Retro Spins: Robert Plant - The Principle Of Moments

 

It always makes me scratch my head when I see an album that performs worse than its predecessor in both sales and overall charting, only to then see that it spawned singles that were more popular and peaked relatively high. That math just never adds up for me, but that's exactly the case for Robert Plant's second solo studio album, 1983's The Principle Of Pleasures.

As I noted in closing of yesterday's post, this album was one I actively tracked down for a few songs I wanted. Those would be the two Billboard Hot 100 singles, Big Log (which peaked at number twenty), and In The Mood (with peaked at thirty-nine). However, the most popular tune from the album would turn out to be, Other Arms, which would peak at number on the mainstream rock charts.

While I can't remember when I first heard Robert Plant as a kid, be it his solo work or opus career with Led Zeppelin, I do remember vividly when I re-heard In The Mood. I was driving down the toll road from work to home in the early 2000's when it came on the radio. My mind immediately woke up, shouting, "Hey, I remember that song!" Since then, it stayed tucked in my brain nice and neatly among the thousands of other 80's tunes rattling around.

Once again, Phil Collins joins Plant in the studio to provide drumming. It's interesting to me how Collins is able to produce a signature sound that is easily recognizable, at least to me. Despite his own successful career, both with Genesis and as a solo artist, he would stay with the band for their North American leg of the tour that followed.

The challenge in writing this post at this point is that I wrote the above but then didn't get back to it for several days. Time has not been kind, and I've forgotten the majority of it.

I do recall that it was a solid rock album, but that the above noted hits were the only standouts. Still, with that said, I wasn't a bad album by any means, but still, this didn't stop the remaining tracks from falling into obscurity. I mean, at this point I couldn't even tell you anything from The Principal Of Moments beyond Big Log and In The Mood.

Unfortunately, and mainly because of my memory lapse, there's not much more I can say at this point.

Plant went on to release his third solo album, Shaken 'N' Stirred in 1985, and by then, things were changing mentally for him. Not in a bad way, kind of interesting actually, but more on that tomorrow. For now, let's just put a pin in this very poorly written post.

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