Out of Breath Albums (A Rock and Roll Reclaimed Podcast): Recent Episodes
Mark Dauner
Fitness? Vinyl records? They haven’t gone together since the ‘80s! We’re about to change that in the latest project from Rock and Roll Reclaimed, where we listen to a vinyl record while exercising, then discuss our experience.
Welcome to Out of Breath Albums, the show where we exercise while listening to a vinyl record, then talk about it. In today's episode, we highlight the second album from Bruce Springsteen, 1973's The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle.
I became a fan of Bruce Springsteen while exercising, technically speaking. Back in 1984, I was around 8 years old, and the songs from the Born in the USA album were in heavy rotation on pop radio - but also at the roller skating rink. I spent a lot of time rolling around that wood floor at Skateland, sometimes holding onto a glow stick, but often listening to Bruce. I bought that tape and played it non-stop. I had no idea who the E Street Band was and certainly had no idea about today's album.
I saw Bruce and his band for the first time about 20 years ago, and became a fan all over again, but started to go deeper into the catalog. Of course, I've spent a ton of time with Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, and Nebraska.
But I haven't put in the time on Springsteen's first couple of albums, the first being Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, and the second, The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle. I've heard some of the songs from this album, but not all of them that I could recall, so I was excited to check it out in the gym today.
Album Background For some background, here's what Apple Music has to say about this album:
"His first album, the excellent Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., presented a singer/songwriter with sharp lyrical skills and an emotional spectrum that could bring tears to the eyes of attentive listeners. His second album, The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle, added his stellar E Street Band. This is where Springsteen becomes an electric performer, with songs that invent new structures and court deep narratives."
Now that we've heard what Apple Music has to say, let's find out what Mark (that's me) has to say. Listen to the podcast, and read more at rockandrollreclaimed.com.
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Today we're going off the rails for a special edition of the podcast, which I am calling Out of Breath Concerts. This week I went to my first concert of 2022, and I saw the Tedeschi Trucks Band. I've known about this band for quite some time, and I've seen their performances on YouTube. I, of course, know Derek Trucks from his time in the Allman Brothers Band. But I'd never seen this band live. I thought I'd talk about it.
Listen to the podcast now to get my thoughts on this concert (spoiler: I loved it). There's also a little tribute to Meat Loaf at the end, along with a possible run-in I had with the legendary rock singer.
Get the text version of the podcast at rockandrollreclaimed.com.
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Today's Out of Breath Album, Bebe Le Strange, is the 1980 release from the legendary hard rock band, Heart. I've always liked Heart but I've always known the hits, and may a few others in their catalog. On Bebe Le Strange, I knew the title track a little bit. I knew the song Even it Up. The rest of this album was new to me, but I did some reading:
Bebe Le Strange is Heart's 5th album. Before this album, they had fired founding member and the guy who did all the cool guitar on 1970s Heart classics like Barracuda, Roger Fisher.
This new album was their first with Howard Leese on lead guitar, but more importantly, it was an album where Ann and Nancy Wilson had control of the band in a way that they hadn't necessarily before.
The following is from an album profile by Annie Zaleski at Ultimate Classic Rock.
"Bebe Le Strange is full of characters taking control of their romantic and emotional life. The title track boasts a forward seduction of a musician; the boyfriend in "Even It Up" is told, in no uncertain terms, to shape up and pull his own weight, and the protagonist of "Down on Me" pleads for tenderness and understanding, not meanness. The Ann-penned "Break" is even a not-so-subtle allusion to the end of her relationship with Michael Fisher: "Now I know there's a crack in this plan / After a while there just ain't no more magic, man."
Perhaps I should have waited on this record until Valentine's Day. As Zaleski points out in the profile, they released the album on Valentine's Day 1980 as a rather dark joke.
How did this Bebe Le Strange stand up to a workout? At its core, it's a pretty strong album, so that helps. There's a lot here to get interested in and engage with. As I've said in past episodes, I do not need a fast-driving beat to stay engaged and motivated. This album did the trick for me. How did it score? Listen and find out. You can also read more at rockandrollreclaimed.com.
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Welcome to Out of Breath Albums, the show where I exercise while listening to a vinyl record, then talk about it.
At the time of this podcast recording, The Georgia Bulldogs have just won the national championship in Division 1 college football. Congratulations to them. In their honor, I've chosen to listen to a record from a great band out of Macon, Georgia, The Allman Brothers Band.
Now, you might say, "but Mark, The University of Georgia is located in Athens, Georgia and there are several bands from Athens whose music you could have listened to like R.E.M. or The B-52s. Why did you choose The Allman Brothers Band, who not only is not from Athens but not even originally from Georgia?"
And I'd say, "Because."
That settles that. The record I've chosen today is “Idlewild South” from 1970, the second Allmans' studio album. How did it go? Listen to the podcast to find out! You can also read about it here.
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Hi everybody, or should I say Elo Kiddies...Today's selection is the 1977 debut from power-pop icons, and one of my favorite bands, Cheap Trick. This album isn't full of hits. Those came on later albums. This one is just full of the heavy and boisterous guitar licks and chord progressions, infectious, almost tongue-in-cheek grooves from the rhythm section, and the angelic yet, at times, angry vocals that we've come to expect from Cheap Trick in the 45 years since.
Here's a quick synopsis from Apple Music:
"Cheap Trick’s self-titled debut is a power-pop tour de force that packs a punch harder than a heavyweight’s haymaker, mixing sneering punk rock energy with rousing melodies. Thrills abound from start to finish: Look to the jagged guitar blasts of “Hot Love” and its face-melting blues swagger, or the glittering, emotional burn of “Oh, Candy,” a tribute to a suicidal friend. The paranoid finale—“The Ballad of TV Violence (I’m Not the Only Boy)”—devolves into a wild wall-shaker to end the record on a dangerous note."
I love this album. I don't love exercising, and I've certainly never exercised while listening to this album on vinyl. How did it go? Pretty well, I think. Listen now, and get the complete rundown in text format over at RockandRollReclaimed.com
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Get fit while listening to vinyl records! On episode 2 of Out of Breath Albums, we feature David Bowie’s album Lodger from 1979. The 3rd of Bowie's “Berlin Trilogy”, Lodger is described as "pretty normal" - at leas for Bowie. Still, you'll find interesting musical parts and references to various musical styles and geographies throughout the record. Is it good for a workout though? Listen to find out! Then you can learn more about my experience with this album during my workout and get a high-level review of the record here.
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This is the first episode of Out of Breath Albums, in which I listen to a vinyl record while exercising, then discuss the experience. Today's review is none other than Styx's 1977 Masterpiece, The Grand Illusion.
You can learn more about my experience with this album during my workout and get a high level review of the record here.
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Note: This episode was part of the earlier Rock and Roll Reclaimed podcast, which used to call this feed home. I've kept it up because people liked it.
The Black Keys are back with an album called Delta Kream that pays tribute to some of the great music that formed and shaped their music from the start: Mississippi Hill Country Blues. I talk about the new album and compare it to the original versions of the songs.
This week's whiskey pairing is Maker's Mark 46. Just like the album, it goes down easy and makes you feel good inside.
Links:
- Looking into Hill Country Blues with The Black Keys (Rock and Roll Reclaimed)
- Maker’s Mark 46 Bourbon (Rock and Roll Reclaimed)
- Compared to Delta Kream: Spotify Playlist — A playlist of the original (or earlier) versions of the songs that appear on The Black Keys' album Delta Kream
- The Black Keys: Delta Kream (Spotify) — Listen to the new album on Spotify
- The Black Keys: Delta Kream (Apple Music) — Listen to the new album on Apple Music
- Buy Delta Kream (Amazon Link) — Pick up Delta Kream at your local record shop. If you can't get it there, get it here.
- Dive into the Deep Blues of the North Mississippi Hill Country (Premier Guitar)
- Delta Kream Review: The Guardian
- Delta Kream Review: Pitchfork
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Note: This episode was part of the earlier Rock and Roll Reclaimed podcast, which used to call this feed home. I've kept it up because people liked it.
It took a few weeks but I'm finally zeroing in on what the format of what this podcast is going to be. I'm getting a little more specific as I talked about in the last episode, and that's this: One thing that I think we've lost in the digital age is the act of actively listening music. Join Mark this week on Rock and Roll Reclaimed as he enjoys some Glenfiddich 14 Year Bourbon Barrel Reserve Single Malt Scotch and takes you on a musical journey through the long-awaited 3rd release from Liquid Tension Experiment.
Links:
- Buy Liquid Tension Experiment 3 (Amazon)
- More Info on LTE 3 (rockandrollreclaimed.com)
- More info on Glenfiddich 14 Year Single Malt Scotch Whisky (rockandrollreclaimed.com)
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