Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for November 18th

Three very cool (and very different) early Seventies albums (all by Brits!) share today's date on the calendar...

11/18/1970 (46 years ago today) - "Led Zeppelin III" hits No. 1 on both the U.S. and British album charts, with one of the most distinctive LP packaging concepts ever pulled off: behind the front cover was a laminated-rotatable-cardboard disc, covered with random, somewhat surreal images (along with photos of the band members), that showed through holes in the cover, so that when you spun the disc around, the actual front LP design would constantly change. This unusual design was based on Jimmy Page's idea that the whole thing should resemble an old fashioned gardening seed chart (well, they were living and recording in the countryside at the time). Plus we got "Gallow's Pole", "Tangerine", "Since I've Been Loving You", "Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp", "Friends", "Out On The Tiles", "Celebration Day"...A stunning piece of work and arguable their best. Yes, really!!!

11/18/1972 (44 years ago today) - Cat Stevens kicks off three weeks at No. 1 on the chart with his sixth studio album, "Catch Bull At Four", thus completing a trilogy-of-sorts that started with his 1970 masterwork "Tea For The Tillerman" and 1971's absolutely perfect-from-start-to-finish "Teaser And The Firecat". Though "Catch Bull..." didn't have any instantly-catchy singles on it (his previous two LP's had multiple radio hits), the album was Cat's first chart-topper and a resounding critical and commercial success -- The records unusual title was taken from one of The Ten Bulls Of Zen, a series of short poems and accompanying illustrations that show the various stages of a Buddhist practitioner's journey to enlightenment. Cat's disconnect from the mainstream surely started here, but it's still a beautiful sounding and emotionally moving collection of songs, quite underrated by the passage of time...

11/18/1974 (42 years ago today) - It's the bands last recording with Peter Gabriel: On this date, Genesis release their sixth studio effort, the epic-mind-bending double-concept album "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway". If you thought Cat Stevens was getting a wee bit artsy {see above story}, this Genesis set was even more out-there! The concept of the story follows the journey of self-discovery for a New York City Puerto Rican youth named Rael and the characters he meets along the way, including Death itself, snake-like creatures known as Lamias (he has sex with them after they drink his blood), and various nightmarish scenarios that involve castration and drowning. Cheers!

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"We've got to get in to get out...", xoxo!