I agree completely that "Anniversary" drags and is disjointed. The first time I listened to it, I almost didn't make it through the long intro. Once I did and listened to the whole song, I liked the way the dragging feel of the music could be a metaphor for this man's dragging his sadness and memories around with him when he doesn't want to. The song made me sad...so I liked it!
"Your Ma Said You Cried in Your Sleep Last Night"-- I felt it showed Robert Plant was venturing out to try different styles rather than just locking himself into one sound, so I appreciated that about the song.
I wasn't aware that musicians didn't *always* select their own singles (I assumed they did)! I also wasn't aware of your flopped thread. Ah. Now I see it. You and you had a nice little conversation there.
I feel that thread topic is a good one. It's one I haven't thought about before. If Robert Plant *did* choose "Hurting Kind" to be a single, then I feel he made a good choice.
P.S. I can't find the Deep Purple song video with a roller coaster in it! Which is it?