Discord and Rhyme: An Album Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Hello, Cleveland! This week, Producer Mike continues his quest to make Discord & Rhyme more metal by turning it up to 11 with an episode on England’s loudest band, Spinal Tap. The fictional Spinal Tap consists of guitarists David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel, bassist Derek Smalls, and a series of cursed drummers, whose misadventures are chronicled in the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. The real Spinal Tap consists of Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer, three exceptionally gifted comedians who know what makes metal tick and are very smart at playing dumb. And that extends to the movie’s soundtrack, whose songs walk the line between sophisticated songwriting and sounding like they could conceivably have been written by three boneheads. Because why waste good music on a brain?

Cohosts: Mike DeFabio, Rich Bunnell, John McFerrin

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/146-spinal-tap-this-is-spinal-tap-1984

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

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

Pete and the Escapologists - Chronicles of a Dead End: https://peteescapologists.bandcamp.com/album/chronicles-of-a-dead-end

George Harrison was reaching his creative peak in the late 1960s, but famously had a difficult time getting the other Beatles interested in recording his songs. So when they broke up in 1970, George got a massive group of musicians together and recorded his entire backlog to release all at once. All Things Must Pass was the first ever triple album by a single artist, and (apart from Apple Jam) is a tightly focused, intense, cathartic listening experience unmatched in popular music. In this episode, Amanda, Ben, and Mike do their best to dissect this extremely dense album and prove that George Harrison was a brilliant musician and deserves the highest respect.

Cohosts: Amanda Rodgers, Mike DeFabio, Ben Marlin

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/145-george-harrison-all-things-must-pass-1970

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

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

Peter Gabriel is a favorite artist of many of us here at Discord & Rhyme, but we’ve saved him for our own 138th Episode Spectacular. Peter Gabriel III (aka Melt, so called because half of Gabriel’s face on the album cover looks like a melting candle) isn’t just John’s favorite Peter Gabriel album; it’s an album that made him reconsider (in a favorable light) the entirety of popular music in the 1980s and the concept of using the production studio to create entirely new sounds, and John leads a very enthusiastic discussion on an album that we love very much. Join John, Amanda, Rich, and Mike as we gush over an album that transformed solo Peter Gabriel into something greater than “the guy who used to sing for Genesis”; a dark noisy hellscape frontier of an album full of burglars, assassins, and not one cymbal anywhere.

Cohosts: John McFerrin, Amanda Rodgers, Rich Bunnell, Mike DeFabio

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/138-peter-gabriel-peter-gabriel-iii-1980

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

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

You might know Sam Phillips from those lovely "la la la"s on the Gilmore Girls soundtrack, or as Katya, the silent assassin in Die Hard: With a Vengeance. But she's also a fiercely talented songwriter with an encyclopedic knowledge of music and a literary lyrical sense. She first cut her teeth in the contemporary Christian music world (as Leslie Phillips, “the Christian Cyndi Lauper”) before leaving Myrrh Records and forging a creative and personal bond with producer T Bone Burnett. But though her 1994 album Martinis & Bikinis is a secular album on the surface, it’s brimming with a spirituality that makes its point without resorting to dogma, as well as melodies and arrangements that reference the Beatles without slipping into pastiche. So join Rich, Amanda, and John for a Discord & Rhyme that’s one part Beatles study and one part Bible study, with a little bit of XTC and The Brave Little Toaster thrown in for good measure.

Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, John McFerrin, Amanda Rodgers

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/077-sam-phillips-martinis-and-bikinis-1994

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

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

In which we exceed the prescribed number of twos.

Genesis - That's All
Madonna - Open Your Heart
The B-52's - 52 Girls
Tool - Eulogy
Heart - Alone
Mark Knopfler & James Taylor - Sailing to Philadelphia

Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Amanda Rodgers

Get early access to bonus episodes on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

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

Rich's blog post explaining this concept: https://discordpod.com/blog/2019/6/10/22-2s

Opening theme: Devo - It's Not Right

Closing theme: Blur - Song 2

This week, we’re throwing away our hard-earned indie cred and dropping in a few more words from our sponsors than usual. We have some great new products to tell you about, and along the way, we will be discussing the 1967 classic The Who Sell Out. Conceptualized as a tribute to the UK pirate radio culture of the mid-60s, The Who go all-in on the concept (well, at least until they completely drop it about three-quarters of the way in) complete with station IDs and their own fake commercial jingles. It captures the band at their peak as a 60s pop band with instantly catchy melodies and clever, funny lyrics. Crack open another can of Heinz Baked Beans and join Dan, John, Ben, and Rich as we dig into this product placement classic.

Cohosts: Dan Watkins, Rich Bunnell, Ben Marlin, John McFerrin

Complete show notes: http://discordpod.com/listen/076-the-who-the-who-sell-out-1967

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

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

The Track 2 journey continues! This time we're taking a detour through Indie Rock World.

The Chap - Fun & Interesting
Sleater-Kinney - Ironclad
Pony Up! - The Truth About Cats and Dogs (Is That They Die)
CHVRCHES - Leave a Trace
Von Sudenfed - The Rhinohead
Pet Shop Boys - This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave

Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Chris Willie Williams

Rich's blog post explaining this concept: https://discordpod.com/blog/2019/6/10/22-2s

Sleater-Kinney performs "Ironclad" at the 2015 Pitchfork Music Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z983DY2nPnw

"The Truth About Cats and Dogs (Is That They Die)" music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPdhe-nK07s

Opening theme: Devo - It's Not Right

Closing theme: Blur - Song 2

Get early access to bonus episodes on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

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

We're taking a break after our giant Genesis episode, so we decided to share one of our Patreon bonus episodes with everybody: the one where we found another excuse to talk about the Beatles! So please enjoy this conversation about Beatles songs covered by other artists: the good, the bad, and the really, really weird.

Cohosts: Mike DeFabio, John McFerrin, Amanda Rodgers

Get more Patreon exclusives! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

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

Songs discussed:

Sparks - I Wanna Hold Your Hand
Richie Havens - Here Comes the Sun
Grant Green - I Want to Hold Your Hand
Coroner - I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Barbra Streisand - Mother
Procol Harum - Eight Days a Week
Freddie Hubbard - Cold Turkey
Micky Dolenz - Good Morning, Good Morning
Peter Gabriel - Strawberry Fields Forever
Alarm Will Sound - Revolution 9
Stereophonics - Don't Let Me Down
Yes - Every Little Thing

Spotify playlist (with some extras!): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7DrHnTnHTL50BmTY1jJ8Qr?si=6482fb861b1a400c

More of our favorite Track 2s! Tracks 2? Who knows.

Songs in this episode:

Motörhead - Love Me Like a Reptile
The Byrds - Have You Seen Her Face?
The Isley Brothers - Footsteps in the Dark
Television - Venus
Sly and the Family Stone - Chicken
Ween - Flutes of Chi

Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, John McFerrin

Rich's blog post explaining this concept: https://discordpod.com/blog/2019/6/10/22-2s

Opening theme: Devo - It's Not Right

Closing theme: Blur - Song 2

What kind of band was Genesis - strange, artsy prog-rock masters, or catchy, commercial pop stars? In this very special episode of Discord and Rhyme, we brought in returning guest Jeff Blehar to help make the case that they did both equally well - and not only that, but the presence or absence of Peter Gabriel was not the main influence on their sound. They never truly lost their prog sensibilities, but they did get better at balancing them with more commercial and accessible sounds. After you get through all three hours of our third double feature, you will be the person at the party who says, “WELL, ACTUALLY” when someone tries to tell you that post-Gabriel Genesis is bad.

Cohosts: Mike DeFabio, Phil Maddox, John McFerrin, Amanda Rodgers, Jeff Blehar

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/075-genesis-a-trick-of-the-tail-1976-and-invisible-touch-1986

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

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