My Music Listening Journal 2021: Day 19: Tuesday January 19, 2021

- THE PRETENDERS: LEARNING TO CRAWL: 1984: 5+ STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: IPOD: ROCK: It looked as if The Pretenders would never release another new album- after the death of two of its members- James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon to drug overdoses the group went into hiatus. They recruited two new members and finally new album. While many consider the debut their best- and it may be that- Learning To Crawl is my favorite though. “Back On The Chain Gang”, “Middle Of The Road”, “My City Was Gone” three songs I can never get tired of- and “2000 Miles” rounds out the Mount Rushmore. How time flies- in “Middle Of The Road” Chrissy Hynde sings of being 33… she is now 69.

- THE BEATLES: MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR: 1967: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: IPOD: ROCK: This really isn’t an album like- they went into the studio and did an album of new songs- there was an EP in England with six new tracks- the rest is a collection of A and B sides that previously hadn’t been on albums -from the past year. Mount Rushmore: “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Penny Lane”, “I Am The Walrus” and “All You Need Is Love.”

- LED ZEPPELIN: LED ZEPPELIN III: 1970: 5 STARS OUT OF 5 STARS: IPOD: ROCK: A change of pace album- going more towards folk and acoustic. ‘Immigrant Song” was a hit single, “Gallows Pole”, “Tangerine” and “Celebration Day” my Mount Rushmore- this album opened the way to their greatest album- which would come in 1971- the creatively named. Led Zeppelin IV.
While Magical Mystery Tour wasn’t a studio album in the strict sense, I have a special fondness for it because it was one of the few 8-tracks we had for our family’s 8-track player so it got played over and over. I will always treasure my father’s angry and sarcastic comments regarding the dumbness of “Hello, Goodbye.”
Some great music on the album- and some Paul silliness.
I had Learning to Crawl on cassette and finally broke it. LOL!
Time to upgrade to a CD- I am looking for it on vinyl now!
I have a shop in town called Volume Records. Did a post about it a while back. I’d bet he has an original vinyl of it. Unfortunately, he has been closed since covid has attacked and killed 80% of the world’s population. π€ I would suppose he is dead, too but, he has a note taped to his door stating that he provides appointments for one person at a time to get an album or 45. Can you imagine how daunting a task it must be to disinfect every single album, album cover, 45 and 45 sleeve without destroying his collection? Boggles the mind…ππ
Three excellent albums that I own and love. Didn’t realize that about MMT being b-sides, etc. I love “Tangerine” and love the way Big Head Todd & The Monsters covered it on Led Zep’s Encomium album.
You know how much I love “Learning to Crawl”
YEP!
That Pretender album is a good one and I love the direction Zep went with their music.