The Principle of Moments is the second solo studio album by the English singer Robert Plant, formerly of Led Zeppelin. It was Plant's second Top 10 album in the US and UK. It also gave him his first solo Top 40 hit with "Big Log". The most popular track on album-oriented rock radio in the US was "Other Arms", which reached number-one on the Billboard Top Tracks chart. Genesis' drummer Phil Collins played drums on five of the album's eight songs (as he did on Pictures at Eleven). On two tracks former Jethro Tull drummer Barriemore Barlow performed and on the closing track, "Big Log", Gerald Woodroffe programmed a Roland TR-808 drum machine.
Like Plant's debut solo studio album, Pictures at Eleven (1982), the songs departed from the hard rock sound of Led Zeppelin. Following the strength of these albums, Plant launched a successful tour in 1983. Collins was the drummer for Plant's band for the North American portion of the tour. Collins was content to perform in the background, despite his own enormous success as a solo artist and with Genesis at the time. Little Feat's Richie Hayward played drums for the remaining dates.
Rhino Entertainment released a remastered edition of the album, with bonus tracks, on 3 April 2007.
Promotional music videos The music video for "Big Log" was shot at the following locations: Crystal Road, Crystal, Nevada (gas station sequences), the Amargosa Opera House, Death Valley Junction, California (driving and "feather" sequence), Calico School House (Calico Ghost Town) Yermo, California (schoolhouse sequence), Glass Pool Inn, Las Vegas, Nevada (pool sequence). The bar sequence is believed to have been shot at a small bar in Shoshone, California (now the Crow Bar Cafe & Saloon), though this is unconfirmed.
A video for "In the Mood" was also produced.
Tour In 1983, Robert Plant went on a tour to promote the album, starting on 26 August in Peoria, Illinois, and ending on 1 October in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Tour dates26 August 1983: Peoria, Illinois – Peoria Civic Center 27 August 1983: Kalamazoo, Michigan – Wings Stadium 29 August 1983: Rosemont, Illinois – Rosemont Horizon 30 August 1983: St. Louis, Missouri – Kiel Auditorium 31 August 1983: Milwaukee – MECCA Arena 3 September 1983: Detroit – Joe Louis Arena 4 September 1983: Cleveland, Ohio (Richfield) – Richfield Coliseum 6 September 1983: Worcester, Massachusetts – The Centrum 8 September 1983: Montreal – Montreal Forum 9 September 1983: Buffalo, New York – Buffalo Memorial Auditorium 10 September 1983: Toronto – Maple Leaf Gardens 12 September 1983: New York City – Madison Square Garden 13 September 1983: Hartford, Connecticut – Hartford Civic Center 14 September 1983: Philadelphia – The Spectrum 16 September 1983: Memphis, Tennessee – Mid-South Coliseum 18 September 1983: Biloxi, Mississippi – Mississippi Coast Coliseum 20 September 1983: Houston, Texas – The Summit 21 September 1983: Austin, Texas – Frank Erwin Center 22 September 1983: Dallas – Reunion Arena 24 September 1983: Denver, Colorado – McNichols Arena 27 September 1983: Los Angeles (Inglewood) – The Forum 28 September 1983: Oakland, California – Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 30 September 1983: Seattle – Seattle Center Coliseum 1 October 1983: Vancouver, BC – Pacific Coliseum
Track listing
Live tracks: recorded at The Summit in Houston, Texas on 20 September 1983.
Personnel Robert Plant – vocals Jezz Woodroffe – keyboards, synthesizers, Roland TR-808 (8) Robbie Blunt – guitars Bob Mayo – guitars (9–11) Paul Martinez – bass guitar Phil Collins – drums (1–3, 5–6, 8, all bonus tracks) Barriemore Barlow – drums (4, 7) John David – backing vocals Ray Martinez – backing vocals
Production Robert Plant – producer, mixing Benji Lefevre – producer, mixing Pat Moran – producer, mixing, engineer Storm Thorgerson – sleeve design APP – sleeve design
Remastering credits Dan Hersch – remastering (1–8) Bill Inglot – remastering (1–8) Raj Das – remastering and renovating (9–12) Nicola Powell – supervision Bill Curbishley – management Ed Vulliamy – liner notes DigiPrep (Hollywood, California, USA) and RAK Studios (London, UK) – remastering locations
Chart performance
Weekly charts +Weekly chart performance for The Principle of MomentsChartPeakpositionAustralian Albums (Kent Music Report)10New Zealand Albums Chart1Swedish Albums Chart41
Year-end charts +1983 year-end chart performance for The Principle of MomentsChart (1983)PositionAustralian Albums Chart41
+1984 year-end chart performance for The Principle of MomentsChart (1984)PositionAustralian Albums Chart83
Certifications
References
External links
Rockfield Studios Discography on the Robert Plant Homepage (not an official site) Big Log video