Send us a text On this episode we let you, our loyal listeners and fans, pick the album we reviewed. That's right, its our first "Listener's Choice!" and you all picked a doozy: Forever Changes by Love. Love's third album has come to be appreciated as a classic. Released around the time of the "Summer of Love", the album's lyrics and themes are not the "peace and love" you'd expect. Rather they seem to dwell on the inevitability of breakdown...
Sep 13, 2022•2 hr 53 min•Ep 33•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we discuss the 1988 LP by Leonard Cohen, I’m Your Man. Cohen gained fame as a writer of poetry and novels before he gained fame as a musician. He writes some of the most compelling (and often covered) songs in popular music (including the ubiquitous “Hallelujah”). His early albums fit more into the folk idiom, but on later albums, he began to experimenting with synthesizers and incorporating them into the mix culminating with this album. I'm Your Man is an al...
Sep 01, 2022•2 hr 49 min•Ep 32•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this week’s episode, we take a two-steppin’ deep dive into the debut LP of a true original, 1971’s Lost in the Ozone by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. The band members came from varied musical backgrounds and interests, but they brought a love of pre-1970s American music to the table, to including boogie-woogie blues, honky tonkin’ shuffle tunes, 1940’s jumpin’ jive, 1950’s rock n’ roll, and western swing. And it is all performed so expertly and effortlessly on this...
Aug 19, 2022•2 hr 47 min•Ep 31•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this week's episode, we discuss Elton John's third, 1970's Tumbleweed Connection. Elton John's second LP was a lushly orchestrated affair that launched Elton John's career into the stratosphere, largely due to the single "Your Song", which was a top ten single all over the world. Not wanting to be pigeonholed, Elton John, chose to make an album that was more stripped down. There are elements of gospel, folk country, and even funk. Long time El...
Aug 06, 2022•2 hr 40 min•Ep 30•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this week's episode, we look at the second LP by Lou Reed: Transformer. After a disappointing debut solo LP (both critically and commercially), Reed’s solo career was destined to be somewhat short-lived. However, interest to produce his next album by one of the hottest musical acts at the time (David Bowie) prompted Reed’s label to give it another go. Aided by his right-hand man, Mick Ronson, Bowie and Ronson understood perfectly what Reed is trying to accomplish. Reed’s v...
Jul 26, 2022•2 hr 50 min•Ep 29•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this week's episode, we look at the second LP by quite possibly the most influential band to wear a pentagram: Paranoid by Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath may not have invented the genre of "heavy metal," but the group certainly did more to mold it into the doom-and-gloom, distorted, heavy blues-based music it became associated with. Paranoid finds lead singer Ozzy Osborne at the peak of his singing powers, groove-master Tony Iommi at the top of his game, and the bo...
Jul 19, 2022•2 hr 38 min•Ep 28•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we look at the Who’s monster-selling 1971 LP: Who’s Next. Coming off the surprising success of Tommy , Pete Townsend was looking to take the "concept album" in a new direction: a full, multimedia experience where music, film, and stage would become one. The Lifehouse project (as it was known) had a backstory: a dystopian future where humans can experience life only as beings plugged into a machine, the Lifehouse. (Sound similar? The Matrix?) Attempts to ...
Jul 13, 2022•2 hr 51 min•Ep 27•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we look at what is regarded by most critics as the Talking Head's masterpiece: Remain in Light . Brian Eno, who had produced their previous two LPs, took a more active role in the songwriting and playing and pushed the band to explore the African rhythms he had been exploring with the band's singer and main songwriter, David Byrne. It is an album of experimentation with songs culled from jam sessions where the members frequently changed instruments. Perh...
Jun 30, 2022•2 hr 42 min•Ep 26•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text Crowded House seemingly came from nowhere in 1986 with the debut album. The hits "Don't Dream its Over" and "Something So Strong" were welcome respites from the hair-metal-and-faux-rap blur that dominated the airwaves that year. But the song crafting on that album begin more than a decade before when Neil Finn joined his older brother Tim's band, Split Enz, one of the most popular bands in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. On this album, Woodface, t...
Jun 17, 2022•2 hr 48 min•Ep 25•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we dive into the last album by the highly influential band, Roxy Music, 1982’s Avalon. Avalon was free of the experimentations found on the group's earlier records. The synthesizers are more atmospheric and provide the bed where the other instruments can find space and be heard. Sonically, it is beautiful, and the musicianship and recording are first-rate. Roxy Music, now down to a trio of Bryan Ferry (keyboards and vocals), Phil Manzenara (guitar), and Andy ...
May 30, 2022•2 hr 51 min•Ep 24•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we discuss the fifth album by Queen, 1976’s A Day at the Races . The band blended elements of hard rock, prog rock, power pop, glam rock, and even opera into their own unique rock-n-roll stew. While this often makes Queen’s music difficult to categorize, there is little doubt that what they created was a sound that was completely and uniquely their own. A Day at the Races was the follow-up to their previous and most well-known LP, 1975’s A Night at the Opera. With...
May 24, 2022•2 hr 36 min•Ep 23•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we finally complete our look at the Holy Trinity of the Jersey Shore sound by diving headfirst into the 1982 debut by Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul - Men Without Women (We talked about the other two on Episode 34 - Springsteen and Episode 38 - Southside Johnny). It is not hyperbole to say that Steven Van Zandt has likely done more to promote rock-n-roll and rhythm and blues than any other musician alive today. A fine musician in his own right, Van Zandt ...
May 16, 2022•2 hr 59 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we talk about the 6th studio LP by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 1985's Southern Accents. Released three years after their last album, it was originally conceived as a concept album about the Southern experience. However, the band was at a bit of a crossroads and that concept became derailed when Petty, looking for outside inspiration, teamed up with Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics to write a trio of songs that didn't really fit with the overall them...
May 01, 2022•2 hr 52 min•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we look at Harry Nilsson’s 2nd album for RCA, 1968’s Aerial Ballet. After signing with RCA, he received adulation from many of popular music's most notable figures, including the Beatles who called him their “favorite band” during a press conference. The man never toured or even really played in front of a live audience. Instead, he found solace in the studio where he could rely on his real strength: his 3 and 1/2 octave voice and his ability to create what w...
Apr 25, 2022•2 hr•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text Every now and then, we have to cut stuff from the show to due time constraints. These are some of the recent exchanges we've had: How do you say "Pogues"? Arguing the intellectual and entertaining merit of "Land of the Lost". "Who was Andy Warhol by chipmunks?" There will be more to come. Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.
Apr 24, 2022•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we discuss Fleetwood Mac’s sixth album, 1972’s Bare Trees. This album was released during the period between co-founder Peter Green's departure from the band and Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nick's arrival and is easily the most overlooked and underappreciated period in Fleetwood Mac's long history. This period marks a tumultuous time for the band, full of dizzying personnel changes and exploration of new musical directions away from their blues-ba...
Apr 11, 2022•2 hr 50 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text Joe Ely, Adam Carroll, and Willis Alan Ramsey. What do these three have in common? They're all born and raised in Texas and they have each released fantastic albums that are uniquely Texan. Joe Ely's 1978 album "Honky Tonk Masquerade" is a mixture of old school country, with a touch of zydeco and norteno mixed in, and a collection of songs written by Ely and his Lubbock bandmates, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock. Adam Carroll's first album, South of ...
Mar 28, 2022•52 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we take a look at the fifth album by arguably THE band of the 1970s: Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy. After Led Zeppelin’s monster success with their fourth LP (Zeppelin IV, ZOSO, etc.), the band felt uncertain about how to follow up such a successful album. That success also gave the band a sense of artistic freedom that found them in a more experimental mood, departing from their heavy blues sound and embracing acoustic instruments, synthesizers, and a favorit...
Mar 21, 2022•2 hr 43 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we take a deep dive into the third album by the power-pop band, Fountains of Wayne: Welcome Interstate Managers. After two critically acclaimed, but in the eyes of the Atlantic Records commercially underperforming LPs, the label dropped them. The band shopped around for a label, but with little success, As a result, Welcome Interstate Managers. was self-financed. The record saw the songwriting duo of Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood crafting songs about the ...
Mar 13, 2022•2 hr 50 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this week’s episode, we discuss the 10th album by Aretha Franklin, and her first for Atlantic Records, the groundbreaking I Never Loved a Man the Way That I Loved You . The Queen of Soul had made a series of decidedly un-soulful albums when her career began with Columbia Records. Discovered by the legendary John Hammond (Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Billie Holiday), he tried to mold her into the next Billie Holiday with big band and string arrangements, and ...
Mar 07, 2022•2 hr 41 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we discuss the 1975 album by Jerry Jeff Walker, Ridin’ High. Prior to moving to Austin, Texas, Walker was essentially a folkie, but he distinguished himself by penning "Mr. Bojangles” a song covered almost as many times as "Yesterday" and by a very wide variety of artists, most famously by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. After he and the Lost Gonzo Band recorded the highly influential Cosmic American music masterpiece Viva Terlingua , an outlaw country ...
Feb 21, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this week’s episode, we take on an “angry young man” and dive headfirst into what many consider Graham Parker’s finest artistic statement, 1979’s Squeezing Out Sparks. By 1979, Parker, backed by a fantastic group of former pub rock musicians known as the Rumour, had recorded three albums of horn-infused soulful rock and roll, when he decided he needed to take a different direction. Having changed to a more supportive label in the US, he enlisted the production talents of Jack N...
Feb 14, 2022•2 hr 38 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we look at the 1983 debut of legendary Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan: Texas Flood. While Stevie Ray Vaughan seemed to come out of nowhere when he walked on stage with his band, Double Trouble, at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, and, indeed, he was the first to perform without a record label backing him. While the performance was met with boos from the audience, it did catch the attention of two figures in the audience: Jackson Browne and Dav...
Feb 06, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we discuss Neil Young’s 1992 album, Harvest Moon. After a stint at Geffen records that resulted in a lawsuit for not sounding characteristic enough and churning out two albums for Reprise that basically planted the seeds for grunge, Neil Young decided it was time to give his ears a rest. Harvest Moon finds Young in familiar and popular territory. The album is very reminiscent of Young's 1972 album Harvest, includes many of the players and singers from that al...
Jan 30, 2022•2 hr 40 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this, our first Violation Podcast, we turn our attention to songs on albums that we don't think we could review. Sometimes the song might be a good song on an otherwise so-so album, or the song might be on an album too "out there" for us to consider, or the song itself is worthy of recognition even if the album itself isn't. Regardless, we hope you these tunes spark some interest in you to consider these bands and maybe their works. Visit us at www.tappingvi...
Jan 23, 2022•43 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we take a look at the extremely popular album, The Unforgettable Fire, by U2. An album that was an unexpected change of artistic direction for the band, yet one that set them on course to becoming one of the biggest bands of the 1980s. U2 had already experienced tremendous success with their third album, War , and they had made a huge splash on MTV (the music medium of the 80s) with their live concert video U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky . With each a...
Jan 17, 2022•2 hr 47 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we discuss Closing Time, the debut album by enigmatic singer-songwriter Tom Waits. Released on David Geffen’s Asylum label in 1973, it immediately stood out from most of the folk and Americana tinged offerings from the other Artists on the label like Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, and the Eagles. Closing Time is considered by many Tom Waits fans who prefer his more experimental and avant-garde output as an outlier within his discography. It is certainly his most ...
Jan 10, 2022•2 hr 36 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text The Pogues, fronted by an English-born, Irish rogue by the name of Shane MacGowan, made traditional Irish music and instrumentation hip by playing it with a distinctively punk attitude and imbuing the lyrics with a poets sensibility. On this episode, we look at the band’s third and most well-known album, If I Should Fall From Grace With God. The record was made with a new line-up, slightly expanding the group’s size and sound. Produced by Steve Lillywhite, this album contains poss...
Dec 31, 2021•2 hr 39 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text When the Grateful Dead decided to simplify their studio process, the result was a return to the band's roots with simple, country, and folk-inspired tunes. Their next LP, Workingman’s Dead set the stage for the release of arguably the band’s studio masterpiece just a scant five months later, American Beauty. On this episode, we discuss American Beauty and what makes it so endearing and enduring, and why we believe it holds a special place in Americana music specifically, and ...
Dec 25, 2021•2 hr 40 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast Send us a text On this episode, we dive kilt deep into The Crossing, the 1983 debut album by Big Country. Formed in Dunfermline, Scotland, the band’s journey to this critically acclaimed album wasn’t a straight line and involved a drum machine, a member of the Jam, and a failed attempt by producer extraordinaire Chris Thomas, before Steve Lillywhite took the reigns to produce an LP that became an unabashed commercial success. It's an album full of unusual guitar techniques and gadgetry, inc...
Dec 13, 2021•2 hr 36 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast 
