This is Vinyl Tap

Send us Fan Mail Hailed by critics as Los Lobo's best album, Kiko found the band in an experimental frame of mind. The band members themselves can't recall where some of the tunes and sounds came from. On this album, the band worked with famed keyboardist and producer, Mitchell Vroom (Crowded House, Elvis Costello, Paul McCartney), whose bank of keyboards color this album and make the fi...

Send us Fan Mail DPA MacManus, also known as Elvis Costello, made some of  the most interesting tunes of the late 20th Century. Part of his charm was his ability to write witty, intelligent, and interesting pop songs that straddled the boundaries of Punk, New Wave, and Power Pop. In this episode, we delve into his second album, This Year's Model, and the background that spawned one of the mos...

Send us Fan Mail In this special episode we ridicule some albums you probably love by Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, and The Eagles. Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.

Send us Fan Mail Emmylou Harris' unmistakable voice has graced many artists' albums, both rock and country albums, usually as a backup singer or harmonizer. But on this, her 18th studio album, she takes a turn few would have imagined. Largely a collaboration with producer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Lanois (U2, Peter Gabriel, Neil Young, Bob Dylan), Wrecking Ball is an album full of...

Send us Fan Mail Southside Johnny may not be a household name, but he is the very definition of the New Jersey sound. Heralded by the likes of Jon Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen (who has written many songs for him), Southside Johnny has made an indelible mark on the music industry. And this album is very much a collaboration with producer/songwriter/guitarist Little Steven Van Zandt (aka, Silvio o...

Send us Fan Mail There are three bands from the early 70s that defined "power pop": The Raspberries, Badfinger, and Big Star. Named after a famous grocery in the Memphis area, Big Star became one of the most influential bands this side of the Atlantic. Perhaps their influence wanes only in comparison to the Velvet Underground. The two main personalities of this band, Alex Chilton (who sa...

Send us Fan Mail Hailed by critics, but mostly ignored by the recording buying public for several years after its release, the album, Dixie Chicken by Little Feat, highlights the songwriting, singing, slide guitar playing, and flute playing by the band's defacto leader, Lowell George. This is a band's band. And many other artists had hits with songs from this album. Listening to how this...

Send us Fan Mail This episode looks at the second album by the man many consider the epitome of anthem rock. Yet on this album, the songs seem more loose, more oriented on toward the town Springsteen and his bandmates knew so well, Asbury Park, NJ. This is not your typical Springsteen album and it is territory he has not really revisited since this album was released in 1973.  Visit us at www.tapp...

Send us Fan Mail These are some outtakes that we just couldn't keep in the last couple of episodes. For amusement only. Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 33 we look at Johnny Cash's 81st(!) album, American Recordings. Produced by legendary rap and hard rock producer Rick Rubin, the album is a comeback of sorts for and introduced him to a new group of younger listeners. It's a sparse album, just Cash and his guitar, and serves to showcase Cash's voice and songwriting talents. It's Cash at his most vuln...

Send us Fan Mail ELO started off as a side project by two members of the very successful band from Birmingham, England, the Move. Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood wanted to explore ways to incorporate symphonic arrangements into their progressive, yet poppy, chord progressions that each had begun to perfect. Soon after, Wood absconded with integral members of the newly formed ELO, leaving Jeff Lynne in cha...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we look at an album that has explicit lyrics written by a man who now writes children's tunes for Disney: Randy Newman's, Gold Old Boys. It's a character-driven album with songs carefully crafted and arranged by a man who comes from an extended family that has made a name for itself composing film scores. Randy Newman himself became a sought-after co...

Send us Fan Mail Released in 1978, Blondie's third album, Parallel Lines, became their biggest album largely off the strength of the most popular song of 1979, Heart of Glass. The making of this album is interesting: the band was given six months to make the record, yet it was finished in six weeks, despite the producer calling Blondie the worst band he'd ever worked with. Loathed by mem...

Send us Fan Mail This week's episode focuses on a relatively obscure Van Morrison album, Veedon Fleece. It's an album about wondering around Southern Ireland, despite being recorded in Los Angeles and New York. It's a personal album for Morrison, recorded soon after his divorce from Janet Planet. Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.

Send us Fan Mail Ray Charles loved country music and it is evident on what most call his most successful album artistically. It was also his most successful album commercially and introduced a lot white audiences to "the genius".  In this episode we explore what made this album so compelling and why Charles decided to cover traditional country songs with sophisticated arrangements that m...

Send us Fan Mail Peter Gabriel's sixth solo studio album, Us, was the culmination of years of studio experience with his original band, Genesis, and as a solo artist. After spending time on the road with Amnesty International and soaking in the music of different cultures from around the globe, Gabriel set out to incorporate those rhythms and instrumentation into a very personal album dealing...

Send us Fan Mail This week's episode is a battle between the Ramone's first album and the Sex Pistols first and only album, Nevermind the Bollocks. Learn how these albums are so very different, yet often discussed together and learn more about how these two bands have influenced so many other artists. Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.

Send us Fan Mail We're late with this week's episode, but luckily our good friends at Alka Seltzer are at the ready with a salute in song to the island of the red hibiscus, Hawaii! We'll get the next episode up later this week and we'll be back on schedule next week.  And why are we late? Well, our host Doug Cooper spent a lot of his free time this week getting married and Tony...

Send us Fan Mail The Kinks were known in their earliest days for power chords and songs about lust. But the main song writer, Ray Davies, began to turn his attention to his native England and life there after WWII. On this album, we explore the circumstances that gave rise to this often praised and often overlooked masterpiece by the four original members of the Kinks. Visit us at www.tappingvinyl...

Send us Fan Mail This episode focuses on Paul Simon's masterpiece, Graceland, an album that found Simon at his peak as a song writer. The making of this album was an adventure starting with a cassette lent to Simon, which resulted in a trip to South Africa during the height Apartheid, with stops in London, Louisiana, Los Angeles, and New York along the way. Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we examine Bob Dylan's second, and perhaps most influential album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. It was a harbinger of things to come, not just for Dylan, but for rock, country, and folk artists for decades to come. Plus, find out why Dylan may be one of the funniest songwriters ever. Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.

Send us Fan Mail The second album from the band that dominated much of the eights and nineties. Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we look at the second album by the quintessential British band who were not so big in the native country, the Moody Blues' Days of Future Passed. This band and album has a pretty fascinating history and it makes prodigious use of a new electronic keyboard originally intended for use at parties: the Mellotron. Find out more about how this album was made and ho...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, we explore the unlikely 1968 masterpiece the Byrds released with the heavy influence of a new and fleeting member of the group. Gram Parsons was an Ivey League, trust-fund baby who followed his own drummer. He was a member of the Byrds for a short time, but in that time, he  helped create one of the most influential albums of all time. Without this album, it'...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we delve into the debut album by The Cars. Find out about the unusual beginnings of this band; how they went from a folk band from Ohio to a huge rock band in Boston to perhaps the must popular new wave band in the world. Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.