Get ready for an Elvis podcast that doesn’t contain “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “Heartbreak Hotel” “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” or “All Shook Up.” Come on, you’ve already heard those songs on a hundred movie soundtracks and diner mini-jukeboxes. Instead, Phil is leading Elvis obsessee Ben and utter Elvis novice Rich through From Elvis in Memphis, the 1969 album that briefly put him back in the spotlight after almost a full decade of starring in terrible movies. Buoyed by his hit comeback special, the King adopted a “country soul” sound that blends country songwriting with the sonic palette of gospel, soul, doo-wop and R&B. Elvis has a truly frustrating discography where the iconography often overshadows the actual music, but From Elvis in Memphis is one for us album nerds, and one for the ages.
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After spending the last couple of decades converting all of his friends into Camper Van Beethoven fans, Will is now doing the same for all of you - with the help of one of the band members! Victor Krummenacher, CVB bassist and swell guy, was kind enough to talk to Will about the making of Key Lime Pie and some general band history, and you can hear that interview in this episode before we start our usual discussion. Key Lime Pie is a terrific album full of unconventional song structures, clever lyrics, and interesting sounds, and we hope you all like it as much as we do.
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Sometimes we choose albums to cover on the show because they’re important and we want to analyze them, and other times we choose albums because they make us happy. The Traveling Wilburys fall firmly into that second group. Their music may not have been especially important or ground-breaking, and the history of music wouldn’t be any different without them - but the world would certainly be poorer without this album in it. Amanda, Rich, Ben, and John spent a very happy 90 minutes talking about why we love these songs, and why one of them is Amanda’s very favorite song of all time.
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Follow us back to Olde, Olde England for a look at Richard and Linda Thompson’s classic 1974 album I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight. Actually, 1974 wasn’t that Olde - by that point, the English had been enjoying color TV for eight long years. But Richard Thompson’s songs evoke an England that existed centuries before The Avengers and The Prisoner brightened the airwaves. His is an England of drunkards and scoundrels, of circus performers, of little beggar girls, and of pub singalongs after a hard day of working the fields. With crisp guitar playing and sublime harmonies, Richard and his then-wife Linda wring a timeless resonance out of these archetypes from long ago. Join host Ben, along with Will, Amanda, and Dan, for a discussion about one of our favorite folk-rock albums of the 1970s.
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We tried, we honestly tried to feature XTC as one of Discord & Rhyme’s earliest episodes, but technical issues derailed this podcasting train. Two years later, we’ve rebuilt our reserves of soul coal and dream steam, and Rich is ready to take John, Ben, and Dan aboard The Big Express, a relatively unknown but quintessential album from the Swindon trio. In 1984, the band was newly confined to the studio after eccentric frontman and lead songwriter Andy Partridge permanently swore off touring. Resultantly, the album finds him and bandmates Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory at their most kitchen-sink creative, as well as their most frustrating, which is a fundamental part of the proper XTC experience. So put your cleanest dirty shirt on, shake you donkey up, and get ready for some truly idiosyncratic songcraft.
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Kick off your shoes, take a seat in your comfiest electric chair, and join the Discord & Rhyme crew for a look at Alice Cooper’s 1971 shock-rock classic Killer. In this episode, Dan is joined by Mike, Phil, and Ben to discuss how there is much more to Alice Cooper than the elaborate stage show and persona. In particular, we break down what a great group of players the original Alice Cooper band was and how they managed to craft some of the most fun and exciting hard rock of the early ’70s.
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SCOOBITY WAH! Returning guest Libby Cudmore’s love for Steely Dan is so immense that we needed two albums to contain it. Much like the Oscars, we’re going without a host for our 50th episode, with Libby joining Rich, Mike, and Dan for 2+ hours of free-for-all Dansplaining. We’re specifically focusing on 1973’s Countdown to Ecstasy, where the Dan functioned as a full band under the command of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, and 1977’s Aja, by which point Becker and Fagen had gone studio-only and ditched the band for a revolving door of experienced session musicians. Aja is a much smoother, “FM radio” album in contrast with Countdown’s breezy “AM radio” rock band vibes, but Becker and Fagen’s musical sensibilities and biting sense of humor made sure the Steely Dan identity remained intact throughout. So grab either a big black cow or a glass of scotch whisky and join us, because this is a really fun one.
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John enjoyed taking part in the episode on Songs in the Key of Life so much that he demanded to host his own Stevie Wonder episode. This week, John leads Ben, Rich, and Phil in a discussion on Innervisions, Stevie’s 1973 masterwork that showed him capable of making music that could not only entertain but also speak to weightier matters of racism, spirituality, and philosophical introspection. Come join us as we admire an album that hits every bit as hard today as it did upon release, and whose presentation of the full range of human emotions suggests that, no matter how terrible things may seem, there’s always cause to have some hope.
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So you like samples, huh? Well, have all the samples in the world! In our Deltron 3030 episode, Producer Mike waxed poetic that hip-hop “can contain the whole world,” and the Beastie Boys tried to do exactly that on Paul’s Boutique. Seeking to level up as artists, the Beasties broke with Def Jam, moved to Los Angeles, and teamed up with producers and seasoned crate-diggers the Dust Brothers. The result is a miasma of light-speed references and samples, with a sonic palette drawing from ‘70s funk, old-school hip-hop, and whatever else the Dusts had lying around. It blew Mike’s mind as a teenager and budding producer, and this week he’s leading Rich, Phil and hip-hop noob John through a true bouillabaisse of an album, and a great hip-hop gateway drug for rock fans. Shake your rum-PAH!
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Far from any road, husband-and-wife duo The Handsome Family create beautiful indie folk/country that uses centuries-old musical traditions as a vehicle to explore, mourn, embrace, or giggle at human nature (and folly) from a perspective all their own. On this episode, Will enlists Amanda, Dan, and Rich to discuss the Handsome Family's sixth and oddest album, Singing Bones. Join us as we examine the way these songs shimmer and simmer, and attempt to determine if that's a result of heat rising from the boiling Albuquerque terrain or because we're listening through the murk of disconsolate ghosts.
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