On this episode we tackle the Rolling Stones 1968 LP Beggars Banquet. 1968 was a tumultuous year for much of the world and a transitional time  for  the Rolling Stones. Their founder and original leader, Brian Jones,  was  increasingly absent due to his drug use, and their long-time  manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham had grown disinterested in the band  due to his own drug and alcohol use, leaving them to produce their next   album on their own. The result, 1967's Their Satanic Majesties...

On this episode of the podcast, we discuss Spirit and their fourth album Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus. The band Spirit sports an impressive pedigree. Drummer Ed Cassidy (20 years older than the rest of the band) was an established jazz musician, having played drums with many jazz greats throughout the 1940s and 1950s.  His stepson Randy California (né Randy Wolfe) was a young guitar prodigy, who at 15 years old impressed Jimi Hendrix enough to be asked to join his band Jimmy James and...

This week, we dig into the debut LP by the Scottish jangle pop band Aztec Camera , 1983's High Land, Hard Rain. The creative force behind the band was Roddy Frame, a fine singer, remarkable guitarist, and very gifted songwriter, who started his career at 15, and was 18 when this album was recorded.  Completed in just three weeks, the album is filled with wonderful pop songs that touch on jazz and soul, and often defy categorization. Upon its release it was a commercial success in the UK and...

On this week's episode we look a one of the finest songwriters to come out of Texas, Guy Clark, and his 1975 debut LP Old No. 1.  While Clark is considered one of the great county and folk songwriters of the latter half of the 20th Century, he is also one of the least appreciated when it comes to recording his own songs. On Old No. 1, he records his own songs, many of which had already been made famous by the likes of the Everly Brothers and Jerry Jeff Walker, among many others. Originally...

On this weeks episode, we take on a big LP, the 1979 monster hit by Supertramp, Breakfast in America. Supertramp struggled early in their career to find an audience. The two main song writers brought different strengths to the band. Founding member Rick Davies leaned more to the progressive rock side of things, where as Roger Hodgson was more pop oriented.  Every album after their breakout LP Crime of the Century showed them gaining popularity. But Breakfast in America is their magnum opus....

On this weeks episode, we take a listen to the second LP by one of the foundational bands of 1970's power pop: Fresh by the the Raspberries. The Raspberries were an intentional antithesis to everything that was going  on in the early Seventies. Instead of focusing on the extended (and as they saw it, self-indulgent) musical jams, the Raspberries would craft three-and-a-half-minute pop songs that leaned heavily on early British Invasion groups like the Beatles, the Who and the Kinks. Fresh,...

On this week's episode, we discuss Beck and his twelfth studio album, 2014’s Morning Phase.  Beck is known for embracing a wide-range of genres, to include folk, lo-fi, funk, soul, hip hop, electronic, alternative rock, country, and psychedelia (just to name a few). He often glides between genres on the same album, and sometimes even on the same song. What makes Morning Phase stand out is Beck’s willingness to maintain a beautiful consistency throughout.  Beck has traveled similar ground...

When Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood started hanging out and jamming together after the dissolution of their previous bands (Cream and Traffic respectively), there was no set plan to start a band together. That changed when Cream drummer Ginger Baker joined the fun. With the addition of bassist Ric Grech from the band Family, Blind Faith was born.   Their one and only album combined the best (and sometimes the worst) of both Cream and Traffic. It doesn’t always work, but when it does it...

On this week's episode, we dig into Pete Townshend's official debut solo LP, 1980's Empty Glass. As the main songwriter for The Who, Pete Townshend crafted songs that let singer Roger Daultrey flex his powerful voice and lets the rhythm section stretch out and indulge their bombastic sides. But on Empty Glass, Townshend is able to show that he can write songs that require a softer, perhaps more nimble, touch. His voice is sweet, almost delicate in places, but its the musicianship where...

On this episode, we turn our attention to one of the most successful bands from the late 1960s and early 1970's, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and what is considered by many their masterpiece, Cosmo's Factory. 1970 was a fertile year for music. While the English Invasion was still dominating the airwaves and the psychedelic scene was still influencing everything from movies to fashion to music, CCR formed  near the center of all that was "happening" and making music that hearkened back to a...

On this week's episode we discuss Sunflower, the1970 LP by the Beach Boys.  The Beach Boys' songwriting was mainly Brian Wilson's department, especially after their masterpiece, Pet Sounds. But on 1970's Sunflower, all members contributed to the songwriting, instrumentation, vocals (with some help from other background singers and members of the great Wrecking Crew ), and even the production. And they are fine contributions indeed. Though this was their lowest selling album at the time of...

This week's podcast is a listener's pick and boy are we grateful to have it be Shake Some Action by the Flamin' Groovies.  Shake Some Action   is nothing short of a power pop masterpiece. With its British Invasion vibe, it's hard to believe it came from 1976. There a bunch of great covers, including one that goes back to 1914.  But it's the  originals where the band shines. The songs are full of hooks and great harmonies, that will make you want to dance or sing a long at the the top of your...

On this week's episode, we revisit an artist we discussed during our first season  - Van Morrison when we talked about his 1974 album Veedon Fleece.  This time we discuss his 1986 LP No Guru. No Method, No Teacher.  Morrison is known for making albums rich in spiritual themes and Celtic lore. Around the time of No Guru, he was also writing songs from the perspective of a curmudgeonly angry guy complaining that "copycats have ripped off his songs". While this album has more than it should of...

On this week's episode, we explore the 1973 LP by one of progressive rock’s most interesting (and entertaining) bands, Selling England by the Pound by Genesis.  Considered by many to be the best album of the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis, it is definitely the most accessible, and even gave the band their first Top 40 single int he UK with “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) which peaked just shy of the Top 20.  The overall theme of the album laments the Americanization and...

On this week's episode, we discuss the debut album by Kris Kristofferson 1970's Kristofferson.  A man of many talents, Kris Kristofferson is a scholar,  an athlete, a pilot, an actor, a performer, and most importantly, one of country music's most beloved (and most successful) songwriters.  On par with Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, and John Prine, he has penned some of country music's most endearing songs.  Many of the songs on this album have been covered before and since this album was made,...

This week it is another listerner's pick as we dig into the debut solo LP by Texas music legend Doug Sahm, 1972’s Doug Sahm and Band. Doug Sahm was by all accounts a musical prodigy, having mastered the guitar, steel guitar, mandolin, and fiddle by age 8. Born and raised in San Antonio, TX, Sahm was attracted to a variety of music: blues from the black clubs of his neighborhood, the  horn heavy conjunto music of the west side, country, polka, rock n' roll, really anything that had soul....

On this week's episode, we discuss Tomorrow, the criminally underappreciated 1968 self-titled debut album by the band Tomorrow. Mostly known as a band that featured future Yes guitarist, Steve Howe.  Alongside bands like Pink Floyd and the Soft Machine,  Tomorrow was a pillar of the British underground scene, and their song "My White Bicycle" was considered by many to be its its anthem.  While heralded by critics, the album saw little success (an almost year long delay in its release didn't...

On this week's episode, we discuss the Band and their second LP, The Band (also affectionately known as the Brown Album).  With 50 plus years having passed, its difficult to understand the impact the Band had on the music industry, but it was HUGE.  It is also hard to find a band that incorporated more American music traditions into their sound than the Band did, which is odd when you consider all but one of the members was Canadian. After years of honing their skills in individual groups,...

On this weeks episode, we dive deep into the history of British rock legends Ten Years After and discuss their iconic 1971 album "A Space In Time." Their first record for new label Columbia showcased a notable shift towards a more acoustic and melodic direction compared to their previous works. Alvin Lee, widely regarded as the Flash Gordon of guitar, delivered some of his most memorable guitar licks throughout the record.  This collection also includes the instantly recognizable number, "I'd...

On this weeks episode, its another listerner's pick! We give listen to  1978's Heaven Tonight, Cheap Trick's third  studio album,  and considered by many to be their best.  Having explored their harder rock side on their self-titled debut, and embracing their power pop leaning on their second LP In Color, Heaven Tonight finds the band finding a happy middle ground between both to fantastic results.  From the opener fantastic "Surrender", an ode to the generation gap (considered one of the...

This week we look at The Stranger, Billy Joel’s 1978 tour de force.  Teaming up with producer Phil Ramone for his fifth LP The Stranger,  Billy Joel finally found the critical and commercial success that had eluded him previously.  Recorded with his own band, the album represents Joel at the pinnacle of his art. Containing such Joel standards as "Just the Way You Are", "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)", "Only the Good Die Young", and "She's Always a Woman"; as well as fan favorites "Scenes from...

This week we talk about Five Days in July, the fifth album by the Canadian country-rock band, Blue Rodeo.  Formed in 1984 by high school pals Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, Blue Rodeo became mainstays of the country and roots-rock revival in Toronto during the mid-1980s.  In 1993, the band gathered  at Greg Keelor’s farmhouse to begin work on their next album, Five Days In July , which was actually recorded in five days. Bucking the trend of popular music at the time (grunge anyone?) the band...

On this week’s episode, we dig into the eponymous third album by the “Queen of Americana” 1988’s Lucinda Williams.  After a move to California, Lucinda Williams found herself in the middle of a burgeoning roots rock scene, where traditional music was being performed with a punk-rock attitude. She formed a band of ace musicians and began making a name for herself as part of the scene. Eventually signed by Rough Trade after several labels passed, Williams recorded a self-titled LP that is the...

On this week’s episode, its another “Listener Pick,” the band and LP that gave the world Glam Rock: 1971’s Electric Warrior,  the second album by T. Rex. Marc Bolan, T-Rex's charismatic front man played a pivotal role in early 70’s British rock. Forming the folk-rock duo/band Tyrannosaurus Rex, Bolan would embrace the shortened moniker “T. Rex” at the dawn of the 1970’s, as well as a more flamboyant look, attitude, and sound, essentially ushering in the Glam Rock era. Bolan and T. Rex...