Completely Conspicuous 546: Watching the Detectives

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite albums of 1977. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Recorded via Zoom

- A startling number of great releases in '77; a lot of terrific debuts

- Singles chart was topped by disco and pop: Rod Stewart, Andy Gibb, Streisand, KC and the Sunshine Band, Engelbert Humperdinck

- Jay's non-top 5 faves: Ramones had two albums, Sex Pistols, Johnny Thunders, the Damned, Richard Hell, Iggy Pop, Cheap Trick had two, Bowie had two, Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, Rush, Neil Young, The Clash, Wire, Max Webster 

- Jay: My dad had disco mixtapes,

- This was recorded before Johnny Lydon said he had flea bites on his dong

- Phil's non-top 5 favorites: Grateful Dead, Television, Jackson Browne, Billy Joel, Elvis Costello, the Kinks, AC/DC, Dead Boys, Queen, Linda Ronstadt, Wire, Clapton

- The cover of Queen's News of the World scared young Phil; Kmart had a cleaned-up alternate cover

- Jay's #5: Peter Gabriel's solo debut went in new directions, combining art rock and new wave

- Phil's #5: A fiery, concise debut from the Clash (UK only)

- Jay's  #4: Guitar rock meets post punk from Television

- Phil's #4: Bob Marley breaks through in the U.S.

- Jay's and Phil's #3: Talking Heads' debut didn't sound like anything else

- Jay's #2: Iggy Pop worked with Bowie in Berlin to produce an electronic-influenced sound

- Phil's #2: The ubiquitous Fleetwood Mac album is getting popular again

- Remains vital despite massive overplaying of certain songs

- Jay's #1: Elvis Costello burst on the scene with biting lyrics, catchy classics

- Phil's #1: The controversial Steely Dan with a jazzy, meticulous opus

- Favorite songs: "Watching the Detectives" (Jay), "Josie" (Phil)

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 519: Cornell '77

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead bootleg Cornell '77. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at CompCon world HQ
- Talking about Dead show recorded on 5/8/77 at Cornell University
- Phil: Listened to this hundreds of times
- Jay: Very impressed by the bootleg
- Phil: The show was so random
- Dead had taken some time off from touring from '74 to '76
- By spring of '77, band was firing on all cylinders
- Phil's parents wouldn't let 8-year-old Phil see the Dead on that tour
- A lot of live albums are unnecessary
- But a great live recording is transcendent
- Phil: Early Chicago with Terry Kath on guitar was a great live act
- The Dylan and the Dead live album was a dud
- Phil Lesh: The Heineken Years
- Clapton's MTV Unplugged album was awful
- Jay: Solo Clapton is terrible
- Phil doesn't like Thin Lizzy
- The Dead has 36-minute versions of songs on their bootlegs
- Phil has around 125 Dead boots
- Figuring out which songs flow well into others
- Phil: The version of "Morning Dew" on this bootleg is the best
- Plenty of snow at that show, inside and outside
- Love when bands change up the setlist every night
- When you get sick of songs you love
- Somehow we start talking about "The Day After"
- AC/DC's music is more complicated than you think
- Phil would set his time machine to 5/8/77

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get 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 518: Terrapin Station

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's 1977 album Terrapin Station. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at CompCon world HQ
- The Dead's 9th studio album
- Band had signed with Clive Davis and Arista
- Album was produced by Keith Olsen, later known for slick AOR albums by Eddie Money, Rick Springfield, REO Speedwagon, Heart
- Phil: Would get a tattoo of the Terrapin cover
- Cover of "Dancing in the Streets" is pretty lame
- Live, the cover turns into a long jam (duh)
- Donna Godchaux was featured a lot on this record
- Side 2 is an side-long suite written by Hunter and Garcia
- Band didn't tour for this album after Mickey Hart got in a car accident
- The tour before this album was legendary for Dead fans
- Tried songs out live before they made it to studio recordings
- Side 1 closes out with a Donna G. song that sounds nothing like anything else the Dead has done
- The Godchaux marriage was splitting up while they were in the band
- Olsen erased Hart's drums on one song and replaced them with strings
- Lyrics on Terrapin Station are pretty dense
- Relatively short album for the Dead at 35 minutes
- Phil: These songs got better in the live setting
- Jay: A lot of filler on side 2
- Album feels like a contractual obligation
- Dead & Co. plays part of the title suite now
- Phil: Not a John Mayer fan, but he's a good guitarist
- Jay: Not a fan of this album
- Next: Cornell 5/8/77

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get 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.