This is Vinyl Tap

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, we look at the 1983 debut of legendary Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan: Texas Flood. While  Stevie Ray Vaughan seemed to come out of nowhere when he walked on stage with his band, Double Trouble, at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in  Switzerland, and, indeed, he was the first to perform without a record label backing him.  While the performance was met with...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, we discuss Neil Young’s 1992 album, Harvest Moon.  After a stint at Geffen records that resulted in a  lawsuit for not sounding characteristic enough and churning out two albums for Reprise that basically planted the seeds for grunge, Neil  Young decided it was time to give his ears a rest. Harvest Moon finds Young in familiar and popular territory. The album is v...

Send us Fan Mail On this, our first Violation Podcast, we turn our attention to songs on albums that we don't think we could review. Sometimes the song might be a good song on an otherwise so-so album, or the song might be on an album too "out there" for us to consider, or the song itself is worthy of recognition even if the album itself isn't. Regardless, we hope you these tun...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, we take a look at the extremely popular album, The Unforgettable Fire, by U2. An album that was an unexpected change of artistic direction for the band, yet one that set them on course to becoming one of the biggest bands of the 1980s. U2 had already experienced tremendous success with their third album, War , and they had made a huge splash on MTV (the music medi...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, we discuss Closing Time, the debut album by enigmatic singer-songwriter Tom Waits. Released on David Geffen’s Asylum label in 1973, it immediately stood out from most of the folk and Americana tinged offerings from the other Artists on the label like Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, and the Eagles.  Closing Time is considered by many Tom Waits fans who prefer his m...

Send us Fan Mail The Pogues, fronted by an English-born, Irish rogue by the name of Shane MacGowan, made traditional Irish music and instrumentation hip by playing it with a distinctively punk attitude and imbuing the lyrics with a poets sensibility.  On this episode, we look at the band’s third and most well-known album, If I Should Fall From Grace With God. The record was made with a new line-up...

Send us Fan Mail When the Grateful Dead decided to simplify their studio process, the result was a return to the band's roots with simple, country, and folk-inspired tunes. Their next LP, Workingman’s Dead   set the stage for the release of arguably the band’s studio masterpiece just a scant five months later, American Beauty.      On this episode, we discuss American Beauty and what makes it...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, we dive kilt deep into The Crossing, the 1983 debut album by Big Country. Formed in Dunfermline, Scotland, the band’s journey to this critically acclaimed album wasn’t a straight line and involved a drum machine, a member of the Jam, and a failed attempt by producer extraordinaire Chris Thomas, before Steve Lillywhite took the reigns to produce an LP that became a...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode , we discuss Waylon Jennings' 1973 landmark LP: Honky Tonk Heroes. While it may be up to debate as to which album marked the beginning of "Outlaw Country," there is little doubt as to the impact Waylon Jennings and Honky Tonk Heroes had on the burgeoning movement and country music in general.  Jennings' groundbreaking LP stripped away the string...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, we discuss the 1995 LP by the Jayhawks: Tomorrow the Green Grass. It was the fourth (and final LP) of the initial Mark Olson/Gary Louris collaboration before Olson decided to leave the band (he would reunite with the band to record the fantastic Mockingbird Time) . Tomorrow the Green Grass is exactly what you'd expect from a Jayhawks record; it is replete wit...

Send us Fan Mail Meat Loaf, a 350-pound Texan possessing an operatic voice both powerful and agile, was the Christian and Jim Steinman, a Jewish, leather-clad composer from New York with a sense of humor few in rock or theater ever have,  was Cyrano. Find out how the two found each other and created one of the best selling albums of all time (and meeting much resistance along the way) in this epis...

Send us Fan Mail John Cale was the most musically astute member of the Velvet Underground and on this album it shows. Soon after being fired from VU, Cale found work as a producer (The Stooges, Nico) and a collaborator (most notably with avant garde musician, Terry Riley). But he also began crafting songs influenced by the Beach Boys, the Band, and Phil Spector. He was also enthralled by Little Fe...

Send us Fan Mail Pink Floyd's follow up to their 1973 classic, Dark Side of the Moon, was in part an homage to the group's founding member, main songwriter, singer, and guitarist, Syd Barrett, and in part a chronicle of the band's dissolution with the fame and success they had achieved. It's a favorite among the band members, but it was not easy album to compose or record. Find...

Send us Fan Mail Here's some outtakes from the Townes Van Zandt episode that you might find entertaining and informative. Visit us at www.tappingvinyl.com.

Send us Fan Mail Legendary singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt waited a long time before releasing this album in 1987. His song, Pancho and Lefty, had just become a hit for Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, so he had money in the bank, and Van Zandt was struggling with demons that ultimately would help him succumb to complications from hip surgery on New Year's Day, 1997. On this album, Townes...

Send us Fan Mail XTC was under the gun with this album. They were pressured by their record company to produce an album that would sell 70,000 units or they would be dropped. The cure? Sound less British. So, they brought in studio wiz, multi-instrumentalist, veteran producer Todd Rundgren, whom the band was only somewhat familiar with. The result? An album steeped in dreamy lyrics and atmosphere...

Send us Fan Mail Badfinger is heralded as the seminal power pop band. And while they had all the ingredients needed to be a successful rock band (including catching the attention of the Beatles and being the first band signed to their Apple label), monetary and sustained commercial success eluded them largely due to the nefarious business practices of their manager. This album, the last of the cla...

Send us Fan Mail Rod Stewart is perhaps the most frustrating figure in popular music. He is a man gifted with arguably the best voice in rock and roll and he can write some amazing songs, straight up rockers and heart-felt ballads. But Stewart eventually moved to cash in on that talent, epitomized in the 1978 album, Blondes Have More Fun. On this podcast, we look back at Stewart's most popula...

Send us Fan Mail The Pretenders first album consistently received high marks from the critics and was a top 10 album in the U.S. when it was released, although it sounded like nothing else like anything else in the Top 40 at the time. It's a rock album with gorgeous melodies that, at times, disguise the disturbing subject matter of the lyrics. Though most of the songs were written by singer a...

Send us Fan Mail On this episode, we talk about a band named after the inventor of the seed drill, Jethro Tull, and perhaps the band's best-known album Aqualung,  which happens to be the name of the underwater breathing apparatus invented by Jacques Cousteau.  Why A qualung ? Who knows. But there's plenty of other stuff discussed in this episode, such as the band's charismatic flute...

Send us Fan Mail Dave Mason may not be a household name, but you are familiar with his work, especially his guitar playing, which has been on some of the most acclaimed songs of the late 60s and early 70s (which is why our cohost Tony calls him "The Forest Gump of Rock"). After co-founding and "leaving" Traffic, Mason recorded his first solo album, Alone Together. Mason is join...

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...