Music Adventure: Recent Episodes
Music Adventure
Podcast exploring the various connections between and around musicians, songwriters and bands, including their discographies, live performances, recording sessions, labels, producers, engineers, histories, genres of music, songs, documentaries and books.
Greetings! In this episode, Gary & Brian discuss our favorite compilation albums. What is a compilation album? It covers everything from a band/artist's greatest hits, tribute albums to a band/artist, movie soundtracks or compilations of a particular music genre from many band/artists.
Some of our favorites include the Singles movie soundtrack, Saturday Morning Cartoons, Bela Fleck's Bluegrass Sessions, Eight Miles High (The Byrds), Anthology of American Folk Music, the Big Chill movie soundtrack, Beat the Retreat (Richard Thompson) and The Jazz Album (Various Artists).
Our encores, sadly, continue to pay tribute to two more music legends that we lost recently: Eric Carmen and Dickey Betts. Take care, everyone, enjoy the summer!
Hello everybody! In our new episode, Gary & Brian embark on another album assignment mission. Like previous shows, we gave each other three new albums to listen to and review. It was a lot of fun.
Artists exchanged included Wondermints, Strangefolk, The Love Language, Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and Phish.
Brian's encore was a review of a recent Black Pumas show he attended and Gary reviewed the 2014 move, Whiplash, that he finally saw on Netflix and tickled his loves of drumming and jazz. Enjoy!
Greetings everyone! Gary & Brian wrap up the great music year of 2023 by discussing our best album and new find picks along with many honorable mentions.
Some of the artists covered include Peter Gabriel, Haken, New Pornographers, Steven Sanchez, The Clientele, Agusa, Jenny Lewis, Jethro Tull, Sufjan Stevens and Squeaky Feet.
For our encores, we shared what music related things we are looking forward to in 2024. Enjoy!
Happy Holidays! Gary & Brian, celebrating the spirit of the season, discuss their Top 3 favorite Christmas albums. Like our previous Favorite Holiday Songs episode, we had a lot of fun discussing these and explaining why they are important to us.
Our choices included Charlie Brown Christmas, The DBs, Johnny Mathis, Beach Boys, The Philly Specials and John Denver & the Muppets.
Brian's encore was a review of an ensemble group called The Salt Collective and Gary reviewed a Netflix documentary on Hipgnosis, the famous 60's and 70's album cover artists, called Squaring the Circle. Highly recommend you check out both of these! Enjoy!
Hello everyone! Gary and Brian took on a new topic; selecting three of our favorite bands, reviewing each member's solo work and choosing the solo album we liked the most. In this episode, we deliberately chose a different band member's album to spark a lively discussion.
The three bands were Traffic, Yes and Pink Floyd. Members included Steve Winwood, Chris Squire, Roger Waters, Dave Mason, Steve Howe and David Gilmour.
For our encores, Brian reviewed the band, Glass Harp, whose music he recently discovered and Gary described a wonderful night seeing Pat Metheny live in a small local theater. Enjoy!
Hello everyone! Gary & Brian return to our singer/songwriter favorite album topic. Last time we covered The Boss, Dylan and Neil Young - this show discusses Lou Reed, Jackson Browne and Van Morrison.
Albums included Reed's New York & Transformer; Browne's Late for the Sky & Jackson Browne and Van the Man's Moondance & Saint Dominic's Preview.
Brian's encore is a review of book on the band, Whiskeytown and Gary pays tribute to Robbie Robertson who unfortunately passed last month. Enjoy!
Hello everybody! Gary & Brian return with another episode of the Name That Band Game. Only bands are covered, meaning no solo artists or their backing bands. Test your musical knowledge as you play along with us, post your score on our Facebook page and feel free to add clues of your own for others to guess!
We covered all new groups, ranging from Culture Club to Steppenwolf to Foreigner to Squeeze and many others.
Brian paid tribute to Randy Meisner, the legendary bass player for The Eagles and Poco; both of us paid tribute to Sinead O'Connor and Tony Bennett as well and Gary reviewed a fascinating documentary of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival called Jazz on a Summer's Day. Enjoy!
Hello everybody! Gary & Brian celebrate summer by putting together their favorite mix tape of songs that represent summer to them. Historically, one would use a cassette tape, but people still make compilations on CD, MP3 or digital playlists too. Choosing the songs and deciding in what order they flow always makes this extra fun.
Our choices are wide ranging, from artists including Don Henley, Katrina & the Waves, Beach Boys, The Lovin' Spoonful, Bryan Adams, Chicago, B-52's, Sheryl Crow, Beatles and Eddie Cochran amongst others.
For our encores, Brian reviewed a Peter & Jeremy show he saw recently and Gary discussed a new Netflix documentary on drumming called Count Me In. Enjoy!
Hello everybody! In our new episode, Gary & Brian, discuss the topic of famous musical collaborations. Many artists enjoy working with each other; either as peers or to help younger artists launch their careers or create great music with one of their heroes.
Collaborations we highlighted include: Michael Jackson & Eddie Van Halen; David Bowie with Queen and, separately, with Stevie Ray Vaughan; Kiki Dee & Elton John; Eric Clapton & George Harrison and, separately, with Duane Allman; Rob Thomas & Santana; Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty; Paul McCartney & David Gilmour; Run DMC & Aerosmith and Steve Winwood & Chaka Kahn.
For our encores, Brian reviews the book, Charlie's Good Tonight, an authorized bio of Charlie Watts by Paul Sexton and Gary offers a recap of a fun night at Jimmy's Jazz & Blues Club to see Bill Frisell shred on his guitar. Enjoy!
For our 60th show, Gary & Brian review 10 of our favorite 1993 releases, explain how we found them, why we like them and how they fit into the music scene at the time.
The artists included Uncle Tupelo, Donald Fagen, The Roots, Roseanne Cash, Counting Crows, Paul Weller, Phish, Matthew Sweet, Paul Westerberg and Lenny Kravitz.
For our encores, we both review recent live shows - Brian saw Josh Rouse and Robbie Fulks and Gary saw Snarky Puppy. Enjoy!
Hello everybody! Gary & Brian tackle another Album Assignment episode this month. We gave each other three albums to listen to, find about the artists and provide reviews on the show including our Buy or Sell vote. Feel free to play along; YouTube links to all of these albums will be posted on our FB page. Let us know your votes!
The artists covered include Herbie Hancock, Muse, Guided by Voices, Gerard Love (Teenage Fanclub), Gorky's Zyngotic Minci and Lewis Taylor.
Our encores include a stellar recap of Brian's visit to the Martin guitar facility in Nazareth, PA and Gary's review of a documentary on Ben Fong-Torres, of Rolling Stone fame, on Netflix. Enjoy!
Greetings all, Gary & Brian debate 8 of the 14 nominees for the 2023 RRHOF class and provide their votes on induction. We pick a diverse range of artists from the group, comment if they fit the RRHOF and discuss still excluded bands that we hope get in eventually.
The artists discussed are Kate Bush, Joy Division/New Order, Sheryl Crow, Iron Maiden, Warren Zevon, George Michael, Willie Nelson and The Spinners.
Our encores include Brian's tribute to Tom Verlaine and Gary's review of Bob Dylan's new book, The Philosophy of Modern Song. Enjoy!
Hello everyone! For our February episode, Brian and I each selected three artists and then chose our favorite five songs from each one. It was really difficult to widdle down the list to just five for all of these artists, but a fun exercise overall.
Artists included Metallica, Cheap Trick, Bob Marley, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Billy Joel and REM.
Our encores come with a heavy heart, paying tribute to music legends, Jeff Beck and David Crosby, who we lost in January.
Hello everybody, Happy New Year! For our first monthly episode, Brian and I review 2022, a very interesting year in music.
We discuss both our albums of the year and our best new find of the year along with multiple honorable mentions.
Our encores include a tribute to Christine McVie and a big thank you to our listeners for all their input, topic ideas, feedback and fun stories in 2022. Enjoy!
For their 55th show, Gary & Brian go back 55 years to review the musically insane year of 1967. Imagine multiple waves of the British invasion mixed in with San Francisco's psychedelic rock movement and the folk, soul and blues melting pot of Los Angeles at the same time. Arguably, every seed of influential popular music for the next five decades was planted or started to bloom in 1967.
Artists covered: The Grateful Dead, The Beatles (2 albums), Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, Jimi Hendrix (2 albums), The Byrds, The Doors (2 albums) and Buffalo Springfield. Our honorable mention list is so long we decided not to mention them all in the show. Yes, there was that much great music made this year.
In our encores, Brian provides a review of a recent Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees fame show and Gary celebrates the music of legend Jerry Lee Lewis who we lost on October 28th. Enjoy!
Hello everyone! We have a new Name That Game episode for you: this time you need to Name That Album.
Please play along, have fun and post your scores on our Facebook page. Since this is more difficult than naming an artist or band, you also get points for naming the artist/band. If you get both that and the album, you are a true star.
Our encores include Brian's review of Dawes' new album, Misadventures of Doomscroller, and Gary's tribute to the great, Loretta Lynn, who we lost on October 4th, 2022.
Hello everyone! Gary & Brian took on a new challenge for this show. We both put together a fantasy band that would not only rock in the studio, but roll through your town by providing an amazing live show.
Please post your fantasy band on our Facebook page; we'd love to see who our listeners would pick and why. It was a very fun exercise - the only rule was not having multiple musicians from the same band or that had played together extensively over their careers.
Our encores include Brian's review of attending the Xponential Festival in Camden, NJ and seeing Patti Smith along with War on Drugs perform. Gary reviewed a Netflix documentary on Credence Clearwater Revival (CCR) called Travelin' Band: Live at the Royal Albert Hall. That famous 1970 London show had been previously unreleased and it was a thrill to see them play their hearts out. Enjoy!
Gary & Brian cover a new topic in this episode: tackling several what if scenarios from music history. We had tremendous fun discussing the alternate universes these scenarios could have produced and the potential impact on the music, artist careers and larger cultural trends.
Our encores include Brian's interesting review of Nick Duerden's new book, Exit Stage Left: The Curious Afterlife of Pop Stars and Gary's review of the Woodstock 99: Peace, Love and Rage documentary from HBO. Enjoy!
Greetings everyone! Gary & Brian discuss a second group of our favorite underrated albums. These releases get overlooked, rarely get talked about or mentioned when talking about a certain artist or band's best output.
Musicians and bands covered include Led Zeppelin, Phish, Randy Meisner, The Who, Bob Mould, Van Halen, Counting Crows and Radiohead.
Our encores include Gary's review of Umphrey McGee's new album, Asking For a Friend, and Brian's discussion of Steve Van Zandt's autobiography called Unrequited Infatuations. Enjoy!
For their 50th show, Gary & Brian go back 50 years to review the musically incredible year of 1972. Legendary releases from many genres, including progressive rock, psychedelic rock, folk, country, soul, hard rock and jazz came out that year and still influence music and culture today.
Artists covered: Paul Simon, Neil Young, Jethro Tull, Nick Drake, Frank Zappa (2 albums), Manassas, Stevie Wonder (2 albums) and Richard Thompson. Our honorable mention list is lengthy!
In our encores, Brian celebrates the live & career of the great Lamont Dozier and Gary reviews the recent Bela Fleck concert he saw on the My Bluegrass Heart tour. Enjoy!
Gary & Brian tackle a new topic in this episode; exploring the music created by musicians born in or associated with a particular city from the 1950's-2000's. We start with the Big Apple, New York City, and it's rich and diverse music history of jazz, hard rock, folk, punk, new wave, rap, progressive rock, indie and hip hop genres.
Our encores cover Brian's fun review of a J.D. Souther concert he saw recently and Gary's review of the wonderful PBS American Masters documentary on Brian Wilson called Long Promised Road. Enjoy!
Hello everyone! Gary & Brian release Part I of a new Favorite Album Debate series, focused on the singer/songwriters Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.
Albums discussed include On the Beach vs. Ragged Glory; Nashville Skyline vs. Blood on the Tracks and Born to Run vs. Darkness on the Edge of Town.
Our encores include Brian's review of the new album, Cruel Country, by Wilco and Gary's picks of several fantastic 50th anniversary album re-releases coming later in 2022. Enjoy!
Gary & Brian have a new fun and interesting topic! We assigned each other 3 albums (each of us had never heard these albums previously) to listen to over a month and decide where they fell on the scale of 1) I'll buy the album or 2) I'm on the fence or 3) this is a definite no go. For the show, we reviewed the albums and presented our opinions. Really cool exercise.
The artists and bands covered include Martin Courtney's Many Moons (2015), Reid Genauer's Assembly of Dust (2002), Lydia Loveless' Somewhere Else (2014), Plants & Animals' Parc Avenue (2008), Seth Swirsky's Watercolor Day (2010) and Sufjan Stevens' Come on Feel the Ilinoise (2005).
Our encores focus on Brian's review of Seth Swirsky's Songs from the Green Couch and Gary's review of Porcupine Tree's new album, Closure/Continuation. Enjoy!
Greetings everyone! Gary & Brian discuss a second group of legendary music producers who played important roles in the making of many amazing records. We discuss their careers as producers, but also, in many cases, as musicians, engineers and executives.
The producers discussed include Berry Gordy, Trevor Horn, Linda Perry, Nile Rodgers, Todd Rundgren, Bill Szymck, Tony Visconti and Rick Rubin.
Our encores focus on Gary's review of another wonderful Ted Gioia book, How to Listen to Jazz Music, and Brian's review of Will Birch's new biography of Nick Lowe called Cruel To Be Kind. Enjoy!
For their 45th show, Gary & Brian go back 45 years to review the musically rich and diverse year of 1977. Legendary releases from many genres, including punk, folk, disco, soul, hard rock, jazz and progressive rock, came out that year and still influence music and culture today.
Artists covered: David Bowie, Television, Kansas, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), The Jam, Fleetwood Mac, Styx, Jackson Browne and Steely Dan. Our honorable mentions are numerous!
In our encores, Brian reviews Belle and Sebastian's new album, A Bit of Previous and Gary discusses another 1977 album, Steve Miller's Book of Dreams, that demanded to be highlighted beyond being an honorable mention. Enjoy!
We're back! We hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th holiday. Gary & Brian tackle a new topic in this episode: comparing an original song and the definitive cover version and discussing which one we like best. For example, Bob Dylan's song All Along the Watchtower being covered by Jimi Hendrix. Many believe the cover is superior to the original. Do you?
Originals discussed in the show include Stevie Wonder's Higher Ground; Aerosmith's Walk This Way; Rolling Stones' Satisfaction; Otis Redding's Respect; The Supremes' You Keep Me Hanging On and many more.
Our encores include Gary's preview of multiple music documentaries to be released later this year and Brian's humorous dissection of Spaced Out: The Best of Leonard Nimoy & William Shatner. You do not want to miss it. Enjoy!
Hello everyone! Gary & Brian release Part II of our California Sound Favorite Album Debate, this time covering three wonderful bands, The Beach Boys, America and The Byrds.
Albums discussed include Younger Than Yesterday vs. The Notorious Byrd Brothers; Pet Sounds vs. Sunflower and America vs. Homecoming.
Our encores include Brian's review of the XM radio channel, Yacht Rock, which he enjoys during the summer and Gary reviews a listener recommendation, Frank Campbell, for Nils Lofgren's album, Nils, released in 1979. Thank you, Frank, it was a very fun listen. Enjoy!
After the great response to our Name That Musician Game episode, Gary & Brian expand it to the Band level this time. Only bands are covered, meaning no solo artists or their backing bands. Test your musical knowledge as you play along with us, post your score on our Facebook page and feel free to add clues of your own for others to guess!
We included a lot of groups, covering the range from The Artic Monkeys to Styx to The B-52's to The Kings of Leon and many others.
Our encores cover tributes to two music legends that unfortunately passed away recently, Ronnie Hawkins and Alan White. Rest in Peace.
Greetings everyone! Gary & Brian gather another eight releases from our personal collections that we consider perfect albums. What is a perfect album? For us, it is an album you can listen to start to finish, that has no stinkers, puts you in a good mood and has contributed to the soundtrack of our lives for a significant time.
Releases covered include The Doors' Morrison Hotel, Josh Rouse's 1972, Weather Report's Heavy Weather, Joe Walsh's But...Seriously, Folks, Ocean Colour Scene's Moseley Shoals, The Wondermints' Mind If We Make Love To You, Gin Blossoms' New Miserable Experience and The Police's Regatta de Blanc.
Our encores focus on Brian's review of a David Gilmour interview and Gary's review of Transatlantic's dynamite Live in Europe release in 2003. Enjoy!
For their 40th show, Gary & Brian go back 40 years to review the fascinating year of 1982. Musically, 1982 was a big transition year. Punk, disco, soul, jazz and progressive rock from the 1970's collided with emerging new wave styles fueled by new technology and a new generation with a different vision for how "good music" was defined.
Artists include Thomas Dolby, Michael Jackson, Martin Crenshaw, Richard & Linda Thompson, Prince, Joe Jackson, Fleetwood Mac, English Beat, Roxy Music and Alan Parsons Project.
In our encores, Brian reviews Led Zeppelin: A Biography by Bob Spitz and Gary pays tribute to Roger Angell, a wonderful baseball writer, who passed away recently. Enjoy!
Hello everyone! For this episode, Gary & Brian pack our bags, select the music stars we want for company and head out for separate road trips. We picked artists that would be fun on the tour bus, but also could bring their instruments and play some tunes along the way.
The musicians joining us include Nick Lowe, Brandon Flowers, Brian Henneman, Dolly Parton, Don Felder, Marc Cohn, Benmont Tench, Paul Simon, Stevie Jackson and Elvis Costello.
For our encores, Brian talks about performing live with his band for the first time since COVID-19 disrupted our lives and Gary offers a review of the 40th anniversary release of Rush's Moving Pictures. Enjoy!
Greetings everyone! Gary & Brian tackle a new topic discussing some of our favorite albums we believe to be underrated and overlooked since their release. They rarely get talked about and never are mentioned when talking about a certain artist or band's best output.
Musicians and bands covered include Steely Dan, Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley), The Cars, Transatlantic, Mark Olson & Gary Louris (The Jayhawks), Bruce Springsteen, Chris Bell (Big Star), Carleen Anderson, David Gilmour and Joe Strummer.
We do a joint encore today reviewing the RRHOF's 2022 inductees and our confusion about the incredible bands that continue to be left out, the category Judas Priest was put into and other questions. Enjoy!
Hello everyone! Gary and Brian test one another's knowledge with a fun and spontaneous Name The Musician game. We had a blast with this topic.
Some of the artists covered include Donald Fagen, Elvis Costello, Joe Perry, Bobby Darin, Sheryl Crow, Herbie Hancock and Dizzy Gillespie.
Our encores touch on reviews of books by Lindsey Buckingham and Patti Smith. Enjoy!
Hello everybody! Gary & Brian jump back into the favorite album debate pool; this time focusing on three of the famed 1970's California Rock bands: Fleetwood Mac, The Doobie Brothers and The Eagles. This was a great trip down memory lane.
Albums debated include Rumors vs Tusk; What were once Vices are now Habits vs. Minute by Minute and Hotel California vs. On the Border.
Our encores include Brian's review of the War on Drug's album, I Don't Live Here Anymore, and Gary's review of the brand new Supergroup debut album, 3rd Secret. Many thanks to our listener, Marcus Edwards, for bringing 3rd Secret to our attention. Enjoy!
Gary & Brian discuss a group of legendary music producers and/or engineers who played important roles in the making of amazing records. We discuss their careers, who they have worked with, their skills as musicians and the producing of their own music, movies and TV shows.
The producers discussed include T Bone Burnett, Terry Brown, George Martin, Quincy Jones, Joe Boyd, Tom Dowd, Jimmy Iovine and Steve Lillywhite.
Our encores focus on Brian's review of the Sound City documentary on the famous music studio and Gary's review of the 1973 jazz fusion album, Remember the Future, by the band, Nektar. Enjoy!
Gary & Brian revisit the wonderful world of progressive rock for Part II of our favorite album debate series. In the first part, we covered Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd. This time we make our selections for The Moody Blues, Rush and Supertramp.
The albums include discussion of Days of Future Passed vs. Long Distance Voyager; Moving Pictures vs. 2112 and Even in the Quietest Moments vs. Crime of the Century.
Our encores cover Gary's review of Brand X's debut, Unorthodox Behavior (talk about some great prog rock!) and Brian's reaction to Somewhere You Feel Free, a documentary of Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker's making of the Wildflowers album. Beautiful stuff. Enjoy!
Greetings all, Gary & Brian debate 8 of the 17 nominees for the 2022 RRHOF class and provide their votes on induction. We picked a diverse range of artists from the group and do comment on the RRHOF itself, the process for induction and if these artists fit in the RRHOF.
The artists discussed are Devo, The Eurythmics, Pat Benatar, Judas Priest, The New York Dolls, Duran Duran, Rage Against the Machine and Lionel Ritchie.
Our encores include Brian's review of the lost gem band, Big Star, and Gary's review of Gypsy's debut album. Big thanks to our listener, Russell Brown, who recommended Gypsy. It is awesome!
Hello everybody! Gary & Brian discuss a fascinating new topic focused on our favorite Supergroups. What is a Supergroup? Basically, a band made up of former members of other bands. They join forces for many reasons which we touch on in our discussion.
The Supergroups covered include Them Crooked Vultures, CSN & CSNY, Blind Faith, Traveling Wilburys, Cream, Golden Smog, The Highwaymen, Tinted Windows and Derek & the Dominoes. Yes, Eric Clapton was in close to 100 Supergroups. Kidding aside, all of these made quality music worth remembering.
Our encores cover Brian's review of the Mike Campbell & Dirty Knobs show he saw recently and Gary's experience in 2001 of seeing another Supergroup called Oysterhead. Enjoy!
Hello everyone! Gary & Brian discuss a new topic in this episode - how we have found and listened to music throughout our lives, including the present day. Depending on your age and how you were exposed to music, this unique journey can take many twists and turns over the years.
We discuss the impact of the many aspects involved in finding and listening to music, such as radio, record stores, newspapers, live shows, siblings, parents, friends, TV, the internet, the 8 track, vinyl, tapes, CDs, MP3s and digital streaming.
Our encores include reviews of Beach House's latest release, Once Twice Melody, and Questlove's Summer of Soul documentary of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.
Greetings everyone! Thanks to our listeners for all their album recommendations and feedback on our previous, Perfect Albums, episode. Keep it coming. Gary & Brian dive into another favorite album debate, covering the legendary progressive rock bands of Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd.
The albums covered include The Yes Album vs Fragile; Selling England by the Pound vs Trick of the Tail and Dark Side of the Moon vs Wish You Were Here.
Our encores focus on a movie called A Song for You, detailing the first 40 years of the Austin City Limits show and a documentary on David Bowie called The Last Five Years.
Gary & Brian present another new topic: eight releases from our personal collections that we consider perfect albums. What is a perfect album? For us, it is an album you can listen to start to finish, that has no stinkers and has been with one of us for a significant time during our lives.
Releases covered include Love, Jethro Tull, Teenage Fanclub, Dave Mason, Real Estate, Van Morrison, Tom Petty and Marillion.
Our encores discuss the All Things Must Pass documentary on Tower Records and a review of Roxy Music's second album, For Your Pleasure. Enjoy!
Welcome all. Gary & Brian take a break from new topics to dive back into the deep pool of our favorite live album releases. We realized there are so many great live albums we have not talked about that demanded attention.
Artists covered in this episode include Johnny Cash, Belle & Sebastian, James Brown, War on Drugs, Iron Maiden, Paul Weller, Keith Jarrett, The Kinks, Yes and CSN&Y.
Our encores discuss Brian's experience at a recent Graham Nash concert and Gary reviews Ken Burns' Country Music documentary series which he finally finished watching two years later. Enjoy!
Hi Everyone! Gary & Brian discovered a new game to play called Songversations. The game provides song-related questions to ask to start conversations. We took fourteen random questions from the game and the fun began. We believe you'll be highly amused by some of our answers and discussions.
Some examples include:
You're a major league baseball player. What would be your walk up to bat tune?
What song would your favorite artist open your dream concert with?
What song(s) do you sing in the shower?
Our encores include a review of Neal Francis' album In Plain Sight and a tribute to Roxy Music's self-titled debut album which, along with all their other albums, is being reissued again on vinyl in 2022.
Gary & Brian keep the good times rolling with Part II of our favorite album debate series. We both present our favorite album by each band and discuss why they mean a lot to us and where they stand in the band's discography and legacy.
The previous show we discussed The Who, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. This time we debate our favorite albums from Cream, The Kinks and Led Zeppelin.
Our encore focuses on our review of Peter Jackson's documentary series of The Beatles' Let It Be sessions. Originally captured by Michael Lindsay-Hogg at the time in 1970, Jackson was given access to the footage and compiled three wonderful multi-hour episodes.
Greetings everyone! Gary & Brian debate our favorite albums from three legendary British Invasion bands: The Who, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Thankfully, we have different enough musical tastes that our choices were different in each case which added to the fun of the debates.
The albums covered include Who's Next vs Quadrophenia; Sgt. Peppers vs The White Album and Sticky Fingers vs Exile on Main Street. There will be a Part II next week covering The Kinks, Cream and Led Zeppelin.
Our encores focus on reviews of a documentary on Terry Kath, of Chicago fame, called The Terry Kath Experience and the 2021 release of the 1979 No Nukes Concert CD/DVD by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. Enjoy!
Gary & Brian discuss another new topic: a collection of our favorite debut albums that we found at the time of release i.e. the ground floor.
Born seven years apart, Gary & Brian have totally different experiences of finding these artists and their debut albums when released, ranging from the 1970s to 1990s and beyond.
The artists covered include The Cars, U2, The Sundays, REM, Counting Crows, Phish, Eric Matthews, Widespread Panic, The V-Roys and Pearl Jam
Our encores focus on reviews of Robbie Robertson's book, Testimony, and a documentary on Clive Davis called The Soundtrack of My Life. Enjoy!
Greetings Everyone! Gary & Brian offer part II on the popular topic of what musicians define particular instruments. In part I, we debated saxophone, piano, harmonica and guitar.
This time, we discuss trumpet, drums, bass and keyboard/synthesizer. The choices were very difficult due to the sheer number of legendary players of these instruments over the years. It is like choosing between peanut butter and chocolate. Hmmm, maybe that is just for me :)
Please leave a comment with your favorite players of these instruments and make your case! We love that input from our listeners. Enjoy!
1997, another significant year in music. Gary & Brian review 10 of our favorite releases, explain how we found them, why we like them and how they fit into the music scene at the time.
The artists included The Bottle Rockets, Radiohead, Whiskeytown, Paul Weller, The Jayhawks, Bob Dylan, Teenage Fanclub, Buena Vista Social Club, Belle & Sebastian and the Foo Fighters.
For our encores, Brian pays a proper tribute to Meatloaf and Gary offers a review of the 1970's German band, Frumpy. Lesser known than contemporaries like Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and Neu, Frumpy was solidly in that progressive krautrock genre popular at the time.
Enjoy! Please let us know your favorite albums from 1997 in the comments.
Hello everyone! Gary & Brian tackle a new topic for this episode: discussing eight of the most memorable opening acts they've seen. The twist is we went to these shows primarily to see the headliners, but were either majorly impressed or depressed by the opening acts.
The opening acts include Men at Work, Dave Grisman, Buick MacKane, The Lumineers, Josh Rouse, Raul Midon, The English Beat and some guy named Bob Dylan. We also discuss several historical opening act - headliner tours such as Jimi Hendrix opening for The Monkees, Rush opening for Kiss and Phish opening for Santana.
Enjoy and please leave a comment or email us about the most memorable opening acts you've seen! No one will know or care if you embellish the story :)
Gary & Brian look back at 2021 - we discuss our favorite 2021 releases, a new band or musician we found during the year and pay tribute to many of the musical legends we lost.
Our encores focus on two different books we highly recommend: John Illsley's My Life in Dire Straits and Ted Gioia's History of Jazz. Enjoy!
Happy 2022 everyone! We hope everyone had a exciting holiday season with families and friends. We want to thank you all for a wonderful first season doing our Music Adventure podcast. We appreciate your support and input along the way. For the first episode of the new year, Gary & Brian once again played the fun Music Word Association Game.
In turn, we throw out a phrase or ask each other about a music-related band, musician, song, instrument, genre to generate fun and interesting discussion. Ranging from VH1 to Van Morrison to Freebird to Whammy Bars to Drum Programming and Guitar Hero, we cover a lot of musical ground. Enjoy!
In the last episode for 2021, Gary & Brian select and discuss our favorite holiday songs, explaining why we love them and how they tie into holiday memories with family & friends.
The songs range from Christmas carols to modern covers of traditional classics to songs from animated holiday TV specials we watched as kids. It was a fun show to make full of laughs and holiday spirit.
We wish that everyone has a wonderful and relaxing holiday season. Thank you again for listening to our podcast and including us in your lives. We will take a break for the holidays, but will be back with a new show on January 11, 2022!
Playing off the previous Guess Who's Coming to Dinner show where 4 musicians were invited for a group dinner, Gary & Brian get to choose musicians for a series of 1-on-1 lunches. We would learn a lot about music, hear many stories and get to know musicians we respect.
The musicians include Mike Campbell, Paul McCartney, Levon Helm, Stephen Duffy, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Stewart Copeland and J.D. Souther.
Encores: A review of Matthew Sweet's timeless album, Girlfriend, from 1991 and a tribute to the great Stephen Sondheim. Enjoy!
Hello everyone! In this new episode, Gary & Brian identify icon musicians and discuss major connections they had with other musicians. The musicians may have collaborated together or they were good friends outside of music or both. We had a great time discovering and talking about these connections. It gave us great insight into how musical and personal influences impact art and history.
Musician connections we discuss include:
Robert Plant & Alison Kraus
Nick Lowe & Ry Cooder, Jim Keltner & John Hiatt
Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash
Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
Tom Petty & Stevie Nicks & Mike Campbell
Eddie Vedder & Chris Cornell & Pete Townshend & Neil Young
Chris Difford & Glenn Tilbrook & Elton John
Stevie Wonder & George Benson & Quincy Jones
Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush & Tony Levin & Trent Reznor
Paul Weller & Mick Talbot, Steve White & Steve Craddock
David Bowie & Lou Reed & Iggy Pop & Freddie Mercury
Gary and Brian tackle the fascinating music year of 2001; discussing 10 of their favorite music releases. Also examined is the musical context of 2001; a dynamic mix of classic rock, electronica, pop, indie, hip hop, jam bands, soul and bluegrass combine to capture the energy of a new century.
Bands covered include Super Furry Animals, The Clientele, Strangefolk, The Pernice Brothers, Bob Dylan, Stephen Malkmus, Zero 7, Elgin Park, Peter York and The Disco Biscuits.
Greetings everyone. Gary & Brian discuss a new topic for our latest episode. We highlight and debate wonderful musicians who have become so closely associated with their instrument that they define it for generations of fans and peers alike. In Part 1 of this series, we discuss Guitar, Harmonica, Saxophone and Piano.
As an example, if you think of Trumpet, players such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Hugh Masekela or, more recently, Wynton Marsalis or Alison Balsom, may come to mind. Who would you pick as the best? That is difficult, right? Yes, it was. Enjoy listening and please leave a comment with your choices!
Gary & Brian discuss several of their musical heroes - artists we found during our lives that stuck with us and have become music touchstones in our hearts and collections.
The artists include Tom Petty, Frank Zappa, The Eagles, The Who, Jackson Browne, Rush, Electric Light Orchestra, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, Phish, Fleetwood Mac and Prince.
Encores: Brian talks about attending his first pandemic era concert with our mutual good friend, Larry, to see The Jayhawks. Gary reviews Volume 12 of Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series. Volume 12 showcases outtakes from the rich 1965-66 period when Dylan made the Bringing It All Back Home, Blonde on Blonde and Highway 61 Revisited albums.
Gary & Brian offer Part 2 of the Live Albums series; discussing another 10 live album releases and making our case for why they are worth an immediate listen.
Special thanks goes to one of our listeners, Sean, who reminded us of several live albums recorded in Japan we had overlooked in Part 1 when discussing Cheap Trick's Live at Budokan. Deep Purple's Live in Japan is included in Part 2 based on merit, but also as a tribute to Sean. We appreciate our listeners and love when they contribute ideas for a show.
The artists we discuss in Part 2, along with Deep Purple, include Dire Straits, Genesis, Marshall Crenshaw, Fleetwood Mac, Roger McGuinn, Rush, Little Feat, David Gilmour and Band Of Gypsys. Enjoy!
Gary & Brian focus on a new topic: we each get to invite 4 music artists to our house for dinner! There may even be a jam session after the meal in a twist on the Daryl's House formula.
The artists include Ringo Starr, Phil Lesh, Jeff Tweedy, Joe Walsh, Pat Metheny, Wynton Marsalis, Frank Zappa and Mike Mills. Plenty of lively discussion, good food and fun memories. Enjoy!
Gary & Brian offer up Part 2 of their Live Shows series to highlight 10 more of their favorite shows they attended.
This episode covers a wide range of different bands & artists, including Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead, U2, Richard Thompson, Jorma Kaukonen, Lindsey Buckingham, Phish, 10,000 Maniacs and Roger Waters.
Please share your own favorite live shows in the comments!
Gary and Brian discuss 10 of their favorite music releases from the fun & interesting year of 1988 in this episode. Also examined is the musical context of 1988; hair metal, classic rock, traditional heavy metal, new wave, hip hop, jam band and new folk combine to create a rich and diverse mix of music before the plunge into grunge 2-3 years later.
Bands covered include Lucinda Williams, Public Enemy, Brian Wilson, Jane's Addiction, Keith Richards, Morrissey, Traveling Wilburys, Fishbone, Galaxie 500 and Talk Talk.
Gary and Brian discuss their earliest music-related memories; when they first discovered music, what that music was, who exposed them to the music and why is is still important to them as adults.
From Christmas carols to Johann Strauss to the Beatles and Gary Wright, this was a fascinating discussion of how one's parents, siblings, friends, but also radio do make a difference in how people are introduced to music in their lives.
We also have out first listener giveaway! We're giving away Peter Guralnick's great biography of Sam Cooke, called Dream Boogie. An amazing examination of one of the most ground breaking artists of all time. Visit our Facebook page @musicadventurepodcast and respond to our giveaway post with your favorite Sam Cooke song. We'll pick a winner at random and send you the book.
Another fun show! Gary and Brian present Part 4 of their Band Evolutions series by examining bands ranging from The Who to Rockpile to Black Sabbath and culminating with The Cars.
Also included are interesting encores on The Jayhawks and the Tedeschi Trucks Band.
Enjoy!
Another fun episode today! Gary and Brian play a word association game covering a wide range of bands, musicians, instruments, genres and other music related topics.
On what other podcast could one hear about Marilyn Manson, Gene Simmons' tongue, steel drums, Sun Records, the beauty of Bluegrass and the wonders of a backstage pass all in one show? You found it, now enjoy it!
Gary and Brian launch into Part 3 of the topic about members of successful bands who have gone onto other successful bands or solo careers later.
This was a blast! The bands discussed include Fleetwood Mac, Traffic, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
Gary and Brian discuss some of the most memorable and fun live shows they personally have attended, including stories from those events to provide context for why those shows continue to stand out for them.
This is Part 1 of a series and the live shows in this episode include Tom Petty, Pink Floyd, Phish, Paul Weller, Lou Reed, Squeeze, Pete Townshend, Golden Smog, Lindsey Buckingham, Ocean Colour Scene and Paul Westerberg.
Gary and Brian discuss Part 2 of our original topic on successful bands that have had multiple members go onto other successful bands or solo careers and the various connections between those bands and individual musicians.
Yes, Genesis and King Crimson are covered in this episode.
Gary and Brian take on Part 1 of a discussion on important live album releases during their heyday from the late 1960's to the early 1980's. We detail the releases and discuss how they impacted the musician or band.
We cover Peter Frampton, Talking Heads, Jackson Browne, The Who, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Cheap Trick, Allman Brothers Band, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and Richard Thompson in this episode.
Gary and Brian launch the Music Adventure podcast with the first episode. It is Part 1 of a series on bands that had multiple members go onto other successful bands and/or successful solo careers.
We discuss bands from many eras, including, The Eagles, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, CSN &Y, the Beatles and Uncle Tupelo.