Today’s episode is The Harder They Come soundtrack, featuring Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, Toots and the Maytals and several others. I am personally writing the testimonial, but actually this is a mutual pick between the three of us. We love this album so much, it is the perfect introduction to the music of Jamaica in the late 60s/early 70s, and puts you in the best mood whenever you put it on. We played this record at Cabinista! before filming this episode, just feeling the good vibes and was so inspiring and uplifting, but also brought back strong memories from our collective past. It is one of our favorite albums of all time, and honestly surprised it took this long into the show before we talked about it! Enjoy the episode, and listen to this album at least once a year, especially if you need some cheering up and want to have a good time with your friends. 

James Joyce - Three on the Ones and Twos. 

From our friend and special guest Mack Cole: "I picked this record because when I first heard it at age 12 it completely changed everything for me. Musically it inspired me in countless ways - and it made me realize that puffy hair and good looking dudes weren't necessary to be awesome. They looked like dudes who hang out at the gas station and drink beer from quart bottles. Perfect. Orion is my single favorite piece of music of all time. Cheers!"

From our dear friend and guest for this episode, Matt McCalvin: "Trout Mask Replica is a one of a kind rare album, it’s simultaneously in the future and the past, blending delta/Chicago blues with the skronk and spazz of free jazz It’s a bold and direct challenge to the ears. Fast and Bulbous!"

This is a special double episode celebrating "GothVember" combining 44 and 45 where we talk with guests Jenny Watts and Karen Horn Smith of Fossil & Hide simultaneously about their record picks, Phantasmagoria by the Damned and First and Last and Always by The Sisters of Mercy. In their own words:

I chose the album by the Damned, Phantasmagoria, their 6th album released in July of 1985. This was the first Damned album that was made without the infamous Captain Sensible (although he did help write the song 'Is it a dream') AND the Damned's first goth album. Rat Scabies drumming on this record is nostalgic to me of a theme from an old western. Some would argue that this album is not a tried and true Damned album because of its lack of "punk" attributes but I disagree.  Without Dave Vanian, the Damned would not be the Damned. This is the one and only album by The Damned where Dave Vanian truly shines in all of his dracula glory with it's catchy, non-serious yet very thought out amazing vocals, goth glory and punk nostalgia. If you are a "punk" Damned album fan only, listen to Phantasmagoria about a hundred times and you will eventually get it!  - Jenny Watts

I chose First and Last and Always by The Sisters of Mercy. The first time I heard the Sisters of Mercy was in 1990 on my local college radio station WFWM. The song was This Corrosion off of their second album Floodland. I was 15 and living in a small mountain town in western MD. My only source for alternative music was the local college radio station and MTV’s 120 minutes, which I watched religiously every Sunday night. I remember being totally blown away by This Corrosion and so I begged my mom to drive me two towns over to Camelot music to see if they had any SOM tapes at the store. The only cassette they had was the band's debut album First and Last and Always so I bought it and it changed my 15 year old existence. I couldn’t get enough of Andrew Eldritch’s deep voice and gloomy lyrics. I love every song on this album and it has been in constant rotation since I first discovered it.  Andrew Eldritch can deny it all he wants (eye roll)  but the Sisters of Mercy hands down defined the goth sound of the 80's and have influenced countless other bands. I had the best time discussing this album! Thanks James, Cassy and Tom! - Karen Horn Smith

https://www.fossilandhide.com/

https://www.instagram.com/fossil_and_hide/

From our friend and guest on this episode, Lyra Stephens: "I heard the Misfits for the first time when I was 13, and, even though it was from a very bad recording on a mixed tape, I immediately fell in love. After hearing much better recordings, my love for them grew substantially.

Once I could understand what Glenn Danzig was singing about, I appreciated the songs even more. He has a distinct voice, cool imagination, fascinating ideas, and a way with words. 

Strangely, the Misfits’ album, Static Age, was released almost twenty years after it was recorded. With just 30 hours of studio time, they put together an album that contains songs that changed the punk rock landscape. The album was recorded in 1978, and, because they had trouble finding a record label who wanted it, was released in 1995. It was first found in the box set, then, about a year later on an album of its own, with a bonus song. 

The album art for Static Age is rather macabre, and very much in keeping with the distinctly creepy aesthetic the Misfits used on so much of their t-shirt graphics and artwork over the years. The Crimson Ghost skull is an iconic punk rock symbol that almost everyone recognizes because it is so visually memorable and stunning.  

The Misfits brought a brand new sound with creative, spooky imagery to the music world. They even had a fan club, the Fiend Club, that they used to market their products, which was an uncommon practice, and a great idea. Uniquely haunting, the Misfits have been, and continue to be, the backbone of punk rock.

Today's pick was from our friend and guest Sean Zearfoss: "I first heard the Stone Roses by way of their second, almost universally panned second album, Second Coming. Perhaps because I didn’t read any press on the album before I heard it, I didn’t know what I was supposed to think about the band or the album. I liked it, especially “Ten Storey Love Song.” From there, I got The Complete Stone Roses shortly after, which gave me more of an idea of what they did best: catchy, Byrds-ian, psychedelic pop songs. I was already sold by the time I finally found their debut Stone Roses. The years I took to get there are perhaps the most circuitous way to find one of the most important and best albums of all time. Stone Roses has those same psychedelic pop songs, but what works most about the album is that it works as a genuine whole. In other words, it’s a perfect album. The songs are both tangible, like you’ve been hearing their sounds your entire life, but also otherworldly, as if these textures are from a time and space beyond. If we put our best on the Voyager spacecraft, this is what returned to us from the other direction. And while most people call out John Squire’s guitar on Second Coming, here, the band moves as a unit, as one cohesive whole towards the stratosphere. There is perhaps no more arrogant opening to an album than Ian Brown’s “I want to be adored” refrain. Here’s a band (and especially an album) worthy of such of a grand request."

Check out Sean's amazing work in Small Reactions here!

https://smallreactions.bandcamp.com/

From this week's guest Chet Knight: "Simply put, the RedSkins are unique. There's still only one Socialist Soul band made up of skinheads and former punk musicians. And they deserve to be heard."

Check out the album on Youtube and Spotify - Enjoy the episode!

From Cassy: REM is one of those bands that undeniably impacted our generation. Whether their music is your thing or not – it made its mark. But for us this was so much closer to home, both literally and figuratively. They’re so woven into the tapestry of our lives it seems crazy that in a year and a half this is our first REM episode and it was picked by our friend, Jon Phipps, all the way from Jefferson, North Carolina. But this wasn’t just about REM for us. This was about a very special place that made a huge impact on our young adult selves which carried over into all the corners of our lives. This episode is our love letter to Athens. We’re sorry it took us so long. In the end, Jon Phipps was unable to travel into town for the festival and we had to shoot the episode without him. He’s already picked another fantastic record (but you’ll have to wait to find out what it is) and we’re excited to have him on as a guest soon.

From our friend and today's guest Daniel Gay "I chose Philip Glass’ “Solo Piano” because it’s the most transportive record I’ve ever heard.  It’s music for all seasons of life; it can be warm, cold, stark, ambitious, unrelenting, but more than anything it’s constantly beautiful.  Each track, each arpeggiated run.  It’s reference points have always resonated with me.  Kafka, Ginsberg, the Dali Lama, Buddhism, social justice, anti-authority.  For more than 25 years, this music has accompanied me through the births of my kids, deaths, degrees, jobs, marriage, love and loss, and I attribute some of its power to helping me quit alcohol and remain on a path of alcohol sobriety.  It’s mindful music, not in the “Life is Good” hippie way, but in the way that it centers me.  It’s classical music for punk rockers, or  music for thinkers and dreamers.  Glass won’t physically  be around much longer, but the next generation, guys like Richter, Tiersen, O’Halloran…they’ll push the minimalist form forward and continue to inspire people to step out of their boxes, focus, and be conscious of the beauty of the world and my place in it."

Enjoy the episode, and check out Daniel Gay's YouTube Channel! Here is the link:
Daniel Gay YouTube Channel

Also Daniel Gay's Bandcamp page:
Daniel Gay Bandcamp Page

In the words our our guest for this episode and friend Will Greene: "I chose the Duster album due to how much the longevity of the players in the record impresses me.  Through blistering HC bands in the nineties (Mohinder) to a complete shift to another style and type of music (Duster) in the late nineties - switching to other bands to only come back and reignite Duster almost 20 years later with the cat album in 2019.  Incredible - and the album is just another perfect step forward with the type of sound they had always been striving for.  I find it beautiful and inspiring."