Album Clash - a music podcast‪!‬ Album Clash

This is ALBUM CLASH: CIVIL WAR!! 
We conclude our latest clash, and indeed our civil war season by going through New Order’s second album, ‘Power, Corruption and Lies’ from 1983. 
In doing so we learn how the other members of Joy Division coped with the aftermath of Ian Curtis’s suicide, how a change of name and the addition of a new member helped them move on, and how that new member was instrumental (pun intended) in their evolution into what we would come to know as ‘classic’ New Order. We also talk about the most successful twelve-inch single of all time (which isn’t on this album), and the beginnings of the world famous Hacienda nightclub. And how both of those things ended up losing Factory records a shitload of money.
Of course we talk about the music, and what a treat it is to talk about, with some absolute belters including the inspiration/ early workings for what would become the aforementioned best selling twelve-inch of all time.
In this week’s ‘video killed the radio star’ segment Kev introduces us to an interesting new video for an old song by Athens Georgia’s most famous sons, and his pick for album of the week sees us dropping in on 80% of one of the Wales’s favourite indie bands to see what they’ve been up to of late.
We get down to scoring our two albums to see which emerges victorious, and for the first time in a very long time, we have a difference of opinion over which is the better record…
Also this week:

Tim pitches the perfect movie crossover;

Kev confuses his retro children’s board games; and 

we uncover Peter Saville’s dark secret…


Finally, as we announce at the end of this week’s pod, this show marks the end of Album Clash season 2 as we will be taking a brief hiatus for the next few weeks. Not to worry though, before you know it (definitely by the end of the year) we’ll be back to brighten your Thursdays with Album Clash season 3: Album Clash with a Vengeance…
***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***
***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:
Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA
Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg
Enjoy!
Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum), Threads (@Clashalbum) or send us an email (albumclash@gmail.com).***

This is ALBUM CLASH: CIVIL WAR!! 

Yes, yes, I know it’s a few hours late again - really really sorry about that - things are somewhat hectic here at Clash towers at the moment.

Anyway, we start a new clash this week, and it’s the final clash in our ‘Civil War’ season, but with a slight twist as we take a look at a band who evolved into another band following the death of one of their founder members. Yes, you guessed it (or you probably just read the episode title) - it’s Joy Division vs New Order.

First up it’s Joy Division with their 1979 debut ‘Unknown Pleasures’ - an album which, while not a huge success on it’s release, has gone on to become one of the most influential albums of all time (with one of the most influential album covers of all time).

As ever we have a helluva lot to get through in today’s pod, some of it light hearted and whimsical, some of it much less so as we talk about the tragic death of frontman Ian Curtis. We also talk about the brilliance of Martin Hannet’s production, and how Joy Division were influenced by what came before (there’s a lot of Iggy Pop references in today’s pod) and also how they influenced not only their peers but continue to have an influence on bands in the 21st century.

In this week’s ‘can’t get you out of my head’ Kev tells us how he was earwormed with an early 90s pop banger by scrolling through Twitter (yes, it’s called Twitter and always will be), while Tim reveals how he serenades his dog in the course of her daily ablutions… 

 

Also this week:


Tim gives us a lesson in astrophysics;


we discuss the strange dichotomy that was Tony Wilson; and 


Does Kev unintentionally reveal a bit too much about his cinematic preferences?



***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum), Threads (@Clashalbum) or send us an email (albumclash@gmail.com).***

This is ALBUM CLASH: CIVIL WAR!! 


With sincere apologies for the slightly delayed release, in this week’s pod we conclude our Paul Simon clash by casting our ears over the diminutive folkster’s (yes, I’m reusing that moniker again) most successful album, 1986’s ‘Graceland’.


There’s an awful lot for us to get through with this one, not least of all the controversy that Paul Simon caused in breaking the cultural boycott and travelling to South Africa to record with South African artists at the height of the anti-apartheid movement. We talk - at length - about the moral and ethical quandary that Simon’s decision represents, and how his position is somewhat undermined by the fact that on one track he duets with an artist who did accept money from the apartheid regime to perform at Sun City. 


We do (eventually) talk about the music, and the way that Paul Simon manages to seamlessly blend the sounds of the Soweto township with those of New York City and the American Deep South. We also have a long old chat about the term ‘world music’ and the negative connotations that have come to be associated with it.


In our latest ‘video killed the radio star’ Tim takes us through a classic 80s video which saw the emergence of a global megastar, whilst paying homage to one of the 20th Century’s most iconic stars.


We also have our latest album of the pod where Tim picks a new release by an artist whom we have previously entered into the ring of death…


Also this week:

Tim does his bit to promote cultural learning by providing a useful translation service;

Kev recalls a classic gritty 1980s drama about nuclear winter in South Yorkshire; and 

When is an ultra capitalist institution also a front for communist ideologies?


***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum), Threads (@Clashalbum) or send us an email (albumclash@gmail.com).***

This is ALBUM CLASH: CIVIL WAR!! 

We start a new clash this week as we welcome into the world of Album Clash everyone’s favourite diminutive folkster (well, everyone apart from Art Garfunkel anyway), Paul Simon. Entering the ring of death are two of Paul Simon’s most renowned solo albums, first up being his first album following the dissolution of folk’s most famous duo, his self titled effort from 1972.

As you, our loyal audience, have come to expect there’s a lot for us to cram into a little over 80 minutes, not least of all what brought about the end of Simon and Garfunkel, and how the seeds of the long-lasting and rancorous breakup were sown several years previously…

We also talk about the bold musical choices Paul Simon made in recording an album that would clearly signal his evolution from the Simon and Garfunkel days while at the same time retaining the essence of his folk roots, how those choices would pay off with both critical and commercial success, and how this album would set the template for his experimentation with musical influences from across the globe (which we will very much come back to in our next pod…).

In this week’s ‘can’t get you out of my head’ Tim and Kev both explain how they’ve been annoying their loved ones through the medium of appropriated pop songs.

Also this week:


we achieve peak Britishness as we complain about the weather before going on to bemoan the differences between American English and UK English;


Kev gives us a lesson in the behavioural patterns of primates while Tim questions Paul Simon’s understanding of chemistry; and


Kev outdoes himself yet again with his Twitter outro while at the same time assuaging our fears about the prospect of humanity’s enslavement by AI…



***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum) or send us an email (albumclash@gmail.com).***

This is ALBUM CLASH: CIVIL WAR!! 


In this week's pod we conclude our Johnny Cash clash (yep, I'm sticking with that almost rhyme) as Kev leads us through the sixth and (thus far) final installment in the American Recordings series, 2010's 'Ain't no Grave'.


I'm not going to lie to you guys, it's a pretty maudlin show this week. But what do you expect when we're going through an album recorded by a dying man, who was mourning his recently deceased wife, which was released seven years after their passing? So for once I'm not going to tease the whimsical elements of the pod because, although we do still inject levity where we can, we also pay homage and respect to the legacy of one of the most enduring artists of the twentieth century.


We do have our usual features, including Kev's pick for'video killed the radio star' from an artist we have previously discussed, and his pick for 'album of the pod' by an artist who we very much haven't previously discussed.


We do score our two albums to see which emerges as the winner of this clash, however crass that may seem, before Tim reveals the next artist to go up against themselves in a Superman III style battle. (Except not in a scrapyard.)


We do end on a much needed light note, as Kev introduces us to the concept of revolutionary mushrooms…


This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!!



***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum) or send us an email (albumclash@gmail.com).***

This is ALBUM CLASH: CIVIL WAR!! 


We kick off a new clash this week by welcoming the man in black back into the ring of death, as we put two of his legendary American Recordings albums up against each other.


First up it's Tim's job to take us through the fourth instalment, and the last album released during Johnny Cash's lifetime, 2002's 'The Man Comes Around' - a bumper album in which Johnny Cash puts his stamp on some of the most famous songs of all time, gives a unique interpretation to some more contemporary songs, reimagines some of his own material. Along the way we learn a bit about how Rick Rubin was inspired to approach Johnny Cash, and how they formed a lasting friendship that would revitalise Cash and inspire him to record some of the best material of his career.


As weighty and sentimental as much of this album is, we do try to inject our usual levity into proceedings, while at the same time giving due deference to the majesty of one of the  best loved and most enduring artists of all time.


We have our usual 'cant get you out of my head' feature, in which Kev lowers the bar of adolescent toilet humour before Tim appropriates his colleague's own appropriation of an all time classic power ballad from the early 2000s…


Also this week:


we preview a festival that will have taken place by the time this pod comes out;

we discuss the latest nonsensical ramblings by no-one's favourite Mancunian sonsgster; and

we dive down quite  the cul de sac by spending a good three minutes talking about the manufacturers of white goods.


This. Is. ALBUM CLASH!!!



***If you like what you've heard in this show, why not subscribe to the pod? You can also listen to our entire back catalogue (and with two weeks to wait between new episodes you frankly have no excuse not to). PLEASE tell your mates to check us out. Alternatively, if you think we're shite, tell your enemies to listen - we honestly don't care as long as we get those sweet sweet clicks. Finally, if you are so inclined, we would be incredibly grateful if you could give us a (preferably 5-star) rating and leave a review on whichever platform you get your pods. It makes it easier for others to find us and it means a hell of a lot. Thanks for listening!***

***Check out our ‘can’t get you out of my head’ playlist:

Youtube Music: https://t.co/xHKWgpcadA

Spotify: https://t.co/8Exejzv2rg

Enjoy!

Find us on Twitter (@Clashalbum), Instagram (@Clahsalbum) or send us an email (albumclash@gmail.com).***