Dave's Side One

What happens when you deliberately stop listening to the most obvious thing on a familiar record? Today's episode of Dave’s Side One continues Seven Things to Listen For with Journey’s Evolution. This time, Dave ignores the lead vocal and guitar and follows Steve Smith. The listening framework: PLACE — How does the beat feel? MOVE — How does the drummer help the band transition? SHAPE — How do the...

What happens when we stop asking what to listen to and start asking what to listen for? This episode begins the weekly topic on Dave’s Side One: Seven Things to Listen For. The first exercise is musical identity. Using Earth, Wind & Fire's I Am and the opening of “In the Stone,” Dave listens for the musical information arriving almost immediately: rhythm, horns, voices, arrangement, energy and sca...

Can you know every song on an album and still not really know the album? In today's episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave closes Seven Musical Arguments by exploring the difference between hearing individual tracks and experiencing a complete album. Using Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s Not Fragile, Dave looks at how sequencing, momentum, the Side One break and the album closer create relationships between...

Can you change an album without changing a single note? In this episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave makes Musical Argument #6: album sequencing is part of the music. Using Yes’s Tormato as the experiment, Dave physically rearranges tracks and asks what happens when an opener moves, a closer loses its final position, or a Side One ending becomes something else. Tormato was released in 1978, and its or...

Full Spotify Description More music does not automatically make a better album. In today's episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave makes Musical Argument #5: sometimes 35 minutes is better than 70. Using KISS’s compact Dressed to Kill as the main example, Dave explores the creative value of limitation. Vinyl could only hold so much music comfortably, which forced artists and producers to make choices abo...

Can you know every hit and still not really know the band? In this episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave makes Musical Argument #4: greatest-hits albums can distort a band’s legacy. Using Chicago’s Chicago IX as the primary example, Dave explores what disappears when songs are removed from their original albums: deep cuts, longer arrangements, instrumentals, transitions, sequencing and context. That do...

What makes a great Side One? In this episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave makes Musical Argument #3: great albums need great Side Ones. Using Genesis’s Duke, Dave follows the original first-side sequence from “Behind the Lines” through “Heathaze” and looks at how a vinyl side can function as more than the first half of a track list. The expanded Side One Test asks three questions: Did the side establi...

Does knowing an artist's biggest hit mean you really know the artist? In Episode 40 of Dave's Side One, Dave makes Musical Argument #2: the deep cut may tell you more about a band than the hit. Using Styx's Styx II and the familiar landmark of “Lady,” Dave asks what happens when we temporarily remove the famous song and pay attention to everything around it. The episode also introduces The Deep Cu...

Dave’s favorite song on Steve Miller Band’s Book of Dreams is “Jungle Love.” But he still would not move it to Track One. In Episode 39 of Dave’s Side One, Dave begins Seven Musical Arguments by asking what an opening track is actually supposed to accomplish. The album begins with “Threshold” leading into “Jet Airliner,” an opening sequence that Dave sees as a doorway into the record. The episode...

Blue Öyster Cult’s Mirrors arrived in 1979 with a new producer and a noticeably different sound. Tom Werman replaced longtime producer Sandy Pearlman, bringing sharper production, larger backing vocals and a more accessible presentation. Some longtime fans heard the album as an attempt to move away from the band’s darker identity. Dave hears a varied nine-song record that retains Blue Öyster Cult’...

America’s Harbor arrived in 1977 after a run of albums associated with major songs such as “Ventura Highway,” “Tin Man,” “Sister Golden Hair” and “Today’s the Day.” Unlike those records, Harbor did not produce another enduring radio standard. In this episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave remembers finding the album at a kiosk outside a shopping plaza and revisits its 12-song sequence, beginning with Ge...

Monolith entered the world after Leftoverture and Point of Know Return, two records that had created an extraordinary standard for Kansas. In today's Dave’s Side One, Dave remembers buying the album during release week at Raspberry Records near Cottonwood Mall in Salt Lake City and explores why it has continued growing in importance over time. The episode revisits the album’s striking Bruce Wolfe...

Did Boston ever make a truly bad studio album? In Episode 200 of Dave’s Side One, Dave examines the six albums in Boston’s official studio catalog: Boston, Don’t Look Back, Third Stage, Walk On, Corporate America and Life, Love & Hope. The debut remains the band’s defining achievement, but that extraordinary beginning may have created an impossible standard for everything that followed. This episo...

Stereotomy is not another Eye in the Sky—and that is exactly why it deserves another listen. In today's episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave explores the album’s colder production, its themes of pressure and control, and the different voices contributed by John Miles, Chris Rainbow, Gary Brooker and Graham Dye. The album’s nine-track sequence also includes extended instrumentals and recurring title ma...

Mention Styx’s Cornerstone, and many listeners immediately think of “Babe.” In this episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave looks beyond the album’s biggest hit and revisits songs including “Lights,” “Boat on the River,” “Borrowed Time,” “Eddie” and “Love in the Midnight.” The record reflects the competing musical personalities of Dennis DeYoung, Tommy Shaw and James Young. Those contrasts can make the a...

How do you follow an album like Hotel California? In today's Dave’s Side One, Dave begins a new week called Albums That Deserved Better by reconsidering the Eagles’ The Long Run. The album is frequently remembered as uneven, difficult and evidence of a band approaching its breaking point. Yet it also contains “Heartache Tonight,” “I Can’t Tell You Why,” “In the City,” “Those Shoes,” “King of Holly...

Dave already knew and loved Van Halen’s debut. The search for an early pressing was not about gaining access to the music; it was about finding a physical copy connected to the period when the album first arrived. In this episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave looks at the label, catalog number, runout information, jacket and condition of the copy that ended his search. He also explains why pressing det...

Some records enter a collection immediately. Others remain on the want list for years. In today's episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave explains why Montrose’s Paper Money became one of those long-term searches. He already knew the music and knew the album belonged in his collection, but he continued waiting for a copy he would be happy to keep. The eventual purchase became more meaningful because the...

For many listeners, Journey begins with Steve Perry. But before Perry joined the band, Gregg Rolie handled the lead vocals as Journey developed a more progressive and exploratory sound. In this episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave revisits In the Beginning, a two-record compilation drawn from Journey’s first three studio albums. The episode explores Rolie’s voice, Neal Schon’s already-recognizable gui...

Great record stores do more than sell music. They become classrooms, meeting places, and gateways into larger musical worlds. In this episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave remembers Smokey’s Records in Salt Lake City and the role it played in shaping his approach to music discovery. Browsing the bins taught him to read credits, follow musicians and producers, connect albums, and explore without knowing...

Some albums make an immediate impact. Others become more meaningful as the listener changes. In this episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave revisits Chicago’s Chicago VI and considers how time, experience, and attentive listening can transform a familiar record. The album did not become deeper over the years—Dave became more capable of hearing what had always been there. Today’s Side One Spin: What albu...

Why Styx's Crystal Ball Never Left My Turntable Dave reflects on the first album he loved enough to literally wear out—and why those records often become our most treasured possessions.

Some records become favorites. Others permanently change how we listen. n today's Dave’s Side One, Dave shares how Rush’s 1978 album Hemispheres introduced him to a different kind of listening—one built around long-form composition, dynamics, instrumental relationships, lyrical themes, and the full-album journey. Today’s Side One Spin: What album changed the way you listen to music?

Dave remembers buying America’s Harbor as a discounted cutout from a kiosk outside a shopping plaza. The jacket carried a mark and the album came at a reduced price, but the music—especially the atmospheric “God of the Sun”—gave the record lasting value. Over time, the bargain purchase became more meaningful than many albums bought at full price. Sometimes the least expensive record on the shelf b...

Dave once owned a copy of KISS’ Rock and Roll Over—and made the mistake of trading it away. The regret lasted for decades. Around 2018, he finally found a replacement at Josey Records in Dallas. The new copy returned the music and artwork to his shelf, but it also taught him an important lesson: a replacement record can never carry the exact history of the copy that was originally yours. Which rec...