The Great Albums

The Great Albums•thegreatalbums.libsyn.com

Two indie rock musicians, Bill Lambusta and Brian Erickson, dive into great rock and pop music through the lens of the medium they care for most - the album. Every episode features a track-by-track review, discussions about the sounds they love, and their own stories. Guests include musicians, podcasters, and journalists who are fellow deep-dive music nerds.

Last refreshed: May 1st, 2026 at 1:22 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

The Wrens - The Meadowlands

Bill and Brian talk about indie kids' favorite sons of New Jersey, the Wrens, and their early aughts comeback/first-time-most-of-our-generation-heard-them album The Meadowlands (2003, Absolutely Kosher). Upside down guitars, lo-fi production, and essay-like lyricism dominate the discussions about the music. Also, talking about the greater legacy that the Wrens will leave behind forces Bill and Brian to acknowledge their own fears and anxieties about being aging songwriters in original local band...

Mar 02, 2015•1 hr 46 min

10 Great Songs

Bill and Brian take a break from going deep on a single album (because, you know, the holidays...) and instead bring you 10 great songs from some not-so-great albums. Bill shows you exactly how uncool he is by sharing 5 of his favorite tracks from underated late-90s bands. Brian shows you exactly how cool he is by giving you 4 songs written by dead dudes (you know they're cool because they're no longer living) and 1 song by a band we can't go a single episode without mentioning. Seriously, I thi...

Feb 26, 2015•1 hr 54 min

The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America

Bill and Brian return to the classic dynamic duo format to discuss The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls in America (2006, Vagrant). Listen for Bill having issues with a stupid cable as we talk about every song on this album. But mostly, this episode can be summed up by Brian's apt quote, "It's like Angus Young joined the E Street Band."

Feb 23, 2015•1 hr 43 min

Our Lady Peace - Spiritual Machines (w/ guest Erin Lamy)

Bill and Brian have Erin Lamy, Bootstrap Bandits' vocalist (bootstrapbandits.com), come on to talk about one of her favorite albums, Our Lady Peace's Spiritual Machines (2000, Columbia). As it turns out Bill loves this album too! And Brian found himself enjoying it despite the fact that he previously lumped OLP in with all that other late 90s alternative schlock. Ray Kurzweil, AI, the Singularity, time travel, and Art-with-a-capital-A are all discussed.

Feb 19, 2015•1 hr 57 min

The Replacements - Tim (w/ guest Jeff Fiedler)

Brian and Bill welcome Jeff Fiedler (sleepingsatellites.bandcamp.com) back onto the podcast to revisit one of our favorite bands The Replacements with their major label debut Tim (1985, Sire). The guys get serious and straightforward because there's no other way to tell you how awesome The Replacements are. Despite the up and down structure of any 'Mats album, we still talk about every single song on this album, one at a time!

Feb 16, 2015•1 hr 36 min

Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen

Bill and Brian are without a guest yet again as they delve into one of Brian's favorite albums from one of his favorite artists. This here is the music that got adolescent, turtle-neck wearing Brian out of the Jazz LPs section of his local Borders and turned him into the indie pop-rock lovin' hipster we all know and love today! There's a lot of Wikipedia level knowledge on this episode as Brian spent way too much time trolling the message boards of benfolds.org back in the early aughts. And, as ...

Feb 12, 2015•1 hr 44 min

Green Day - Dookie (w/ guest Drew Novelli)

Bill and Brian are joined by writer, actor, comedian, musician, friend, and lover Drew Novelli (check out his web series Just a Cop, Just a Surgeon, and How To With Drew!) to discuss Green Day's breakthrough album Dookie (1994, Reprise). All three reminisce about their formative years and how this album made such an impact. Also, the great "Peter Buck" stops by to give his opinion on a couple songs! As is our norm, we break down Dookie (ew) track-by-track.

Feb 09, 2015•1 hr 54 min

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (w/ guest Andrew Kolbenschlag)

Bill and Brian hang out with Small Planet Radio's (smallplanetradio.com) Andrew Kolbenschlag and discuss Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002, Nonesuch). The finer points of pressing vinyl, the then-timely Cosby scandal, and Wilco's inner turmoil are all examined in detail. And, of course, a track-by-track discussion of the whole album!

Feb 02, 2015•1 hr 45 min

REM - Murmur (w/ guest Jeff Fiedler)

Bill and Brian discuss REM's Murmur (1983, I.R.S.) with Mr. Jeff Fiedler--musician, songwriter, singer, producer extrodinaire (sleepingsatellites.bandcamp.com). Jeff shares his near encyclopaedic knowledge of all things pop music related and helps us figure out exactly what makes Murmur so great. Is it Brian's butt baby? You'll just have to listen to until the end to find out!

Jan 26, 2015•1 hr 45 min

Weezer - The Blue Album

Bill and Brian dissect Weezer's first album, as well as some bonus material, in another wonderful episode of the Great Albums podcast! This also turns into our longest episode (for an album with only 10 tracks???) thanks to lengthy discussions about mysogeny and the mid-nineties-ness of certain tracks.

Jan 19, 2015•2 hr

Polaris - Music From the Adventures of Pete and Pete

In this episode Bill and Brian discuss the soundtrack to one of our favorite children's programs, the Adventures of Pete and Pete. Masterminded by singer/songwriter Mark Mulcahy, the semi-fictitious Polaris released this single album, which just so happens to contain some amazing music.

Jan 12, 2015•1 hr 23 min

The Replacements - Let It Be

Welcome to the first episode of the The Great Albums podcast. In our debut, Brian and Bill discuss and listen to The Replacements' Let It Be (1984, Twin Tone). A seminal work for sure. Seminal of what? We're not sure--punk, indie, alt, etc. Thanks for listening.

Jan 05, 2015•1 hr 27 min

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