Completely Conspicuous 296: These Important Years

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1987. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").


Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Brian: Birth of the cassingle
- Inexpensive way to buy singles, B-sides
- Brian: Collecting 45s for a jukebox
- Jay: 1987 was big for female pop artists
- Madonna, Bangles, Belinda Carlisle, Lisa Lisa, Heart
- Older songs like "Stand By Me" were re-released
- Young Brian bought his first album in '87: The Monkees' Greatest Hits
- New Monkees TV show came and went
- Jay: Made two top 5 album lists, Then and Now
- Jay: Then list (#5 to #1): Def Leppard's Hysteria, INXS's Kick, Cult's Electric, Whitesnake's s/t and U2's Joshua Tree
- Whitesnake was the hard rock version of Ringo Starr's All Starr Band
- Brian's #5: George Harrison's Cloud Nine, despite Jeff Lynne's heavy handed production
- Jay's #5: Husker Du's Warehouse, not their best but still pretty great
- Incredible run of albums over a short period
- Brian's #4: Prince's Sign o' the Times, maybe his last great album
- Jay's #4: Replacements' Pleased to Meet Me; Westerberg's focuses on songwriting and less on aggression
- Brian's #4: Tom Waits' Franks Wild Years; did Izzy Stradlin play on this album?
- To be continued
- Bonehead of the Week


Music:
Okkervil River - Stay Young
Beachwood Sparks - Make It Together
Midlake - Antiphon

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Okkervil River song is on the album The Silver Gymnasium on ATO Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) on Goodbye Summer: ATO Records 2013 Fall Sampler at ATORecords.com.
The Beachwood Sparks song is on the album Desert Skies on Alive Naturalsounds Records. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.

The Midlake song is on the album Antiphon on ATO Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) on Goodbye Summer: ATO Records 2013 Fall Sampler at ATORecords.com.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 204: One More Time

Part 2 of my conversation with special guest Matt Phillion as we count down our favorite movie remakes. Listen to the show below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



Show notes:

- More remakes

- Jay: True Lies

- Arnold as James Bond

- Matt: The Fly

- The movie Jeff Goldblum was born to make

- Jay: The Ring

- The best of the remakes of Japanese horror

- Jay: Ransom

- "Gimme back my son!"

- Worst remakes

- Matt: Never remake a Michael Caine movie

- Even bad Nic Cage movies are entertaining

- The Pink Panther remakes were bad ideas

- Dean Martin's Matt Helm movies were the inspiration for Austin Powers

- Matt: Wicker Man

- Nic Cage strikes again

- Jay: Arthur

- Another pointless remake

- Matt: Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes

- Rise of the Planet of the Apes was good

- Jay: Godzilla (1998)

- True bomb given all the merchandising tie-ins

- Soundtrack featured Godzilla sounds

- Matt owns the soundtrack

- Matt: Gus Van Sant's Psycho remake

- Shot-for-shot remake

- Jay: The Longest Yard

- Matt's never seen a Sandler movie he liked

- Playing a bunch of characters usually backfires

- Eddie Murphy's Nutty Professor was pretty funny

- Matt: Last House on the Left

- Doesn't go far enough

- Taken was enjoyable

- Liam Neeson has a very specific set of skills

- Paul Thomas Anderson vs. P.S. Anderson

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
Archers of Loaf - Harnessed in Slums

Guided By Voices - Doughnut for a Snowman

Heartless Bastards - Parted Ways

Okkervil River - Plan D

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Go to Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.

The Archers of Loaf song is on the remastered and expanded reissue of Vee Vee on Merge Records. Download the song for free at SoundCloud.

The Guided By Voices song is on the forthcoming album Let's Go Eat the Factory on Guided By Voices Records; the single is available from Fire Records. Download the song for free at SoundCloud.

The Heartless Bastards song is from the forthcoming album Arrow on Partisan Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at the band's website.

The Okkervil River song is from the EP Golden Opportunities 2. Download the EP for free from the band's website.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous 188: Words and Guitar

This week on the podcast, I've got part 1 of my conversation with special guests Jay Breitling and Ric Dube as we discuss the world of rock books. Listen to the show below or download it directly (right click and "save as").







Show notes:



- Dube (check out the More Lost Time podcast) prepared well for topic



- Good time for rock books: Keith Richards, Bob Mould



- Breaking down types of rock books: Memoirs, biographies, oral histories, indexes



- Pete Townshend could do something weird with his memoir



- Air quote alert



- Objective biographies can be better than memoirs



- Police bio was very critical of the band



- SPIN magazine used to do good oral histories about bands



- Every old issue of SPIN is up on Google Books



- Mixed reviews for Klosterman



- Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life was momentous



- Got his big break with Nirvana bio in early '90s



- Breitling: I want to read only one book about a particular band



- Dube introduces us to the work of Vernon Joynson



- Trouser Press guides



- Bootlegs are much more accessible online



- Kumar: Keith Richards memoir is excellent



- Breitling: Rollins' Get in the Van is a great memoir of the Black Flag years



- Dube: Jim Greer's book about Guided By Voices is good; Greer used to play in band



- Juliana Hatfield's memoir wasn't interesting enough



- Bonehead of the Week



Music:



Boston Spaceships - Christmas Girl



Archers of Loaf - Wrong



Okkervil River - Your Past Life as a Blast



The Delta Spirit - She's Not There



Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!



The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Go to Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.



The Boston Spaceships song is on the album Let It Beard on Guided by Voices Records. Download the song for free at The Ash Gray Proclamation.



The Archers of Loaf song is on the deluxe reissue of the album Icky Mettle on Merge Records. Download the song for free at Amazon.



The Okkervil River song is on the album I Am Very Far on Jagjaguwar Records. Download the song for free at Amazon.



The Delta Spirit song is available as a free download (in exchange for your email address) at the band's website.



The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Also, check out Clicky Clicky Radio Thursdays from 8 to 10 p.m. on Boston Free Radio. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.



Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous 167: Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar

No guest on the podcast this week as I play a healthy assortment of rock music. Listen to the show below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



The show notes...

Music:

The Wrens - As I've Known

Mark Lanegan - Burning Jacob's Ladder

Okkervil River - Wake and Be Fine

The Henry Clay People - California Wildfire

TV On the Radio - Caffeinated Consciousness

The Kills - DNA

Bonehead of the Week

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com. Use the following codes to get athletic gear from Nike, Adidas, Asics and more. AFCOMP15 will get you 10% off any order of $50 at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 will get you 15% off any order of $75 at Eastbay.com and AFCOMPFL will get you 10% off any order of $50 or more at Footlocker.com.

The Wrens song is available at Epitonic.

The Okkervil River song is on the forthcoming album I am Very Far on Jagjaguwar Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your e-mail address) at the band's website.

The Henry Clay People song is on the forthcoming EP This is a Desert on TBD Records. Download the song for free at Aquarium Drunkard.

The TV On the Radio song is on the forthcoming album Nine Types of Light on Interscope Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your e-mail address) at the band's website.
The Kills song is on the forthcoming album Blood Pressures on Domino Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your e-mail address) at the band's website.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous Episode 74: Disappearing Act

Here's part 1 of my conversation with Eric Convey of the Boston Business Journal about the decline of the newspaper industry. We discuss the reasons behind the dire straits that newspapers find themselves in, particularly the Boston Globe. Click here to listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly here (right click and "save as"). Part 2 will be posted early next week.

The show notes...

Topics:
- Tough times for the newspaper industry
- Boston Globe on the brink
- Pinhead of the Week

Music:
- Bob Mould - I'm Sorry, Baby, But You Can't Stand in My Light Any More
- Okkervil River - Pop Lie
- Red Red Meat - Gauze

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes and Podcast Pickle podcast directories. Subscribe and write a review!

The Bob Mould song is on the new album Life and Times on Anti Records, where you can find a link to Anti's Free Digital Sampler and download the Mould track.

The Okkervil River song is on the album The Stand Ins on Jagjaguwar Records, where you can find out more at and download the song.

The Red Red Meat song is on the reissue of the 1995 album Bunny Gets Paid on Sub Pop Records, where you can find out more and download the song.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous Episode 61: Been Caught Stealing

Hola. Another long weekend is here. Very nice. I celebrated by recording another ep of CompCon. You can download it directly here (right click and "save as").

Show notes...

Topics:
- More bad news for online music fans
- Baseball finally gets instant replay
- Pinhead of the Week

Music:
- Juliana Hatfield (featuring Richard Butler) - This Lonely Love
- Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains - American Names
- Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines
- Boston Spaceships - Go for the Exit

Promo:
- New England Podcasting.

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes and Podcast Pickle podcast directories. Subscribe and write a review!

The Okkervil River song is on the new album The Stand Ins on Jagjaguwar Records, where you can find out more and download the track.

The Boston Spaceships song is on the album Brown Submarine on Rockathon Records; find out more and download the track here.

The Juliana Hatfield song is on the album How to Walk Away on Ye Olde Records. The song from Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains is on the EP American Names on Saddle Creek Records. Both songs were provided by IODA Promonet:

Juliana Hatfield, Richard Butler
"This Lonely Love (feat. Richard Butler)" (mp3)
from "How to Walk Away"
(Ye Olde Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album



Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains
"American Names" (mp3)
from "American Names Digital EP"
(Outside Music)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at mTraks
More On This Album



The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous Episode 52: Run Like Hell

Just recorded the latest ep of CompCon. Download it directly here (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

Topics:
- The future of the space program
- Marathon training
- Pinhead of the Week

Music:
- Flight of the Conchords - Ladies of the World
- Frightened Rabbit - Head Rolls Off
- Bloc Party - Helicopter
- Panthers - Uncertainly
- Okkervil River - Black

Promo:
- New England Podcasting.

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes, Yahoo Podcasts and Podcast Pickle podcast directories. Subscribe and write a review!

The song from Bloc Party is on their album Silent Alarm on Vice Records. The song is courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.

The Flight of the Conchords song is on the band's new self-titled album. The song is courtesy of Sub Pop Records, where you can find out more and download the song. The Panthers song is on the album The Trick. The song is courtesy of Vice Records, where you can find out more and download the song. The Okkervil River song is on the band's album Black Sheep Boy. The track is courtesy of Jagjaguwar Records, where you can find out more and download the song.

The song from Frightened Rabbit is on the new album The Midnight Organ Fight on Fat Cat Records. The song was provided by IODA Promonet:

Frightened Rabbit
"Head Rolls Off" (mp3)
from "The Midnight Organ Fight"
(Fat Cat Records)

More On This Album



The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of Mark Campbell.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous Episode 47: Question the Answers

Finally, the first episode of CC of 2008. Busy, busy, you know how it is.

Anyhoo, you can download it here (right click and "save as") or stream it by clicking on the link above.

The show notes...

Topics:
- The pointlessness of political polls
- Message board culture
- Pinhead of the Week

Music:
- The Black Crowes - Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution
- Black Mountain - Tyrants
- Okkervil River - Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
- Maritime - Parade of Punk Rock T-Shirts
- Jawbox - Reel

Promo:
- New England Podcasting

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes, Yahoo Podcasts and Podcast Pickle podcast directories. Subscribe and write a review!

The song from The Black Crowes is on their new album Warpaint on Silver Arrow Records. It comes courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.

The song from Maritime is on the album We, the Vehicles on Flameshovel Records. The Jawbox song is on the album For Your Own Special Sweetheart on Desoto Records. Both songs were provided by IODA Promonet.

Maritime
"Parade of Punk Rock T-Shirts" (mp3)
from "We, the Vehicles"
(Flameshovel Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Buy at Napster
Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon
Buy at GroupieTunes
Buy at DownloadPunk
Buy at Insound
More On This Album



Jawbox
"Reel" (mp3)
from "For Your Own Special Sweetheart"
(DeSoto Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Buy at Napster
Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon
Buy at GroupieTunes
Buy at Insound
More On This Album



The Black Mountain song is on the new album In the Future. The Okkervil River song is on the album The Stage Names. Both songs are courtesy of Jagjaguwar Records, where you can find out more and download the songs.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling by checking out his fine music blog. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of Mark Campbell.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.