ALBUM CLASH IS BACK! REPEAT, ALBUM CLASH IS BACK! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! ASSUME CRASH POSITIONS AND PREPARE TO HAVE YOUR EARS INVADED!!

Yep, we’re back for Season 2. For reals this time. Heralding our return, and to kick off our ‘live albums’ season , we do what we know best - talking for absolutely ages about two ridiculously long albums. It’s a real clash of the titans as we pit two behemoths of rock against each other (as well as mixing our mythological metaphors). It’s Queen versus Bowie.

First up it’s Queen as we take you through their iconic performance at Wembley stadium from their what would prove to be their valedictory 1986 tour. We talk about how Queen capitalised on stealing the show at Live Aid to embark on their most bombastic tour yet - and gave a big boon to Eddie Stobart’s business in doing so. In going through the album’s 28 (!!) tracks we  get into how the band approach the setlist composition, and of course we talk about how the greatest showman who ever took to the stage had the crown eating out of the palm of his hand. And, sadly, we talk about how this proved to be the beginning of the end for Freddie Mercury. And for the band Queen, who retired in dignity after Freddie’s passing and were never heard from again. THEY WERE NEVER HEARD FROM AGAIN.

We also have the return of our ‘Can’t Get You Out of my Head’ feature, in which Tim explains why he hasn’t been able to stop humming a cheesy 80s pop classic, and Kev goes all Partridge while recollecting Tim’s stag do.

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]).***

WE'RE BACK, BABY! And not before time! Okay, okay, so this is only a trailer. The official return is next week, when Tim and Kev bring you 'Album Clash Season 2 - Electric Boogaloo'!! And this time it's even more tiresome!

In this brief trailer to get you excited about season 2 we reveal the theme of our next few clashes and, of course, announce the first two albums to enter the ring of death. We also sing - badly - and, as is our custom, cram in a reference to UK kids TV in the 80s.

We also announce a slight schedule change, in that from now on we'll be moving to fortnightly episodes - which gives you lot an extra 7 days to chew your way through our marathon episodes. It also means that our Twitter references will be even more out of date.

So, join us next week for the first episode proper of Season 2!

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!

***If you like what you've heard in this trailer 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]).*** 

To conclude our ‘breakup albums’ bonus clash, Shel takes us through the most famous divorce album of all time (at least according to the 40 million people who bought it), Fleetwood Mac’s eleventh album ‘Rumours’ from 1977. And, as anyone who knows even the tiniest bit about the history of Fleetwood Mac will know, there’s a hell of a lot for us to talk about given that all five members of the band were going through personal trauma, breakups and divorce (from each other) during the writing and recording of the album. We talk about how Lindsey Buckingham’s creative vision propelled the band to global megastardom, how three incredibly talented songwriters fought it out to ensure that their stories would be told on the album, and even how some of those battles are still ongoing 45 years later.

As is customary we deliver our scores on these two divorce albums and find out which will emerge victorious from the ring of death. And, as a rare treat, we actually have some semblance of a debate over the verdict!

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

We hope you guys have enjoyed these bonus pods (Shel’s really good, isn’t she?), and we’re sorry again for our extended hiatus. Rest assured, we’ll be back VERY soon with our usual format. And plenty of chat about obscure British TV from the 80s and 90s. Bet you can’t wait!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave 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]).***

And WE’RE BACK!! Sort of. Ahead of our long awaited (dreaded?) return we thought we’d treat you to a little bonus clash. Kev’s not here for this one, so Shel returns to pod duties as we go through two iconic albums of the 70s. And the theme for this special husband and wife helmed clash is, of course, albums about divorce! Yep, we’re pitting two of the most famous breakup albums of all time into the ring of death, as Bob Dylan’s ‘Blood on the Tracks’ does battle with Fleetwood Mac’s legendary ‘Rumours’.

First up it’s off to 1975 as we go through the album that Robert Zimmerman has flatly denied is about his estrangement from Sarah Lowndes. Even though it definitely definitely is. Sorry Bob, you’re fooling absolutely no-one with that Chekhov nonsense. It’s an album about your breakup. And boy, what an album, as the Bard takes us treats our ears to a feast of emotion-packed poetry infused with a whole lot of folk, a dash of country and even some down and dirty blues.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave 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]).***

Concluding our latest clash, and indeed our ‘Album Clash goes to the movies’ season we have the second of our legendary film scores by Italian composers, as we go back to 1972 and take a look at Nino Rota’s legendary score for the first part of Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Godfather’ trilogy.

We talk about Nino Rota and Ennio Morricone’s contrasting approaches to composing soundtracks, as well as the influence - both positive and negative - that this soundtrack had on popular culture (yes, we’re looking at you Walls ice cream…).

We also get to scoring these two iconic soundtracks and, in doing so, we have an Album Clash first (and possibly never to be repeated)...

In our latest ‘video killed the radio star’ Kev talks us through an early(ish) Arctic Monkeys video that featured two fantastic British actors (and alumni of Edgar Wright’s ‘Cornetto trilogy’) demonstrating some incredible face acting.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

****As we announce at the end of this week’s show, we are taking a short hiatus for a few weeks. Nothing to worry about, we’re both just dead busy at the minute and need a little break to give ourselves some headspace. We’ll (hopefully) provide some bonus content in the interim, but please bear with us for a few weeks before the main pod is back. Keep across our socials (links below) for updates on when we will be back in full force. In the meantime thanks so much for listening and we’ll see you all soon!****

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave 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]).***

We start a new clash this week, and continuing our ‘movies’ season we have a slight change of direction, away from the world of pop music and into the world of film scores. And what a couple of soundtracks (and films for that matter) we have picked to go through - it’s the battle of the Italian composers as the genial Ennio Morricone and his score for ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ goes up against Nino Rota’s score for ‘The Godfather’. The ultimate Western vs the ultimate Gangster film?

Kicking things off this week it’s the turn of Ennio Morricone (a man about whom we have previously spoken in glowing terms) as we go back to 1966 and take a look at his score for the concluding part of Sergio Leone’s ‘dollars’ trilogy, ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’. And in doing so we talk about how Morricone came up with one of the most iconic film scores of all time - including arguably the most famous opening titles tune ever recorded. As we go through the tracks we inevitably talk a lot about the film, in particular how Leone and Morricone worked together to choreograph some of the film’s most famous scenes to fit with the music and the inspirational touch of giving each of the main characters their own musical motif.

In this week’s ‘can’t get you out of my head’ we discuss our disdain for one of California’s most loved rock bands before paying our own small tribute to the sad passing of an icon of modern rock music.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave 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]).***

It’s new clash week here on Album Clash, and we are continuing with our ‘Album Clash Goes to the Movies’ season by taking a little bit of a sideways look at the theme, as we take a look at two ‘concert movie soundtracks’. Going up against each other inside the ring of death are Talking Heads, with their 1984 album ‘Stop Making Sense’, and U2, with the behemoth that was 1988’s ‘Rattle and Hum’.

First up it’s David Byrne, Tina Weymoth et al with the soundtrack to what has often been cited (including by nobody’s favourite critic) as the best concert film of all time, ‘Stop Making Sense’. Recorded in 1983 it provided a fascinating snapshot of a band at the height of its powers, and set an example for so many acts that followed (including the other band in this clash) in terms of how to put on a show. It also provided some absolutely belting songs.

As we get into the album we find out how the concept for the film was developed, what the various members of Talking Heads think of each other nowadays, and what influenced David Byrne’s iconic sartorial choices…

In this week’s ‘can’t get you out of my head’ Tim tells us how he once again earwormed himself, while Kev explains how a lost mobile phone led to the first entry into Album Clash for the Rolling Stones.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave 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]).***

IT’S OUR BIRTHDAY!! Yep, it’s our 52nd ‘proper’ pod this week (not counting a couple of bonus pods) and so we mark our first birthday. MASSIVE thanks to everyone who has listened to us over the past year - whether you have been with us right from the start, whether you dip in and out from time to time, or whether you have just discovered us (and a warm welcome to you guys as well).

How will we be marking this momentous occasion, I hear you ask? By bringing the first clash in our movies season (told you I’d lose interest in typing out the whole thing) to a conclusion, that’s how.

And so in this week’s show Kev takes us through the iconic soundtrack to Danny Boyle’s breakout film ‘Trainspotting’. A soundtrack album that capitalised on the zeitgeist by mixing contemporary acts with classic songs, and even heralded the coming of a new musical age. And just like last week with ‘Pulp Fiction’, a soundtrack where every song has been meticulously chosen to convey the meaning of the film and to propel the story along.

Along the way we get into the imposing presence of Bowie throughout this album (despite it not actually featuring any Bowie songs), talking about one of the biggest breakout hits of the 90s, and explaining the conspicuous absence of the biggest band in the world at the time…

In ‘video killed the radio star’ Kev reintroduces us to a brilliant video from 2001 that basically invented YouTube before YouTube was invented.

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave 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]).***

What’s this? Has Album Clash taken complete leave of its senses? Are we doing films now?! Well, no. Not exactly. We’re doing film soundtracks.

That’s right, with Oscars season upon us once again we figured we’d hitch ourselves to that bandwagon and do a new season which I’ve decided to call “Album Clash Goes to the Movies”. At least until next week, when I realise I can’t be bothered typing the whole thing out and so just call it “movie season” or something similarly succinct.

Kicking things off we have a real clash of the titans, as we take a look at two of the soundtracks which, along with the films they accompanied and the directors who made them, epitomised 90s cool - Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction’ and Danny Boyle’s ‘Trainspotting’.

First up it’s ‘Pulp Fiction’, and what a place to start. We talk about how meticulous Quentin Tarantino is about selecting songs to use in his films, how so many of his choices are perfectly pitched and how he uses the soundtrack to find the tone of the film. We also talk about his obsession with feet. Particularly Uma Thurman’s feet.

In our latest ‘can’t get you out of my head’ picks Tim reveals how a trip up to Liverpool led to him being earwormed with an early 2000s power ballad, and Kev continues his dalliance with the leisure peninsula…

Also this week:

This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!

***PLEASE take a moment to subscribe to the podcast, leave 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]).***