Completely Conspicuous 644: Secondhand Love

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite cover songs. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Jay's #7: Ty Segall with a ripper of a Neil Young cover
• Phil's #6: The live version of a Linda Ronstadt classic
• Jay's #6: An indie rock all-star band playing covers the Beatles played in their early days
• Greg Dulli, Thurston Moore, Dave Grohl, Dave Pirner, Mike Mills and Don Fleming
• Phil's #5: Phish covering the Stones
• Phish does tons of covers
• Jay's #5: An unexpected '60s cover from Husker Du
• Phil's #4: Coltrane with a wild twist on a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic
• Jay's #4: Stripped down version of an English Beat hit by Pete Townshend
• Phil's #3: Rage Against the Machine's explosive take on a Springsteen folk song
• Jay: Forgot about Rollins and Bad Brains covering "Kick Out the Jams"
• Jay's #3: Dirtbombs with a smokin' garage punk remake of Stevie Wonder 
• Jay's #2: Nirvana's Unplugged show featured several great covers
• Phil's #1: Epic length cover "Morning Dew" by the Dead
• Watching old videos from the '60s and '70s to guess how old the crowd members are now
• Jay's #1 and Phil's #2: Mind-blowing Who cover of little-know Mose Allison song
• Jay: Live at Leeds is the greatest live album 
• All four members of the Who at the peak of their powers

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 643: Cover Me

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our favorite cover songs. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• What makes a good cover?
• Be true to the song, but bring something of yourself to it
• Jagger and Bowie's cover of "Dancing in the Streets" is godawful
• In the '80s and '90s, used to get 45s or cassingles (or CD singles) to get B-sides
• Phil's honorable mention covers: U2, Courtney Barnett, Nirvana, Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Etta James, Beatles, Stones, Bjork, Aretha, Pearl Jam, CSNY, Cowboy Junkies
• Nirvana's MTV Unplugged has several great covers
• Zeppelin covered a lot of songs on their early albums, with or without giving credit
• Jay's honorable mentions: The Clash, Hendrix, Pretenders, U2, Charles Bradley, Thin Lizzy, Bjork, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Living Colour, Soft Cell, Johnny Cash, PJ, Deep Purple, Urge Overkill, Violent Femmes, Anthrax, Breeders, Cheap Trick, Malkmus and Elastica, Iron Maiden, Queens of the Stone Age
• Phil's #10: Stevie Ray Vaughan takes on a guitar god's classic
• Jay's #10: Dinosaur Jr. makes a Cure song their own
• Phil's #9: Zeppelin's first album features a cover that was previously done by Joan Baez
• Judas Priest also covered a Baez song
• Jay's #9: A signature Blondie song was actually a cover
• Phil's #8: A timeless classic from the late '50s by the Flamingos
• Jay's #8: Sinead O'Connor made the definitive version of a Prince song
• Phil's #7: Faces with a powerful Temptations cover
• To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 642: Ooh La La

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of the 2010s. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Phil's 2016 #1: Drive-By Truckers with a political statement in a divided year
• Jay's 2016 #1: The final act of Bowie was a masterpiece
• Phil's 2017 #1: Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile join forces
• Jay's 2017: #1: Strong second act from the Afghan Whigs
• Phil's and Jay's 2018 #1: Cathartic blast of political anger from Superchunk
• Phil's 2019 #1: David Berman's final album as Purple Mountains
• Real talk about people dealing with tough issues 
• Shocking deaths over the last decade
• Jay's 2019 #1: Sarcastic pop-punk excellence from Toronto's PUP
• Phil's 2020 #1: Jason Isbell deals with ghosts on his 7th album
• COVID memories
• Jay's 2020 #1: Topical protest hip hop from Run the Jewels

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 641: The Troubled Teens

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of the 2010s. Also, happy 18th birthday to the show! Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Wrapping up our year-by-year look at rock music starting with 1970
• Each of us picking a favorite album for each year from 2011-2020
• Phil's 2011 #1: Bluesy collection from Tedeschi Trucks Band 
• Susan Tedeschi grew up in New England
• Jay's 2011 #1: Concept album by Toronto's Fucked Up
• Phil's 2012 #1: Punchy punk rippers from Parquet Courts
• Neil Young and the art of the 15-minute song
• Jay's 2012 #1: Ty Segall Band with a heavy garage rock/psych sound
• Phil's 2013 #1: Laid-back slacker jams from Philly's Kurt Vile
• Jay's 2013 #1: An epic Queens of the Stone Age album written after a near-death experience
• Phil's 2014 #1: TV On the Radio's last album and first since bass player died
• Jay's 2014 #1: Expansive tour de force from Parquet Courts
• Phil's 2015 #1: Courtney Barnett combines conversational lyrics with hot guitar
• Jay's 2015 #1: Jeff Rosenstock delivers a pop-punk masterpiece
• On being the old guy at rock shows
• Next time: 2016-2020

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 640: Rocking While the World's on Fire

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2024 so far. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• JB's #6 and JK's #7: Philly's Mannequin Pussy is a wide-ranging delight
• JK's 6: Excellent jangle rock from Toronto's Ducks Ltd.
• JB's #5 and JK's #3: J Mascis with a laid-back winner of a solo album
• Let us know if you want to be in the studio audience for the year-end wrapup
• JK's #5: A more electronic effort from St. Vincent
• The limited amount of media attention given to albums now
• How do current artists measure success? 
• Remembering weird synth pop from the early '80s
• Fewer barriers to entry, but fewer ways to get your music in front of people
• JB's #4: Another great Slumberland release from Lunchbox, featuring folks from Hard Left
• JK's #4: First release in 14 years from NYC art rockers Les Savy Fav
• JB's #3: NH-based act combines post punk with many different genres
• JB's #2: Johnny Foreigner returns with EP previewing their upcoming album
• JK's #2: METZ adds catchiness to their noise rock 
• JB's #1: Political swipe at gentrification from Neutrals
• Anticipated albums: Fontaines D.C., Sunset Rubdown, Johnny Foreigner, Chime School, Peel Dream Magazine, Jesus Lizard, Horse Jumper of Love, Los Campesinos, Osees
• JK's #1: Hot collection of power pop rippers from Daniel Romano's Outfit

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 639: Gaming the System

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2024 so far. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Crazy stuff going right as we started recording
• Concert tours getting canceled because of poor ticket sales (Black Keys, JLo)
• The phenomenon of Taylor Swift
• Vinyl is selling well, but half the people who buy it don't own a record player
• Another factor in the concert business struggles is the high price of tickets
• Apparently Gen Z loves dream pop
• Spotify accuses Hallelujah the Hills of gaming the system
• The Legend of Doo Doo Brown
• JB's honorable mentions: The Bret Tobias Set, Bug Club, Fontaines D.C., Ducks Ltd., Bedbug, Umbrellas, Torrey, Waxahatchee, Shellac, Buffalo Tom, Les Savy Fav, Pedro the Lion
• JK's honorable mentions: Cloud Nothings, Boeckner, Redd Kross, Mdou Moctar, IDLES, Plus/Minus, Bodega, Kim Gordon, DIIV
• JK's #10: Mary Timony's first solo album in 19 years
• JB's #9: Dope Yeti is the nexus of Beck, Dylan and GBV
• JK's #9: A quieter, more Americana-focused album from Buffalo Tom
• JB's #8: Strong modern shoegaze release from DIIV
• JK's #8: Second album from the Smile is an acceptable Radiohead substitute
• JB's #7: Cloud Nothings keep cranking out great albums
• To be continued 

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 638: Le Noise

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2010. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Black Keys cancel arena tour after way overestimating their popularity
• Phil's #5: Black Keys establish their popularity with poppier blues sound
• Phil's and Jay's #4: Superchunk returns after a nine-year break with an energetic pop-punk ripper
• Phil's #3: Lo-fi psych from Philly duo Reading Rainbow (now called Bleeding Rainbow)
• Jay's #3: Nick Cave returns with his harder rocking Grinderman project
• Phil's #2 and Jay's #5: More rock-oriented album from Drive-By Truckers
• Jay's #2: Politically-driven melodic punk from Ted Leo and the Pharmacists 
• Phil's #1: Neil Young with a solo effort with a lot of guitar effects
• Jay's #1: Titus Andronicus with your typical epic Civil War-meets-modern-day NJ concept album 
• Jay: Titus Andronicus is one of my favorite current bands 
• Favorite songs: "Hitchhiker" (Phil), "Theme from Cheers" (Jay)
• Next time we get together, we'll sum up the decade of the 2010s

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.