Songoftheday 3/5/13 - My love is in league with the freeway, its passion will ride as the cities fly by...

Robert Plant - "Big Log"
from the album The Principle Of Moments (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #20 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9

Today's Song of the Day is by Led Zeppelin's lead singer Robert Plant, who started on a solo career after Led Zeppelin broken up after the death of drummer John Bonham. Plant's first album, Pictures At Eleven, was a huge success as an album, though the song from it didn't really reach pop radio as much as the rock stations (like our WMMR in Philly). Out of the five tracks that made the rock tracks chart, the biggest pop hit from it both in the US and Britain was "Burning Down One Side", which went to #64 in the US and #73 in the UK. However, it was really meant as a progression from his work with Led Zep, so it wasn't a shock.

However, with Robert's second solo set, The Principle Of Moments, the songs were tighter, and more radio friendly though still experimental in scope. The first single, "Big Log", was a Petty-ish sounding low-key rocker with drums by Phil Collins that drew me in with its desert-stark atmosphere cooly reproduced in the video...

"Big Log" became a top-20 hit for Plant, something his former band only did four times. It also went to #6 on the rock tracks list, and up to #11 in England. It would be his highest placing as a solo act, and my favorite of his distinguished solo career.

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Here's Robert performing  (well, miming) "Big Log" on Top of the Pops in 1983..

In 2004, bassist Viktor Krauss recorded a cover of "Big Log" with future Plant collaborator Alison Krauss (his sis) on vocals)..

Up tomorrow:  Country/pop princess goes all Walking Dead.