(December 2022) Episode 461 is THE SHINS. They are a textbook representation of the duality of 2000s indie rock: songs melodic enough to be enjoyable, yet delivered in a twee manner that makes them not so enjoyable. By the 2010s, their music becomes burdened by the application of lush over-production typical of the era.
Favorite album: Oh, Inverted World
Favorite song: New Slang
Compared to expectations: ↓
Recommendation: only the first album has any semblance of charm
(December 2022) Episode 460 is BUFFALO, a heavy rock outfit from Australia from the mid-1970s. The emphasis here is on the heavy – primal, sludgy, ponderous grooves – with a special mention to Dave Tice’s vocals which sound uncannily like Chris Cornell two decades later. Good stuff.
Favourite album: Volcanic Rock
Favourite song: Freedom
Compared to expectations: ↑
Recommendation: the first three albums are rather good
(December 2022) Episode 456 is JORMA KAUKONEN and HOT TUNA. Jorma has been my favorite member of Jefferson Airplane for his finger-picking guitar style (on JA songs “Embryonic Journey” and “Third Week on the Chelsea” and his solo album “Quah”) and his amiable singing voice. Most of his albums are in the folk/blues/Americana vein and enjoyable, while the pop ones, not so much. Hot Tuna started out as a blues-rock JA side gig with bassist Jack Casady and has endured through five decades of touring, also generally enjoyable.
Favorite solo album: Quah
Favorite solo song: Genesis
Favorite Hot Tuna album: America’s Choice
Favorite Hot Tuna song: Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning
Compared to expectations: same
Recommendation: if you like finger-style guitar as I do, you’ll like Jorma
(November 2022) Episode 451 is THE SAINTS. What the Sex Pistols were to the UK and the Ramones to the US, the Saints were to Australia. In fact, they beat all the UK punk bands to vinyl. Their debut album ((I’m) Stranded) absolutely slays, prime punk with propulsive tempo and snarling vocals. But they tempered their sound on the second album with a horn section, and the remainder of their long recording career was variations of pop/rock. They attained legend status in Australia, but only that first disc grabbed me.
Favourite album: (I’m) Stranded
Favourite song: (I’m) Stranded
Compared to expectations: ↓
Recommendation: just the first album
(November 2022) Episode 450 is SPACEMEN 3. They’re labeled neo-psychedelic (perhaps for their ample drug use) but I hear them as noise rock — a transformative band, molding elements of MC5, the Stooges and Lou Reed and creating sounds you hear later in shoegazers (My Bloody Valentine) and sonic adventurers (Yo La Tengo). Few if anyone else was doing this in the 1980s, and I regret not knowing them then. But beyond the noise, Spacemen 3 offered surprisingly infectious low-structure songs, the kind of stuff you’ll hear with Spiritualized (not surprising, since Jason Pierce led both), Brian Jonestown Massacre and Beta Band.
Favourite album: Playing with Fire
Favourite song: Suicide
Compared to expectations: ↑
Recommendation: strongly recommend. Beautiful noise: Suicide, Revolution, Rollercoaster. Low-structure songs: Come Down Easy, How Does it Feel?, Hypnotized, I Love You
Episode 448 is QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE, one of the bands from the San Francisco scene alongside the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape. They had a couple minor radio hits but offer less than those bands. In fact, as I listen to more of the Greatest Era of Music (1965-69), I’ve soured on the San Francisco Sound. Too much noodling and despite the label it’s not actually psychedelic.
Favorite album: Quicksilver Messenger Service
Favorite song: Pride of Man
Compared to expectations: ↓
Recommendation: avoid, unless you’re interested in who was smoking grass with Airplane
(October 2022) Episode 443 is THE VINES. I see them as the garage band version of the classic rock-stomping Jet, both emerging out of Australia 2002. The garage hooks were good but too few. They developed a lush, overproduced sound that presaged that of fellow Aussies Pond and Tame Impala.
Favourite album: Highly Evolved
Favourite song: Get Free
Compared to expectations: ↓
Recommendation: a few of their songs do slay
(September 2022) Episode 440 is THE ASSOCIATION. Sunshine pop with harmonies like a summer breeze. “Windy, “Cherish,” “Never My Love,” were AM rather than FM hits, putting them on the lighter side of my tastes of that time. But there are bits of psychedelia and baroque pop and it’s all 100% groovy. I’m happy to include them in my Shrine to the Greatest Era of Music (1965-69).
Favorite album: Insight Out
Favorite song: Never My Love
Compared to expectations: ↑
Recommendation: a greatest hits album will do
(September 2002) Episode 438 is NEW YORK DOLLS. Proto Punk + glam = should be in my wheelhouse. But for some reason they’re not, and I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe it’s because Johansen annoys me. They were a phenomenon, that’s for sure.
Favorite album: New York Dolls
Favorite song: Trash
Compared to expectations: ↓
Recommendation: the first album is all you need to know
(September 2022) Episode 436 is THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP. They’re best known as the launching pad for teen phenom Steve Winwood and a couple classic rock radio standards (Gimme Some Lovin’ and I’m a Man). But that’s about it. They traveled a familiar path for second-tier British Invasion acts – R&B, a psychedelic album and some early 70s boogie rock before fading.
Favourite album: With Their New Face On
Favourite song: Gimme Some Lovin’
Compared to expectations: same
Recommendation: just those two songs, although devoted connoisseurs of Brit psychedelia may want to check out With Their New Face On
Opus Project 