MC5 – Kick Out the Jams

This month we’re tackling an album I’ve been aware of for a long time, never listened to, but the time has come.

Kick Out the Jams by MC5 was released in February 1969 and has been classified as proto-punk. While the band formed in 1963, it took a few years for their debut album to come into form, and uniquely, it was recorded live over two nights at Detroit’s Grande Ballroom in 1968. Typically bands release a live album well into their career but MC5 uniquely opted to do so out of the gates.

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One Hit Wonder or Not? New Radicals’ Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too

New Radicals

So here, it is, the second review of our One Hit Wonders round, this time listening to New Radicals’ Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too. If you haven’t listened to/read about why we picked it, check that out first.

The album was released October 16, 1998, and is essentially an album by lead singer, Gregg Alexander, who is the only person to play on all the album’s tracks. He enlisted a swath of session musicians (28) to play instruments while recording, really making this an album of hired guns. The very successful You Get What You Give charted high on most Top 40 lists around the world, then the band broke up in 1999. A second single, Someday We’ll Know, was released shortly after the band called it quits and the rest is history.

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One Hit Wonders: New Radicals – Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too

For the next four podcast episodes we will be reviewing what are considered to be one-hit wonders. Here we are on our second of four picks with our One Hit Wonders series, looking at artists and albums that were One Hit Wonders – loosely meaning that the album had one or so big singles, then we likely never really heard from the band again. I’ve always liked the song You Get What You Give by New Radicals, bought the album when it came out, but don’t remember listening to it beyond the single, and have been listening to that single a lot recently. Then the Foo Fighters announced Josh Freese as their new drummer in May 2023, and while reading about him, I noticed he drummed on two songs from Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too by New Radicals, and decided to make this my pick for the month. – Scott Coates @ The Sonic Collective

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Review of King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King

February 2023 saw us listen to King Crimson’s debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, which was released on 10 October 1969 and hit #1 on the UK charts.We went into this with pretty high expectations being how many times we had read about this album being a major influence on bands like The Who, and cited by many rock publications as one of the best ever prog rock albums. Well… let’s just say we weren’t that wow’d and don’t really get how it has cultivated the legacy it has.

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King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King

For February 2023 we will listen to and share thought on King Crimson’s 1969 debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King. They have been cited by countless, legendary bands as a major influence and In the Court of the Crimson King, their debut album, noted as their best and also an inspiration to a slew of bands. Enjoy the listen ahead!

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THE REVEAL EPISODE – What Connects These Three Albums? – Part 2

For the next four months we are changing up our format to try something fun. Each of us will pick three albums that share a common thread. We want you to listen to these albums and try to figure out what the common thread between them is. We listened to Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath, The Stone Roses by The Stone Roses and Permission to Land by the Darkness. Three very different bands and albums and for the most part, everyone seemed to enjoy the musical journey.

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What Connects These Three Albums? – Part 2

What's the connection?

For the next four months we are changing up our format to try something fun. Each of us will pick three albums that share a common thread. We want you to listen to these albums and try to figure out what the common thread between them is. Member Scott Coates is up this month and he chose The Stone Roses self-titled album, Black Sabbath self-titled album and The Darkness Permission to Land album.

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Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division

Joy Division

I’ve heard the strange legacy of Ian Curtis, who committed suicide in May 1980, mentioned on a number of episodes of The Ongoing History of New Music with Alan Cross and been intrigued. When I started out as a DJ at Lloyd’s Recreation in Calgary as a teenager, Blue Monday and Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order were huge and some of the original 12-inch singles I learned how to beat-mix on. I had no idea that Joy Division was the precursor to New Order back then and it’s time to see where their roots came from.

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Review of The Mirror Conspiracy: Thievery Corporation

mirror-conspiracy

Essentially a two person ‘band’, Eric Hilton and Rob Garza wrote, produced, and recorded this on their own, with guest Pam Bricker featured on a few tracks.The gang was not united in their feelings about our pick for February, Thievery Corporation’s, The Mirror Conspiracy, which was originally released in 2000. Half of us loved it, while the other half were not so enthusiastic and for a variety of reasons.

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