This is Vinyl Tap

I’m a little late to the party, but this is an incredibly enjoyable podcast. These guys are both entertaining and well informed and do a great job discussing the LP format. The banter is genuine and they do their research; all the while presenting their own individual unique takes on some great records. This is a great listen. Highly recommend.

Okay... my review. It's going to be kinda long so bear with me. The album format. For quite a while now, I've held the belief that with regard to music, albums are the pinnacle of the artform. An album represents a snapshot in time of what a band is experiencing creatively. An album has to be taken as a whole in order to understand what the band/artist stands for at that moment. One great song can skew perception, it's hard to fake 10-12 songs... (unless of course you're Milli Vanilli). I found this podcast through a FB group that I follow (Fountains of Wayne, a story for a different time. If you don't know this band, get there.) Someone from within that group posted a link to the This is Vinyl Tap - Fountains of Wayne - "Welcome Interstate Managers" episode. I had recently become an obsessed Fountains of Wayne fan as their music hits all of my sweet spots. Their review of that record was pretty much spot on and I was pleased when two of the three hosts seemed genuinely surprised at just how good this record/band was. A few months went by and it popped up again on the group page, so I listened again. This time however, I dug into the "This is Vinyl Tap" website and started poking around. Lots of albums that I love were listed, and many that I had no history with. I listened to a few episodes that pertained to bands/albums that I like, and the bug bit me. I started from episode one, and steadily worked my way through every episode that had been produced and now I'm hooked. The 3 hosts either have a tremendous amount of background on each band that they cover, some of it likely due to extensive reading and resource gathering prior to talking about an album. The biggest issue I have at the moment is that I was accustomed to listening to a new episode every day, sometimes two in the same day. I'm all the way up through their most recent episode (The Youngbloods) and now there's a tremendous void in my daily routine. At any rate, if you are a fan of the album format, do yourself a favour and dive into this podcast. My more detailed recommendation would be to find a few albums from their catalogue that you are intimately familiar with, it will help with sussing out the format and style of the podcast without being bogged down by trying to figure out the music and the podcast at the same time. If you get hooked, go all the way back to the beginning: Season 1, Episode 1 (the actual beginning ends up not being about an album as "current events" superseded other considerations.) As you move forward, it will become pretty noticeable when the hosts hit their stride and settle into a format. That process is pretty entertaining by itself. My only (minor) complaint... sometimes the hosts step on each other a bit as two or all three try to get a point across at the same time, which results in not being able to hear any of the points being made. Aside from that, it's a great podcast!

I’ve been listening my way through this series picking out the albums I’m already familiar with. I don’t always agree with their ratings or analysis but that’s alright as they don’t always agree with each other. Mostly I find the ratings and analysis fair. It’s a fun listen to go through records with folks who are enthusiastic and really appreciate the music and back history of the album. I’m looking forward to having them introduce me to new “old” music. Keep it up gents.

The best in-depth podcast about music from the sixties to the present day - bar none. If you’re an album person or into musical trivia and inter-connections then this podcast is a must! Do yourself a favour and download a few episodes - then you’ll know what I’m talking about…. Then you’ll know….