You can listen to Blue Sky Mining by Midnight Oil on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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Tag: r.e.m.
You can listen to Blue Sky Mining by Midnight Oil on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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You can buy Oh Tall Tree In The Ear by Roman candle online at Bandcamp, or listen to Queen Sarah Saturday on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon. You can listen to Roman Candle on those platforms as well, but just go buy it.
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You can buy or stream August and Everything After by Counting Crows online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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You can buy or stream Synchronicity by The Police online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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One of the most unique and also most successful fans to come out of the Research Triangle area of North Carolina in the early- to-mid-1990s was Ben Folds Five. Led by Ben Folds, this three-piece (yes, just three of them) crafted clever, cynical jabs at mainstream society — as well as at themselves. But the songs were beautiful, catchy and well crafted, and were pulled from pop, punk, jazz and even classical music. They would find major success on their next album (and Folds would go on to a stellar critical and commercial solo career) but their debut offers us a glimpse at their wild and free beginning.
You can buy or stream the debut album by Ben Folds Five online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
Very few musical “events” transform the pop music landscape – and pop culture – overnight. But Nirvana’s “Nevermind” absolutely did just that. Coming seemingly out of the blue (but really from the Pacific Northwest), Nirvana gave power to the disillusioned children of the ‘80s, the latchkey kids and wannabe punks who were just searching for authenticity. In the blink of an eye, the hair metal, glam and slick production of the late-1980s and early-‘90s became silly and passe’. Cardigans, corduroys and dirty hair was where it was at. But it wasn’t just a look. Oh no. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” remains an anthem of the disenfranchised. “Come As You Are,” “In Bloom” and “Lithium” became alt-rock and mainstream radio standards. And they still are. And that was just essentially side 1 of “Nevermind,” an album of noise and beauty, anger and sadness, and irony and truth. All of those things made up Nirvana.
You can buy or stream Nevermind by Nirvana online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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With a rock and soul sound reminiscent of the Stones, the Black Crowes are timeless. But when they broke — and BIG — in 1991, they occupied a space and time all of their own. “Shake Your Moneymaker” is Southern rock mixed with 60s soul at its best. Chris Robinson’s anguished vocals and brother Rich Robinson’s songmaking abilities resulted in a slew of hits like “Hard to Handle, “Jealous Again” and “She Talks to Angels.” It’s a sound that works in 1961, 1991 and even (almost) 2021.
You can buy or stream Shake Your Money Maker by The Black Crowes online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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For cynics and critics, “Green” was supposed to be the beginning of the end for R.E.M. After all, the Athens, Ga., band had culled a following throughout the country by essentially touring nonstop and bringing their DIY ethos to college radio — a medium they practically helped create. “Green” was their first album with Warner Bros. Records — and their deal with WB was (at the time) the most lucrative recording contract in US history. But most important to Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe was the freedom and artistic control it provided. “Green” reflects a band at its artistic and creative zenith. It was commercially successful thanks to songs (and videos for) “Stand” and “Pop Song ’89,” but it was still weird enough and full of “R.E.M.-iness” to placate even their most devoted fans. It was also a bridge album between the jangle pop of the early days and the lushness of what was to come.
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For cynics and critics, “Green” was supposed to be the beginning of the end for R.E.M. After all, the Athens, Ga., band had culled a following throughout the country by essentially touring nonstop and bringing their DIY ethos to college radio — a medium they practically helped create. “Green” was their first album with Warner Bros. Records — and their deal with WB was (at the time) the most lucrative recording contract in US history. But most important to Berry/Buck/Mills/Stipe was the freedom and artistic control it provided. “Green” reflects a band at its artistic and creative zenith. It was commercially successful thanks to songs (and videos for) “Stand” and “Pop Song ’89,” but it was still weird enough and full of “R.E.M.-iness” to placate even their most devoted fans. It was also a bridge album between the jangle pop of the early days and the lushness of what was to come.
You can buy or stream Green by R.E.M. online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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You can buy or stream Mystery Road by Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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You can buy or stream Fun & Games by The Connells online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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You can buy or stream I And Love And You by The Avett Brothers online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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You couldn’t get away from Radiohead’s radio hit “Creep” when it was released on the world in 1992-93. Not even the band could escape the clutches of such a megahit. So they did what any self-respecting band – a band inspired by the DIY ethos the likes of R.E.M. – would do with their next album, which was released in 1995. “The Bends,” the follow-up to “Pablo Honey,” is a tour de force album that 25 years later holds up as perhaps one of the most complete and wonderful albums of all time. The guitar virtuosity of Jonny Greenwood is complemented by the paranoid vocals of Thom Yorke. Oh, and the rest of the band is pretty freaking incredible, too. If people came listening for the next “Creep,” they were sorely mistaken. And thank God for that.
You can buy or stream The Bends by Radiohead online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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When The Beatles returned to Abbey Road to record their sixth album, they were exhausted from constant touring and releasing at a pace of two albums a year. They also had virtually no songs prepared. But when it was completed, their sixth album was Rubber Soul, arguably the first actual album, not just a collection of songs. This was the turning point; it’s the album that bridges the British Invasion Beatles to Revolver and Sgt. Pepper. It’s the album that turned the music world on its rear, forcing the band’s rivals and contemporaries like the Beach Boys and Rolling Stones to step up their games. In essence, with Rubber Soul, the Beatles were just getting started.
You can buy or stream Rubber Soul by the Beatles online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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How does a band reach the pinnacle of both commercial and critical success, dominate the airwaves for a handful of years, only to disintegrate into the ether? That’s probably the question that has haunted the members of Līve for two decades now. The band’s second major album, “Throwing Copper,” was omnipresent on both pop and alternative radio. The video for “Lightning Crashes” was an MTV staple. And then? Poof! After some 8 million albums sold (and a couple of moderately successful follow-ups), they were seemingly gone from the radar. (It could have to do with the fact that in this Google/SEO world, the name “Līve” does not render easily on search engines. Shoulda thought that through, boys!) It’s a shame, really. “Throwing Copper” is everything good about quintessential 90s rock, highlighted by singer Ed Kowalczyk’s mystical/nebulous lyrics.
You can buy or stream Throwing Copper by Live online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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It would be the album that would break up The Smiths, but not before encapsulating all that was SO … Smiths about them. “Strangeways, Here We Come” combines the brilliance of Johnny Marr and the poetic, charming violence of Morrissey into a final testament of one of the most influential — if short-lived — bands of all time.
You can buy or stream Strangeways, Here We Come by The Smiths online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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Hailed as “the grandchildren of the Beach Boys” by one reviewer, this soulful Chapel Hill band was also able to do rock, funk, and blues with impeccable harmonies. The band’s first full-length album, “Rosemary,” brought them incredible acclaim — if mostly on a regional level. But for a while there, they were the headliners while a lesser-known band from Columbia, S.C., was the opener. (Hint: it was Hootie.) “Rosemary” remains a delightful work of art that illustrates why North Carolina’s music scene has always been among the best in the land. And it clearly has lasting power, even if the band itself did not.
You can buy or stream Rosemary by Dillon Fence online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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It’s frankly one of the great mysteries in music: Why isn’t the English band Elbow more popular in the United States? After all, this band of longtime friends has produced some of the most captivating sounds and albums for more than two decades. Their 2008 album, “The Seldom Seen Kid,” even won the Mercury Prize for best album in the UK – topping giants such as Radiohead, Adele, and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. Singer Guy Garvey’s poetic longing is fully embraced by the sonic backing of the rest of Elbow, resulting in anthemic and haunting masterpieces such as “Starlings” and “One Day Like This,” while also featuring grooves like “Grounds for Divorce,” “The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver” and so much more.
You can buy or stream The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow online at iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon.
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Welcome to Finest Worksongs! What better way to begin a podcast about great albums than by reviewing this masterpiece by our favorite band?
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