1001 Album Club

Latest Episodes:

269 Al Green - Lets Stay Together Aug 31, 2020

Show notes

A wonderful album showcasing Green’s dynamic soul singer whispers, animated cries, and riffing to enhance his already stirring delivery. Prior to this album, Al Green never had a number one song. The title track, “Let’s Stay Together,” achieved that status and held it for nine consecutive weeks.

268 War - The World Is a Ghetto Aug 27, 2020

Show notes

War’s third album as an act separate from Eric Burdon was also far and away their most popular, the group’s only long-player to top the pop charts. The culmination of everything they’d been shooting for creatively on their two prior albums, it featured work in both succinct pop-accessible idioms as well as challenging extended pieces such as the 13-minute “City, Country, City” and the title track, and encompassed not only soul and funk but elements of blues and psychedelia. – AllMusic Review by Bruce Eder

267 David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders Aug 24, 2020

Show notes

Described as a rock opera and also a loose concept album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is about Bowie’s titular alter ego Ziggy Stardust, a fictional androgynous bisexual rock star who acts as a messenger for extraterrestrial beings that would like to save the world but only have a limited time to do so. The narrative of the story quick dissolves but our love of this album does not.

266 The Temptations - All Directions Aug 20, 2020

Show notes

Papa was a rolling stone

265 Alice Cooper - School's Out Aug 17, 2020

Show notes

School’s Out catapulted Alice Cooper into the hard rock stratosphere, largely due to its timeless, all-time classic title track. But while the song became Alice’s highest-charting single ever (reaching number seven on the U.S. charts) and recalled the brash, three-and-a-half-minute garage rock of yore, the majority of the album signaled a more complex compositional directional for the band.

264 Roxy Music - Roxy Music Aug 13, 2020

Show notes

Falling halfway between musical primitivism and art rock ambition, Roxy Music’s eponymous debut remains a startling redefinition of rock’s boundaries. Simultaneously embracing kitschy glamour and avant-pop, Roxy Music shimmers with seductive style and pulsates with disturbing synthetic textures. – AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

263 Paul Simon - Paul Simon Aug 10, 2020

Show notes

If any musical justification were needed for the breakup of Simon & Garfunkel, it could be found on this striking collection, Paul Simon’s post-split debut. From the opening cut, “Mother and Child Reunion” (a Top Ten hit), Simon, who had snuck several subtle musical explorations into the generally conservative S&G sound, broke free. -AllMusic Review by William Ruhlmann

262 Nick Drake- Pink Moon Aug 06, 2020

Show notes

By 1970, Nick Drake had lost his passion for life and music. Island Records decided to stop paying him and he turned to prescription drugs and pot. His management said Drake smoked “unbelievable amounts of marijuana” and by 1974, the singer was completely out of the public eye. The last song Nick Drake wrote was called “Black Eyed Dog,” supposedly written about Winston Churchill’s description of depression. In 1974, Drake was found dead in his room at age 26, apparently from an overdose of antidepressant medication.

261 Tim Buckley - Greetings From LA Aug 03, 2020

Show notes

Buckley fans are split on this album but we aren’t. There are plenty of soul/ funk albums that would seem to be more appropriate than another Tim Buckley album that want’s to be a Blaxploitation soundtrack. but that is what the book has.

“Tim Buckley: Greetings from L.A. (Warner Bros., 1972) Perverse as it may seem, Buckley’s mannered, androgynous moan has real erotic appeal for some, and here it turns a trick. This is rock pornography if anything is, complete with whips, foot fetishes, meat racks, and salacious gasps, and while I wouldn’t call the band hard-core, it definitely fills the groove.” – Robert Christgau

260 Eagles - Eagles Jul 30, 2020

Show notes

Balance is the key element of the Eagles’ self-titled debut album, a collection that contains elements of rock & roll, folk, and country, overlaid by vocal harmonies alternately suggestive of doo wop, the Beach Boys, and the Everly Brothers. – AllMusic Review by William Ruhlmann

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected