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On this week's episode, we dig into the the forth album by the band the National, 2007's Boxer. 

The National is a band, literally, of brothers (two pairs) and a friend all from Ohio that formed after all parties moved to New York. From the get go, the band's music leaned heavily on  and atmospheric and stood out due to the deep baritone vocals of lead singer and lyricist Matt Berninger. 

After slowly but steadily building up a following, Boxer, their second album on the Beggar's Banquet label, was the band's breakthrough LP.  Its full of melancholy songs about relationships and existential struggles about being an adult. The album received widespread critical acclaim, and was included in many end of year "Best Of" lists for 2007, topping several of them, and is often mentioned as one of the best album of the 2010s.   

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This week This Is Vinyl Tap discusses the criminally underrated album by Pure Prairie League, 1972's Bustin’ Out. 

Bustin' Out contains the band's most well known song, "Aime," a radio staple for the last 50 years. Oddly, while even the most casual of music listeners know the song, many would be hard pressed to name the band that performs it. As a result, Bustin' Out has been somewhat ignored, which is a shame, because it is a fantastic collection of country infused rock songs. The album's secret weapon is David Bowie's guitarist Mick Ronson, who provides string arrangements and, some (uncredited) scorching guitar.   While the band did move away from the rawer sound of their debut on Bustin' Out, the album is bit more mature and undeniably full of expert playing and fine, soulful vocals by front-man Craig Fuller that makes its influence on the alternative country bands of the early 1990's very apparent.  

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On this episode, we take a deep dive into a “Listener Pick” -  the fifth and final studio album by the Simon and Garfunkel, 1970's Bridge Over Trouble Water.

While the partnership between Simon and Garfunkel was under immense strain that elementally led to its demise, the duo went out with a bang. Bridge Over Trouble Water was a commercial smash, and is regarded by many as Simon and Garfunkel's masterpiece. 

 The album was their most ambitious and showed Simon had  become a master song writer.  In addition to folk music, the album incorporate elements of rock, gospel, R&B, Jazz, and world music .  Known for its stirring title track (what Paul Simon called his "Yesterday") as well as its enduring singles, "The Boxer", "Cecelia", and "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)", the album won the Grammy for best album in 1971, while the title track won an additional three awards, including for record and song of the year, and has sold over  25,000,000 copies worldwide.  

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This week we dig into the 1973 self-titled debut by Bad Company.

Coming off of the success of Free, Paul Rodgers hooked up with Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs, and along with former Free drummer Simon Kirk, and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell, formed what may be the most American-sounding British band ever: Bad Company.

Rodgers soulful and powerful voice and Ralphs crunchy guitars punctuate songs about the old west, ballads about sea birds, and tunes about physical love that don't take much work to interpret. Bad Company was a monster hit, topping the charts in US and reaching # 3 in the UK. It is not an album full deep thought and self reflection, but that doesn't matter because it is and album of catchy licks and high octane fun that helped define the radio-freindy heavy rock of the 1970's.

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This week we dive head first into the 1968 psychedelic rock opera by the Pretty Things, S.F. Sorrow.

Ask any music fan what was the first rock opera was and most would say Tommy by the Who. That answer would be wrong. Recorded on S.F. Sorrow started a year before the Who even went into the studio to begin Tommy. Unfortunately the release of the album was delayed and was released after Tommy, placing S.F. Sorrow  into the "also ran" category for the vast majority of critics and the music buying public at the time. Which is unfortunate because the S.F. Sorrow is a wonderfully imaginative album, and the blueprint for many a concept album to come. One listen illustrates how inventive and influential it was for many albums at the time, including Tommy.

Starting out life as a blues-based band in the vein of the Rolling Stones (one time Stone's guitarist Dick Taylor was a founding member), by the time the Pretty Thing were set to record their fourth LP, they had become much more divers in the music they made, incorporating such diverse element as pop, psychedelia, folk, and even proto-metal) into their sound. And while the concept of S.F. Sorrow is a sad one, the music is remarkable and the lyrics compelling making repeated listens a must.  S.F. is a true underrated masterpiece.

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We start Season Five off with a monster album, Eat a Peach, by the Allman Brothers Band. Released in 1972, it is a double album and simultaneously their 3rd studio album and their 2nd Live album.

The Allman Brothers Band were perhaps the first "Southern Rock" band, but they were so much more than that. Steeped in the blues, the brothers Duane and Greg actually had careers as session musicians playing everything from soul to psychedelic folk. Their jams were inspired by jazz improvisations by John Coltrane and they had an uncanny ability to "jam" and harmonize simultaneously.

Eat A Peach, composed of both live and studio tracks, is ultimately is a celebration of the life of founding member and reluctant leader Duane Allman, who died during the making of this album in a tragic motorcycle accident. Somehow the band found the will to carry on. Eat a Peach showcases this influential band at the peak of their powers, as both songwriters and musicians.

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On this episode, we have a listener pick: Nick Lowe and his 1994 album The Impossible Bird.

Nick Lowe has been a topic of conversation several times on This Is Vinyl Tap due to the indelible mark the man has left on pop music. Lowe was a bass player, singer and songwriter of the influential pub rock band Brinsley Schwarz.  He was a member of the the fabulous Rockpile. He is a producer of some note, having worked with countless artists including Elvis Costello, the Pretenders, Graham Parker, and the Damned. And he is one hell of a song writer, penning such timeless tunes as "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding," "Cruel to be Kind," "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass," and "The Beast In Me."

Having found himself is a but of a rough creative patch in the late 1980's, his luck changed withe the success "The Bodyguard" soundtrack, which included a cover of "Peace, Love, and Understanding." That gave Lowe the financial freedom to pursue new musical directions and the music buying public were much the richer for it. The Impossible Bird  was a bit of a reboot for Lowe and a different kind of Nick Lowe album; more mature and stripped down, with his vocals front and center. It was not quite country, not quite rockabilly, not quite folk, but a flawless combinations of all of the above. Its a collection of choice covers and fantastic Lowe originals expertly executed by a crack band and easily one of Lowe's finest musical statements that includes some of his most endearing and enduring songs. 

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Join us on this week's episode as we discuss the 1970 album by Thunderclap Newman: Hollywood Dream.  

Thunderclap Newman were comprised of Townshend protege (drummer, songwriter and lead singer) Speedy Keen, a 15-year-old guitar prodigy named Jimmy McColluch, and the band's namesake - the eccentric self-taught piano player Andy "Thunderclap" Newman. Hollywood Dream (their one and only album) was recorded to capitalize on the success of Thunderclap Newman's surprising number 1 UK hit "Something in the Air." The band was the brainchild of Pete Townshend and Who manager/producer, Kit Lambert. Townshend had been working on separate projects for each when the when his work on the Who's Tommy forced him scale back his outside interests. His solution was to cobble together a band featuring the three uneasy cohorts from different musical backgrounds.   

The result is an album that showcases each members strengths, and while it makes for compelling listen, it is often times a frustrating one. Upon its release, Hollywood Dream was met with critical raves and commercial disinterest. But the album, and the story behind it, make for one heck of a rock and roll tale. 

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On this week's episode, we jump into Joe Jackson's fantastic sophomore LP, 1979's I'm the Man.

When Joe Jackson's hit the airwaves in fall of 1978, critics labeled him as one of the new "angry young men" on British music, the other two significant members of that group being Elvis Costello and Graham Parker. This was lyrically mature music that owed a debt to the early 70's UK Pub Rock scene, but played with the aggressive attitude of Punk.  Jackson's debut Look Sharp was released in January of 1979 and went top 40 in the UK and the US. After the success of Jackson's , many wondered what he would do as a follow up.  Thankfully, its more of the same.

Released a mere 10 months later, I'm the Man didn't stray too far from the debut's formula, but to see it as simply Look Sharp Pt 2 does the album a significant disservice.  This time, Jackson and his amazing band ups the energy on the simple instrumentation and well-crafted melodies he introduced on Look Sharp. The band is tight, the songs are crisp, and the music immediate resulting in an album that full of accessible pop tunes, clever and sardonic lyrics, and post-punk aggression. 

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On this week’s episode, we discuss what was once considered one of the hottest bands to come out of the late sixties San Francisco scene, Moby Grape and their debut album, 1967’s Moby Grape.

Moby Grape is one of the most celebrated debut albums ever produced. Recorded by five musicians who could all write and sing, Moby Grape spans multiple genres (rock and roll, folk music, pop, blues, and country) and does so effortlessly. Add a three guitar attack, and some a amazing harmonies to the mix, and you can begin to understand what all the fuss was about. 

Although over-hyped by the record label at the time of its release, constant issues related to their former manager have kept this album from reaching the future audience it truly deserved. 

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On this weeks episode, we discuss King Crimson's 1969 debut: In the Court of the Crimson King.

Not only is In the Court of the Crimson King regarded as one of the greatest and most influential progressive rock (or prog rock) albums of all time, it is considered by many to be the album that defined the genre.

Like all prog rock musicians, Robert Fripp, Greg Lake, Micheal Giles, and Ian McDonald all know their way around their instruments.   But what makes King Crimson stand out from those they would influence, and what makes this album worthy of a listen, is that the band never lost the sight of what made a song a song; they weren't interested in excessive musicianship over musicality, and most of In the Court of the Crimson King is hauntingly beautiful.

Based on the band's live performances, established artists such as Pete Townsend and Jimi Hendrix sung the band's praises before the album was ever released. Their performance in front of an estimated 500,00 people in Hyde Park on a bill with the Rolling Stones in July 1969 reinforced that King Crimson was a band to watch.  When In the Court of the Crimson King was release later that year, songs like title track and "21st Century Schizoid Man" laid down the foundational building blocks for progressive rock for years to come, and cemented King Crimson as one of the most influential bands to come out of the 1960s.  

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It's a violation episode!! 

Often times we wonder how much the members of the This Is Vinyl Tap team are actually paying attention to what we do around here.  In an effort to find out, we present the first ever This Is Vinyl Tap "Trivia From The Vault" episode, where we ask each other in-depth questions pertaining to past episodes to determine who has (and who has not) been asleep on the job. 

Of course we invite you, the listener, to play along at home.  Feel free to let us know how you did by calling This is Vinyl Tap HQ at 512-766-8495 with your results, you can also call just to say "Howdy," we won't mind. 

And thanks for listening!

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On this episode, we discuss one of the seminal bands of what would become the alternative country and Americana movement: the Long Ryders, and their 1984 debut LP Native Sons.

Formed in Los Angeles in the early 1980s,  the Long Ryders were a counter to the synth-heavy music that was in vogue at the time.  Drawing on their diverse musical backgrounds (punk and garage rock, ska, country, and hard rock), the band combined their broad musical pallet to create a sound that was guitar based, influenced by the American music of the 1960's (most notably the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers) and played with the raw energy of punk.  Their EP 10-5-60  introduced the world to the band's take on the fusion of country and rock, but it is with Native Sons,  a jangly, high octane ball of roots rock, folk, soul, psychedelia, and of course country,  where the band staked their claim as standard bearers of Gram Parsons' vision of "Cosmic America Music" updated for the post-punk age.  

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On this episode, we tackle a BIG album, the 1967 debut LP by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced.

Heralded by many as the greatest rock guitarist of all time, to many Jimi Hendrix, along with his band the Jimi Hendrix Experience (bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell) seemingly came out of nowhere. However, in reality, Hendrix more than paid his dues, playing in relative obscurity backing a myriad of musicians on the "Chitlin' Circuit," including the Isely Bothers and Little Richard. 

Endlessly restless, his stints with these bands was often short lived because he would eventually tire of being in the background and get fired for upstaging the star he was hired to support.  He was finally "discovered" in New York by Chas Chandler (bassist of the Animals) who convinced him to go to England where he finally found the success that had alluded him in his own country.

But Are You Experienced  proves Hendrix was more than just an amazing guitarist. It showcases what a gifted singer (if a shy and underappreciated one) and  songwriter he was. It underscores his imagination and creativity in how he used the studio in his quest to find new sounds from his guitar. After its release, Hendrix became a star and would eventually become the highest paid rock musician of the era.  While he would continue to stretch the boundaries of what both the guitar and  the studio could do over his next two LPs, Are You Experienced  is where it all began, and the the music within sounds as innovative and imaginative as it did in the over the five-plus decades since its release. 

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On this episode we discuss the debut LP by the seminal psychedelic rock band, the 13th Floor Elevators: 1966's The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. The  13th Floor Elevators were one of the the first well-known bands to come  out of the Austin music scene in the 1960's, and one of the first  band's nationwide to purposely embrace the term "psychedelic rock."  

The  band possessed a lead singer with a one of a kind voice (and screech)  in Roky Erickson. The music was played with a fierce garage-rock intensity. But the thing that made them stand out was the use of the  "electric jug," which imbued their songs a dark, uneasy,  and  otherworldly drone.  The jug player was also the architect of the band's  image and message, which relied heavily on the use of drugs as a means  to "free your mind." Unfortunately the band embraced the message a  little to fully, which resulted in drug busts and helped facilitate the  decline of Erickson's mental health. But the music is something else.   Their hit single, "You're Gonna Miss Me," is a undisputed classic, and  their music was innovative and influential well beyond their short time  as a working band.  

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On this episode we tackle the Rolling Stones 1968 LP Beggars Banquet.

1968 was a tumultuous year for much of the world and a transitional time  for  the Rolling Stones. Their founder and original leader, Brian Jones,  was  increasingly absent due to his drug use, and their long-time  manager/producer Andrew Loog Oldham had grown disinterested in the band  due to his own drug and alcohol use, leaving them to produce their next   album on their own. The result, 1967's Their Satanic Majesties Request,  was widely considered a misstep for the band and the Stones were looking   for a fresh start. They found it with producer Jimmy Miller, who helped the Stones get back to their roots, and found ways to inspire the band to create what most believe to be the first album of their classic period, showcasing acoustic blues and hard-hitting social commentary. While not without its controversies, Beggars Banquet does contain some of the most compelling music this classic band has ever made. 

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On this episode of the podcast, we discuss Spirit and their fourth album Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus.

The band Spirit sports an impressive pedigree. Drummer Ed Cassidy (20 years older than the rest of the band) was an established jazz musician, having played drums with many jazz greats throughout the 1940s and 1950s.  His stepson Randy California (né Randy Wolfe) was a young guitar prodigy, who at 15 years old impressed Jimi Hendrix enough to be asked to join his band Jimmy James and the Blue Flames.

Released in 1970, Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, is Spirit's most beloved album, and considered by many to be an all-time great. With one foot firmly planted in the idealism of the 1960s, and the other planted in the experiential and harder-edged music of the 1970's,  it musically straddles both decades, but is unlike almost anything else released at the time.  Combining elements of folk, jazz, progressive rock, psychedelia, and even proto-metal, Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus effortlessly slides from folk ballads, to hook-laden rockers, to far out space jams. And while the album, like the band itself, may not be easy to categorize, Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus is an immensely compelling  and consistently entertaining listen. 

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This week, we dig into the debut LP by the Scottish jangle pop band Aztec Camera , 1983's High Land, Hard Rain.

The creative force behind the band was Roddy Frame, a fine singer, remarkable guitarist, and very gifted songwriter, who started his career at 15, and was 18 when this album was recorded.  Completed in just three weeks, the album is filled with wonderful pop songs that touch on jazz and soul, and often defy categorization. Upon its release it was a commercial success in the UK and received critical raves on both sides of the pond.

High Land, Hard Rain is an inconceivably mature and complex album given the age of the songwriter.  And while the album suffers some from 1980's production issues (most notably the use of synth drums),  thankfully the strength of the songwriting transcends this weakness.   

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On this week's episode we look a one of the finest songwriters to come out of Texas, Guy Clark, and his 1975 debut LP Old No. 1.

 While Clark is considered one of the great county and folk songwriters of the latter half of the 20th Century, he is also one of the least appreciated when it comes to recording his own songs. On Old No. 1, he records his own songs, many of which had already been made famous by the likes of the Everly Brothers and Jerry Jeff Walker, among many others. Originally recorded in a way that did not meet Clark's vision, that version was ultimately scrapped. The version that was released was essentially a collection of demos,  that took on new life when guests musicians and friends such as Rodney Crowell, Emmy Lou Harris, Johnny Gimble, Steve Earl, and David Briggs joined in. The album puts the focus squarely where it belongs, on the songwriting and provides a wonderful framework for Clark's poetic and reflective storytelling. 

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On this weeks episode, we take on a big LP, the 1979 monster hit by Supertramp, Breakfast in America.

Supertramp struggled early in their career to find an audience. The two main song writers brought different strengths to the band. Founding member Rick Davies leaned more to the progressive rock side of things, where as Roger Hodgson was more pop oriented.  Every album after their breakout LP Crime of the Century showed them gaining popularity. But Breakfast in America is their magnum opus. It is the definitive Supertramp album, the culmination of  Davies and Hodgson blending tier individual strengths into a distinctive sound (aided in no small part by heavy use of a Wurlitzer electric piano).  Full of well crafted (and catchy) tunes like  "The Logical Song," "Take the Long Way Home," and "Goodbye Stranger," and possessing one of the most iconic album covers of all time, Breakfast in America captured the hearts of millions of listeners worldwide. 

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On this weeks episode, we take a listen to the second LP by one of the foundational bands of 1970's power pop: Fresh by the the Raspberries.

The Raspberries were an intentional antithesis to everything that was going  on in the early Seventies. Instead of focusing on the extended (and as they saw it, self-indulgent) musical jams, the Raspberries would craft three-and-a-half-minute pop songs that leaned heavily on early British Invasion groups like the Beatles, the Who and the Kinks. Fresh, is full of catchy melodies, infectious hooks, and glorious harmonies. And while the band did see success during their all too short career, it is their legacy that is worth celebrating. Enormously influential (modern power pop would not be the same without them) the band had an impact on everyone from John Lennon to Mötley Crüe. 

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On this week's episode, we discuss Beck and his twelfth studio album, 2014’s Morning Phase. 

Beck is known for embracing a wide-range of genres, to include folk, lo-fi, funk, soul, hip hop, electronic, alternative rock, country, and psychedelia (just to name a few). He often glides between genres on the same album, and sometimes even on the same song. What makes Morning Phase stand out is Beck’s willingness to maintain a beautiful consistency throughout.  Beck has traveled similar ground before with 2002’s Sea Change. Morning Phase is considered a companion piece to that album, even using most of the same personnel to record it. And while they are cut from the same cloth, Morning Phase seems a more mature effort that is lyrically melancholy, yet hopeful, and musically complex and utterly gorgeous.

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When Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood started hanging out and jamming together after the dissolution of their previous bands (Cream and Traffic respectively), there was no set plan to start a band together. That changed when Cream drummer Ginger Baker joined the fun. With the addition of bassist Ric Grech from the band Family, Blind Faith was born.  

Their one and only album combined the best (and sometimes the worst) of both Cream and Traffic. It doesn’t always work, but when it does it transcends both bands with a unique mix of blues, jazz and folk, all topped off with Winwood’s amazing blue-eyed soul crooning.

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On this week's episode, we dig into Pete Townshend's official debut solo LP, 1980's Empty Glass. As the main songwriter for The Who, Pete Townshend crafted songs that let singer Roger Daultrey flex his powerful voice and lets the rhythm section stretch out and indulge their bombastic sides. But on Empty Glass, Townshend is able to show that he can write songs that require a softer, perhaps more nimble, touch. His voice is sweet, almost delicate in places, but its the musicianship where Townshend really shows that he is capable of nuance and subtlety.  The songs are tight, precises (very much the opposite of the Who), and deftly straddles the the old-guard rock world 1970's and the bright,  synth heavy world of a still burgeoning post-punk/new wave movement. 

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On this episode, we turn our attention to one of the most successful bands from the late 1960s and early 1970's, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and what is considered by many their masterpiece, Cosmo's Factory. 1970 was a fertile year for music. While the English Invasion was still dominating the airwaves and the psychedelic scene was still influencing everything from movies to fashion to music, CCR formed  near the center of all that was "happening" and making music that hearkened back to a different era and being quite successful at doing so. John Fogerty was the mastermind behind the the music and the band's success.  "Swamp Rock" is often the label applied to CCR, but regardless of what you call it,  it was often fun, always heartfelt, and quintessentially American. 

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