Show Notes
If you only know Talk Talk for their ‘80s night staple “It’s My Life,” you might well wonder what an experimental weirdo like Mike is doing hosting an episode about them. However, if you know a little more about their strange and fascinating career trajectory, it makes perfect sense. The sparse, atmospheric Spirit of Eden couldn’t be more different from Talk Talk’s synth-pop origins or from anything else in the musical landscape of 1988, and it more or less doomed the band’s career when it came out, but the sound of rock music in the 21st century wouldn’t be the same without it. Listening to Spirit of Eden is an experience that’s almost impossible to relate by means of such quotidian devices as “words,” but Mike, Phil, Rich, and John are all going to try anyway.
More from Discord and Rhyme: An Album Podcast
In this week's Wrecking Crew retrospective, our crew makes a feast out of some puzzling but very fascinating table scraps, including a rowdy, drunken recording session allegedly conducted as a tax write-off for Michael Nesmith, and several songs written by the enigmatic Lee Hazlewood. And just for kicks, we threw in one of the most iconic songs of the '60s as a special bonus track!
Paul Simon, famously short of stature but enormous in talent, is one of the most beloved and acclaimed American songwriters of the past century. He has at least four solo albums that would have made for great podcast episodes, but Amanda picked There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. This is probably not his absolute best album, but it’s incredibly good and serves as an excellent introduction to his solo career. He departed from the folk-rock style of Simon and Garfunkel and expanded on his experimentations with jazz, reggae, and R&B (some of these experiments being more successful than others), always accompanied by his characteristically clever turns of phrase. The result is an album that is widely varied but also sonically consistent, very early-’70s but also timeless, and extremely interesting and fun.
This week, the D&R crew discusses a new batch of tunes featuring our favorite L.A.-area session musicians, including the accidental invention of a silly but awesome production technique, a sick beat that helped lay the groundwork for hip-hop, and a celebrated trumpeteer whose cornball music nearly tears this podcast apart.
In late 1995, Stone Temple Pilots were one of the most popular bands in the United States, but they were still widely disliked by critics. The band responded with Tiny Music... Song From The Vatican Gift Shop, where they forged their own unique identity and branched out to try a bunch of styles far from the 90's grunge music they had long been associated with. Phil has been fascinated by this record for a long time and is thrilled to share his appreciation with Rich and Dan.
Back to the Wrecking Crew! Since "Good Vibrations" got its own showcase as it deserves, this is tracks 2-6, including some of the best sunshine pop and some of the most annoying protest music, all performed expertly by the best musicians in Los Angeles.