Author: ernopepper

707. The O’Jays

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(February 2026) Episode 707 is THE O’JAYS. With roots in 1950s R&B, success in the 1970s and a long recording career, the O’Jays charted a path similar to the Spinners and the Manhattans from recent episodes. And they all represent Philadelphia Soul with a smooth, often string-accompanied sound. They are most widely known for “Love Train” and “For the Love of Money,” a good piece of funk (and tv commercial jingles). Their 1970s albums (their best) feature socially conscious themes, followed by a disco phase and then on through 80s and 90s soul trends.

Favorite album: Back Stabbers

Favorite song: When the World’s at Peace

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The four albums from 1972 to 1975 are the best.

706. Alexander Borodin

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(February 2026) Episode 706 is ALEXANDER BORODIN. A Russian composer in the mid-19th century, he was one of “The Five” (Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, et al) composers dedicated to creating a Russian style of classical music (akin to what others were doing around Europe during the blooming of nationalist sentiment). His output wasn’t large as he died young and had a day job as a chemist. You’ll probably recognize the “Polovtsian dances” from his opera Prince Igor. Considering that and his In the Steppes of Central Asia, it’s not surprising his work has evocative characteristics. I like his chamber pieces best.

Favorite piece: String Quartet No. 2 (esp. 3rd movement)

Master work: Prince Igor (opera)

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Polovtsian dances is charming as its own piece. Try the string quartets and quintets

705. Jimmy Cliff

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(January 2026) Episode 705 is JIMMY CLIFF. I started this episode after his recent passing. I never knew much about him so it was fun to learn about his music and eventful life. He and Bob Marley are the two most responsible for popularizing reggae beyond Jamaica. But Cliff had a wider musical palette, going into pop styles and multiple collaborations with other diverse artists. His recording output was rather prolific, his last album coming only a few years ago.

Favorite album: The Harder They Come

Favorite song: Wonderful World, Beautiful People

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The early 70s seem to be his peak period.

704. The Boomtown Rats

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(January 2026) Episode 704 is THE BOOMTOWN RATS. I also started this episode while in Ireland. You may recognize their one U.S. hit, the piano ode “I Don’t Like Mondays.” Americans will likely recognize frontman Bob Geldof from his humanitarian activism through Band Aid and Live Aid, and for starring as Pink in the movie version of The Wall. The Dublin-based group came up in the 70s punk era, and their first album has an angular, snotty, post-punk feel. But their direction was pointing to the mainstream, and subsequent albums offer serviceable but unremarkable 80s pop/rock songs.

Favourite album: The Boomtown Rats

Favourite song: Lookin’ After No. 1

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The first two albums have some post-punk/new wave energy, but I found nothing interesting in the rest.

703. Booker T. & the M.G.’s

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(January 2026) Episode 703 is BOOKER T. & THE M.G.’s. I started this following the death of guitarist Steve Cropper. Most of us recognize them for their 1962 hit “Green Onions” (an accidental one; it grew out of a jam). Their major contribution to music was in the development of Memphis soul as the house band for Stax Records (backing Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Sam & Dave among others). They did put out a bunch of albums in the 1960s and 1970s, with almost exclusively instrumental tracks, some of which charted. I admit that much of this comes off as incidental music, especially the 60s records, and instrumental covers of popular songs. But that shouldn’t diminish our estimation of them.

Favorite album: Melting Pot

Favorite song: Chicken Pox

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The first album Green Onions features cool R&B and Melting Pot is their funkiest. Also check out McLemore Avenue, their distinctive take on Abbey Road.

702. The Caretaker

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(January 2026) Episode 702 is THE CARETAKER, a project by UK electronic artist LEYLAND KIRBY who also released under the name THE STRANGER. The Caretaker is the name under which Kirby released a series of recordings exploring memory and its deterioration, sparked by the fact that music is one of the last things that triggers recognition in dementia sufferers. This effort was most fully explored in the evocative six-part Everywhere at the End of Time, featuring manipulation of ballroom music from the 1920s-30s, the kind of songs that would linger most deeply in the mind of an Alzheimers patient. This flowed from an earlier work, the first issued as The Caretaker, called Selected Memories from the Haunted Ballroom based on that iconic scene from The Shining. Beyond The Caretaker, Kirby also released works of a more ambient or drone nature, including the 4-hour Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was and the 10-hour The Death of Rave – excellent background music for studying or reading.

Favourite work: An Empty Bliss Beyond This World

Master work: Everywhere at the End of Time (1-6)

Best ambient music to chill by: Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: All of this is good background music even if much is melancholic. Try Everywhere for the quality of its art because I find it conveys what is intended.

701. Taste

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(January 2026) Episode 701 is TASTE. Continuing my tour of late-60s heavy rock bands, I turn to a band from Ireland, where I was visiting when I started this episode. Taste, a power trio, modeled themselves after Cream, and they sound like them, albeit without the prolific skill. Some may know them as the first band of Rory Gallagher, considered the first rock star of Ireland. They recorded two albums with good doses of heavy mostly blues rock, as well as a very forgettable album in the 2000s.

Favourite album: On the Boards

Favourite song: Blister on the Moon

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The two 1969-70 albums are mostly for deep divers of the period.

700. The Tubes

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(January 2026) Episode 700 is THE TUBES. When asked which band I would like to have seen live, I list The Tubes near the top, given their reputation for wildness, role playing and parody. Unsurprisingly, their first albums reflect this theatrical quality, often with lampooning lyrics and song titles, epitomized by “White Punks on Dope.” It evokes the stuff Zappa was putting out in the mid-1970s. As the 1980s approached, they shifted to strive for radio/MTV hits, with successes like “Talk to Ya Later” and “She’s a Beauty.” (This was probably the first time in 40+ years I’d heard “Sushi Girl” and “Tip of my Tongue,” but I still sang along!). All in all, they don’t leave much of a legacy. The energy they gave to live shows doesn’t well translate to album, and the later albums are unremarkable 80s pop/rock.

Favorite album: The Tubes

Favorite song: What Do You Want From Life

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The first two albums provide some parodic moments and maybe pull up some of those singles for nostalgia, but that’s it.

699. Harry Belafonte

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(December 2025) Episode 699 of the “opus project” is HARRY BELAFONTE. In music, he is primarily known for popularizing calypso music with songs like “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” and “Jump in the Line,” although he successfully applied his silky voice to a range of styles including standards, show tunes, gospel, pop and Christmas. Calypso is evocative of a time and place, and I still chuckle that some predicted it would become the New Thing instead of rock-and-roll. Otherwise a lot of his recordings are in that 50s-60s saccharine pop style that I’m not a fan of. But much of his stature comes beyond music — acting in films, organizing within the civil rights and anti-Apartheid movements, and his social justice and humanitarian work.

Favorite album: Swing Dat Hammer

Favorite song: Jamaica Farewell

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The albums Calypso and Jump Up Calypso cover that style, but I prefer him singing blues, folk, and gospel, such as on Swing Dat Hammer and Ballads Blues and Boasters

698. The Edgar Broughton Band

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(December 2025) Episode 698 is the EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND. I came upon them in a list of UK bands considered precursors of heavy metal. They heavy bass and fuzzy guitar place them among the many acts putting out psychedelic/bluesey music in 1968-69. At times Edgar sings in a gravelly Howlin’ Wolf voice, making his band an answer to the question: what would it sound like if Captain Beefheart played with Iron Butterfly? In fact, they mashed up Beefheart’s “Drop Out Boogie” with the Shadows’ “Apache” to create “Apache Dropout.”  The first two albums had a manic quality, evoking the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. But rather than follow peers into boogie rock riches, they mellowed out, producing some good songs (“Hotel Room” would fit right in on Pink Floyd’s Obscured by Clouds), but mostly rather bland stuff. A reformed band put out a synthy concept album, Superchip, in 1982, which has a strange allure.

Favourite album: Sing Brother Sing

Favourite song: Death of an Electric Citizen

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The first two albums are good, if odd, period pieces, but all of this is admittedly for deep divers.

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