The Album Years

I love this show and as soon as I see a new episode is up I check it out immediately. Congratulations on the upgrade to ads and what appears to be a new place to record. The thing I do not like is that the sound of the podcast has changed. There is now a lower mid boost and Steven and Tim‘s voices sound muffled. Hopefully, whoever engineers/mixes your podcast can correct this and make it much easier to listen to. Cheers!

I loved the podcast for its first couple of seasons. But now? The quality has decreased. There is less audio quality, and the show is taking waaaay to many episodes to get through the designated year, not to mention now talking about “cannon” albums that we all know about. Wasn’t the whole point of the podcast to talk about the unsung favorites of Tim and Steven from each year? They helped me discover a lot of hidden gems. Now the show is just boring. Oh well. It was good while it was good.

Steven, you missed a gem. Kansas is a band.. that you must not overlook. This is American Prog at its finest.. I was so looking forward to The discussion of Point of Know Return, only to find you’re unfamiliar. Treat yourself to this and Leftoverture, then explore the catalog. So much phenomenal music by such excellent musicians.

Listening to these guys reviewing my favorite albums of the 70s, 80s and 90s, I’m apt to forget that Steven Wilson is an amazing artist in his own right (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, solo). You get something very rare and precious: a top flight artist and a knowledgeable pal reviewing music from the best decades of pop/rock. They take you inside the artist’s mind and tell you what they think is going on at the moment of creation. Never cynical (and these are two Brits!!), always funny, whip smart and courageous to boot. (OK, they’re probably wrong on Rush’s Power Windows which I adore, but I digress.) Listen whenever, wherever.