Episodes
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From 2019, our convo with Ada Wolin presents a fresh new look into “The Golden Age of The Shangri-Las." Was the most idiosyncratic and influential girl-group of the 1960s also the “punkiest”? Tune in and find out!
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Summer = Yacht Rock.
That's a fact. Just what is "yacht rock," you ask? Is it AM gold? Soft, smooth 70s hits, come back to life? We're winding the clock back to Episode 19 so Greg Prato, author "The Yacht Rock Book" can lay it all out for you. Put your sunscreen and Ray Bans on, pop a Corona, and lie back and enjoy!
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Episodes manquant?
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Boy, has the music industry changed! It's almost irrelvant: no radio, no physical product, no sales. But has it?
The Beatles were not only pioneers in music and popular culture, they were also the progenitors of the music merchandise phenomenon, which earned over $50 million in 1965! Author Terry Crain joined us early on to talk Beatles merch and other interesting side treks surrounding this nostalgic and trendsetting era.
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Mott the Hoople was of the most important bands of the late '60s and early ‘70s — the rock act that made a stray Bowie song into an anthem for a generation and beyond, and a singer with recognizable hair and ever-present shades. And Mott The Hoople may be one of the UK’s greatest and most cherished bands, but what of their story?
We speak with Chris Hall, the director of The Ballad of Mott the Hoople, about the feature length documentary that tells the bruised and battered, but triumphant, tale of glam rock ‘n’ rollers Mott The Hoople. The film brings the band's story to life through a stunning combination of rare and unseen archive footage, their magnificent music and the testimony of band members Ian Hunter, Mick Ralphs, and the rest of the crew, plus other associates 'and witnesses, including The Clash's Mick Jones, Queen's Roger Taylor and Mott fanclub president and author Kris Needs.
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Equal parts myth and legend, the New Barbarians are one of the greatest bands many people have never heard — or heard of! Put together by Ron Wood, the band featured fellow Stone Keith Richards, the Faces’ Ian MacLagan, sax player Bobby Keys, and a legendary rhythm section of the Meters Ziggy Modeleste and jazz great Stanley Clarke.
If you missed this the first time around, tune in to hear Rob Chapman tell wild and rollicking stories featuring behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the band members, dirt on its famous tour, and background on the widespread influence of the band's music.
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Fanny might be one of the most influential bands ever that many people have never heard of. David Bowie called them “one of the most important female bands in American rock,” adding they had been buried without a trace. So who was Fanny?
Bobbi Jo Hart’s documentary Fanny: The Right To Rock examines the first all-female rock band to release an album on a major label. Formed by two Filipina sisters, the Millington’s experienced racism and sexism at an early age, and found a band to be their doorway out. On five albums released by Reprise Records between 1970 and 1974, they rocked as hard as any of their male rock and roll peers. Their story, and Hart’s documentary on Fanny is a truly inspirational and overdue celebration of this hugely influential band.
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Alice In Chains were major players within the burgeoning Seattle scene that would forever change alternative and rock music. They were also one of the most self-destructive. In this early episode, acclaimed journalist David de Sola tells us how drugs nearly destroyed them and claimed the lives of frontman Layne Staley and founding bassist Mike Starr, and the incredible resurrection of the band nearly fifteen years later.
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"Stir It Up: Reggae Album Cover Art" and "The Album Cover Art of Studio One Records" discuss the evolution, look and style of the the visuals and branding of reggae music. From Calypso, to bluebell rocksteady to roots reggae, and dub to dancehall, the music and visual output of this tiny island is enormous. SteveJ take a look at these two books that deal with two of his all-time favorite topics. Other Steve offers up his wisdom, humor and perhaps some guidance along the way.
Like any genre, there is the good…the bad… and, of course, the ugly. But ultimately, writing about album covers is a bit like dancing about architecture, to steal a phrase. Sometimes you just have to see it to believe it. We cover it all in our latest podcast featuring these two books.
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Let's go back and take a look at jazz at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Edward Allan Faine pulls back the curtain on the Nixon White House. Was Tricky Dick a jazz fan? After all, he did give Duke Ellington the Medal of Freedom in 1969. Who was in the band and who jammed at the “after-party”? Why did Sinatra almost get canceled, and just who that was playing piano behind some of Pearl Bailey’s set? We’ll touch on some of the more recent President’s and their bands of choice for “the best gig in town!”
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Johnny Thunders was the legendary hard-living rock'n'roll guitarist who inspired glam-metal, punk and the New York and London music scene's in general.
Danny Garcia’s documentary film Looking For Johnny examines Johnny Thunders' career from the early 70's as a founding member of the influential New York Dolls; the birth of the punk scene with The Heartbreakers in New York City and London; Gang War and The Oddballs. It also explores Johnny's unique musical style, his personal battle with drugs, and the theories on his death in a New Orleans hotel in 1991 at age 38.
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Vinyl is back in a big way. According to Billboard magazine, over 43 million albums were sold in 2022, the 17th consecutive year vinyl album sales grew in the U.S., and the largest year for vinyl album sales since tracking data began in 1991.
"Record Store Day" celebrates independently-owned brick-and-mortar record stores around the world and, this year it will be on April 22. We speak with Chris Anzalone, the owner of Stereo Jack’s Records in Ball Square, Somerville, Ma. about a day for the people who make up the world of the record store —the staff, the customers, and the artists — to come together and celebrate the unique culture of a record store and the special role they play in their communities.
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Here's a crazy book on an even crazier musician and performer. Tiny Tim is best known for his wacky appearances on "Laugh In" and Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show." However, he also rubbed shoulders with Bob Dylan and Lenny Bruce.
So, in case you missed it, author Justin Martell talks about one of the most phenomenal success stories in show business, Don't miss it...again!
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We first had country music writer and aficionado David Cantwell on in 2019 to discuss his excellent book The Running Kind: Listening to Merle Haggard. The new edition expands on his earlier analysis and covers Haggard's death and afterlife as an icon of both old-school and modern country music; in fact, David considers it a whole new book!
We talk about the appreciation, opinion and perception of Merle since his death and, of course, the many Merle Haggard songs that have been covered by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Elvis Costello, Tammy Wynette, the Grateful Dead and many others!
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This week, we look back to our incredible chat with Galadrielle Allman and her deeply personal portrait of her father, Duane Allman, who was killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of twenty-four. She was two years old.
At the heart of Galadrielle's book is her journey to understand the man millions idolized, but she never knew. It's a story every bit as compelling, beautiful, sad, and singular as her father’s.
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Popsicko! was a band from the rich Santa Barbara music scene of the 90s. “If it was 1968,” penned a writer for the Los Angeles Times, “these guys would be rock gods and all over the radio.” Everything was going Popsicko’s way, but there’s a reason you’ve likely never heard of them.
With some of Popsicko!’s music set to be re-released for the first time in two decades along with an oral history book, now is the time for the band’s story to be told. Tune in to hear how the band and their songs have stood the test of time and tip your cap to the would’ve beens, should’ve beens, and could’ve beens that is Popsicko!…
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Our second episode, and we talk about "Ode To Billie Joe"with author Tara Murtha. This really set the tone for what we wanted to do with this podcast, so have a listen to the backstory of one of the all-time great songs and Bobbi Gentry, the woman behind this masterpiece.
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In the annals of rock ‘n’ roll there have been a lot of strange characters, but there probably hasn’t been anyone as bizarre as Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, He was larger than life as he emerged from a coffin with a skull on a stick singing “I Put A Spell On You.”
He was a whirlwind performer, a lusty singer, a prolific songwriter and a man who was a total stranger to the truth. And with that one song, Screamin’ Jay, who also studied piano and sang opera, became the embodiment of the sexually insatiable, voodoo-empowered, black man feared by 1950s America. We speak with biographer Steve Bergsman, whose book I Put A Spell On You: The Bizarre Life of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins explores the legendary bluesman’s life, work and influence on rock’n’roll music.
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Taking you back to 2019 and Episode 8, in case you missed it! Here we talk about the Black Power music movement with author and scholar Pat Thomas. We dig deep into how the it affected the popular music of the day, including Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Sly Stone, Marvin Gaye and Motown, Gil Scott-Heron, Nina Simone and others. Celebrate Black History Month!
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Women have been kicking against the pricks of music patriarchy since Sister Rosetta Tharpe first played the guitar riffs that built rock-n-roll. The explosion of punk sent shockwaves of revolution to every girl who dreamed of being on stage.
Hit Girls is the story of nearly 100 regional American bands who shattered stereotypes and eardrums and whose legacy would be otherwise lost. Despite the modern narrative labeling women as anomalies in rock music, the truth is: women played important roles in punk and its related genres in every city, in every scene, all over the United States. Author Jen Larson salutes their achievements that blazed the way for generations of women rockers.
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Donny Hathaway Live is a soul classic and one of my all-time favorite records ever. We had the good fortune to interview author and cultural critic Emily Lordi in one of our earliest podcasts about her book on this record for the 33 1/3 series. We are proud to feature this episode again — “in case you missed it” — for Black History Month!
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