Welcome to Album Clash! We bring our brief ‘hate listens’ season to a merciful close with this weeks album, as we go through Bob Dylan’s 1988 effort ‘Down in the Groove’ - an album widely regarded as one of, if not the, absolute worst of Dylan’s career (although admittedly most of those reviews were written in an era before Dylan released his Christmas album).

And wow. It’s certainly a thing. We have ten tracks of Bob’s Big Blues Karaoke Hoedown to get through, and about which to try and find something constructive to say. I’m not going to lie to you mates, it’s a struggle,  but we do our best for you, our loyal listeners (and again, anyone still listening to us go through this album is worthy of our admiration). Somehow we do find quite a bit to talk about though, not least of all the frankly baffling list of contributing artists, and how they are completely buried amongst an avalanche of lazily cobbled together and poorly produced blues standards.

But how does this album fare up against Bowie’s ‘Never Let Me Down’? Well, we’ll tell you as we get to scoring the two albums to find out which comes out on top in the ring of death (can both be mortally wounded?)

Also this week we have our regular ‘video killed the radio star’ feature, in which Tim picks a great example of guerilla film-making from the kings of political activism, and we have our latest entry into our ‘album of the pod’ list.

Also also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!!

***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum) or send us an email ([email protected]).***

Welcome to Album Clash! We begin a new clash in our ‘hate listens’ season and, in doing so, as Kev noted at the end of our last pod, we are sacrificing some sacred cows by sampling arguably the worst albums (‘coincidentally’ both released in the late 1980s) from two of the greatest artists of all time - David Bowie and Bob Dylan.

Kicking things off this week we cast our eyes and ears over the album with which David Bowie followed up his stint as Jareth the Goblin King,1987’s ‘Never Let me Down’. And this time it’s Tim’s turn to search deep within himself to find some constructive commentary on one of Bowie’s most poorly received works.

Once again and with this being ‘hate listens’ season, it’s fair to see we don’t have an awful lot of positive things to say about an album which even the artist himself described as his “Phil Collins period”. But that’s not to say we don’t have anything at all to say as, amidst innumerate exasperated sighs, we do find some interesting tidbits to discuss as we go through the album.

In our latest ‘video killed the radio star’ Kev gives us the latest instalment in his and Sam’s series of ‘appropriating shit pop songs to describe the mundanity of daily life, before Tim tells us of how another trip to a Liverpool watering hole ended up inspiring his latest addition to our playlist…

Also also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!!

***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum) or send us an email ([email protected]).***

Welcome to Album Clash! Concluding the first clash in our brief ‘hate listens’ season this week we consider a 2005 album which more than lived up to it’s name, the Darkness’ second album ‘One Way Ticket to Hell and Back’. 

And what do we think of this particular slice of camp cock-rock revivalism? Well, it’s called ‘hate listens’, so fans of the Darkness be forewarned that we probably don’t have many nice things to say about it.

We still manage to drag proceedings out for nearly an hour though, in part because Kev accidentally (and quite hilariously) listened to more Darkness than he needed to in order to research this album. And also because we manage to find respite from the relentless misery of having to listen to this album by talking for a good two or three minutes about natural history.

We do try to talk about the album, which is amusing not least of all for the increasing desperation in Kev’s voice as he strains every sinew to find something constructive to say about it.

We get down to scoring our two albums, and without giving too much away I think it’s safe to assume that Be Here Now’s position at the bottom of our all time chart is under serious threat.

Also this week, Kev gets the pod off to a cheerful start with his choice for ‘video killed the radio star’ with an absolute gut punch of a video from an AC favourite, whereas his pick for album of the pod has us catching up with what one of the titans of Britpop is up to nowadays.

Also also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!!

***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum) or send us an email ([email protected]).***

Welcome to Album Clash! We start a new theme with this week’s pod, and that theme is… hate listens!

That’s right, we’ve realised that we’re far too kind about the albums we review on AC and so we’ve decided to deliberately expose ourselves to some music that is, let’s say, somewhat less likely to elicit such effusive praise. And we have an absolute corker of a clash to kick us off, as we pit against each other two bands who, having experienced meteoric rises to success with their debut albums, experienced almost as meteoric falls from grace with their follow-up efforts. Yep, it’s the clash you’ve all been waiting for - Kula Shaker vs The Darkness!

First up it’s Crispian Mills and his band of 60s psychedelia revivalists Kula Shaker, with their 1999 sophomore album ‘Peasants, Pigs and Astronauts’. And while this is a considerably shorter pod than our last two, we still have a surprising amount to get in to. Such as Crispian’s ‘unfortunate’ praise for a certain controversial emblem whose origins lie in Eastern mysticism, and one of the most unlikely combinations of band and producer that we’ve ever come across on Album Clash. And of course it would be remiss of us not to cite some of the bands from which Kula Shaker drew ‘inspiration’.

In this week’s ‘can’t get you out of my head’ Kev once again regails us with tales of his and Sam’s toilet-related musings, before Tim informs Kev of a brand new release that calls back to one of Kev’s ‘favourite’ albums from the AC pantheon…

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!!

***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum) or send us an email ([email protected]).***

Welcome to Album Clash! We start the final leg of our musical road trip as we pay a visit to London and take in the incipient punk scene in the late 1970s. And what a clash we have lined up over the next couple of shows, as two of the standard bearers for punk go head to head in the ring of death - the Clash and the Sex Pistols.

First up it’s the Clash who, despite having come together over a year after the Pistols, beat their mates to the charts by nearly six months with the release of their eponymously titled debut in April 1977. It’s a bumper episode this week because we have quite a bit to get through, starting with the formation of the Clash and the run up to the album’s release - not least of all the incestuous nature of the early punk scene and the various interrelations between the Clash and the Pistols. We obviously talk in some depth about the Clash’s overt political messages (and how they stood apart from a bunch of lads whom we’ll be talking about in a couple of weeks), how their sound developed and grew even through the course of making the album , and we also touch on the clear inspiration that the Clash took from a bunch of New Yorkers by the name of the Ramones.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!!

***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum) or send us an email ([email protected]).***

Welcome to Album Clash! This week we conclude our visit to Memphis by getting next to the Reverend Al Green and casting our irreverent, sideways glance at his seminal 1972 album ‘I’m Still in Love with You’.

In doing so we spend a lot of time talking about Al’s unique vocal style (and for some reason engage in a bit of one-upmanship in trying to come up with metaphors to describe his voice), and how the production on this album creates the perfect backing for him to shine. We touch on the interesting choices of songs to cover on this album, and Tim is a little too enthusiastic about the subject of sexy songs. Sadly, we also have to speak about some of the personal problems that beset Al Green, not least of all his own shocking behaviours.

We get into scoring our two Memphis albums, before Kev reveals the next stop on our musical pilgrimage. And, lo and behold, Nobby puts his foot in it yet again.

In our latest ‘video killed the radio star’ Kev picks an animated classic from the early 2000s which features more than a hint of suggestive themes, not to mention some shocking treatment of a guitar. 

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!!

***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum) or send us an email ([email protected]).***

Welcome to Album Clash! The latest stop on our musical road trip sees us pay a visit to Memphis Tennessee to compare two landmark albums by two of the biggest names in soul music - Aretha Franklin and Al Green.

Kicking things off on this week’s pod is Aretha’s second appearance on Album Clash, as we go her breakthrough 1967 album (her tenth!), ‘I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You’. In doing so we talk about how Jerry Wexler and Atlantic Records were able to capitalise on Aretha’s stagnation at Columbia Records and turn her into a global megastar. We also have a big dive into how the recording of this album, and one drunken altercation in particular, inadvertently made a small town in rural Alabama one of the most famous places in the history of popular music.

In our latest ‘can’t get you out of my head’ Tim recants how a trip to the footy had him bemoaning the popularity of bland indie bands in the mid-2000s. And, lo and behold, Nobby McGhee finally proves to be of some use - before yet again emphasising just what an insufferable egotist he is.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!!

***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum) or send us an email ([email protected]).***

Welcome to Album Clash! It’s the concluding part of our steel city battle as we take a trip back to 2006 and the debut album from Arctic Monkeys, ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I Am Not’. An album which, despite the warning from the band themselves, had us all very much believing the hype and getting behind the Monkeys as the leaders of a new generation of British guitar music. As we go through the album we gush over Alex Turner’s wryly observed lyrical turns of phrase, we marvel at the musical proficiency and songwriting maturity of a group of lads who were in their early twenties, and we ‘fondly’ recall the nights on the town that this album so brilliantly evokes.

We find out which of our two albums will triumph inside the ring of death, and Tim reveals the next stop on our musical field trip.

We also have some brilliant on-air admin in this week’s show, as Tim’s pick for ‘video killed the radio star’ turns into an impromptu live watchalong.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!!

***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum) or send us an email ([email protected]).***

Welcome to Album Clash! Kev is back this week and so normal service is resumed as we continue our musical road trip by paying a visit to the steel city, Sheffield. Yes, we begin our clash between two bands who weren’t afraid to shine a light on northern working class life and to say “these are our people” - it’s Pulp vs Arctic Monkeys.

First up it’s Jarvis and the gang with their 1995 smash hit ‘Different Class’. And boy, what an album to get into. An album dripping with invective and cynicism, with perversion and revenge, with pop bangers and indie classics galore.

In going through the album we talk about how a serendipitous cycling accident thrust the band into the limelight, how they seized the opportunity with both hands, and how they dealt with unexpectedly being heralded as the standard bearers for a scene that they had no interest in being a part of.

In our latest ‘can’t get you out of my head’ Kev tells us how listening to another (vastly more popular) podcast reminded him of a decidedly regrettable meeting of sport and music.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!!

***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum) or send us an email ([email protected]).***