for a comedy band. But, the fat has been trimmed, and the reward is awesome.

Metal music is inherently a bit of a joke. Anyone who takes themselves that seriously needs to have he amount of introspection to recognize that they are flawed and vulnerable human beings before they implode themselves. Metallica at the beginning had this then lost it. Dethklok was concieved as the band that exists both inside and outside of that bubble. This is what makes them so interesting to me.

Let it be officIal. Dethklok rules. They play some amazing fucking music. They exist to rock and the music that they make stands up to some of the best albums on here. There are incredible guitar parts. Great drumming. Awesome vocals and just all around proficency. They aim amazingly high and reach those heights well. They play some really melodic death metal and they really do shred.

It's a very simple album in many respects. Sometimes the songs sound similar but you don't even give a shit. You want them to keep going and going, because they are trying to not be just a joke band.  The desire to really invest themselves into the band is what is the most impressive part to me. It could have just been a little joke, but they committed to it and in seeing it through they made something amazing. The lyrics are joking sometimes and the music is as overmetaled metal as you will ever hear, but you wouldn't want it any other way.

Anyway, I'm currently trapped on a metal tube that is burning dead plant matter to throw itself through the air at something like five hundred miles an hour, and the acompaniment could not be more awesome. I have to thank everyone involved in making this album, and want to thank Peter for alerting me to it's presence when it came out.

Croooooooooooow!
Matt

Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand

Published in 2004

Wikipedia

First off, I'm writing this on my iPod so if I say anything that is really crazy or completely doesn't make sense, the iPod decided to go crazy on me and I didn't notice.

Pangloss would have us believe that this is the best of all possible worlds, however, I would have to disagree with him on several points.  One the world has a lot of things that are not the best they could be, and two, in the best of all possible worlds Franz Ferdinand would be much more greatly rewarded for being fucking awesome.  Pangloss would then say, "ah, but because they aren't, poor people like you can actually go see their shows," to which I would eloquently and gracefully rebuke with a casual "shut your goddamned mouth." Also, Kings was cancelled, which not only proved months before the conan shit that NBC didn't know shit, but also proved that if god exists, he's a huge prick who takes the good tv shows away and leaves american fucking idol, although that sinking ship has rats fleeing the shit out of it.  Also, you should be watching Archer.

I was going somewhere with that. I think.

Anyway, to the album. It's jus a solid beautiful peice of work. The band is sharp, the lyrics are incredibly charged with sex and seductive quality, and the songs are tight and interesting. It's so good that I don't have a ton to say about it. This is an album to open your eyes to an interesting band who is trying to just simply make some great music.

This is some sexy music too. It's obvious to me that these guys are fully aware that the purpose of being in a hand is to be awesome and make girls go crazy. Making great music is the most direct path to their other goals, so they slam the music out, with a huge amount of character and style.

It kind of reminds me of Star Wars, and not that prequel crap.  The reason that A New Hope was good was because it opened up this different world where adventures could take place and the world was what drew you in. This album is the best kind of first album, because it makes you want to listen to the next one, just to see what else they can do in this musical space.

The analogy can go further. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand is another great album and is on the list for the future, much like The Empire Strikes Back follows and supercedes it's predecessor. You'll just have to read to see which FF album I think is better.

This is one of my go to albums when I just want to hear some good music. It's not paricularly long, nor particularly ambitious, but it is a pinnicle of it's particular musical space.

Anyway, no one to thank today, so thank you Franz Ferdiand.

Potato, let me finish, salad,
Matt

Coheed and Cambria - Second Stage Turbine Blade

Coheed and Cambria - Second Stage Turbine Blade

Published in 2002

Wikipedia

First off, I want to thank Zach's friend Luke, who probably doesn't even remember suggesting this album or who the fuck I am.  As the first person who I don't know personally to suggest an album, I want to say thank you and hope that you will leave a comment or something.

This was written on my iPod just so you know, so if there are any crazily innappropriate mistakes, that is why.  Well, not the ideas, if those are bad, that is all me.

Coheed and Cambria is a difficult band for me to get into and an even harder one for me to write about.  It is a study in contrasts. They play some awesome rock and roll. They obviously know how to make a catchy song. They really like playing their instruments. And they remind me of the best parts of Rush (and if you hate Rush, you've got a severe mental block against awesomely cheesey rock).

Then there is the other side of them. The side that chooses to do the looney tunes interlude, just like Dream Theater, but actually more out of place than in that album.  They have the 'whispery breathy deep voices talking over our songs is awesome and not stupid' weirdness that just doesn't turn me on at all. And then there is the Cousin Jerry effect.

I feel like a prick for doing this, but I feel like I have to.  This is what I picture in my head. Coheed and Cambria are sitting in the garage that they practice in, between epic d and d sessions and listening to progressive rock. Then momma C&C comes out into the garage and tells them that they need to include their Cousin Jerry in the band, because he is not having fun, and she won't take no for an answer.  Cousin Jerry doesn't have any musical ability per se, but he really really likes screamcore and really really is being forced into the band by mom. So Cousin Jerry becomes the guy who screams in the background, behind the choruses and shit and drives me up the goddamn wall.

Just when I am getting into a song, just when I really am enjoying it, fucking Jerry comes in and pops a blood vessel in his brain by screaming. The fucking song is so good and enjoyable and that prick comes in and ruins it. It sounds like someone is just attempting to piss me off. Through my ear. It sounds how I must imagine syphilis must feel when you are just trying to take a nice long satisfying piss.

I'm listening to it right now, and it just stresses me out. Fucking every other part of the band, I am a hundred percent behind. But that prick makes me wish that I had a time machine so I could go back to the studio and fucking cut his mic and slap him around a bit for inflicting that scream-y shit on me.

The amount of vitriol in this post is probably a little overboard but I really want to enjoy this album. I just want the whole to be more like 33 where they attempted to use harmony instead of just fucking yelling. This is a really good album and the band has a ton of talent. If they could just dump Cousin Jerry, this album would definately be not optional, but that is the price you pay when you make my ears bleed with stupid decisions. And yes, I realize that this is probably someone's favorite part of the band, and that this is just like, my opinion, man, but it really did drive me up the wall that much.

Anyway, thanks again to Luke and I hope he'll suggest more albums that I'll he a complete and utter prick about and spew a bunch more words about.  Once again, I want to say I liked everything else about this album, so if c&c got rot of that guy, give me that album, and I'll sing it's praises.

It's two hundred miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack or cigarettes, it's dark out and we're wearing sunglasses,
Matt

The Who - Who's Next

The Who - Who's Next

Published in 1971

Wikipedia

I'm writing this album project from my iPod, so if I mess anything up, that is why.  There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach. I have a four hour trip to Busan, South Korea, and if I can get some of these projects done on the trip, I'll not feel like a complete price of dirt.

However, there is the speed of typing issue, and catching up to these songs can be a bit hard. Especially when you are talking about a band as driving and great as The Who.

Who's Next is a classic for many reasons, and as a person who enjoys albums it's hard to not just gush all over it.  Listening to this album is like listening to your favorite classic rock station, because this is just a plain awesome classic album.

Interestingly, at least to me, it is not a incredibly hard album. I know, this was a simpler time, when a rock album could have things like feelings and ideas without being an emo scream cry whine fest.   What happened? Why did we leave this behind?  This classic has the same classic problem that most classics have, though, which is that it sounds a bit cliched. But, of course,  that is beacause it has been blatently ripped off and stolen from.

It's suprisingly gentle for a rock album. It's not about distruction and death, but it is about singing and finding. It's quiet and reflects some of their later experiments (ugh, nothing sounds as pretentious as saying 'experiments' when talking about music) with epic length stories and songs.  You never feel lostin these longer songs thoug, but whether that is because they stick to the formula well or because the quality of the songwriting leads you through the song.

I cannot tell if The Who are just an enigma or if they are actually what they appear to be.  What I mean is, are they actually as pensive as their songs would lead us to believe, or are they just trying to present themselves that way?  It's actually a question that I have about a lot of these classic albums.  Everyone says that the state of music has gotten simpler and dumber over the past 45? 50? years, and that when they were kids, the music used to mean something, man.  Which sounds like a huge load or bullshit to me, because some of these songs are very pedestrian in content, but would probably be hailed as 'better songwriting' than most of the modern music. I have a theory though.

What I think most influences a musical group is what is permissable in the culture surrounding us.  The role of the art, according to the eminent philosopher Douglas Adams said, is to hold up a mirror to the world and show it itself.  The world was less permissible in certain areas, so the band was reflecting a fundamentally different surface than the one that we see today. My point is not that The Who would be singing Linkin Park songs or something today, but that the classic rock that they perform is another form of nostalgia that we indulge in. We find the mirrors of the past to be smaller and easier to look at then he ones that are reflecting our own time, especially when we can see them as great.

This mirror is one of my favorite classic rock albums. Baba O'Riley and Won't Get Fooled Again are two songs that can bring the house down, no matter where yuu are, and even CSI: Miami cannot ruin that scream for me.  It's a moment of glorious anticipation, feinting and darting, coming up and finally satisfying you.  Much like this album.

Anyway, this is probably a not optional album, but the not optional nature is implied by it's classic nature.  I don't have anyone to thank for this one, so I'll just link you to the Seoul Survivors website www.survivorsrfc.com and tell you how it goes.

We all know Sanchez was a loose cannon,
Matt

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Published - 10 minutes ago, 2010

Wikipedia

This one is going to be interesting.  I promise that I'll go fast.  I'm going fast because this is the first time that I've heard the album, and I kind of want to see what I can get out quickly while absorbing the music.  I'll probably come back to the Gorillaz at some point, because I love what they are doing, but this one is going to be all about the new one.

And I am literally listening to it right now.  The opening intro reminded me of the best parts of the Bioshock soundtrack, and we're opened into the "World of the Plastic Beach" by Snoop D O double G, which is always a good way to enter something.  As far as I can tell.  These two serve to show the eclectic styles that are going to be thrown into together.  A good solid intro.  However,

We're onto the next track now, and this motherfucking album is going to be on fucking fire for me.  We open with an orchestral intro, that is slowly developed and changed into the beat for some fucking flow.  Kano and Bashy, I bow down. It is an incredible start to what I hope to be an incredible album.  There is an amazing Middle Eastern style breakdown at the end of the song too.  Wild.

We've reached the next track, and here comes 2D, for the first really recognizable appearance.  This song, Rhinestone Eyes is a laid back dance track, a little down-tempo from Dare, but has a very nice late 70's feel to it.  This is a Gorillaz record.  It's not like anything else that you're going to hear this year.  A damn solid track.

Here we are, onto the big single, as far as I can tell from my perch across the Pacific.  Stylo is the only song on this disc that I have heard before, so I think I can process it better.  One: Go see the video.  I know that you guys love that new OK Go joint, but you should check out Stylo, just to see the new aesthetic that Gorillaz is working with.  Two, it's a weirdly downtempo joint, but I guess that is the style that they go for.  Just think a bit about Feel Good, Inc.  This song, however, is much more focused on the guests than FGI was.  It reminds me what sold them to me in the first place though.  As I said before, it's a completely different vibe than you'll hear on almost anything else.  I cannot name a band that in one album moves over more musical space.  

We're moving on to the next song, featuring the man himself, from FGI, De la Soul.  Another bumping rap track.  Superfast Jellyfish is some kind of crazy fast foodish advertising song.  What the fuck am I listening to?  This is amazing.  It's so different, I don't even know how to describe it.  It's a light poppy song that is also a bumping rap song.  So weird...

Aight next up, a song called Empire Ants.  You can really feel the beach theme coming through on the beginning of this one.  It sounds like one of those slow surf songs with the singing guitar.  Another slow track, a bit, God, do I say it out loud, Beach Boy-ish?  It sounds like that moment when the boardwalk closes in the evening right before a drizzle, when the beach is actually just a beach, and not just covered in ambient noise.  Then the track moves into a nightclub like dance track, which is sung by Little Dragon.  One thing that you need to realize about the Gorillaz is that they bring out great tracks because they work with great people.  I don't know who Little Dragon is, but I'm inclined to pick up their album just due to them working with Gorillaz.  

We're onto another track, one that sounds like a dubstep creation.  This album is full of songs that are just too weird to be described, and that is exactly what I love about the Gorillaz.  It takes so much to pay attention and listen to them that you're fully absorbed.  It might not be your cup of tea, but if you don't find at least one track on each album that you find fascinating, I think that you might not be real.  A lot of electronic distortion is used in this track, but it is not at the expense of music, but to make the music itself.  Very Dust Brothers.  Beautifully complex.

Jesus Christ!  It's Lou Reed!  From Walk on the Wild Side!  What the hell are you doing here Lou Reed?  Not that I am not appreciating it, but seriously, you've completely derailed my ability to write about this awesome song, because it just got like a 40 point bonus for having you on it.  I'm so incredibly psyched that Lou Reed is on a Gorillaz album.  I have nothing more to say about Some Kind of Nature other than if you don't listen to this album...

On Melancholy Hill is a haunting and beautiful track, that just sort of lasts.  It's beautifully simple and progresses wonderfully.  Listen to this album.  It'll do you some good.

Broken is another song that is a little slower, a little more beachy, than the other Gorillaz records.  However, the heartache vocals of 2D and the hurt that he expresses in his voice is pretty incredible.  The performances are quite amazing and wonderful.  This is a great slow walking, thinking album.  

Mos Def is a talented man.  In Sweepstakes he appears to be rapping over the most eclectic group of electronic instruments that will ever get together.  He's being distorted, changed, and burning the track up.  The sound is all encompassing, and slowly morphs into the sound of a big band playing the electronic instruments part.  This is giving me fucking goosebumps.  I write about music and try to give you some insight into my feelings about it and this is just too wild, I just don't know what I can say about it that won't make no sense to you.  This track will never be played in a DJ's set, and yet, it is the most incredibly fucking weird awesome mashed up wild song that I have heard in years.  Also, Mos Def just destroyed this album.  He fucking owned it completely, and that song is now over, and I don't even know where they go from here.

Now, we're onto the title track, Plastic Beach.  Another song that sounds a bit like a downtempo dance track.  However, I am enthralled.  I cannot turn my ears away, because I'm afraid that I am going to miss the next change and miss the next moment where it develops into another album entirely.  The chorus is amazingly beautiful and interesting.  I'm going to be obsessed with this album for a while after this.  

Another beachy track, called To Binge, featuring Little Dragon.  It's very pretty and I've been sitting back and just soaking up the song for the most of it.  So I'll be moving on quickly.  Very beautiful though.

Cloud of Unknowing is a lot like the two wrap up tracks of Demon Days.  If you like the sonic experimentation, and you want them to branch out, these are the kinds of tracks that you live for.  If you just want them to do more poppy stuff, this is going to be the part that might lose you.

Finally, we get to Pirate Jet, which is a bouncing track, somewhat reminiscent to me at least of Sgt. Pepper, where we hear the marching beat, and we've got the wrapping up of the message.  This is obviously an environmental record, but this is going to be a strange one for people to get into for that reason.  The music is just too good to overlook.  And they are playing some amazing tracks on this one too.

I'm going to write a brief conclusion, and save pontificating on the Gorillaz for later.  I want you to pick up this album.  This album is firmly in the Not Optional category.  If I had a category for Instant Classic, because I am reviewing it the day it came out in the US, this one would be all over it.  I'm listening to the bonus tracks at the moment, and I'm already hungry to get right back into the album.  I hope you'll pick it up, not because of my recommendation, but because you want to encourage artists to make new and interesting works, that draw you in and make you sit and consider them.  You so rarely get artist that constantly are expanding and trying new things, that we need to encourage them.  

I know that I have been quiet on the blog front recently, but fear not, more Album Projects are on the way.  I'm having trouble getting them off my iPod at the moment, but I have a bunch cued up on that.  

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my liveish blog of this one, and go pick up the album.

Listen up, and listen like crazy,

Matt

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

Published in 1971

Wikipedia

Welcome back to TAP: Classics, where we expand your mind, body, and soul by writing literally hundreds of words about albums that almost everyone has already heard and given consensus that it is awesome and add our two cents to that amazingly large pile of money that has accumulated, stacking upon itself on list after list of best album evars and top rock and roll albums, and whatever else you think of.

I have to say, I'm not actually that excited to talk about Led Zeppelin IV here.  First, about what I am calling it, I know that the album doesn't officially have a name, so I have decided to go with the common convention and just call it Led Zeppelin IV.  But the real reason that I am not that excited to talk about it is because this is one of the grounds that has been tread over and over by people, and it's obvious what the strengths and weaknesses are of this album.  If you hate Stairway to Heaven, you will hate this whole album.  It has a real JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, fantasy vibe to it, and if that is not your cup of tea, then this will not be the cup of tea for you.

However, I promised that I would pump out some words about this album, so I'm going to.  I think that the way in here is the difference between digital media and analog media, and how the switch has made some interesting and strange changes to what we call an album today.

Ever since I was pretty young, there has been an optical data storage and retrieval system.  What this means is that the whole thing is based on a piece of round plastic being spun around at a pretty quick pace with a laser sweeping across it.  The system was created to hold a great deal more information on a bit by bit level than an  analog data storage and retrieval system.  This system traditionally was used in two areas.  One, computer data storage, where a magnetic tape was run forwards and backwards in a programmed sucession to retrieve data, preceded by punched cards that were just a very early optical storage system.  Two, audio storage, which also used magnetic tape for a while, which moved a tape over a magnetic head which read the bits and converted them to audio, which was preceded by a thing called a record.

A record is an interesting thing.  It's a round bit of pressed plastic with a continuous groove running in a spiral from the inside to the outside.  (Anyone older than me is rolling their eyes at this description, anyone younger is rolling their eyes at how stupid this was.)  The groove was pressed to different depths, and was traced over by a needle, which was set vibrating by the grooves, and produced sound on the other end.  This was the technology for a really really really surprisingly long time. Just to be clear, the first time this technology was used, a guy named Thomas Edison shouted his favorite nursery rhyme into it, and played it back.

The record is amazingly better than it's predecessor though.  The predecessor was a thing that took in large amounts of energy, could completely go off the chart, was highly inconvenient to pack up and carry, required free drinks at parties, and cared how you looked at it when it played funny.  These were called live people, and while they are really good for parties, they were somewhat inconvenient at parties, especially when there were limited amounts of drinks.  I'm not saying that a good party can't have a live band, but these considerations must be put into ones mind.

The record had some drawbacks too though.  For it's orders of magnitude better portability, it was somewhat limited by the fact that it could only play the songs that were on it at that time, and couldn't change any of the songs.  It was also pretty weak against water and fire based attacks (seriously, a pokemon joke, oh my god, I want to shoot myself for that one), and, in fact, it wasn't all that portable.  It took a lot of them to have a wide variety of songs, two turntables to keep them going constantly, and we're always getting scratched or fucked up by drunk friends (or so I hear, and am told by movies).

The format is to have a certain length of time on one side, followed by a certain length of time on the other side.  These two grooves are unchanging, and they play the same songs every time, only changing with the wear on the record.  The analog interaction between needle and record slowly wore away the fineness of the grooves over time, and gave the tones an interesting, warm sound that is desirable to many people.

Why am I talking about this in association with Led Zeppelin IV?  Because this is a record on which you can hear the two distinct sides, even today.  The first four songs are one side, and the second four songs are the other side.  They are carefully picked and put together that way, and it makes sense for them to go in that order.  The record has a natural ebb and flow and a very natural division.  I think it speaks to the difference in thought between a record, which is naturally two sided, and a cd, which is a one sided, front to back affair.  If you want to draw something on one side of a piece of paper, it's all there, there is no need to look at the other side, but to make one side flow into the other side takes skill and dedication.  

This is a great album, one that should be listened to.  Stairway must have been an amazing experiment at the time, because it is hard to not joke about it now.  It's a moving interesting record, from Black Dog, all the way through When the Levee Breaks.  It has many blues and rock influences, and is obviously an influence for a lot of bands to come.  But it is mostly, in my mind, a demonstration in the fact that making a record and making a cd are different processes, and have a different goal in a lot of ways.  Maybe the amount of data that is given to the producers of music is not a more is better proposition, but that more is more.  

Anyway, it's something to think about.  I want to thank Led Zeppelin for giving me a context to talk about all of this in, and you for reading it.  Also, I want to put the call out for more albums.  If this project is going to go for five days a week for however long it goes, I need two albums a week from the masses.  I'm covered for the next couple of weeks, but some more suggestions and more variation is always a good thing.

Next time, Gadget, Next time.

Matt