The Record Player

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The Record Player

Jeff Giles and Matt Wardlaw

144 episodes

5 months ago

Send us a text The great John Sebastian celebrates his 81st birthday today as we're posting this. We had the good fortune to have a lengthy conversation with John this past fall to discuss John B. Sebastian, his 1970 debut as a solo artist. It's an album which is certainly underrated and if your ears have never had the pleasure of hearing it, today's the day to change that. Our good friend Peter Lubin helped to arrange the time with John and joins us for this discussion, which is one that we'...

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Music Commentary

Music Interviews

All content for The Record Player is the property of Jeff Giles and Matt Wardlaw and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Send us a text The great John Sebastian celebrates his 81st birthday today as we're posting this. We had the good fortune to have a lengthy conversation with John this past fall to discuss John B. Sebastian, his 1970 debut as a solo artist. It's an album which is certainly underrated and if your ears have never had the pleasure of hearing it, today's the day to change that. Our good friend Peter Lubin helped to arrange the time with John and joins us for this discussion, which is one that we'...

Show more...

Music Commentary

Music Interviews

Episodes (20/144)

The Record Player

John Sebastian - John B. Sebastian (1970)

Send us a text The great John Sebastian celebrates his 81st birthday today as we're posting this. We had the good fortune to have a lengthy conversation with John this past fall to discuss John B. Sebastian, his 1970 debut as a solo artist. It's an album which is certainly underrated and if your ears have never had the pleasure of hearing it, today's the day to change that. Our good friend Peter Lubin helped to arrange the time with John and joins us for this discussion, which is one that we'...

5 months ago

1 hour 3 minutes

The Record Player

The Cure - Disintegration (1989)

Send us a textIn picking her favorite album, author K.L. Doty let us know up front that she couldn't settle on just one -- something which we're all familiar with as music fans, right? So we talk about a lot of different music. But in regards to Disintegration by the Cure, specifically, she shared a thought that will land with many of us who have grown up (I guess that's all of us) and made our way out into the real world, which can maybe be the first real moment where you learn about things ...

8 months ago

56 minutes

The Record Player

Al Jarreau - Breakin' Away (1981)

Send us a textYou might know Brian Wecht as Ninja Brian. Or maybe you know him as Trey Magnifique. Perhaps, you just know him as Brian and that's fine too. Matt and Jeff were just thrilled to have him on the podcast to talk about Al Jarreau's mighty fine Breakin' Away album. But there were conditions. First, an impromptu 20 minute discussion about Kenny G. You'll see. Is there a Chicago reference followed by some scathing condemnation? You know there is.As it happens, Brian, er, Trey Magnifiq...

9 months ago

59 minutes

The Record Player

Bonus Track: Rob Baker (The Tragically Hip)

Send us a textRob Baker of The Tragically Hip joins Matt to discuss the 35th anniversary of the band's 1989 debut, Up to Here, which is being celebrated with a lavish box set featuring a wealth of previously unreleased content. The box set is available today digitally and will be released in a variety of physical formats on Nov. 15. You can order your copy of the box set here.The conversation with Rob was wonderfully free-flowing and numerous topics are discussed, including of course, stories...

9 months ago

36 minutes

The Record Player

Too $hort - Life is...Too $hort (1988)

Send us a textProfessor Louis Moore joins Matt and Jeff to discuss his essential new book, The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans and the Making of the Black Quarterback. Our engaging discussion with Lou took us deep into the history of Black quarterbacks and athletes in general in the NFL and he talks about the journey he took as he was writing the book. However much progress you might think has been made in the NFL (and beyond), this discussion -- and Lou's book -- will remind you...

9 months ago

1 hour 19 minutes

The Record Player

The 1974 Project: Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom

Send us a textThis is almost a "lost episode" of sorts. To pull the curtain back a bit, we recorded this episode back in July and then promptly got busy with a bunch of other things. So if you hear a mention or two that sound a bit dated, there ya go. What remains is a fun discussion that we had regarding Robert Wyatt's 1974 album Rock Bottom. We examine where Robert was career-wise in 1974 as he was continuing to evolve his solo work following his time with Soft Machine and subsequently, Mat...

9 months ago

58 minutes

The Record Player

Cassingle: The Fast Food Edition

Send us a textThe guys end summer break with a completely random "accidental Cassingle," as Jeff tagged it. There are discussions of Funyuns (which still exist!), Taco Bell, concept albums, Jeff's new book, asbestos, kids who swear a lot, new music from Jon Anderson of Yes, the upcoming solo album from Warren Haynes and other subjects that are probably being forgotten. We got together to record a simple introduction for our next podcast episode....and this happened. Anyway, it's been a good s...

10 months ago

50 minutes

The Record Player

Bonus Track: Woodstock '94 / Levon Helm

Send us a textOur latest Bonus Track features a conversation with author and journalist John Barry, who covered Woodstock '94 as it happened. Thirty years later, he joins Matt to share some of his memories of the experience. Music fans will also be interested in the book that John wrote about Levon Helm's incredible second act with the Midnight Ramble and other events that happened during the later years of his career.Levon Helm: Rock, Roll & Ramble - The Inside Story of the Man, the Musi...

1 year ago

33 minutes

The Record Player

Jesse Colin Young - The Perfect Stranger (1982)

Send us a textJeff and Matt love nothing more than coming across obscure AOR gems. Jesse Colin Young's 1982 album, The Perfect Stranger, fits into that category. Featuring guest appearances by Carly Simon, Michael McDonald, Bill Payne and Fred Tackett of Little Feat and Timothy B. Schmit of the Eagles, The Perfect Stranger also finds Jesse surrounded by an unbelievable cast of many of the era's best session players.Jesse tells the guys how he came to work with producer Michael James Jackson o...

1 year ago

54 minutes

The Record Player

Chicago - Chicago 17 (1984)

Send us a textPodcasting pioneer Jimmy Pardo hosts the award-winning podcast, Never Not Funny. But he also puts his name behind a lot of good things. Witness his annual Pardcast-a-Thon, which provided nine hours of laughs from Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt, Dave Holmes, Jon Cryer and numerous others -- INCLUDING DAVID FOSTER -- raising over $125 thousand dollars for charity in the process. For $25 you can purchase an archive of this year's performances and if you like to laugh, we highly rec...

1 year ago

1 hour 12 minutes

The Record Player

Foreigner - Unusual Heat (1991)

Send us a textThis is a flashback moment to our previous podcast, 1991: The Year AOR Ate Itself. For those of you who didn't hear that podcast series, you'll be interested to hear this episode, which aired July 5, 2021. In my memory (note: I'm making this up), we decided to celebrate Independence Day by talking about Foreigner's first album without Lou Gramm, Unusual Heat.Even though that's not true, we did have a lot of fun discussing Unusual Heat with our friend Ben Arthur, who brought a re...

1 year ago

1 hour 17 minutes

The Record Player

Bonus Track: Leland Sklar and Denny Tedesco (The Immediate Family documentary)

Send us a textOur latest Bonus Track features a great conversation with the legendary Leland Sklar and director Denny Tedesco regarding his film, The Immediate Family. That's right, someone finally made a movie about Lee Sklar, Danny Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel and Russ Kunkel. If you're a liner notes nerd, you know those names!Here's one example:Jackson Browne's Running on Empty album was one where the music fans got to be part of the process. Because it was recorded live on stage in concert --...

1 year ago

1 hour 3 minutes

The Record Player

The 1974 Project: Harry Nilsson - Pussy Cats

Send us a textThe 1974 Project continues as we welcome back our friend and A&R man Peter Lubin to discuss Pussy Cats by Harry Nilsson. Produced by John Lennon, Pussy Cats is an interesting and at times, unfortunate mile marker in Nilsson's career -- and the guys discuss why that is.There is once again a great tribute album at the heart of all of this Nilsson stuff for Jeff and Matt, 1995's For the Love of Harry: Everybody Sings Nilsson. Jeff describes the doors that opened for him as a mu...

1 year ago

1 hour 10 minutes

The Record Player

The Music of the Olympics (1984-1992)

Send us a textIn 1984, Christopher Cross added a unique new entry to his discography. "A Chance For Heaven" was selected as the official swimming theme for the Olympics. I bet you didn't even know there was an official swimming theme that year, did you? Neither did we. Discovering that factoid during our episode about Christopher's 1985 album, Every Turn of the World, was enough to send us out on an important quest.What if we were to discuss the Olympics soundtrack albums for 1984, 1988 and 1...

1 year ago

59 minutes

The Record Player

Narada Michael Walden on Tommy Bolin

Send us a textIn our first Bonus Track of 2024, legendary artist and producer Narada Michael Walden tells Matt about his time working with the late Tommy Bolin. It's an emotional subject for Narada, but also a period in his career that he retains a lot of love and affection for.We spoke in November of 2023 as Narada was just about to release his newest solo album, Euphoria. The record features a wealth of exciting new compositions -- and also, a long-in-the-works collaboration with Sting, Car...

1 year ago

41 minutes

The Record Player

The 1974 Project: Suzi Quatro: Quatro

Send us a textThe magnificent Davia Schendel joins Jeff and Matt to discuss Suzi Quatro's second album, Quatro.Today's conversation definitely goes deep into "music nerd" territory. We talk about record stores of the past, making playlists devoted to things like gated reverb and snare hits. Should we talk about the underrated power player in music that is known as the saxophone? You're darn right, we should. How much does the bass rule? We've got thoughts.There are stray conversations a...

1 year ago

1 hour 37 minutes

The Record Player

Christopher Cross - Every Turn of the World (1985)

Send us a textIt's time for the first solo Jeff and Matt episode in a good while! Today, the guys team up to look back at Every Turn of the World, the third album by Christopher Cross. They dig through a number of topics including the album's relative lack of success, how Jeff found it -- and why he loved it so much at the time.We also discuss Jeff's forthcoming debut novel, Langley Powell and the Society for the Defense of the Mundane, which is set for a July release. Jeff gives fans of The ...

1 year ago

58 minutes

The Record Player

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention - Uncle Meat (1969)

Send us a textWe have another first on the podcast, but you're going to have to listen to find out what it is. Let's start with the facts: Benjamin Miner of The Feldons joins Jeff and Matt to talk about 1969's Uncle Meat album, by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Have you ever heard this album? It's a wild ride, just like our discussion. In addition to Uncle Meat, we also discuss pinball machines, pinball lust, churches with pinball machines and basketball gyms that have no air condi...

1 year ago

1 hour 20 minutes

The Record Player

R.E.M. - Reckoning (1984)

Send us a textBenjamin Wagner joins the guys for a frank discussion about mental health in the midst of Mental Health Awareness Month. He's spent a good amount of time thinking about -- and researching the subject. His new film, Friends & Neighbors, is the result of that work. Benjamin tells Jeff and Matt how his own mental health struggles influenced the movie -- and what he learned once he finished the project.In Friends & Neighbors, Benjamin thinks back to the words of his friend, ...

1 year ago

1 hour 12 minutes

The Record Player

Ben Arthur - Edible Darling (2004)

Send us a textEmmy-nominated songwriter Ben Arthur released his third album, Edible Darling, in 2004. A longtime friend of the podcast (long before there was a podcast, in fact), Ben joins Jeff and Matt to look back on the album in its 20th anniversary year. He recaps his rollercoaster experience navigating the music industry in those early years and how it ultimately influenced where he's gone with his life's work since then.To date, Ben has released 10 albums and an ongoing series of single...

1 year ago

1 hour 20 minutes