Discord and Rhyme: An Album Podcast

We’ve held off on R.E.M. for a while, because the Athens, Ga., quartet is just such a heavyweight in the rock canon. They’re so huge, in fact, that they merit two episodes: one for the mumbly, Byrdsy alt-rock troubadours of the ‘80s, and one for the slightly less mumbly arena rock titans of the ‘90s and onward. We’re starting off with their 1983 debut Murmur, which fueled the rise of college radio with songs that were strangely out of time (so to speak) with the trends of the ‘80s. The compositions on Murmur are so hazy and oblique that they almost resist analysis, and that’s before you even consider Michael Stipe’s lyrics. But John, Mike, Phil, and Ben are willing to give it their best shot, so join them as they embark on a long-delayed pilgrimage west of the fields to discuss one of this podcast’s favorite bands. Cohosts: John McFerrin, Mike DeFabio, Phil Maddox, Ben Marlin Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/139-rem-murmur-1983 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Rich, Mike, and Amanda answer a bonanza of questions from listeners. Topics include retro prog, great live albums and not-so-great live shows, fantasy supergroups, synesthesia, our favorite recent releases, and no fewer than three questions about the Moody Blues. Listen through to the end for a special request to listeners! Clips: Theme: The Moody Blues - "Question" Amanda on synesthesia: https://discordpod.com/blog/synesthesia-corner Rich on synesthesia: https://discordpod.com/blog/synesthesia-corner-vol-2-born-to-synesthete

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

Hear that? There goes the siren that warns of the air raid – or maybe that’s just Bruce Dickinson’s voice. This week, Mike continues his quest to make Discord & Rhyme more metal with the album Powerslave by Iron Maiden. In the popular consciousness, Maiden are known for their goofy album covers and hits like “Bring Your Daughter … to the Slaughter.” But if you dig just a little deeper, they were vanguards of the new wave of British heavy metal, with a seven-album run in the ‘80s that ranks among the greatest winning streaks of the album era, metal or otherwise. Powerslave is arguably their peak, boasting some of their greatest compositions and brainiest lyrics, with subjects running the gamut from The Prisoner to the military-industrial complex to the dawn of British Romanticism. But most importantly, it rocks, and Mike has invited Phil, John, and Rich to discuss eight amazing songs that will put you at a losfer words. Cohosts: Mike DeFabio, Phil Maddox, John McFerrin, Rich Bunnell Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/137-iron-maiden-powerslave-1984 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Kylie Minogue had a big comeback last year with the Grammy-winning TikTok hit “Padam Padam,” so Rich decided that it was finally time to give the Discord & Rhyme treatment to one of his favorite divas. Kylie’s 2007 album X wasn’t just an artistic comeback, but a physical and emotional one, recorded in the wake of her grueling but successful treatment for breast cancer. At the time, there was a groundswell of anticipation for her next big move, and X was the first album Kylie conceived as a singular project, rather than the latest entry in a production line of releases. Accordingly, there’s a certain vivaciousness and a willingness to try anything on this album that makes it unlike anything in her catalog, with songs that evoke Timbaland, Serge Gainsbourg and ‘90s R&B sitting alongside Kylie’s trademark Eurodisco. Some of the experiments work better than others, but the album as a whole is a fascinating portrait of a moment in time, both for mid-2000s pop music as well as Kylie herself. And Rich has invited returning guests Jen Carman and Dave Weigel to help elaborate on why you, too, should be so lucky to become a Kylie stan. Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Jen Carman, Dave Weigel, Mike DeFabio Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/136-kylie-minogue-x-2007 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

We're doing our annual listener Q&A next month, and we want to hear from you! Send us your thousand million burning questions at discordpod@gmail.com on Instagram @DiscordPod by the end of the day Friday, April 5. Keep as cool as you can!

Amanda has been threatening to talk about bluegrass on the podcast for years, and we finally settled on the perfect album to start with: Live!!!! Almost!!! by the Dillards. Half a comedy album and half a virtuoso performance by expert musicians, it’s a fantastic introduction to the genre. It was recorded in front of an audience completely unfamiliar with bluegrass music, so the band chose songs that were catchy and accessible, then made it even more engaging by adding Smothers Brothers-style jokey commentary in between. The result is an interesting and very entertaining live album that stands a good chance of winning over any bluegrass skeptics, and even if it doesn’t, it gives us a chance to explain why we like it. Cohosts: Amanda Rodgers, Ben Marlin, John McFerrin Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/135-the-dillards-live-almost-1964 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Uriah Heep were never critical darlings, but for a brief period in the early seventies, they were making some absolutely killer fantasy-tinged rock. Phil has always had a soft spot for 1972’s Demons And Wizards, which is probably the best example of what could happen when this band was truly firing on all cylinders. He, along with Dan and Mike, makes the case for why this album should be a staple of any respectable early seventies hard rock collection. Cohosts: Phil Maddox, Mike DeFabio, Dan Watkins Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/134-uriah-heep-demons-and-wizards-1972 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Oklahoma! was a massive hit on Broadway in 1943. It changed musical theater forever and inspired a well-remembered 1955 film. Ben hasn't seen the musical or the film, and he doesn't know the plot or the names of the characters. But he loves the music. He and Rich and John dive into a 1964 studio recording of the Oklahoma! soundtrack and make a case for why the show’s musical numbers endure. Cohosts: Ben Marlin, Rich Bunnell, John McFerrin Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/133-rodgers-and-hammerstein-oklahoma-1964 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were gifted musicians with a deep and complicated personal relationship, which makes them perfect subjects for a Discord & Rhyme holiday episode. Their magnum opus, Bridge Over Troubled Water, was a huge hit in 1970 and is still as beautiful, innovative, and occasionally silly as it ever was. Ben, Amanda, Rich, and John love this album dearly, and discussing all its strengths and arguing over its few flaws was the perfect way to wind up Discord & Rhyme’s sixth calendar year. Happy holidays, everyone, and may all your relationships be less acrimonious than Simon and Garfunkel’s. Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Ben Marlin, John McFerrin, Amanda Rodgers Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/132-simon-and-garfunkel-bridge-over-troubled-water Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

1 2 X U! As punk was just beginning to take off in the UK, Wire was already looking ahead, itching to push the genre toward artsier, more abstract frontiers. Their 1977 LP Pink Flag planted the seeds for post-punk and hardcore before most kids had even had a chance to spike their first mohawk. Boasting a dizzying 21 tracks at an economical 35 minutes, Wire packed more into one album than some of their peers managed in a career. Join Dan, Phil, Mike, and Rich as they discuss how it holds up as one of the boldest debuts of the punk era. Cohosts: Dan Watkins, Phil Maddox, Mike DeFabio, Rich Bunnell Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/131-wire-pink-flag-1977 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

It’s time for a psychedelic podcast extravaganza, five years and two recordings in the making! The album Chips from the Chocolate Fireball by XTC’s alter-egos the Dukes of Stratosphear was supposed to be our fifth episode, but technical difficulties turned the episode into a splendid cream bun. But Rich, Ben, and Mike are finally back for a second round discussing a collection that perhaps isn’t XTC’s definitive artistic achievement, but it’s possibly the most pure fun you can have in their discography. Artistically adrift in the mid-’80s, the band adopted goofy pseudonyms and recorded a loving tribute to the ’60s music of their youth, produced by psychedelic engineering wizard John Leckie. If you enjoy Pink Floyd, the Byrds, the Small Faces, the Kinks, the Yardbirds, and especially the Beatles – which you most likely do, because you’re listening to this podcast – you owe it to yourself to take a bike ride to the moon with the Dukes. Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Ben Marlin, Mike DeFabio Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/130-the-dukes-of-stratosphear-chips-from-the-chocolate-fireball-1987 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Gentle Giant comes up so often on Discord & Rhyme, especially considering how obscure they are outside the world of hardcore prog rock fandom, that it’s amazing we haven’t covered them yet. Many 1970s prog rock bands aspired to combine rock with classical (and jazz among other things), but unlike most of their contemporaries, Gentle Giant actually knew enough about classical music to make the combination something more than rock crossed with a touch of 19th century Romanticism. John’s pick for their best album is Octopus of 1972, an album that fires ideas at the listener so rapidly that the various songs (and these are all songs, in the 3-6 minute range) become extremely memorable, even as they’re sometimes among the most complex and bewildering music to come out of the 1970s. Come listen to John, Mike, and Phil tell you why they’ve fallen in love with this band and with this album. Cohosts: John McFerrin, Mike DeFabio, Phil Maddox Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/129-gentle-giant-octopus-1972 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

For this year’s Halloween episode, we wanted to go with an artist who scares the living daylights out of us, and what better choice than Nick Cave? After all, this is a man who once recorded an entire album of murder ballads, and whose legendary single “The Mercy Seat” charts a killer’s stream of consciousness as he is led to the electric chair. We could have picked almost any of Cave’s albums with the Bad Seeds, but Mike threw a curveball and chose the covers album Kicking Against the Pricks, because sometimes the best way to get to the essence of an artist’s work is examining the way they interpret and curate the work of other artists. The album boasts a truly eclectic set of songs, with pitch-dark Delta blues sharing a tracklist with light pop by Tom Jones, Gene Pitney, and the Seekers, all cloaked in the one-of-a-kind, macabre atmosphere that Cave’s fans have come to know, love, and fear. Yet by the time this carnival is over, you’ll have a sense of the light that glows beneath the darkness of his music. Happy Halloween! Cohosts: Mike DeFabio, Rich Bunnell, Amanda Rodgers Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/128-nick-cave-and-the-bad-seeds-kicking-against-the-pricks-1986 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Beatles For Sale is a relatively obscure album, to the extent that any Beatles album could be called obscure. This album was recorded at a time when the Beatles were creatively exhausted and almost half of it is covers, which is why it’s often dismissed as one of their weaker efforts. But we don’t think that’s fair. It’s not world-changing, that’s true enough, but it doesn’t have to be. They were still writing interesting, exciting originals, and the covers are (mostly) very well chosen and excellently performed. Once you’ve listened closely, you’ll realize that tracks like “Rock and Roll Music,” “Eight Days a Week,” and “Every Little Thing” are absolutely essential to understanding the Beatles, and even the tracks that aren't as important are still tons of fun. Cohosts: Amanda Rodgers, John McFerrin, Ben Marlin, Dan Watkins Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/127-the-beatles-beatles-for-sale-1964 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Slint are a true one-of-a-kind band - they showed up seemingly out of nowhere, singlehandedly defined an entire genre on a single album, and disappeared before that album was even released. What happened? Why is Spiderland so influential? And, beyond its influence - does the album still hold up today? Phil certainly thinks so - in his opinion, its grandeur has been frequently imitated, but never duplicated. He, along with Mike, Rich, and Dan, are here to talk about just what makes this album so special. Cohosts: Phil Maddox, Mike DeFabio, Rich Bunnell, Dan Watkins Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/126-slint-spiderland-1991 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

It's Discord & Rhyme's 125th episode, and we are marking the occasion with one of our favorite recording strategies: tackling a famous band by discussing two of their albums while making an end-run around their most critically acclaimed period. In this episode, Ben talks about the 1964 Beach Boys album All Summer Long, where the band really shifted into second gear, while John talks about the 1970 Beach Boys album Sunflower, a beautiful album released during a period when very few people had any time to add the Beach Boys to their day. Rich and Phil join Ben and John to share their thoughts on these two lesser-known albums from one of the greatest (and secretly weirdest) bands one can find in this whole world, and spoiler alert, everybody here agrees that the Beach Boys are terrific (except maybe when Uncle Jesse is prominently involved). It's about time we got around to this band, but we promise this episode will put a smile on your face. Cohosts: Ben Marlin, John McFerrin, Phil Maddox, Rich Bunnell Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/125-the-beach-boys-all-summer-long-1964-amp-sunflower-1970 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

It's Discord & Rhyme's 125th episode, and we are marking the occasion with one of our favorite recording strategies: tackling a famous band by discussing two of their albums while making an end-run around their most critically acclaimed period. In this episode, Ben talks about the 1964 Beach Boys album All Summer Long, where the band really shifted into second gear, while John talks about the 1970 Beach Boys album Sunflower, a beautiful album released during a period when very few people had any time to add the Beach Boys to their day. Rich and Phil join Ben and John to share their thoughts on these two lesser-known albums from one of the greatest (and secretly weirdest) bands one can find in this whole world, and spoiler alert, everybody here agrees that the Beach Boys are terrific (except maybe when Uncle Jesse is prominently involved). It's about time we got around to this band, but we promise this episode will put a smile on your face. Cohosts: Ben Marlin, John McFerrin, Rich Bunnell, Phil Maddox Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/125-the-beach-boys-all-summer-long-1964-amp-sunflower-1970 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Whether he likes it or not, Warren Zevon will forever be most remembered for his surprise hit “Werewolves of London,” but he’s a far more complex and interesting songwriter than most folks are aware. Forever a musician’s musician, Zevon’s unique voice has influenced scores of artists although he himself has remained something of a cult figure over the decades. While 1978’s Excitable Boy does indeed feature his biggest hit, it is also home to some of the most sharp-witted and acidic songs he ever wrote. Join Dan, Mike, Rich, and returning guest Libby Cudmore as we discuss Zevon and his cast of psychopaths, mercenaries, screwups, and lycanthropes. NOTE: There's some strong language and dark subject matter in here, so be mindful of that if there's anyone around who shouldn't be hearing it. Cohosts: Dan Watkins, Rich Bunnell, Mike DeFabio, Libby Cudmore Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/124-warren-zevon-excitable-boy-1978 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod

Are you ready to do the Dap Dip? This week, the Discord & Rhyme Super Soul Revue travels back to 2005 to discuss Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, who play sunny R&B that sounds like it came straight out of the late ‘60s or early ‘70s. But despite the retro sound, there’s nothing retro about this band, who were just playing the music they loved and recording it the way they loved it. And Sharon Jones herself was the real deal, a classic diva who was born in the South literally across the state line from James Brown. The world lost Sharon Jones to cancer in 2016, but her voice lives on in the Dap-Kings’ catalog, which includes six wonderful studio albums and innumerable covers recorded for hire. So put a fish in your dish and join Rich, Mike, and Dan to talk about an album that will make you fall in love with soul all over again. Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Mike DeFabio, Dan Watkins Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/123-sharon-jones-and-the-dap-kings-naturally-2005 Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod