The Great Albums

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Bonus Song Thursday - Lady GaGa "Perfect Illusion" Mar 16, 2017

Show notes

It's Bonus Song Thursday! This week, the boys tackle Lady GaGa's recent single, "Perfect Illusion" which features Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme on guitar. In this episode, we mention how GaGa - taking a page from Beyonce's book - enlisted a number of high-profile collaborators in order to create a varied, interesting-sounding new record. We dive into whether or not GaGa is currently beefing with other A-List pop stars all the while concluding - once and for all - if Bruce Springsteen was considered "cool" in his time. All this and much, much more on this week's Bonus Song Thursday edition of The Great Albums Podcast!

Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf (w/ guest Adam Bird) Mar 13, 2017

Show notes

Musician Adam Bird (facebook.com/adambirdmusic) joins Bill and Brian to discuss hard rockers Queens of the Stone Age's Songs for the Deaf (2002, Interscope). Adam talks about discovering the band via their connection with Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and how his enjoyment of the band blossomed through this album. Bill, Brian, and Adam discuss how Josh Homme attains his unique guitar tone, the dichotomy of bassist Nick Oliveri's screaming and singing, Mark Lanegan and Alain Johannes' contributions to the band, and more as we make our way through the album track by track!

Bonus Song Thursday - Sinead O'Connor "Nothing Compares 2 U" Mar 09, 2017

Show notes

It's Bonus Song Thursday! This week Bill and Brian discuss how this Prince-penned song struck that sweet spot of early 90s production and - yes - also about the other thing O'Connor became known for once it became a hit. They also make a few corrections regarding T. Rex's origins and hit on what exactly can be defined as nostalgia. All this and more on this week's Bonus Song Thursday edition of The Great Albums podcast!

Prince - Purple Rain (w/ guest Bill Ackerman) Mar 06, 2017

Show notes

Podcaster Bill Ackerman (nowplayingnetwork.net/supportingcharacters) joins Bill and Brian to discuss Prince's multimedia spectacular, Purple Rain (1984, Warner Bros.). Bill talks about falling in love with this music as it saturated the airwaves in his youth, and then revealing that access to this film and album would have been denied to him if it not for a precocious baby sitter willing to collude with him. The Bills and Brian discuss the Minneapolis scene, First Avenue, the Revolution, Wendy & Lisa, and much more as we make our way through the album track by track!

Bonus Song Thursday - The Replacements "20th Century Boy" Mar 02, 2017

Show notes

It's Bonus Song Thursday! The boys discover a mid 80s Replacements version of this T. Rex classic and Bill loses his chill (in all the right ways) at just how hot they sound! Also on the show, a listener figures out how much he loves Taylor Swift, Bill and Brian revisit the pronunciation of the word "timbre," and Brian announces a free live music event that features no fewer that six previous guests! All this and more on this week's Bonus Song Thursday edition of the Great Albums Podcast!

T. Rex - Electric Warrior (w/ guest Nikolina the Terrible) Feb 27, 2017

Show notes

Singer Nikolina the Terrible of the Production (theproductionband.com) joins Bill and Brian to discuss T. Rex's Electric Warrior (1971, Reprise). Nicole talks about how this album is one of her earliest memories and how she grew up listening to T. Rex. Bill, Brian, and Nicole then talk about how T. Rex didn't quite cross the pond with the same success they enjoyed in the UK, Marc Bolan's unique voice, Tony Visconti's production, what exactly glam is, and more as we make our way through the album track by track!

Bonus Song Thursday - Beastie Boys "Sabotage" Feb 23, 2017

Show notes

It's Bonus Song Thursday! Bill and Brian talk some more about the Beastie Boys and how their song, "Sabotage," soundtracked their youth and reminded them of Rage Against the Machine. This leads us into analyzing the late 90s rap/rock boom before we get into some listener emails about New Zealand NPR and Ryan Adam's new album. Make sure to check out Tweed at tweed-nz.com!

Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (w/ guest Dan LeRoy) Feb 20, 2017

Show notes

Dan LeRoy, the man who literally wrote the book on Paul's Boutique (both the 33 1/3 entry and a follow up For Whom the Cowbell Tolls), joins Bill and Brian to talk about the Beastie Boys and their 1989 sophomore album. Dan talks about discovering the band as an early adopter of rap and then loving this album in his college days. Dan also shares his experience of writing his books and working through the many samples present on this album. Dan, Brian, and Bill discuss the Dust Brothers and Matt Dike's influence on the album, the maturation of the band, the importance of (or lack thereof) a hit single, Adam Yauch guiding "A Year and a Day," Mike Diamond disavowing how important their contributions are, and much more as we make our way through the album track by track!

Bonus Song Thursday - Sleater-Kinney "A New Wave" (plus more Kanye West) Feb 16, 2017

Show notes

It's Bonus Song Thursday! Bill and Brian follow up Sleater-Kinney with some more Sleater-Kinney, by talking about "A New Wave" off 2015's No Cities to Love. We talk about how the band didn't miss a beat in its 10 year hiatus and a bunch about how cool Bob's Burgers is. Then we delve into a bunch of emails responding to our divisive Kanye West comments on last week's episode!

Sleater-Kinney - the Woods (w/ guest Nick Palmer) Feb 13, 2017

Show notes

Musician Nick Palmer (thedangeros.com) joins Bill and Brian to discuss Sleater-Kinney's 'breakout' 7th album, the Woods (2005, Sub Pop). Nick describes discovering the band while working at Journeys in the mall, and then thinking the distortion on his pirated copy was a mistake until he bought the album and the liner notes told him that Dave Fridmann was the producer. We talk about Janet Weiss's drumming skills, Carrie Brownstein's rockstar presence, Corin Tucker's soaring vocals, why the band doesn't need a bass player, sexist micro-agressions and pronoun choice, whether or not the last track is any good, how the band should be viewed as one of the greatest of their time, and more as we make our way through the album track by track!

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