Discord and Rhyme: An Album Podcast

In this week's Wrecking Crew retrospective, our crew makes a feast out of some puzzling but very fascinating table scraps, including a rowdy, drunken recording session allegedly conducted as a tax write-off for Michael Nesmith, and several songs written by the enigmatic Lee Hazlewood. And just for kicks, we threw in one of the most iconic songs of the '60s as a special bonus track!

Paul Simon, famously short of stature but enormous in talent, is one of the most beloved and acclaimed American songwriters of the past century. He has at least four solo albums that would have made for great podcast episodes, but Amanda picked There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. This is probably not his absolute best album, but it’s incredibly good and serves as an excellent introduction to his solo career. He departed from the folk-rock style of Simon and Garfunkel and expanded on his experimentations with jazz, reggae, and R&B (some of these experiments being more successful than others), always accompanied by his characteristically clever turns of phrase. The result is an album that is widely varied but also sonically consistent, very early-’70s but also timeless, and extremely interesting and fun. 

Cohosts: Amanda Rodgers, Ben Marlin, Rich Bunnell

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/177-paul-simon-there-goes-rhymin-simon-1973

Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod

Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

This week, the D&R crew discusses a new batch of tunes featuring our favorite L.A.-area session musicians, including the accidental invention of a silly but awesome production technique, a sick beat that helped lay the groundwork for hip-hop, and a celebrated trumpeteer whose cornball music nearly tears this podcast apart.

Co-hosts: Rich Bunnell, Mike DeFabio, Amanda Rodgers

Theme song based on "This Is Pop," written by Andy Partridge, with new lyrics by Adam Smith

Opening music: The Hector Collectors

https://thehectorcollectors.bandcamp.com/

Closing credits music: Kenneth Kraylie

https://kennethkraylie.bandcamp.com/

https://casinos.bandcamp.com/

In late 1995, Stone Temple Pilots were one of the most popular bands in the United States, but they were still widely disliked by critics. The band responded with Tiny Music... Song From The Vatican Gift Shop, where they forged their own unique identity and branched out to try a bunch of styles far from the 90's grunge music they had long been associated with. Phil has been fascinated by this record for a long time and is thrilled to share his appreciation with Rich and Dan.

Cohosts: Phil Maddox, Rich Bunnell, Dan Watkins

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/176-stone-temple-pilots-tiny-music-songs-from-the-vatican-gift-shop

Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod

Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Back to the Wrecking Crew! Since "Good Vibrations" got its own showcase as it deserves, this is tracks 2-6, including some of the best sunshine pop and some of the most annoying protest music, all performed expertly by the best musicians in Los Angeles. 

Songs: 

Other clips:

If there was ever a song that deserved a whole episode to itself, it's the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations." A psychedelic masterpiece assembled bit by bit over several months and several studios, on paper it shouldn't have worked - but with the help of the Wrecking Crew, the Beach Boys successfully brought Brian Wilson's musical vision to life. It's become so familiar to everyone at this point that you might not even notice how brilliant it really is, so Ben, Rich, and special guest Sean are breaking it down piece by piece to illustrate its true genius. 

And of course there are a million illustrative clips: 

The Beach Boys:

Other clips:

Buy Ben's book, Come On a Safari With Me: Listening to the Beach Boys, Song by Song: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FTJGDK79

This quarterly double feature is about Fleetwood Mac for a couple of reasons: because they’re a very interesting and important band, and because they have two self-titled albums that sound nothing like each other. Launched by Peter Green in 1968 as a British blues band, in less than a decade they became an unstoppable California pop-rock monster. Their progression from one to the other is one of the most fascinating stories in rock history, and includes a lot of incredible music that you might not have known about. Mike, John, and Amanda had a great time talking about the various forms of Fleetwood Mac, and if you’re not familiar with their earlier incarnations, we hope you end up loving them as much as we do. And even if you don’t, the later version of the band is still every bit as good as their reputation says they are.

 This episode includes Side Two of each album; see last week's episode for Sides One.

Cohosts: Mike DeFabio, John McFerrin, Amanda Rodgers

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/175-fleetwood-mac-fleetwood-mac-1968-and-fleetwood-mac-1975

Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod

Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

This quarterly double feature is about Fleetwood Mac for a couple of reasons: because they’re a very interesting and important band, and because they have two self-titled albums that sound nothing like each other. Launched by Peter Green in 1968 as a British blues band, in less than a decade they became an unstoppable California pop-rock monster. Their progression from one to the other is one of the most fascinating stories in rock history, and includes a lot of incredible music that you might not have known about. Mike, John, and Amanda had a great time talking about the various forms of Fleetwood Mac, and if you’re not familiar with their earlier incarnations, we hope you end up loving them as much as we do. And even if you don’t, the later version of the band is still every bit as good as their reputation says they are. This episode includes Side One of each album, and you will get Sides Two next week!

Cohosts: Mike DeFabio, John McFerrin, Amanda Rodgers

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/175-fleetwood-mac-fleetwood-mac-1968-and-fleetwood-mac-1975

Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod

Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

This week, we dive into the second half of "Weird Al" Yankovic's tribute to the alternative rock format, featuring angsty anthems from Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden, the return of America's brother-in-law Anthony Kiedis, and a song that Rivers Cuomo stole from this medley, so we're stealin' it back.

Co-hosts: Rich Bunnell, Phil Maddox, Ben Marlin

Tracklist:

Other clips:

For this year's Q&A episode, we asked you guys what artists and albums you'd like to hear us cover on the show, and you did not disappoint! We got literally hundreds of suggestions, and we did our best to narrow them down but we still ended up having to split this episode into two parts. We published Part 1 last week, and here's Part 2 right here. We had a great time talking about everything from Bob Dylan to Dennis Wilson, and we hope you enjoy it too. 

Cohosts: Everybody

Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5Ew83laRbjctsD57wQXcd7

Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod

Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod