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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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