Permanent Record Podcast

Bonus Episode: Colours of Ever - Live at Stone Turtle House Concerts (June 5, 2025) In our last episode, we mentioned that Brian and his life-long friend Jason would be opening for Vicki Peterson (The Bangles) and John Cowsill (The Cowsills/Beach Boys/Smithereens) at Stone Turtle House Concerts in Bucks County, PA.  The two Rock/Pop legends (Vicki and John, not Brian and Jason!) are currently supp...

Episode 185: April 2025 Concert Report (Kylie Minogue, Alison Moyet) and State of the Podcast Where have Brian and Sarah been these last few weeks? Well, for one thing, they've been to several concerts! They started and ended the month of April by attending amazing performances given by a couple of musical icons—Kylie Minogue and Alison Moyet!  The Kylie Minogue show on April 8 was the first time...

Episode 184: Concert Report: Richard Blade/ABC/Howard Jones (2025) With support from legendary KROQ/1st Wave DJ Richard Blade, 80's New Wave icons Howard Jones and ABC just finished an incredible string of U.S. live dates, and your intrepid hosts were there for the penultimate show of the tour! Brian and Sarah take you back in time exactly one week as they relive the excitement of the 2/28/25 show...

Episode 183: The NewlyPod Game (featuring Brian, Sarah, Alex, Andy, Brad, Eric, and Jon) On Saturday, February 8th, podcast hosts from all over the United States met outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to shop for records, eat pancakes, and see Jim Babjak of The Smithereens live with bassist  Graham Maby.  It was truly an amazing night of music, and it was also a truly amazing group of podcaster...

Episode 182: Depeche Mode – Speak & Spell (1981) Part 2 Brian and Sarah's look back at Depeche Mode's debut album, 1981's  Speak & Spell , continues in this episode. As you may recall, they're using the US track listing for the album, so the next songs up for discussion are "Dreaming of Me" and "Boys Say Go!"    "Dreaming of Me" was the debut single for the band, and although to Sarah's dismay, th...

PRP 007 Mini-Broadcast: Episode 8 – Diamonds Are Forever Since the beginning of the show, Brian has done his best to strong-arm discussion of Agent 007 into as many podcasts as he could. Finally he convinced Sarah to embark on a new mission: the Permanent Record Podcast 007 Mini-Broadcast! This occasional series from your friends Brian & Sarah started with "Dr. No" and will work its way up to the...

Episode 181: PRP Holiday Hotline: Musical Christmas Memories It's Christmastime! For many folks, that means it's time to give and receive gifts. And Brian and Sarah's gift to you this Christmas season is this episode, which is also about gifts.  Our hosts asked a number of friends of the show—some of whom have their own excellent podcasts—to call in to the Permanent Record Podcast Holiday Hotline...

Episode 180: Depeche Mode – Speak & Spell (1981) Part 1 – Second Half BLACK FRIDAY SPECIAL!!    We wanted to get this episode to you on Black Friday, but in order to do that, we have to get chintzy with these show notes.  I'm just re-using Sarah's notes from last time, and I will mention here that this episode includes the following items of interest: Our personal histories with "Speak & Spell" Di...

Episode 179: Depeche Mode – Speak & Spell (1981) Part 1 – First Half Brian and Sarah are back, and they're ready to talk about Depeche Mode. And talk they do! This episode was about three hours long when they finished recording, so they decided it would be best to break it up into two separate episodes—but they're both considered Part 1 of the Speak & Spell album discussion.  Since this is the deb...

Episode 178: Happy Birthday to Us: The Cure – "Songs of a Lost World" (2024) and State of the Podcast It's been a while since our last episode was published, and part of this episode will explain why. But we wanted to get something released in time for our eighth birthday!  It's hard for us to believe, but our first episode was released way back on November 4, 2016. And although this episode is nu...

 Episode 177: Depeche Mode – Speak & Spell (1981) – Part 0 – "End of Summer Special" featuring Brad Page and Eric Miller OK, so a little confession up front: this episode is about MUCH MORE than just Speak & Spell, or even Depeche Mode, and that's why it's called Part 0!  But we think you're going to enjoy it anyway. Here's who, and what, you'll hear as you listen: • Brad Page, host of the "I'm In...

Episode 176: 80s Supergroup Fantasy Draft Here in the USA, summer is on the way out, and (American) football season is on the way in. And somewhat related to the changing of the weather and sports seasons, our hosts put together something they hope will be fun for everyone.   A favorite pastime of many sports fans is to participate in fantasy leagues, where a person selects players from many diffe...

Episode 175: Concert Report - Totally Tubular Festival (2024)  On July 20, 2024, Brian and Sarah had the pleasure of attending an 80s music festival at Poconos Park Amphitheater in Bushkill, PA.  They got to see many acts they had never seen perform live before, as well as a few they had been fortunate enough to see at other shows. In this episode, Brian and Sarah talk about each act of the festiv...

Episode 174: In Conversation With Billy Vera (Part 2) Our conversation with author/actor/musician Billy Vera concludes with an episode that touches on so many different aspects of this great man's career. Billy started his professional career as a songwriter, but soon moved to a higher-profile gig as part of the duo Billy Vera and Judy Clay.  After a successful album called "Storybook Children", B...

Episode 173: In Conversation With Billy Vera (Part 1) Sarah usually writes these show notes, and on the rare occasion that I fill in for her, I do something silly - I either make them really short or I have ChatGPT help me by doing most of the work.  This time, I asked to do them because I am still in shock that this episode exists and because it was a true thrill to speak with an artist who has b...

Episode 172: Simple Minds – New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) (1982) - Part 4 In the Northern Hemisphere, it's now officially summertime, and it's also time for Brian and Sarah to wrap up their discussion of the 1982 album from Simple Minds,  New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) .  Our hosts find themselves with three more songs on the album to cover, one of which is a single with a video, so there's no shorta...

Episode 171: Simple Minds – New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) (1982) - Part 3 After releasing a couple of special episodes, Brian and Sarah return to the task of discussing Simple Minds' 1982 album, New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) . Part 3 of the discussion finds them finishing up the tracks on Side One and flipping the record over to start Side Two.  As usual, our hosts end up covering a wide variety of...

Episode 170: In Conversation With Will Crewdson (Scant Regard, Adam Ant, et al) Brian and Sarah recently had the honor and pleasure of meeting the great Will Crewdson in person at an Adam Ant concert. During that encounter, the three agreed to set up a time to meet and talk some more. This episode is the result! Will Crewdson is a talented, prolific, and extremely busy guitarist who has lent his f...

Episode 169: Permanent Record Podcast Trivia Showdown 2024 After a hiatus last year, the Trivia Showdown is back once again! Brian and Sarah are joined by the Quiz Master, who presides over a heated competition between the two hosts. Brian is looking to add another victory to his "permanent record," while Sarah is hoping for her first win. This year's Trivia Showdown featured more questions from l...

Brian's Birthday Bowie Bingo Bash and Trivia Showdown Deadline This is just a quick little episode to announce the return of Bowie Bingo. We missed hosting it over the 2023 Christmas season, so instead we're going to have it prior to another great holiday—Brian's birthday! We also give one last reminder for you to get your questions in for the upcoming Trivia Showdown before the deadline! Finally,...

Episode 168: Simple Minds – New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) (1982) - Part 2 After an unexpected delay, Brian and Sarah are back and ready to talk more about the 1982 release from Simple Minds, New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84).   The first episode set the stage by talking about the band history up to this point, the making of the album, and the album's release, chart history, and reviews. Now it's time to...

Episode 167: In Conversation With Jackie Clary on "The Greatest Night in Pop" Netflix documentary (2024) Yes, this should be the next installment of Brian and Sarah's look at Simple Minds' album from 1982, New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84). Instead, it's a discussion on something that's pretty big right this minute! Currently, the Netflix documentary The Greatest Night in Pop , which chronicles the USA...

Episode 166: Simple Minds – New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84) (1982) - Part 1 A new year is here, which means it's time for Brian and Sarah to start an album discussion. Our hosts selected an album by a group they haven't really covered before--except for one song. The group in question is Simple Minds, and the album is their 1982 release, New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84). (The one song discussed previousl...

 Episode 165: PRP Christmas 2023 (Enhanced Stereo Mix) Brian and Sarah are in the throes of the 2023 holiday season preparations, and part of those preparations included recording their annual Christmas episode of the podcast. Usually our hosts discuss one or two holiday-themed songs in depth, but this year, they're doing something different! They've compiled a playlist with full-length versions o...

   Episode 164: Erasure - Chorus (1991) (Featuring Andrew Dineley of "Art on Your Sleeve") - Part 3 It's been a while since Part 2 of this discussion was released, but good things take time, right? So here at last, is the final installment of Brian, Sarah, and Art On Your Sleeve host Andrew Dineley's look back at Erasure's 1991 album,  Chorus . In the previous episode, our hosts agreed to a time l...