Episode 683 of the “opus project” is HIGH TIDE. Among the bands that adopted a heavy sound in the late 1960s that came to be seen as influences on metal, you can’t do much better than the UK’s High Tide, or at least their first album Sea Shanties. It’s a quality experience, not unlike if Jim Morrison were the lead singer of Iron Butterfly. But they didn’t last long. Their second album was proto-prog aided by a violin as a main instrument. There was a synth-heavy recording in the 1980s and several releases of live performances of extended jams, none of which is interesting.

Favourite album: Sea Shanties

Favourite song: Futilist’s Lament

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Sea Shanties is the only good thing

Episode 677 of the “opus project” is MA RAINEY. Known as the “Mother of the Blues” for her popularity in the early decades of the 20^th century. She had a tough, powerful voice that carried over jazz-instrumented blues songs. It’s “old-timey.” Gertrude “Ma” Rainey recorded over only six years of her career, but that leaves us plenty of songs.

Favorite song: Booze and Blues

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Her work is handily compiled into a 4-volume package.

(August 2025) Episode 667 is DWIGHT YOAKAM. He emerged in the 1980s as a throwback to the basics of honky tonk and Bakersfield when country music was doing other things. The recent episode on Buck Owens gave me an appreciation of that style, so moving to Yoakam seemed natural. While I didn’t listen to his music back in the day, I did sense that his image was genuine rather than phony. In his 20-some recordings over the years he has shifted his style but always comes back to his roots. He does a respectful job covering others’ songs.

Favorite album: Buenos Noches from a Lonely Room

Favorite song: Guitars, Cadillacs

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The first three albums seem pretty classic. 2012’s 3 Pears is a good later one.

Episode 653 is AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS. If Courtney Barnett fronted a punk band, it might sound like Amyl and the Sniffers. Maybe it’s Amy Taylor’s talk(scream)/sing vocal style in an Australian accent. They bring a lot of energy (from their live shows reportedly) to the recordings, especially on the first album, which brings a good punch of throwback-y punk/garage rock.

Favourite album: Amyl and the Sniffers

Favourite song: Starfire 500

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The first eponymous album.

(May 2025) Episode 651 is TOWER OF POWER, the horn-driven funk/soul band out of the East Bay, California, and expressively proud of it. They reached their peak in the mid-70s (with Lenny Williams on vocals) but have kept up to the present day, in part because the horn section has had its own life backing up many famous artists over the years. When they get funky, it’s good funk. But the soul pop and ballads don’t quite bite, so I can’t put them on my A-list of 70s funk/soul acts. Horn aficionados will love them though.

Favorite album: Urban Renewal

Favorite song: What is Hip?

Favorite instrumental: Walkin’ Up Hip Street

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The four albums from 1973 to 1975 (Tower of Power to In the Slot)

(December 2024) Episode 618 is GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS. There are only two groups who can ever be called the biggest bands out of Liverpool. The first was Gerry and the Pacemakers, who hit the charts slightly before those other lads. Their mix of peppy guitar pop and sweet ballads helped define the Merseybeat sound. Their sound is very similar to the Beatles’ first couple of albums – unsurprising as they were managed by Brian Epstein and produced by George Martin. They were even given their own “Hard Day’s Night” film/soundtrack project: Ferry Cross the Mersey. Gerry Marsden was their only singer, though, and they suffered in comparison to the Beatles’ three-part harmony. And once the UK’s center of musical gravity shifted to the London R&B bands, the Pacemakers’ sound fell out of fashion ad they broke up. But they live on at every Liverpool FC* home match when fans chant the team anthem, the Pacemakers’ version of “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Favourite album: Ferry Cross the Mersey

Favourite song: It’s Gonna Be Alright

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: If you’re looking at one album, try Ferry Cross the Mersey, but a greatest hits package will capture their peppy early chart toppers like “I Like It” and “How Do You Do It?”

* this Everton FC fan says boo.

(November 2024) Episode 613 is NAILS, a contemporary extreme metal/punk band that exists in that liminal space between hardcore punk and thrash and death metal, at times called grindcore. Whatever the label, it’s a mack truck of howls and thunder riffs hitting your face at 100 mph. Displaying its punk side, the songs are short, giving you time to take a breath between.

Favorite album: You Will Never Be One Of Us

Favorite song: Into Quietus

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: If you like things at the extreme, this may be for you.

(February 2024) Episode 546 is MELVINS. It’s difficult describe their sound, so let’s start where they started. The first recordings of this Washington state band in the 1980s had a heavy rock sound, with drop-D tunings jumping back and forth to the third fret, with a somewhat anarchic vocal style. This was grunge before grunge and sludge metal before sludge metal. So Melvins are credited as a key influence for both genres, although their subsequent two dozen+ albums defy either label. Low sludgy guitars are the regular feature throughout, but how they’re used varies. Styles shift within and among albums: various metal, hard rock, experimental, noise, sound collages, pop punk, country punk, and some clever covers. Amidst all this, they sound like they’re having a lot of fun, which is the glue that holds together what otherwise might come off as haphazard affairs.

Favorite album: The Maggot (1999)

Favorite song: Amazon (part 3)

Favorite early album: Ozma (1989)

Favorite later album: Working with God (2021)

Favorite cover song: I Fuck Around

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: I picked The Maggot as my favorite as it offers the most consistent heavy sludge/stoner grooves, but that may be my preference. There’s so much weird stuff here that you’ll have to explore on your own.