CoronaVinyl Day 294 (P): The Principle of Moments by Robert Plant

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "P," and let's go with some solo Robert Plant -- like, maybe, his second solo album, 1983's The Principle of Moments.

Plant, of course, is one of the all-time great rock singers, having fronted Led Zeppelin until their breakup in 1980 after John Bonham's death.  He briefly considering dropping music all together and becoming a teacher, but Phil Collins encouraged him to give a solo career a whirl.

His first solo album, 1982's Pictures at Eleven, sold well , reaching #5 on the Billboard album chart, #2 on the UK album chart, and #1 in Canada, and eventually going platinum in the U.S., but it didn't produce any Top 40 hits in the U.S. or UK.

The Principle of Moments kept the momentum going in the right direction.  Like Pictures at Eleven, the music on The Principle of Moments is not like the hard rock you might expect from the former lead singer of Led Zeppelin.  It's still rock and roll, with some pop and synth mixed in (it was the '80s, after all).  Collins drummed on six of the eight tracks on the album, and former Jethro Tull drummer Barriemore Barlow drummed on the other two.

The album went to #8 on the Billboard album chart, #7 in the UK, #1 in New Zealand, and Top 10 in Australia, Canada, and The Netherlands.  It featured Plant's first two Top 40 solo hits on the Billboard Hot 100:  "Big Log" (#20) and one of his signature solo songs, "In The Mood" (#39).  Both were also Top 10 songs on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart (#6 and #4, respectively), and "Other Arms" went to #1 on that chart too.

Plant has continued to make music over the past four decades, often collaborating with other musicians, including the 1984 one-off supergroup The Honeydrippers with Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, two successful collaboration albums with Page in the '90s, and a wildly successful 2007 collaboration with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss that netted the duo five Grammy Awards.

In total, including collaborations, he had 6 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including one Top 10 (1984's cover of "Sea of Love" with The Honeydrippers, which went to #3), and 20 Top 10 songs on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, including six #1s.

The Spotify version of the album has four bonus tracks, including three live tracks and an extra studio track.

Favorite song from Side 1:  "Other Arms"
Plant's first #1 song on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart kicks the album off.  It's a song that I can imagine being on a Led Zeppelin album had they continued to make music in the early '80s.  It's a rock song, but definitely not hard rock.

Favorite song from Side 2:  "Horizontal Departure"
This one is soulful in the verses, and kicks into gear in the choruses.