Week 27 & 28

I officially past the 300 album mark. My head is spinning trying to comprehend the number of songs consumed. As if finding the time to listen to all this music isn't hard enough, finding the time to work on this blog continues to be a challenge. Life is just too complicated sometimes - it's the vast array of choices we are offered in today's world. Instant data in absurd quantities available anytime and just about anyplace. More on that later, but for someone like me who has a hard time figuring out what I want to do next - sensory overload kicks into high gear - out comes Capt. ADD. For example, reading Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles while listening to Led Zeppelin. Who does that? It's times like these when you have to say no to a vice and just accept there aren't enough hours in the day. While my motto is - "I'll sleep when I die!" - exhaustion wins and priorities suffer. Prime example is this blog - on which I have consistently been overdue lately. Hope you're ready to get the "Led" out (7/5-7/18):

Bert Jansch - Jack Orion
Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
Rolling Stones - Jamming With Edward (CD & Vinyl)
Alice In Chains - Jar Of Flies
Joe Perry - Joe Perry
Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding
U2 - The Joshua Tree (CD & Vinyl)
Aerosmith - Just Push Play
Justin Timberlake - Justified
Keb Mo' - Keb Mo'
Keb Mo' - Keep It Simple
Muddy Waters - King Bee
The Doors - L.A. Woman
The Ramones - Leave Home
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (CD & Vinyl)
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II (CD & Vinyl)
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III (CD & Vinyl)
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV (CD & Vinyl)

Alanis Morissette was extraordinarily pissed when she released Jagged Little Pill and especially so on the track You Oughta Know. Not exactly a secret, but little known is this theme where Flea appears as a guest performer. Dave Navarro who was also a RHCP at the time sat in and what resulted was the anthem for women that states vividly - DON'T SCREW WITH MY EMOTIONS!!! Point taken. This album never gets old to me. Hand In My Pocket, Ironic, You Learn, Head Over Feet, All I Really Want all are songs that haven't gotten stale 15 years later. Glenn Ballard knows how to produce albums that sale and this album hit a homerun spawning 6 singles, 3 of which hit #1 on the US Top 40.

U2 had already established themselves as a successful touring band prior to The Joshua Tree. However, The Joshua Tree was the album that catapulted them from great to epic status. There is a tight little musical connection this week with this album as Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Van Morrison & Bob Dylan all greatly influenced Bono to go in the direction for this album. This album marked U2's birth into the roots of music, which proves that to go forward sometimes you have to go backwards. As for the connection, well Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin for anyone that is blatently aware of that fact) did a "rockumentary" about the electric guitar called It Might Get Loud which features himself, The Edge (U2) and Jack White (The White Stripes). In addition to this connection this week features albums by all the influencers, sans Van, for The Joshua Tree. Been a while since I have made this statement, but this album certainly makes it on my Top 10 must have albums on a deserted island.

Keb Mo' was first introduced to me through a PBS special which paid tribute to Muddy Waters. He performed the Muddy classic I Can't Be Satisfied with a slide steel solo on stage and I was floored. After that I knew who he was and added him to my wish list. Keep It Simple was my favorite album of the two from this week and the title-track was a big reason. The lyrics embody my views on life these days:

Well I went down to the local coffee store
The menu went from the ceiling all the way down to the floor
Decaf, cappuccino, or latte said the cashier
I said gimme a small cup of coffee and let me get the hell up outta here

While I do not drink coffee - the sentiment is there - life is too darn complicated. Which goes back to my point in the intro about how overwhelmed we are with information we are. As Keb Mo' says, let's just Keep It Simple. None of this music is what many consider "classic" blues, but all the elements are there and I highly recommend Keb Mo' if your interested in roots music.

I found it very interesting that Plant doesn't have any writing credits on Led Zeppelin and the album has credit to Jagger. The early days Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham were primarily a band covering classic blues tunes reworked into the sound we all distinctly recognize as Led Zeppelin. If anyone ever wants a lesson in blues look no further as Zeppelin often "borrowed" from many classic artist - primarily Willie Dixon. See Week 3 if you're not familiar with Dixon. While I love all three of their first albums, hands down my favorite Zeppelin album is IV, which contains my favorite song When The Levee Breaks. Earlier I mentioned It Might Get Loud; in the film Jimmy Page visits Headley Grange, which is a manor in England, where the band recorded the majority of IV. In the film he talks about how Bonham got the drum sound featured on Levee by having his kit set up in the front entrance. I won't spoil the movie in case anyone wants to watch, but it's full of great little bits and bobs of this sort. Again, if I had to pick one of the four albums to have on a deserted island, IV would be the one I'd have to take. Or perhaps Physical Graffiti.....hmmmm!?