(July 2021) Episode 341 is JOAN JETT (and The Blackhearts). Your health demands an infusion of pure, unadulterated rock-n-roll from time to time, and Joan Jett provides that, with a tasty helping of snarl. But as with much straight-ahead rock, it can become tedious.
Favorite album: Bad Reputation
Favorite song: Bad Reputation
Best late-period album: Sinner
Best collaboration: Evil Stig (with The Gits)
Compared to expectations: same
(July 2021) Episode 339 is WEIRD AL YANKOVIC. Simply put, he is a genius. There is no shortage of parody/satire music out there (esp. in the social media age) but Weird Al is the master and has been so for decades. His albums (and videos) are consistently clever, current and on point. I LOLd often. And his original songs are not only funny but show him to be a talented pop/rock songwriter (ex: Skipper Dan). Extra points for doing it clean and not resorting to prurience or profanity (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I look forward to the polka medleys.
Favorite album: Straight Outta Lynwood
Favorite song: Jurassic Park
Compared to expectations: ↑
(March 2021) Episode 325 is THE BAND. Nobody doesn’t love The Band. They brought stories of the working man and the downtrodden — long at the heart of the blues, country and folk — into an unadorned rock format, synthesized into what we now call American roots rock (or more accurately North American roots rock, given that 4/5th were Canadian). Go watch The Last Waltz too.
Favorite album: The Band
Favorite song: Up On Cripple Creek
Favorite Ballad: It Makes No Difference
Compared to expectations: same
(March 2021) Episode 323 is THE ESSEX GREEN. Another fine indie band from the Elephant 6 world, with a little more folk and country tones than others in the cohort. “Everything Is Green” is an excellent homage to 60s baroque psychedelic pop, and “Primrose” sounds more like the Zombies than anything else I can think of.
Favorite album: Everything Is Green
Favorite song: Primrose
Compared to expectations: same
(March 2021) Episode 322 is VANILLA FUDGE. They made their mark with heavy, slowed, over-wrought versions of contemporary pop songs (you may recognize their version of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”) and, oddly, it still kinda holds up. I prefer the albums with more original material. Their heavy sound, slathered like so much fudge in Hammond organ and fuzzy guitars, helped birth heavy metal. You can hear it most immediately in Deep Purple’s early work, and Mark Stein’s vibrato vocals presaged the operatic style of Bruce Dickinson el at.
Favorite album: Renaissance
Favorite song: Good Good Lovin’
Compared to expectations: same
(February 2021) Episode 318 is SHOCKING BLUE. The Netherlands’ top contribution to the psychedelic explosion of the late 1960s, Shocking Blue is most famous for “Venus” (you know, covered by Bananarama). They put out several decent albums of rock songs with a somewhat groovy/hippie vibe.
Favorite album: Inkpot
Favorite song: Shadows
Compared to expectations: same
(February 2021) Episode 314 is OF MONTREAL. I like most anything that comes out of the Elephant 6 collective, but of Montreal was overall a disappointment. They start out in typical E6 fashion — lo-fi, Beatles-philic songs — followed by a couple of Kinks-esque, music hall-style, baroque pop albums, all with quirky song titles and lyrics. But after that it’s mostly synth-laden electro-pop stuff that did not interest me.
Favorite song: Doing Nothing
Favorite instrumental song: The Gay Parade
Compared to expectations: ↓
Episode 308 of the “opus project” is AMON DÜÜL. Core Krautrock, and I love it. They started as a German art commune experimental drug circle, but then spun off into a more musically proficient unit, known as Amon Düül II, which made the essential early 70s Krautrock recordings. Another spin-off was called Amon Düül UK in the 80s. It’s hard to describe this music; it’s within the bounds of rock music but is thoroughly unconventional.
Favorite album: Yeti
Favorite song: Phallus Dei
Best Amon Düül I album: Disaster
Best Amon Düül UK album: Hawk Meets Penguin
Compared to expectations: ↑
Episode 305 is BEULAH. Another fine band from the Elephant 6 label (although they are from San Francisco not Athens, GA) delivering its characteristic sound of 60s-inspired melodic pop rock and lo-fi indie style. Very puzzling that I didn’t catch on until now.
Favorite album: When Your Heartstrings Break
Favorite song: Score from Augusta
Compared to expectations: ↑
(December 2020) Episode 302 is BELLE AND SEBASTIAN. They’ve always seemed like the iconic indie band to me. If you can get past Stuart Murdoch’s twee vocals you’ll find an abundance of catchy, melodic pop songs. And as they moved into the 00s and 10s they expanded their vocalists, instrumentation and styles, so it never gets stale.
Favourite album: The Life Pursuit
Favourite song: White Collar Boy
Best song that mentions the San Francisco Giants: Piazza, New York Catcher
Best non-album single and wannabe Austin Powers soundtrack: Legal Man
Compared to expectations: ↑
Opus Project 