Redemption Song

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Actually...it was just the worst of times. Hard drugs and hard livin had finally caught up to Aerosmith and the result was hard to hear. The making of this album was so tense that Joe Perry quit the band before the album was finished. But was Joe being too harsh on a mellow that had thoroughly charred or did have the good sense to jump ship before the whole thing capsized? Listen along as we try to find out!

Just how sexy are those grain silos, anyway? On this episode we dive into an album Dan got four songs into and turned off, vowing never to return. But now he has his three Redemption Song co-hosts to help him make sense of it all. Or...try. You may be ahem HIGHLY SUSPICIOS of the results, but it's high time we give this album a fair shake. Plenty of room in the grain silo. Hop on in!

Is it better to burn out or fade away? What to do if you are a legendary 80's college radio band who has been touring on their back catalog for years? Dare you venture into the realm of new music? It worked for some of your left of the dial compatriots (Dinosaur Jr, Camper Van Beethoven) but will it work for a band like The Pixies? Well...apparently not. Savaged by even the band's most ardent champions upon release, this album has been called so bad that it invalidated the entire Pixies reunion. But, come on. Is it really that bad?

We're three for four with solo Beatles with this one! In the early 80's the "Quiet Beatle" had even less than usual to say, but still had an album left on his record deal. And so in 1982 he dropped Gone Troppo (meaning "On Vacation") and promptly shoved off out of the music business for five years. Historically maligned as unlistenable dross, we're giving this one a fair shot at last. So grab a big floppy hat, slather on some Bain de Soleil, and join in the tropics. The Gone Tropics!

Why did they do it? Even they don't seem to know. But in 1995, Duran Duran decided to follow up their biggest album in years with an all covers record that featured their slickly stylized take on everything from classic rock to funk to (don't laugh) militant 90's hip hop. Immediately disavowed by everyone involved, this album remains a rare skid mark on the delicately embroidered satin undergarments of these New Romantic superstars. But how bad is that cover of "911 is a Joke" after all? Bad. Like, really really bad. But what about the rest of the album? Listen and find out...

Ah, Ringo. You poor little goofball. Solo Beatledom was never going to be kind to you, was it? Things got off to a good enough start with a handful of bona fide classics, but affable charm (which was always Ringo's greatest strength) can only carry you so far, and his commercial fall from grace was as calamitous as it was predictable. Not that his compatriots were faring much better in 1977 - Lennon was in house husband exile, Harrison was in a downswing that he wouldn't pull out of until 1987's Cloud Nine, and McCartney's latest Wings album was based on the idea, "Hey, what if we had the guy who's NOT Paul McCartney write most of the songs!" Still, Ringo IV was a dud even by Ringo standards and it gave him the ignoble distinction of being the first Beatle to be dropped by his label. But was the world being too harsh on out hapless former mop top? Listen along as we try to find out!

The 80's weren't a good time to be a classic rock band struggling to stay relevant. Do you stick to what always worked, trusting that will carry you through, or do you embrace the new sound and try to change with the times? If you opt for the latter, do you have a solid enough crop of songs to hang these new sounds on? Are you nexplicably obsessed with spy novels? If you answered "Change with the times," "No," and "Yes," then you are Ian Anderson in 1984! And you have made an album called Under Wraps that sounds almost, but not quite, entirely unlike Jethro Tull. It was a bold gamble, but did it pay off? Listen and find out!

Nickelback. You hate them. We hate them. Everyone you know hates them. And yet they sell millions of albums and sell out stadiums across the globe. So...someone must like them. Right? I mean, someone has to. So this week we flip the script a bit and check out the most loved album from the world's most hated band. Will it turn that we've all been to harsh on these hapless canucks? Look at this photograph, and find out!

Some things get better for the waiting. Fine wines. Losing your virginity. Your favorite long suffering team finally winning it all. And then some things...well, some things are Chinese Democracy by Guns 'N Roses. Well. Not really Guns 'N Roses. The problems start there and only get worse, so join us for all the chicken coop in the recording studio WTF-ery that is Chinese Democracy.

It should have been a grand slam. It should have been two titans of 60's rock culture combining forces for an unforgettable tour. It should have been...but it wasn't. At least not based on this album. Is this another case of Dylan self sabotaging his own project, or was there simply nothing in the grooves worth hearing? Listen and find out!