Album Oriented » Album Oriented

Our momentous opening, excerpted.

Daniel breaks out the wheels of steel to lead our discussion of DJ Shadow's 1996 debut opus Endtroducing...whilst Erich busts out the trip hop for Portishead's 1995 smash, Dummy. And the digressions! We got Joan Armatrading, Sheena's "Sugar Walls," Robert Christgau's ladyhating, Soho's "Hippychick," and revisit the Billy Joel Philosophical Logic Statement Regarding Glass Houses. Daniel pulls a stunt for his mid-year kicker pick, and it will leave you here green but wise.

Erich presents English neo-psychedelics Spriritualized and their 1997 opus Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space.  Daniel encircles gravelly voiced rebel saloon singer-songwriter Tom Waits, and his beloved album from 1985, Rain Dogs. Along the way, we mention Eddie Money, Dr. Hook, Rod Stewart, intellectual property, The Leon Redbone Question, and that Doritos commercial. Erich's mid-year kicker pick will not disappoint 90s post-rock enthusiasts.

We're wallet chains-deep in the 90s for this episode. After a recap sitting shiva over Fab Four's Sgt. Pepper's relegation to the bottom of only one list, Daniel presents Grace, Jeff Buckley's 1994 masterpiece. Then it's on to Erich and Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, PJ Harvey's 2000 collection. Daniel's Mid-Year Kicker Pick is solid, but we need to ask: Do we discuss Moody Blues and the INXS biopic miniseries? Will Daniel stay in character as a sexist version of Tom Waits? Will Erich debut our jive radio DJ "Mojo Swap!" sound effect? Listen to find out.

Only in the perverse minds of rock critics would the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, regarded by most everyone as one of popular music's landmark achievements, place down at #87 on the New Musical Express and is *excluded* from Entertainment Weekly's list altogether. "This is perverse just and makes me angry," Erich says. "But I'm just going to handle it in the best way I can." Daniel then tries to talk about Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors album from 1971. Erich's Mid-Year Kicker Pick from 1969 is groovy because how can it not be it's from 1969. We hope you will enjoy the show. 

Daniel leads the episode off with NME's #88, For Your Pleasure, Roxy Music's second album from 1973. (And yet, Erich still arrives at our episode's recording in a full re-creation of Brian Eno's outfit from that LP's inner gatefold sleeve: frilly shouldered top, skullet hairdo, clogs. Striking.) Erich then presents Entertainment Weekly's pick and one of his personal faves, New Order's 1983 release, Power, Corruption & Lies. We discuss how its iconic single, "Blue Monday," is the best song on the album. Kidding--we don't! Daniel finishes off with his Mid-Year Kicker Pick from 1978. Breaking precedent, we'll reveal here that it is in fact the soundtrack to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, featuring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees, with narration from George Burns.  

Album Oriented has made it to the 80s of our two top 100 lists! You know what that means, don't you? We're living in the 80s! Like Killing Joke, by day we run and by day we dance. We do. Erich takes us on a Moon Safari, the 1998 album by Air, the electronic French duo, aka Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel. EDM, IDM, and paying actual money to watch people behind turntables and/or a laptop is discussed. Daniel gets his riot grrrl gear on and discusses Sleater Kinney's 1997 masterpiece, Dig Me Out. Erich's Mid-Year Kicker Pick from the 1997-1998 era will be as elliptical and retro-futurist as our listeners might expect.

We close out the 90s with two idiosyncratic artists from the aughts that use "garage" to describe their music in very different ways. Daniel presents A Grand Don't Come for Free, the 2004 sophomore release from British hip-hop garage act The Streets. (That's the New Musical Express #90 pick in case you couldn't tell.) Erich offers thoughts on Entertainment Weekly's #90: Jack and Meg White, aka garage rockers The White Stripes, specifically their 2001 third LP, White Blood Cells. Daniel's Mid-Year Kicker Pick stumps Erich--which means, for starters, that it isn't Brian Eno-related.

We begin with Erich's peerless mastery of Jesus-based musicals. First up: Erich presents the Byrds' 1968 album Notorious Byrds Brothers. Topics covered include the under-celebrated Roger McGuinn, authenticity, and David Crosby's pro-threesome song, "Triad," which is as creepy as it sounds. Daniel then explores Sly & the Family Stone's experimental 1971 release There's a Riot Goin' On. Record company greed, peer-to-peer sharing, and re-releases enter the mix. And Erich's Mid-Year Kicker Pick from 1969? It is not, repeat not, Bryan Adams. In large part because he was 9 years old and did not release an album.

We remember the nineties, specifically 1997, as Daniel presents Welsh neo-psych Super Furry Animal's 1997 release, Radiator, from the New Musical Express top 100 list. Just how neo-psych is it? Three band members are credited with "claps." That's neo-psych, right there. Erich discusses whisper-troubadour Elliott Smith's 1997 folk release, Either/Or, from Entertainment Weekly's top 100. Daniel's Mid-Year Kicker Pick, also from 1997, bears mentioning here because he found an album he loved from 1997 and it isn't Radiohead.

British pop-psychedelia underrated masterpiece meets West Coast gangsta rap pioneer manifesto in Episode #93. Erich presents our second "Mojo Swap" and tells us the story behind The Zombies' 1968 release Odessey and Oracle. Of course the most popular track isn't his favorite. About to witness the strength of street knowledge, Daniel presents Entertainment Weekly's #93, N.W.A.'s 1988 Straight Outta Compton. Erich's Mid-Year Kicker Pick will be just what you need.