Sherman & Ski - Talk You Into It Josh Sherman

Tomorrow, October 27th 2023, marks a momentous occasion in pop music history. Sort of. 25 years ago on that date, the initial American compilation record of Now! That’s What I Call Music made its way onto retail shelves. Some 87 volumes later (and with a 25th anniversary tracklist reveal tomorrow to boot)… Now! That’s What I Call Country, Christmas, Motown, Dance, fill-in-the-blank Genre releases as well…it’s snapshot of modern American music history. Sherman and Ski simply cannot, nay, WILL NOT, let this phenomenon go unnoticed. Ergo, this episode is dedicated to a track by track review of the original compact disc, the one that started it all. It peaked at #10 on the album Billboard charts, and went platinum (as did the 28 volumes that came afterwards). But to paraphrase Stefan from SNL, this collection really DID have everything…Janet Jackson, Marcy Playground, Fastball, Aqua, Lenny Kravitz, Tonic, Backstreet Boys, Radiohead, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, Hanson, All Saints…it was so NOW, then.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_That%27s_What_I_Call_Music!_(original_U.S._album)
As regular listeners know, a chatfest about this type of sonic overload could stretch on for hours and hours. Therefore - Sherman and Ski have timed each other’s commentary on this episode, limiting ourselves to a 90 second review of each track, and then pick our two tracks that we felt represented this unique moment in time (and our favorites). We hope you enjoy this trip down 90’s Nostalgia Lane as much as we did recording it – take a listen to see our hot takes, and who we both picked as our essential tracks from this seminal compilation that has changed music distribution for the last 25 years!

In the Better Late Than Never Dept - Sherman & Ski do a post festival recap of the final two days at the Pitchfork Festival…which, due to weather and some lousy communication from the organizers winds up being a helluva lot more about the awesome city of Chicago. Shout outs for Lagunitas Brewing, Gibson’s Steakhouse, The Barrel…a couple of good sets and a lot of laments that some shows DIDN’T go on. Still a good listen for some rants!!

A nearly-live, quick and dirty update from Day 1 of the 2023 Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago IL. An awesome city to explore for any reason , Sherman and Ski do some deep dishing on some tremendous acts like Alvvays, Nation of Language , Grace Ives and Chicago funk act Ric Wilson. Also, Ski is available as a local drummer for all your local drumming needs…listen to find out why this inside joke exists!

Have you been to the land Down Under? Us either, but that doesn't mean we are scared to flip hemispheres. This episode of Sherman and Ski lauds the songwriting and pop sensibility of lead singer Colin Hay, and the whole Aussie gang. Men At Work were clearly a new wave phenomenon, but incorporate a wide variety of instruments, EXTREMELY high melodic notes, and tons of ska/reggae influence which tends to get overlooked. In terms of albums, Business As Usual went supernova of course (Best New Artist Grammy), but both Sherman and Ski agree that Cargo is the underappreciated gem. They streaked like a comet across the outback, then the States, and of course, Ski digs deep into the catalog for his picks. Sherman throws in a fun personal interaction with Mr. Hay (who is hilarious, btw) backstage at Bonnaroo one year, and we all climb back into the cassette tape time capsule. It's beyond time to reassess Men At Work. Crikey!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...nope, the other one, when Sherman and Ski do their annual plunge into the abyss that is the Rock and Roll HOF voting system. For the third straight year, we attempt to predict the less-than-predictable and not only guess what the Hall is 'thinking', but what WE would do with 5 to 7 votes. As we anxiously await the white puffs of smoke to emanate from Cleveland to determine the fate of the artists' HOF status, Sherman casts his 7, Ski casts his 7, and both of them take credit for previous visionary predictions such as Duran Duran (ep #1), the Go-Go's (ep #19), Lionel (ep #17)...man, we are actually right QUITE a bit. It doesn't take a seer to guess that both Sherman & Ski are STOKED about the Joy Division/New Order nomination (ep #13 if you haven't listened) but take a listen to see who else we think will get in this year!

Just when you think that we wouldn’t dare do it, we invite you to KEEP IT COMIN’ LOVE - Sherman and Ski are vouching for disco (and Latin FUNK) superstars and underrated heroes, KC and THE SUNSHINE BAND. Literally, there are nothing but hits from Miami native Harry Wayne Casey. In fact, a person can drive from Washington DC to Carlisle PA, and you are NOT out of hits, not by a longshot. Sherman and Ski DO get to a couple of extremely deep cuts from the catalog, specifically from their earlier funk records which has some serious bass and horn action.

Ski reminds us that there’s not too much of the string section of traditional disco.  However, Sherman informs us that there is plenty of Booty and Boogie references that remain. Sherman can’t get enough of their fourth album, the oddly titled KC & The Sunshine Band Part III, which is jam-packed with earworms and rump-shakers. Ski pulls from the stellar 1974 debut album Do It Good, and boy is Ski ready to party and Sound Your Funky Horn. Sherman is floored that Please Don’t Go was originally penned by KC as he only knows the KWS 90’s club cover, but of course Ski knew it. We both DO agree that the premium KC material leans towards the earliest work, and one should probably avoid the 2000’s album Yummy, with a bizarre Peter Gabriel cover…yeah, let’s stick with the Latin funk and disco stuff. We also reconnect briefly on the Rock & Roll HOF class of 2022, and see how we did…have a listen!