A Chat with Sam Roberts – All of Us

A Chat with Sam Roberts - All of Us

On this special episode of The Sonic Collective, we chat with Sam Roberts, of the Sam Roberts band, about their October 2020 release, All of Us. He goes deep about how the songs were written and sharing it with the world in a time of COVID. But we start by going back in time, with Sam sharing what it feels like to have been recording professionally for almost two decades, being the son of parents from South Africa who immigrated to Canada, what it means to be Canadian, and even some of his musical guilty pleasures.
Get ready to hear a very candid Sam Roberts share on multiple levels.
Enjoy the musical ride!

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Review of Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Welcome to the Pleasuredome

Please read Alain DuPuis’s pick, Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Welcome to the Pleasuredome, before reading and listening to our reviews below.

The Summary

  • Would we recommend?
  • Influence us and our tastes?
  • Overall?
2.5

Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Welcome to the Pleasuredome

For our 3rd selection in this round of influential double-albums, Sonic Collective member Alain Dupuis reached back to 1984 and this first Frankie Goes to Hollywood album, Welcome to the Pleasuredome. This albums contains the 6th and 20th best selling singles in the U.K., for Relax and Two Tribes. But how did this stand up as a whole album? Can we all finally relax? Well, this review didn’t go as we thought. Listen along and see why we struggled with this 80s classic. Hint: It’s the cover songs and the bi-polar sound of this album.

Perhaps the producer was over zealous, perhaps the band wasn’t in control, perhaps this lives just perfectly in 1984 and should stay there. What do you think?

Overall Scores

Overall opinion: 2.6
Would we recommend?: 2.3
Influenced our tastes: 2.5

Our Individual Review Scores
Alain Dupuis
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 2.5
Influenced my tastes: 1

Scott Gregory
Overall opinion: 3
Would I recommend?: 3
Influenced my tastes: 5

Scott Coates
Overall opinion: 2
Would I recommend?: 1
Influenced my tastes: 1

Darren Scott
Overall opinion: 2.5
Would I recommend?: 2.5
Influenced my tastes: 3


Double Album Round and Our 1st Selection! (It’s Bob Dylan, Blonde on Blonde)

Double Album Round & 1st Selection of Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde.

As we have just completed a round of album reviews that were all hip hop and rap, we thought it will be a blast to try a new concept this month. We all came up with some ideas, but an interesting one was double albums. Younger people may not even know what a double album is (or even a single album, for that matter).

Listen to my story of how we came to this concept and as to why I decided to pick Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde album.

Spend the next month with us listening to this album and then come back at the beginning of September 2020 to hear our review show about this album. We will dive into the history of a double album a little more and see if releasing so many tracks at once is a good idea.

Times, they are a changin’

Darren

Other albums I considered were:

  • The Smashing Pumpkins – ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’
  • Arcade Fire — ‘Reflektor’
  • The Clash – ‘London Calling’ (But I’ve already picked a Clash album. Have a listen.)

We have also already reviewed a few double albums by chance. Check out:

The Mothers of Invention: Freak Out

The Allman Brothers Band: Live at Fillmore East

Enjoy!

Review of Lauryn Hill: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill is an amazing vocalist. She can sing. She can rap. She can do it all. This album really set the tome of what was to come for hip hop. WE know now just how powerful hip hop and rap is now, but back when this was released in the late 90s some though hip hop might just be a phase, or just more droning type pop music.

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An Exploration of Musical Supergroups

Welcome to the Sonic Collective, and another one of our exploratory podcast episodes.

In this episode, we’ll explore musical supergroups. So what is a supergroup? Well, for us, it’s a musical performing group of three or more persons, whose members have successful solo careers, are members of other groups, or are well known in other musical professions. They come together to form an epic alignment of mighty musical talents. For us, this isn’t a duo and they must have released at least one full-length album. These supergroups can also come from any genre. The term can sometimes also be applied to a group that has no specific preferred genre. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and today, we’ll touch on a few that fall in both categories and some in between.

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Review of Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force: Planet Rock

Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock

For a change in pace, we decided that the 4 Sonic Collective members should select albums from a randomly selected genre for everyones next pick. Hip Hop was chosen and for the second pick of this round member Scott Coates chose A Tribe Called Quest: People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.

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Review of A Tribe Called Quest: People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

For a change in pace, we decided that the 4 Sonic Collective members should select albums from a randomly selected genre for everyones next pick. Hip Hop was chosen and for the second pick of this round member Scott Coates chose A Tribe Called Quest: People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.

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What Makes a Great Album? Featuring Broadcasting Legend Alan Cross

There’s been one common thread regardless of genre, time period, or concept, that’s run through each of our album selections. The search for a great album. The entire package. A group of songs that work together to create more than just a few good singles, rather an experience and journey for the listener. So what makes a great album? This is the question and discussion we had with Alan Cross, an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. Enjoy.

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Review Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces of a Man

Gil Scott-Heron’s Pieces of a Man was mentioned often as a very powerful influence, namely the song ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’, which is a spoken word politically powerful piece that highlights the struggles of the black population in the United States during the late 1960s. We listened, we mostly liked, and we learned a lot about GSH.

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Review of Jeff Buckley: Grace

Jeff Buckley’s Grace was his only album. Shortly after the release of this album Jeff died in a strange drowning accident. None of us really knew this album, but with heavyweights like David Bowie and Jimmy Page citing it as one of their favourite albums, we knew it had to be great … right? Well… it didn’t quite go the way we thought. Listen and find out why.

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