1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Welcome to the AlbaNerds podcast with your hosts Andy, Don and Dude. 2 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:20,160 Oh yeah, here we are. It's the AlbaNerds podcast. We're back once again. I'm Dude, I got Andy 3 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:24,880 and Don with me. Well, gentlemen, it's just so good to see you today. So how you guys 4 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:25,880 doing? 5 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:32,480 Good to see you too, buddy. Yeah. So 200th episode for all those who are been with us 6 00:00:32,480 --> 00:00:36,160 this many years even doing the show. 7 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:37,160 200th. 8 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:39,400 Yeah. Congratulations, fellas. 9 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:40,400 Yeah. 10 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:44,720 Podcasts are funny. Like you do a bunch of episodes, but then you go back to the beginning 11 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:49,320 and it's cringy. Like, you know, you learn, you learn as you go, like with anything. So 12 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:53,940 it's just, it's a little weird to have that many out there when what our show is now is 13 00:00:53,940 --> 00:00:58,920 what I feel like our show is. Yeah. It's still a little cringy though. So yeah. 14 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:04,160 That's true. That's true. I can listen to a show from a month ago and be embarrassed 15 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:09,240 at what I said. We've got a great show for you today. We're going to talk about three 16 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:13,000 albums, going to answer a question. We're going to circle back and then talk about what 17 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,080 we learned. And then we're going to spin the wheel of musical destiny to find out what 18 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:22,080 kind of albums we'll talk about next time. But this week we're celebrating 200 albums. 19 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:26,440 That's what I'm talking about. 20 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:32,360 In 2016, two friends decided the best way to connect with other passionate fans of music 21 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:38,240 and specifically the album format was to produce a podcast. They called that podcast album 22 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:46,160 nerds. Since then, Andy and dude have released 199 episodes along the way in 2022 beginning 23 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:53,160 with episode 143. They asked a listener and fellow album nerd Don to join the show. This 24 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:58,360 is the 200th episode of album nerds to celebrate the occasion. We're taking a look at Rolling 25 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:04,160 Stone's top 500 albums of all time. This list was originally published in 2003 was 26 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:10,400 updated in 2013 and again in 2020 to make that list. Rolling Stone tabulated top 50 27 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:15,880 album lists for more than 300 artists, producers, critics and music industry figures today on 28 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:21,480 our 200th episode. We are each picking an album from Rolling Stone's top 200, but it 29 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:25,680 has to be from an artist who has not been reviewed on an episode of the album nerds 30 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:26,680 podcast. 31 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:34,120 Clever, huh? That tail you just spun. Yeah, man. I mean, this was harder than I thought 32 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:39,960 because we've done 200 freaking episodes, many of which we've talked about a multitude 33 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:45,160 of albums and a lot of them are on this list. Yeah. Yeah. I might say we have pretty good 34 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:52,160 records. Or you might say that we're trend chasers and Dr. Original at all. But yeah, 35 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:56,940 some of the stuff that I would have liked to have looked at was Beach Boys Pet Sounds, 36 00:02:56,940 --> 00:03:04,000 but I couldn't. Prince, Purple Rain, which for me may be the number one. Can't, we talked 37 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,460 about Prince. But some of the stuff that I considered was Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation 38 00:03:08,460 --> 00:03:13,760 of Millions to Hold Us Back. I just felt like that discussion for that album needs the right 39 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:19,400 context, maybe on a hip hop episode or something. I feel like it needs more than just like top 40 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:25,160 200. There's more to it than that. The Clashland and Calling, we haven't talked about them, 41 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,560 but I'm satisfied with what I came up with. How'd you guys do? 42 00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:32,280 Lot to pick from, lot of interesting stuff. There were a handful of records I hadn't heard 43 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:37,160 before, which is kind of what I ended up focusing on. But I'll mention a few that I had that 44 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,880 I was considering. I listened to the B-52's self-titled album probably like four or five 45 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:44,400 times now for different shows and just haven't picked it yet. 46 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:52,840 Get some surf rock on here eventually. Jay-Z has like three albums in the top 200. Almost 47 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:57,320 picked, I think the Black Album is my favorite of his, but he has a lot of good stuff. Lauryn 48 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:00,520 Hill, we got to get her on the show eventually. If I'm listening to Miseducation of Lauryn 49 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:04,160 Hill, probably like five or six times too. Thought that was going to be the one, man. 50 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:09,120 Yeah. I really love that record. We'll get to it. And Nine Channels, The Diamond Spiral, 51 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,920 pretty highly ranked on that list as well. Almost picked that. Lots of great stuff. I 52 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:17,000 mean, it's hard to pick between some of your favorite records and some of the all-time 53 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:18,000 greats. 54 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,240 Yeah. It was kind of a, it was a frustrating experience for me, you know, that I'd be like, 55 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:29,280 oh yeah, I love that album and ooh, Neil Young Harvest. So I search it on the website and 56 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:35,120 it's like, ah, you guys talked about Neil Young record for 20 seconds. But yeah, so 57 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:40,680 I seriously considered doing the Dusty Springfield record, Dusty in Memphis. I mean, she's somebody 58 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:46,960 that people cite all the time as being a tremendous talent. So I almost did that record and I'll 59 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:51,840 probably revisit it in the future. I also spent time with that B-52's record and The 60 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:56,560 Public Enemy, but yeah, I'm actually quite satisfied with my pick. 61 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:58,120 All right. Well, let's get to it then. 62 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:05,560 Can you choo choo choos me? 63 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:13,400 So, let's welcome the stage of the great big fan of ours, the star of the show, the one 64 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:16,400 and only Vogue recording star, Otis Redding! 65 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:22,600 Dude, that's how we should do the intros for our freaking show, man. Get the crowd hyped 66 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:23,600 a little bit. 67 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:24,600 Yes, the crowd. 68 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:32,960 All right. So for my Rolling Stone Top 200 album selection, and we are talking about 69 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:40,600 Otis Redding and his 1965 album, Otis Blue. Let's play a little bit from the second single. 70 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:59,600 It says a little bit of, I've been loving you too long. 71 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:04,600 All right. So this is the third studio album for the singer-songwriter from Dawson, Georgia. 72 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:14,840 I was hoping it was Dawson's Creek. That would have been really cool. 73 00:06:14,840 --> 00:06:22,160 The record is known for solidifying Mr. Redding as a commercial success. It had a lot of crossover 74 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:28,280 appeal as it featured a bunch of covers from contemporary artists, including Sam Cooke. 75 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:33,360 The track we just played is one of the three original Redding pen songs on the record. 76 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:38,280 So a couple of interesting tidbits. It was largely recorded over a 24-hour period in 77 00:06:38,280 --> 00:06:39,280 1965. 78 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:40,280 Wow. 79 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:43,800 Yeah. It was like from like Saturday night to like through Sunday afternoon or something 80 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:44,800 like that. Crazy. 81 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:49,400 That's how we should do this. Just recorded the whole year's worth of shows in 24 hours. 82 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:56,040 Oh, man. That sounds fun. Yeah. So it garnered three singles, which became top 40 hits. We 83 00:06:56,040 --> 00:07:00,840 are going to get to those shortly. Yeah. The three words I used to describe this record 84 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:06,760 are, can I live inside the record? I just love the feeling of this record. It's just 85 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:11,960 such a warm, inviting sound. Not only his voice, but just the production and the band. 86 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:18,160 Everybody just sounds so inviting. I was immediately taken by it. I hadn't heard this before this 87 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:22,960 week of listening. And I was just immediately struck by how just good it felt to listen 88 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:23,960 to. 89 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:29,920 His voice is like, I don't know how to describe it, but so he's being sung by the song as 90 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:37,080 much as he's singing the song. You can tell that the inspiration is coming as he's going. 91 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:41,600 I think that's part of what's cool about this era in recorded music, where sometimes you 92 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:44,640 just go with the flow instead of it being so meticulous. 93 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:47,840 Yeah. Right. It feels a little more spontaneous, a little more alive. 94 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:48,840 Yeah. Yeah. 95 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:52,160 All right. Why don't we play another cut from the record? This is a little bit of, you don't 96 00:07:52,160 --> 00:08:06,560 miss your water. 97 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:14,080 You Don't Miss Your Water was written and recorded by William Bell in 1961. Like everything 98 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:20,480 he does, Otis made it his own. I just, I really like that lyric a lot. You know, of course 99 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:25,680 it's such a cliche to sing about crying, but sing about it in that way. Like you don't 100 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:30,680 miss your water till your well runs dry. I just think that's, I think that's really cool. 101 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:33,560 It mostly just made me thirsty. Excuse me. 102 00:08:33,560 --> 00:08:42,500 Okay, buddy. What have you got here? Well, water. 103 00:08:42,500 --> 00:08:47,200 The three words I chose to describe the album are ducky did testify. Right. And so this 104 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:53,480 is a, that's just a stupid reference to, to the, the 1986 film, Pretty in Pink by John 105 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:59,120 Hughes in that film, the character ducky is like lip syncing and dancing in the record 106 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:04,680 store to Otis Redding singing, try a little tenderness, which is not on this album, but 107 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:08,720 you know, he's like really into it. And you know, that might even be like my first exposure 108 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:14,840 to Otis Redding. So yeah. So thanks ducky for the, for the reference. Yeah. I mean, 109 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:18,760 you guys already talked about the vocal talent and I guess, you know, as you said, it's, 110 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:23,920 it's hard to describe and maybe that's, that's how you know, somebody really is special, 111 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:27,800 you know, because you can't describe it. He doesn't sound like anybody else. I mean, 112 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:34,800 it can be somewhat crass or harsh at times, but like in a good way and like under control, 113 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:39,360 but he also can do the, you know, soft, beautiful sounds. Yeah. I was struck by that too. Like 114 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:44,800 on the edges, it feels like his voice is very rough and ragged at times. And he's almost 115 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:49,000 sounds like he's straining, but other times he'll hit a note and just sounds so effortless 116 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:53,920 and just so pure and beautiful and just perfectly soft and round. And it's a cool, it's a cool 117 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:59,400 combination man. The voice really is an instrument, you know, I mean you can do, do so much with 118 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:05,560 it. Plus I think, you know, the, this is almost certainly one or two takes at the most, you 119 00:10:05,560 --> 00:10:12,840 know, for these songs, which like I said earlier, I think is what makes this interesting, especially 120 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:18,840 when it's a bunch of covers, besides the three originals, the reinterpretation I think comes 121 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:24,120 easier if you just let it fly. You know, you're not trying to do it a special arrangement 122 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:30,560 and la la la, you just do the song sometimes without even knowing all the words. Yeah. 123 00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:35,560 Does he mess up some lyrics here or what do you mean? Oh yeah. Yeah. We can get into that 124 00:10:35,560 --> 00:10:40,000 in a minute though. Okay. So yeah. So as you said, there's only three originals on this 125 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:44,320 album. I do wish there were more cause you know, he obviously is a very talented song 126 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:48,800 writer, but you know, I'm reminded of people like Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin and Johnny 127 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:55,240 Cash who, you know, just turn songs into their, into their own. And so he does just a great 128 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:58,920 job of that. Well, I just think it's funny you mentioned Aretha Franklin who took a song 129 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:04,520 from this album, Respect, that's his, and she made it her own in the context of it completely 130 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:11,760 changes and her delivery of showed me some respect when I get home. So just that's really 131 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:16,800 cool. It was wild hearing like the male side of it. Like all I want is when I come home, 132 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:20,960 I just want you to treat me well. And yeah, and Aretha like totally flipped on its head, 133 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:27,180 which is, it's cool. Yeah. I got a make me dinner vibe from his version and make your 134 00:11:27,180 --> 00:11:32,280 own damn dinner vibe from her version. Yeah, exactly. You can kind of see why her version 135 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:38,040 became the, you know, the one. Okay. Why don't we play a little bit from one of those cover 136 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:54,720 tracks. This is a little bit of I can't get no satisfaction. Yeah. I mean, so this album 137 00:11:54,720 --> 00:12:00,200 was 1965, right Andy? Yeah. I had to double check that too. When did that song come out? 138 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:06,920 1965, June 5th, 1965, the Rolling Stones released their recorded version that they wrote Keith 139 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:12,080 Richards and Mick Jagger. And what I was talking about earlier with the words, I mean, there's 140 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:16,360 some missing lyrics. There's a bunch of made up, I got the guitar and all that kind of 141 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:23,240 stuff that apparently according to sources, Wikipedia, Otis Redding claimed that he didn't 142 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:28,440 know the original lyrics of the song and he made them up as he went. Steve Cropper, who 143 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:32,560 worked on the session had to write the lyrics down from listening to the Rolling Stones 144 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:38,240 version because that stuff just wasn't easily available on your interweb. So I think some 145 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:41,480 of the words were a little wrong. He knew the vibe of the song and just kind of went 146 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:46,160 with it. And I love it. I mean, I love this version. Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones 147 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:52,080 said that later live performances by the Rolling Stones have been influenced by his interpretation, 148 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:56,000 by Redding's interpretation. Interesting. Yeah, it gets the feeling of it for sure. I 149 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:00,760 think the band sounds good. It's a little more desperate. The Rolling Stones version 150 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:08,040 is a little more like sneering and sort of lewd. And Otis is a little more like, I got 151 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:13,240 it. I got to have you. There's more urgency and a little more passion. 152 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:19,480 True. Really does demonstrate the similarities between those two genres, rock and roll and 153 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:25,200 R&B, or really come from the same place and have the same history. Yeah. Great performances 154 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:30,920 on here from Booker T and the MGs. I never realized they were kind of his backing band. 155 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:36,000 Yeah. So yeah, I mean, every time I listened to it, I looked forward to that interpretation 156 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:41,880 of a super well-known song that no one dare reinterpret now, but he did it like a week 157 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:49,240 later and it's awesome. Devo did a good job too. I doubt it. So quickly, I'll just, the 158 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:54,120 three words I used to describe this album were the man can sing. I mean, I already touched 159 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:58,880 on that point throughout our discussion. Holy crap. I don't know that I've listened to Otis 160 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:04,320 writing whole albums before and he's awesome. And that's all I have to say about that. 161 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:09,120 The other thing I'll just mention about this record specifically and part of why I picked 162 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:13,240 it is it's right in that sweet spot in the mid sixties where record companies started 163 00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:19,040 thinking about selling albums as entire entities and not just singles. And this, along with 164 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:23,360 a couple of the records from 65 are kind of considered like that first crop of like really 165 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:28,560 great albums that it came into being and were like marketed as such. So it's a nice place, 166 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:35,120 nice place to start this episode. And also I'm glad that Rolling Stone saw fit to honor 167 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:39,720 it by putting on its list. I got to say in the original list, it started at number 73 168 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:44,280 or 78, I want to say. And now it's, it's fallen all the way back to 178, which feels a little 169 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:47,800 bit crazy to me, but regardless, still in top 200. 170 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:52,420 Well, a couple of, you know, decades go by, you've got to add new artists in there too. 171 00:14:52,420 --> 00:14:57,480 You know, music continues, albums keep getting made. So the future is now. 172 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,880 Thanks for holding that pose. 173 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:10,280 All right. So once again, the record is called Otis Blue by Otis Redding. It's available 174 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:14,000 on all the usual streaming platforms. Check it out if you haven't heard it. It's an excellent 175 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:15,000 lesson. 176 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:19,360 I'm good enough. I'm smart enough and doggone it. People like me. 177 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:23,440 If you're enjoying the show and we hope you are, do us a solid and leave a review on Apple 178 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:28,820 podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Maybe we made you laugh. Maybe we made you cry. 179 00:15:28,820 --> 00:15:33,900 Maybe we made you throw your phone across the room or you discovered an album you enjoy. 180 00:15:33,900 --> 00:15:38,000 Leaving a review keeps the show going and helps other music fans find us. 181 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:39,000 200. 182 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:40,000 200. 183 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:41,000 Tyrannosaurus Rex. 184 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:49,560 Okay. So the album I chose is from a band called T-Rex. 185 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:50,920 That's short for Tyrannosaurus Rex. 186 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:56,000 Yes. And we'll get into that in a second. The album is called Electric Warrior, released 187 00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:04,120 in September of 1971. It was number 188 on the 2020 Rolling Stone top 500 list. Let's 188 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:18,360 hear the song that it's most known for. This is Bang A Gong. Get it on. 189 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:24,680 I've never understood why this guy wants people to have sex with gongs. It's just totally 190 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:25,680 weird to me. 191 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,680 Okay. Don't hit till you try, buddy. 192 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:38,200 I just got to say, so, you know, last week, I was listening to this on headphones while 193 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:42,920 I was doing some weed whacking and some grass clipping blowing. 194 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:51,600 And I just could not stop myself from like strutting to this song. Kind of like the Mick 195 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:52,600 Jagger strut. 196 00:16:52,600 --> 00:17:02,000 I think I actually saw that on YouTube. It said crazy neighbor dancing in yard. Someone 197 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:03,000 caught you. 198 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:07,480 So anyway, so that song was originally just known as Get it on. But there's another band 199 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:11,960 called Chase who had a song called Get it on. So now it's officially Bang A Gong, parentheses 200 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:17,720 Get it on. Mark Bolan, who's basically the main guy from T-Rex, claimed to have written 201 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:22,760 the song out of his desire to record Chuck Berry's Little Queenie and said that the riff 202 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:25,720 was basically taken from that Berry tune. 203 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:31,040 Song actually features piano from Rick Wakeman, who you might know from the band Yes. Also 204 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:37,720 saxophone from Ian McDonald of King Crimson. So yeah, T-Rex is an English band formed in 205 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:44,000 1967 by singer, songwriter and guitarist Mark Bolan. The band was originally called Tyrannosaurus 206 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:50,560 Rex and had a kind of like a psychedelic folk sound. Kind of reminded me of like Donovan. 207 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:56,400 So you know, over time, Bolan embraced more like electric sounds. And in 1970, he officially 208 00:17:56,400 --> 00:18:01,560 changed the band's name to T-Rex. Electric Warrior is the second album since the name 209 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:08,780 changed and there's six overall. So you know, Bolan is basically T-Rex with a rotating cast 210 00:18:08,780 --> 00:18:09,780 of characters. 211 00:18:09,780 --> 00:18:13,920 The three players on the album are Mickey Finn, you know, who did like congos and bongos 212 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:19,360 and does a lot of the backing vocals you hear. Steve Curry on bass and Bill Legend on drums. 213 00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:25,280 The three words I chose to describe the album, I just said Godfather of Glam. It's always 214 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:30,520 hard to pinpoint, you know, where things began or who did it first. You know, this album 215 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:36,440 at least, you know, predates, you know, Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The 216 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:41,880 Spiders from Mars. It predates the Roxy Music self-titled debut. You know, this is really 217 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:47,240 the beginning of glam and probably the first true glam record. 218 00:18:47,240 --> 00:19:03,320 Okay, well, let's hear another track. This is a song called Planet Queen. 219 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:08,200 So Planet Queen, cool song. Kind of reminds me actually of Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man, 220 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:14,000 which the psychedelic stuff here is definitely on display in that particular track. The lyrics 221 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:21,400 are poetic and surreal, fantasy. Maybe he's abducted by aliens. He's gonna, I don't know, 222 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:26,960 make love to the Planet Queen's daughter. I didn't, it was just weird. He just, it's 223 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:28,720 nonsense for the most part. 224 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:32,360 Yeah, lyrically I think he's just goofing around a lot. 225 00:19:32,360 --> 00:19:34,840 Yeah, like he's, he's, he's soosing. 226 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:38,720 He does get pretty clever. You know, like you're built like a car. You've got a hubcap 227 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:42,280 diamond star halo. I just, I love that line, you know. 228 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:44,280 Yeah, there's, there's great lines. 229 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:46,840 It's interesting, but it feels kind of throwaway. 230 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:53,360 Yeah, I think it's just going with, you know, it's sort of lyrically a concept of space 231 00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:59,560 and then let's go. And then very rhymey. It's very rhymey, which I do like. The three words 232 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:05,640 I used to describe this album might be what a weirdo, but instead I'm going with Wham 233 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:10,640 Bam Glam, which is in the same category as what Don said. You know, I think about Bowie 234 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:17,120 and Wham Bam, Thank You Ma'am and what came after, which I think ultimately was more interesting 235 00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:22,200 because they were more than, those other artists were more than one flavor. T-Rex is kind of 236 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:27,960 what T-Rex is, but I hear T-Rex in a lot of music today, including King Gizzard and the 237 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:33,800 Lizard Wizard. Like absolutely this is an influence. There's no doubt. Especially some 238 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:38,440 of the space stuff they talk about and the way that they do it. I didn't realize it until 239 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:43,960 I experienced this album over and over again. And I started having little flashes of King 240 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,400 Gizzard. So yeah, fun listen. 241 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:51,960 Glam rock really dominated the UK charts from like 1972 to 1975. And it didn't really happen 242 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:56,920 in the United States. There were American glam rock artists, you know, like Lou Reed 243 00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:02,080 and the New York Dolls, the Stooges and stuff like that. But it didn't really have the commercial 244 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:10,480 success that it did in Britain. Let's hear the opening cut. This is Mambo Sang. 245 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:24,600 Yeah, I really liked that track in particular. I really, I came to like the whole record. 246 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:30,360 I like the sound quite a bit. It's sort of strange sounding. I guess that's a little 247 00:21:30,360 --> 00:21:31,360 weird. 248 00:21:31,360 --> 00:21:32,360 It's spacey. 249 00:21:32,360 --> 00:21:35,600 Yeah, spacey. But it feels exciting. It does feel like they're kind of creating something 250 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:41,680 new as they go, which I love. My three words are a bit wheezy, kind of cheesy, but goes 251 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:43,040 down plenty easy. 252 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:46,000 So wheezy, cheesy, easy are your three words if we boil it down. 253 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:51,240 Yeah, if you want to get specific. So you know, I was saying like he loves the rhymes 254 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:55,680 in his lyrics here. So to try to incorporate a little inspiration from him here. 255 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:57,400 Yeah, you nailed it, man. 256 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:01,960 Yeah, I liked his kind of, I would call his lyrics kind of goofy, a little campy perhaps, 257 00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:07,360 but I think kind of falls in line with where glam rock was headed. But he delivers them 258 00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:15,560 in such like a cool kind of breathy tone that I found like really interesting. And yeah, 259 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:19,400 I totally agree with the dude. Like, wow, I hear so many bands doing like this style 260 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:23,960 nowadays. King Gehzard for sure, that band or that artist called King Tough, we've talked 261 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:28,440 about in the show. Like they sound almost exactly like him at times. Sonically, I think 262 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:32,960 the record maybe get this little same-sy as it goes on. I didn't feel like there was a 263 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:37,600 lot of new stuff happening as it played on. The tracks are all short and tight though. 264 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:42,520 They don't really give a lot of room for exploration, which I watched some of their live performances 265 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:47,460 from the seventies and they jammed out hard and it was mostly drum and guitar soloing. 266 00:22:47,460 --> 00:22:52,120 So I found that really cool. You don't get that on the record, but it's nice to know 267 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:55,840 they have that capability. But yeah, I guess you got to talk about his guitars a little 268 00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:59,760 bit. Like he seems like a pretty excellent guitar player. You don't get a lot of soloing 269 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:04,880 on this record, but it seems like he was pretty adept player, not so much about showing off. 270 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:09,000 But yeah, I know this was way more bluesy than I expected it to be. I appreciated that. 271 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:16,320 A couple more thoughts just sonically. I do think there's some tasteful use of strings 272 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:22,080 in a lot of the tracks, particularly like Cosmic Dancer. Also, the backing vocals, there's 273 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:29,080 a lot of that ah, just weird sort of goofy stuff that Bowie ended up using a lot. And 274 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:33,520 then just one final thought, Cosmic Dancer is a song that I was familiar with in the 275 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:38,120 past. Morrissey actually does a cover of it, but I always liked the line, is it wrong to 276 00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:43,160 understand the fear that dwells inside a man? And it's just in the middle of this weird 277 00:23:43,160 --> 00:23:47,520 song where he's talking about dancing since he was 12, but there's that weird line in 278 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:52,760 it. That's the line that makes it worth listening to because when it's like, dancing from the 279 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:56,960 womb, I'm in my tomb. Like, okay. 280 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:03,160 Yeah, that one nugget of truth in there and makes it all worthwhile. 281 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:04,160 Yeah. 282 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:09,520 Okay. Well, it's only 188 on the Rolling Stone list, but I think it belongs in the Album 283 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:17,760 Nerds Hall of Fame, so I am going to nominate. Yeah, so I think this is a definitive glam 284 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:24,440 rock album. I think it's an important genre in the history of music. It kind of influenced 285 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:31,160 punk and metal that came later. All that hair metal we talked about, there's glam in that. 286 00:24:31,160 --> 00:24:36,520 It's produced by Tony Visconti, who is a key figure in this glam rock movement. 287 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:37,520 Hey. 288 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,880 Yeah, so what do you guys think? 289 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:45,560 I'm going to say yes. I agree with everything you said. It's a 200th episode. I don't want 290 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:50,720 to make anyone sad by saying no, but yeah, it's a landmark album. It did pave the way 291 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:54,480 for a lot of the stuff that's awesome today, and it's a great listen. 292 00:24:54,480 --> 00:24:55,480 Indeed. 293 00:24:55,480 --> 00:25:01,280 Well, as much of a fan of dinosaurs as I am, I like this record. I don't think it's definitive 294 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:06,200 glam rock record though. I mean, I'm not the most knowledgeable person on glam rock, but 295 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:12,040 I feel like it's a cool idea, but I don't think the execution is maybe as exciting as 296 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:13,200 I thought it would be. 297 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:15,280 You know how many times you've shot us down? 298 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:16,280 200. 299 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:20,040 Are you going to triceratop my T-Rex? 300 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:24,760 Yeah. Stick my horns into your belly. 301 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:26,800 Stop. Stop. 302 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:32,200 Yeah, I don't know if it's a definitive record for me. Obviously, a very influential. 303 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:35,360 That really bangs my gong, Andy. 304 00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:39,200 I don't doubt the influence it's had, but I don't know if it would be the one that I 305 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,560 would pick to represent the genre necessarily. 306 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:42,560 No one asked you. 307 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:48,200 Actually. I'm going to say no, but we'll leave it up to the listening audience and see what 308 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:55,000 they think. Go to our website or our discordalbummates.com to cast your vote. Sorry, John. 309 00:25:55,000 --> 00:26:02,440 Okay. Well, apologies to T-Rex, the electric warrior. Not an Einhoff inductee yet, but 310 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:04,440 listeners, please save it. 311 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:11,760 Excuse me. I'd like to ask you a few questions. 312 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:19,640 Well, it's that fun time on the show where we ask each other a question. At least you 313 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:26,080 guys have produced 200 of these podcast episodes so far, and we hope people are taking things 314 00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:32,240 away from them. What have you learned or discovered or been turned on to from another podcast? 315 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:36,480 Yeah, there's so much stuff I've learned from podcasts, man. It feels like it's the new 316 00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:41,120 public education to some degree. I guess all this good information is freely available. 317 00:26:41,120 --> 00:26:42,120 It's your Wikipedia. 318 00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:43,120 Essentially. 319 00:26:43,120 --> 00:26:44,120 Eir-ca-pedia. 320 00:26:44,120 --> 00:26:46,120 Eir-ca-pedia. I'm sure that'll catch on. 321 00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:48,120 Oh man, someone's going to steal that. 322 00:26:48,120 --> 00:26:49,120 Trademark. 323 00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:51,120 Is that all you have to do to say trademark? 324 00:26:51,120 --> 00:26:52,120 I think so. 325 00:26:52,120 --> 00:26:53,120 Yep. 326 00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:54,120 No. 327 00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:56,120 TM. TM. Just say TM and you're good. 328 00:26:56,120 --> 00:26:59,760 Yeah. I've listened to a lot of great podcasts over the year, but I'm actually wearing a 329 00:26:59,760 --> 00:27:04,720 t-shirt for a podcast that I enjoy called The Truth, and I thought I'd give that a shout 330 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:10,460 out. It is immersive storytelling in the way that like, if you remember like old-timey 331 00:27:10,460 --> 00:27:15,000 radio programs used to be where they would have like the footprints on, you know, walking 332 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:19,320 to the door and then like this creak of the door. They do all the cool effects and like 333 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:24,460 really great voice acting and amazing original stories that will just blow your mind and 334 00:27:24,460 --> 00:27:27,880 have you like sitting in the car after you park somewhere just to hear how the story 335 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:32,880 wraps up. It's freely available. I think it's better than most crap on Netflix. So I would 336 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:39,000 highly recommend The Truth podcast. It's available in all the usual places. And yeah, I mean, 337 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,080 if storytelling is your thing, I think it's one of the better ones I've heard. So yeah, 338 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:45,080 that'd be my recommendation. 339 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:49,600 In that case, I want to give you a recommendation, Andy. It's called The Weird Place. It's a 340 00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:55,560 Dana Carvey production, and it's basically like six episodes, five episodes of like Twilight 341 00:27:55,560 --> 00:27:59,960 Zone type stories with Dana Carvey doing all the voices and they have the footprint sound 342 00:27:59,960 --> 00:28:04,360 effects and all that stuff telling, you know, kind of funny versions of Twilight Zone type 343 00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:05,360 stories. 344 00:28:05,360 --> 00:28:06,360 The Weird Place. I'll check it out. 345 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:12,680 The Weird Place. All right. So for me, it's all about fantasy football. I mean, I've played 346 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:18,480 fantasy football since 1999, but when I started listening to fantasy football podcasts, one 347 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:23,760 in particular, the Fantasy Footballers, it took my interest to another level. Hearing 348 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:27,760 these guys, three guys so passionate about it and having so much fun with it. It also 349 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:31,200 inspired me to want to do a podcast because they were having so much fun talking about 350 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:35,960 this thing they love. So part of the reason we're here is because I was listening to those 351 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:41,020 three dudes on the Fantasy Footballers and winning championships with the information. 352 00:28:41,020 --> 00:28:45,440 Now everybody knows about them, but at the time in 2015, they were brand new. They were 353 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:50,680 recording out of someone's bedroom in one of their houses and now they, you know, they 354 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:56,480 have a studio and they go on tour. And so, yeah, I learned not only about football, but 355 00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:58,080 podcasting from those guys. 356 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:03,240 Yeah. Well, I mean, I've, I've listened to so many, so many podcasts and I, you know, 357 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:08,800 a lot of them are educational, but I'll just focus on one. There's one called Grammar 358 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:16,600 Girl, Quick and Dirty Tips. Yeah. Yeah. The podcast, it's, it's pretty short, but you 359 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:21,440 know, every week she's talking about, you know, sort of grammatical mistakes people 360 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:27,280 make or, you know, there'll be explanations for why things are a certain way and explanations 361 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:32,800 of like the, the Oxford comma and stuff like that. And I don't know why it interests me, 362 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:36,720 maybe because I like to be that guy that, you know, criticizes people for their, for 363 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:38,500 their grammar. 364 00:29:38,500 --> 00:29:40,520 And they love you for it, I'm sure. 365 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:46,760 But yeah, so it's, it's Grammar Girl, Quick and Dirty Tips. What have you guys learned 366 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:53,640 from, from other podcasts? Hit up the socials, go on our Discord and let us know. 367 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:54,640 Albinerds.com slash Discord. 368 00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:55,640 200 369 00:29:55,640 --> 00:30:01,560 I prefer the purity of the human voice really. Let me, let me, let me just, let me just demonstrate, 370 00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:02,560 all right? 371 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:13,080 So we're going with Paul Simon today and the album Graceland. We won't be going with his 372 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:17,920 version of Gin and Juice, but I thought it was pretty interesting that he, that he did 373 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:18,920 it. It was a joke. 374 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,560 You gotta like the guy who, who will do something like that. It's funny. 375 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:29,420 So Graceland, the album released August, 1986 by Paul Simon, number 46 on the Rolling Stone 376 00:30:29,420 --> 00:30:36,160 Top 200 that we worked from. It's a seven studio album, solo studio album. And it's 377 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:42,520 a blend of sounds. It's Paul Simon mixing things up with some influences from South 378 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:47,280 African music. And it's quite the sensation. Why don't we get going with the title track 379 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:48,280 Graceland. 380 00:30:48,280 --> 00:31:05,000 I was like a young teenager, I think when this came out and I, my dad had the record, 381 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:09,360 you know, everyone had the record. It was a sold like 7 million copies. It was a comeback 382 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:14,440 for Paul Simon after a failed album before it. And that line, my traveling companion 383 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:19,000 is nine years old. He's the child of my first marriage. I just like, that's when I started 384 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:25,800 to understand Paul Simon's style that using short describers to set a scene and then kind 385 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:30,920 of going on to the next thing, but just that crisp, clear delivery of his. Three words 386 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:39,560 I used to describe this album are Ryman Simon's rhythms. Ryman Simon's rhythms. So he had 387 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:47,480 an album called Ryman Simon, but it's a blend of his style, you know, his vocal style, that 388 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:53,720 crisp clean delivery, the lyrical style, little storytelling elements, and then the poetic 389 00:31:53,720 --> 00:32:01,760 that comes from it. And then this rhythm driven South African music that inspired him. Apparently 390 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:06,680 he was inspired by a bootleg cassette of a South African street music called God. 391 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:09,720 We've talked about it before, but- 392 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:17,600 Mba-gong, it's M-B-A-Q-A-N-G-A. He traveled to Johannesburg in 84 to collaborate with 393 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:22,360 local musicians and then additional recordings took place in the United States. There were 394 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:27,960 some controversies because there were embargoes on things in South Africa. We weren't supposed 395 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:33,140 to mix with them because of the apartheid. So there was a lot of controversy about whether 396 00:32:33,140 --> 00:32:37,920 he should or shouldn't have done that, if any rules were broken. But, well, we get to 397 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:42,760 another song and see where the conversation takes us. This is Diamonds on the Soles of 398 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:43,760 His Shoes. 399 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:59,480 It was hard for me to pick one track off this record, but I think that one nicely encapsulates 400 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:04,960 the sound that he achieves on Graceland, which I think is awesome and a real achievement 401 00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:11,920 to Paul Simon and what he was open to exploring in his career. I think he still explores even 402 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:17,680 to this day in his career. My three words are, it's better together. This is like one 403 00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:23,440 of those rare cases where the idea for the record itself, I think sounded terrible on 404 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:31,840 paper, but it worked out beautifully. He really did create something unique and new and exciting. 405 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:35,520 I don't know if it's really been replicated since then. It's this amalgamation of all 406 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:39,720 these different sounds. Part of it is South African influence, but there's also things 407 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:44,620 from the US too, like Zydeco is pretty prevalent on the record. There's still pop and folk 408 00:33:44,620 --> 00:33:50,240 influences here as well. It all just comes together. I think what makes this so cool 409 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:55,080 is it doesn't try to sound like it's saying something specific about South Africa or apartheid. 410 00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:59,880 It's just like its own thing existing naturally in the world and it works really well. 411 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:04,840 It's celebrating the sounds. That rhythm in that music is unique and then finding a way 412 00:34:04,840 --> 00:34:10,000 to blend that with good old Paul Simon with some of the same kind of affectations he would 413 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:14,880 have done in an acoustic album. It is unbelievable that it worked. 414 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:16,480 Yes, it's a small miracle. 415 00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:22,840 Some people freaking loved it. The artists included, like South African male choral group, 416 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:30,840 Ladysmith, Black Mambazo came to be known because of this. They ended up having a lot 417 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:36,960 of success in the US after this album. They toured with him, other artists that played 418 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:43,560 on this got writing credits on the songs. It wasn't Paul Simon just taking a sound and 419 00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:48,520 stealing it and making it all about him. I would have liked to have seen the Paul Simon 420 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:51,000 and blah, blah, blah on the album cover. 421 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:55,120 Yeah, I don't know. I had read a little bit about the background of it and I got the impression 422 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:59,920 on those. He paid the artists very well for their time on the recordings and they got, 423 00:34:59,920 --> 00:35:02,240 like you said, a lot of notoriety from the record. 424 00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:07,040 All right, so big time album. Why don't we listen to the big time single, You Can Call 425 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:14,120 Me Out. 426 00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:20,560 Time making a little bass face. 427 00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:29,200 Yep. That bass there, that was a guy named, I'm not butchers, Baghiti Kumalo, who's a 428 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:36,720 South African bass player. That bass solo there is palindromic or palindromic. Basically, 429 00:35:36,720 --> 00:35:41,160 they were the first half of it they recorded and then they just played it backwards. 430 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:42,160 Interesting. 431 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:46,960 Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool. Yeah, I mean everybody knows that song so I just 432 00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:51,520 wanted to focus on that little instrumental part there. One thing I really like on that 433 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:59,280 song is that the muted string guitar there, which I think actually is a six string electric 434 00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:03,840 bass which is an instrument I'm kind of obsessed with because that's what Robert Smith plays 435 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:08,880 on disintegration. So yeah, I think that's Paul Simon playing that part. 436 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:14,880 So the lyrics to You Can Call Me Out basically to me seems like a midlife crisis kind of 437 00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:22,200 thing. And the origin of the title is supposedly a French composer and conductor named Pierre 438 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:28,440 Boulet was attending this party with Paul Simon and his wife Peggy Harper. This Boulet 439 00:36:28,440 --> 00:36:34,240 guy basically called him Al and he called his wife Betty. So yeah, that's where it came 440 00:36:34,240 --> 00:36:35,240 from. 441 00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:40,820 Another interesting fact about that song, that saxophone hook there, the da-da-da-da-da. 442 00:36:40,820 --> 00:36:47,320 I mean that's several layered saxophones but also in there is a synthesized guitar that 443 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:52,960 kind of sounds like a saxophone that was done by the guitarist Adrian Bello. So the three 444 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:59,820 words I chose to describe the album, never stands still. So Paul Simon, even going back 445 00:36:59,820 --> 00:37:06,880 to Simon and Garfunkel, I mean he's just an artist that's constantly reinventing himself. 446 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:12,960 He never gets comfortable doing just one thing. He's always challenging himself. And I mean 447 00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:20,560 he just does an amazing job here borrowing from Zulu sounds and stuff like that and Zydeco. 448 00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:24,840 But I think people can get the wrong impression if they don't listen to this album that it's 449 00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:30,240 just Paul Simon doing Zulu music or Paul Simon doing Zydeco. And it's not. It's a Paul Simon 450 00:37:30,240 --> 00:37:37,640 record that's just using these influences. So it's like he's, if you follow his career, 451 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:41,900 he's always done that. He's like a sponge just absorbing all these things and he integrates 452 00:37:41,900 --> 00:37:44,840 it into his unique songwriting. 453 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:50,480 His songwriting is a bit different. I think on this album it's more of like a groove-based 454 00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:56,200 songwriting. Whereas I think in the early days it was more about like a melodic hook. 455 00:37:56,200 --> 00:38:00,320 Although there are plenty of those on this album. There are some really pretty parts 456 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:01,640 and some nice melody. 457 00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:06,320 I feel like lyrically on this record I have a hard time following what he's talking about. 458 00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:10,720 It feels like a lot of in-jokes like you were describing there about the dinner party. Whereas 459 00:38:10,720 --> 00:38:14,240 past records I feel like I can understand why he's getting that more. I don't mind 460 00:38:14,240 --> 00:38:17,600 it in this context because the music's so interesting, but do you find like you can 461 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:18,680 follow these songs? 462 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:23,280 I think at this point in his career and life, I think he was on his second divorce. This 463 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:31,760 was with Carrie Fisher. And like even Graceland was started about that, about his divorce 464 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:36,640 and this place in his life that he's at. The Graceland part came from the sound of the 465 00:38:36,640 --> 00:38:42,880 song. It reminded him of old Sun recordings, the groove of it. And so the Graceland word 466 00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:47,680 was stuck in his head and then he decided to take a trip to Graceland to fill in the 467 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:52,920 song. And so that's kind of what listening to it throughout my life I've always kind 468 00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:57,240 of felt like he had looked left and wrote about it. He looked right, he wrote about 469 00:38:57,240 --> 00:39:02,960 it. He woke up from a dream, remembered something, wrote about it. That's what it felt like. 470 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:09,000 Doesn't the album sonically, doesn't it feel sort of spacious? I feel like it's like a 471 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:11,080 big open field or something. 472 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:13,200 Feels like a road trip, like you're on a drive. 473 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:17,640 To me it feels more like an island beach setting, just like where things are open and vast and 474 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:19,280 you can see far. 475 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:23,960 Maybe because as a youth I never saw an island or a beach. 476 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:24,960 In the Midwest. 477 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:32,520 Part of the Midwest I was living in. So yeah, it was about flat planes and long drives. 478 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:36,960 Well, same idea, that far horizon idea. 479 00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:43,520 All right, so this is a highly acclaimed album, considered one of the best of all time. And 480 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:49,280 he did some amazing stuff here and captured me as a teenager when this kind of, this was 481 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:52,880 old people music, but there was still something special about it and I've loved it throughout 482 00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:59,160 my life. So I'm going to nominate this for the album Nudes Hell and Fame. 483 00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:01,560 And a yes from me. 484 00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:04,880 Yeah, I think I will go yes on this one as well. 485 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:05,880 Face, Don. 486 00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:11,240 I've always really liked this record and it holds up. It still sounds really cool. And 487 00:40:11,240 --> 00:40:14,680 I still stand by like there's really no other record that I've ever heard that sounds this 488 00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:17,000 blend of genres. It's cool. 489 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:21,280 Just because Andy likes it, I'm kind of like, I'm feeling like I don't want to say yes. 490 00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:22,280 Don't punish me, man. 491 00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:28,520 This is why I don't nominate records anymore. I don't want to. It's anxiety. 492 00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:31,200 We're out for blood. 493 00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:34,800 This is definitely, you know, this is a great album. 494 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:42,800 All right, welcome Paul Simon. Yet another notch on the bedpost. Another accolade. That 495 00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:50,320 was Paul Simon's Graceland newly inducted Album Nerds Hall of Fame member. 496 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:59,520 Okay. So we took a journey through the top 200 of Rolling Stone's list of greatest albums 497 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:01,840 of all time. What did we learn? 498 00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:06,040 You know, there's a reason we don't see a lot of lists on this podcast. I think lists 499 00:41:06,040 --> 00:41:10,720 are just right for problems and critiques. Obviously they've edited things a lot over 500 00:41:10,720 --> 00:41:15,200 the years. I know people were pretty upset when this list first came out and people are 501 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:18,320 always going to be upset. But I think they did a pretty good job. Like there weren't 502 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:23,080 a lot of like glaring admissions. I mean, the one, probably the biggest thing you could 503 00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:27,120 say is like, these are all ours from like the Western part of the world generally. And 504 00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:30,600 you really ignore more than half of the globe. 505 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:37,200 And largely mainstream hit making for the most part. There's not a lot of deep dive 506 00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:39,200 unknowns on here. 507 00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:43,200 Totally. I did appreciate the amount of hip hop that is represented, especially in the 508 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:48,480 top 100. There's quite a bit, though it's mostly like 90s hip hop. 509 00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:53,080 One thing I struggled with is some of the more recent artists that are in there. Some 510 00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:58,400 of them are quite high on the list. People like Taylor Swift and Beyonce and like nothing 511 00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:05,000 against those artists or modern music. But I feel like we're not removed enough from 512 00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:11,400 this era to really know where those records stand. It's easy to point to a Beatles record 513 00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:18,560 and recognize its influence, but I'm not sure what Taylor Swift's legacy is or Beyonce's. 514 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:24,400 I think that leans into what I learned, which was this isn't static. So today this is the 515 00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:31,320 truth and that's why they redo it. And it's based on people's opinions. Stuff changes. 516 00:42:31,320 --> 00:42:38,200 And that's what I learned is that these lists move with the time and I'd like moving with 517 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:39,200 them. 518 00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:40,200 And that's one Negron. 519 00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:41,200 I'm your density. I mean your destiny. 520 00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:59,920 All right, boys and girls gather around. It's time once again to get out that wheel of musical 521 00:42:59,920 --> 00:43:12,200 destiny and see what Wadbot has in store for us next week. Give it a spin. 522 00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:17,280 Whispering rain on the window. Album spin in the haze. The music you play cuts through 523 00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:22,080 the gray. Your musical destiny is to contemplate rainy day albums. 524 00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:23,080 Rainy day albums. 525 00:43:23,080 --> 00:43:24,080 It's very subjective. 526 00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:25,080 I like that. 527 00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:26,080 It could be fun. 528 00:43:26,080 --> 00:43:29,480 It doesn't have to necessarily be about rain, but something you'd want to put on whether 529 00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:30,480 it was right or not. 530 00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:34,880 What's your favorite rainy day album? What else are you listening to? Let us know. Join 531 00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:40,040 fellow Album Nerds on Discord at AlbumNerds.com slash Discord. You can email us at podcast 532 00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:45,240 at AlbumNerds.com. You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Album Nerds. And please subscribe, 533 00:43:45,240 --> 00:43:49,080 rate and review on your favorite podcast app. If you'd like to support the show, you can 534 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:52,880 do so via PayPal at AlbumNerds.com slash support. 535 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:57,040 Thank you once again for joining us on the Album Nerds podcast. Maybe this is your 200th 536 00:43:57,040 --> 00:44:01,240 time. Maybe it's your first. Either way, come back next week. We'll be talking about rainy 537 00:44:01,240 --> 00:44:02,240 day albums. 538 00:44:02,240 --> 00:44:05,880 What up? Thanks for listening, everybody. Catch you on 201. 539 00:44:05,880 --> 00:44:06,880 Happy 200. 540 00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:12,360 A man walks down my street says, why am I recording a podcast? Why am I recording a 541 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:16,960 podcast when everything I have to say is dumb, dumb? 542 00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:22,320 Something B-side's a great slam, right? 543 00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:25,320 I just wrote that in the middle of the show. 544 00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:27,320 200.