Pulling things from the attic

This is not exactly a revelation but sometimes you pull a CD out of your frighteningly large collection of mostly-paid-for CD's and you remember, once again, why you bought an album on cassette, recorded it again from a friend's collection when yours wore out, bought it on CD for the first time and then bought it again on CD when it got remastered.

I am listening right now to Led Zeppelin's fourth album. That's the one that has no title and known as "Led Zeppelin 4" or "The Runes album."

This album does for me what all my favorite albums do: it can be listened to intently while reading along with the lyrics and concentrate on every word. You can sit and just jam on it with your eyes closed and just groove. You can play it and half listen to it as you type, like right now. You can play it as you fall asleep. You can play it at a party. You can play it in your car. You can play it at the beach. You can throw it in the street and dance on it. You can cry when a song off it sells Cadillacs...

Why CD's are good

I had a very good friend in high school that had this album on cassette. We were discussing it one day and I mentioned the songs on side two that I liked. He told me that he hadn't ever listened to side two. I believe my reacation was apoplectic and that I insisted that side two was as good as the side one. I don't remember if Joe ever listened to side two. I am sure, though, that he doesn't remember this conversation as clearly as I do.