(I’m on my way home from the Nevada desert today. Until I get back, here’s one more installment of my 2006 double-album series.) If not being able to edit an album down to a single vinyl disc of about 45 minutes is self-indulgent, then what’s not being able to able to edit down to a […]

posted 2 September 2008 in Tasty Bits. 8 comments

Wow, The River has a lot of filler. How much? If you pare away all the generic rockers (e.g. “I’m a Rocker”) and other dross on Bruce Springsteen’s 1980 double album, you have plenty of room left over for “Roulette,” a thundering track about a nuclear accident. (It was recorded during the River sessions but […]

posted 29 August 2008 in Tasty Bits. no comments yet

The conundrum for any music fan: would you rather have more songs from your favorite band on their new album, even if it meant the album wasn’t as good? Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin’s 1975 double disc, epitomizes that paradox. The great tracks are among the band’s very best, but they get a bit lost when […]

posted 27 August 2008 in Tasty Bits. 6 comments

Unforeseen side effects of the iPod: I probably couldn’t have put together Short Sharp Shocks without the help of iTunes breaking down my music library by length of song. And I wouldn’t have had the patience a couple of years ago to edit down classic double albums to single albums without being able to tinker […]

posted 25 August 2008 in Tasty Bits. 5 comments

A few months ago, I was invited by my friend Chris Noxon to join his Burning Sensations club. The rules of the road: about twenty people make mix CDs and send them out to the other members of the club on a biweekly schedule. So about once a year, you make twenty copies of a […]

posted 21 August 2008 in Tasty Bits. 9 comments

Legendary record producer Jerry Wexler died on Friday. His contributions to rhythm and blues were immense–starting with the fact that he coined the term–but he ranks high in my pantheon of interview subjects for a totally different reason. Out of the hundreds of people I’ve spoken with in the line of work, he’s the only […]

posted 18 August 2008 in News, Tasty Bits. no comments yet

I’m in Ohio for a few days, with limited computer access, so those of you eagerly awaiting the next installment of the 1988 countdown will have to wait until Thursday, I’m afraid (and if you’re a new commenter, you might have to wait an extra day to get out of the approval queue). Three questions […]

posted 5 August 2008 in Self-reflexive, Tasty Bits. no comments yet

Nobody batted an eye at the Beatles releasing two albums in a year. (In 1965, they put out Help! and Rubber Soul, not to mention a movie and a few killer non-LP singles such as “Ticket to Ride” and “We Can Work It Out.” Oh, they also toured the States and John Lennon put out […]

posted 28 July 2008 in Tasty Bits. 10 comments

I’ve been listening to U2’s “I Will Follow” for over 25 years (not continuously). But only recently did I pay attention to this lyric: Your eyes make a circle Two eyes, of course, make a line. So I am forced to conclude that the person whom Bono is addressing has more than two eyes. Actually, […]

posted 7 July 2008 in Tasty Bits. 1 comment

The first installment in an irregular series of posts, highlighting some of the more improbable lyrics I run across. Writing about “Always on My Mind” got me listening to my old Pet Shop Boys albums. Generally, they hold up really well, but Introspective does have a few clunkers. Neil Tennant mispronounces “Debussy.” He fails to […]

posted 23 June 2008 in Tasty Bits. 3 comments