Category: Episodes

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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697. Mission of Burma

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(December 2025) Episode 697 is MISSION OF BURMA. The last episode was on Roger Miller, so naturally I turn to the other Roger Miller, frontman for Mission of Burma. They were big in Boston in the early 80s and apparently a very loud live act. This is post-punk: more of a raucous sonic assault than traditional rock but less aggressive and fast than punk. I wasn’t into it at the time, and while I’ve become more exposed, I’m less sold than I think should be. Mission of Burma had a brief recording career, but reunited in the Oughts with some good albums, notably The Obliterati.

Favorite album: vs.

Favorite song: Max Ernst

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The first EP and LP are their core sound, but the later albums are surprisingly good for a reunited band.

696. Roger Miller

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(December 2025) Episode 696 is ROGER MILLER. I’ve always admired his “King of the Road” as an exceptional feat of songwriting — concise storytelling, simple yet tuneful. His style gets him labelled as a country artist although he made his mark with novelty songs like “Dang Me!” His voice was plain but could be subtly wry, putting some charm into his honky-tonk flavor.

Favorite album: The Third Time Around

Favorite song: King of the Road

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: A greatest hits disc will do

695. The Beat / General Public

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(November 2025) Episode 695 is THE (English) BEAT. One will observe the lack of 80s pop/rock acts in the Project. This is because I spent my teens rejecting music popular with peers while adhering to classic rock orthodoxy. The Beat is an group I didn’t hate, but I didn’t listen to them because others did. Their new wave/ska mixture is very distinctive for its time and place but, as the three Beat albums in the last decade by, separately, Ranking Roger and Dave Wakeling show, it does not sound dated. By the time they morphed into GENERAL PUBLIC, the obligatory 80s synths and gated drums were added, which turns me off.

Favourite album: I Just Can’t Stop It

Favourite song: Mirror in the Bathroom

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The three original Beat albums are decent, especially for a certain 80s nostalgia.

694. Kittie

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(November 2025) Episode 694 is KITTIE, an all-female heavy metal group from Canada. Their first album (1999) has a nu metal feel but they move into punishing death metal, except for their fourth album which is a departure in a more melodic direction. Vocalist Monica alternates between clean singing and throat screaming. It’s simultaneously intense and fun music.

Favorite album: In the Black

Favorite song: Ugly

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Try Spit for the nu stuff, or I recommend In the Black and Fire for death fare.