Trimming The Musical Fat

** 09/09/2024 - Hi. After being down for most of this year, we are making this episode available again. Enjoy ** ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ is the seventh studio album by Elton John. Released in 1973, it was a transatlantic number one, sold over 12M copies, and is widely regarded as John’s greatest work. At 76 minutes in length, it’s a classic seventies double album featuring ‘Candle In The Wind’...

** 02/09/2024 - Hi. After being down for most of this year, we are making this episode available again. Enjoy ** These Days (1995) is one of Bon Jovi’s most highly regarded albums. The first to be recorded as a four-piece, it spawned 5 hit singles, including This Ain’t A Love Song, Something For The Pain, and its title track. After the Keep The Faith episode, Paul & Stephen look back on this a...

Summary Join Stephen again in this episode as he critiques the singles from Prince's 1986 album 'Parade'. An album most notable for being home to the US #1 single 'Kiss' and the soundtrack to Prince's flop movie 'Under The Cherry Moon'. Stephen ranks and shares his thoughts on each of the album’s singles, including 'Kiss', 'Girls & Boys', 'Mountains' and 'Anotherloverholenyohead'. Finally, he crit...

** 19/08/2024 - Hi. After being down for most of this year, we are making this episode available again. Enjoy ** Welcome to the first episode of our new podcast side-series which focusses on the singles released by U2 from 1980 to 1989. In it, we'll critique & rank each single and its accompanying album to create the ultimate eighties U2 singles collection. The criteria? The album must be...

"So Paul, is Both Sides Phil Collins' best album?" Summary In this episode, Stephen and Paul discuss Phil Collins' album 'Both Sides'. They debate the quality of the album and share their personal opinions on each song. They also create the under 50-minute, single vinyl, Supercut of the album, selecting the best tracks to include. The episode concludes with a discussion o...

"Is '21st Century Breakdown' better than the 'American Idiot' album?" Summary In this episode, Stephen and Paul discuss Green Day's album '21st Century Breakdown' (2009). They share their level of fandom and the first Green Day items they ever bought. They talk about their anticipation for the band's upcoming Glasgow concert and share their favourite Green...

Summary In this episode, Stephen goes solo again to critique the singles from Prince's second album; the eponymously named ‘Prince’ (1979). Home to ‘I Feel For You’, the song that Chaka Khan would turn into a worldwide smash in 1984. Stephen ranks and shares his thoughts on each of the album’s singles, including I Wanna Be Your Lover, Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad, Still Waiting, Sexy Dancer,...

Summary In this episode of Trimming the Musical Fat, TTMF hosts Stephen & Paul, plus special guest Caroline Gilmour of pop band The Eves, discuss Alanis Morissette's follow up to her blockbusting 1995 album ‘Jagged Little Pill’ - 1998’s 'Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie'. They share their personal fandom of Alanis and discuss the critical reception to the album & its sales. T...

Summary In this anniversary edition of Trimming the Musical Fat, hosts Stephen and Paul celebrate three years of the podcast with a music quiz. Contestants Renée James, Caroline Gilmore, Marissa Kelty, and Paul compete in various rounds, including ‘Match The Song To The Movie’ and answering questions about their chosen musical specialist subjects. Renée specializes in Bruce Springsteen, Caroline i...

Summary In this episode, Stephen and Paul discuss the singles from Prince's 1989 album, Batman. They review each single, including Batdance, Partyman, The Arms of Orion, Scandalous, and The Future. They share their personal experiences and opinions of each song, as well as their thoughts on the album as a whole. The critical reception of the album is also discussed, with mixed reviews from cri...

Summary By The Way (2002) is a brilliant album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But at nearly 70 minutes in duration, could it have been even better with some careful pruning? That’s the task podcast hosts Stephen & Paul, plus their guest Ross Braidwood, have set themselves in this episode: Create the under 50 minute TTMF Supercut of By The Way. On the way the guys will discuss their level of fan...

Summary In this episode, hosts Stephen and Paul, plus their Dad Martin, discuss The Beatles' final studio album, Abbey Road (1969). They talk about the album artwork, the music, and their personal opinions on the songs. They also talk about seeing Beatles tribute band The Bootleg Beatles perform the album live with an orchestra. Overall, they have mixed opinions on the album, with Stephen and Paul...

Summary It’s been on our to-do-list for over 2 years, but, finally, the first episode of our Prince side-series is here 🆓 👑 Similar to our previous U2 & Bruce Springsteen side-series’, we’re aiming to create the ultimate, single vinyl, under 50-minute singles compilation for Prince after critiquing his albums & singles from a specific period of time. In this case, from 1978 (For You) to 1989 (Ba...

Summary In this episode, Stephen and Paul discuss Jedward , Ireland's greatest ever musical export, and their album Young Love . They talk about the singles from the album, Waterline, Young Love, and Luminous , and the critical reception they received. They also discuss Louis Walsh's comments about Jedward and their impact on their lives. The album is praised for its maturity and progressi...

Marvel has its Multiverse. TTMF has created the Maccaverse! Join podcast hosts Stephen & Paul, and their very special guests Marv (Pods Like Us) and Sam (Paul or Nothing), as they revisit Wings’ 1973 album - ‘Red Rose Speedway’. Home to the #1 US hit ‘My Love’ ❤️ RRS was a single album which was originally envisaged as a double 💿 💿 So, there were many tracks which did not make the cut ✂️ Usi...

Summary It’s our third ‘90 from the 90s’ episode. A series which will continue on social media. In it, podcast hosts Stephen & Paul select and discuss two of their favourite albums from the nineties. The albums selected today are ‘Wasted in America’ by Love / Hate; and ‘Jagged Little Pill’ by Alanis Morissette 💿 Want to watch further ‘90 from the 90s’ episodes? These will be posted to our You...

Summary It’s our first ‘ Good Song, Bad Album ’ episode. A series which will continue on social media. In it, podcast hosts Stephen & Paul discuss the 1994 album ‘Come’ by music legend Prince . Stephen goes back in time to reminisce about first playing the album and why he’s not a fan of it. He also explains why both Prince and his record label Warners did not promote it. Stephen does though r...

Summary In this episode, podcast hosts Stephen & Paul discuss six songs that became famous after being covered by other artists. They share information about each song and its original version, highlighting the surprising origins of these popular tunes. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:22 Without You 04:43 I Love Rock’n Roll 07:47 Tainted Love 10:28 Achy Breaky Heart 12:28 Hush 15:49 Whatta Man...

From the TTMF vaults comes this episode recorded in 2023. Intended as the first pod of a subsequently aborted Foo Fighters side-series, it find podcast co-host Stephen and his son Luke critiquing the band’s eponymously named 1995 debut album, and ranking the singles from it: 00:00 Prologue 00:48 Introduction 01:34 Tale of the Tape - Foo Fighters (1995) 04:22 Foo Fighters album TV promo 04:52 Exhau...

Take someone who’s never listened to a Rolling Stones studio album. Another who only started listening to their albums in the last few years. Throw them together to listen to The Stones’ most highly regarded album - Exile on Main Street (1972), and find out what they think 🤔 Exile is a double album 💿 💿 Podcasts hosts Stephen & Paul believe it plays better as a single 💿 Join them as they cu...

“And I don’t know about you” but we’ve not done a Hidden Prime Cuts episode in some time 🔪 So, here’s a brand new one for your listening / viewing pleasure 👀 👂 Hosts Stephen & Paul go back 31 years to talk about a song Paul bought on CD then - Blur’s Chemical World (1993) ⚛️; a tune they rank as one of the band’s best 🥇 Press play to find out why ▶️ 00:00 - Damon Albarn (Blur) interview 00:43...

It’s the final episode of our Bruce Springsteen side-series as we finally get around to picking the singles that will make up our under 50 minute, single vinyl, TTMF Bruce Best Of (1975 - 1987). You may be surprised by some of the omissions… Joining host Stephen Nicholson are returning guests Davie Melon and Renee James* 00:00 - Titles 00:31 - Introduction 01:34 - Revealing the 3 unanimous song ch...

Genesis can’t dance. We can’t dance either 🕺 So let’s travel back to 1991 & revisit the group’s final studio album with solo superstar Phil Collins - ‘We Can’t Dance’ (1991) 🎤 ✂️ 🎧 Hosts Stephen and Paul were listeners of the album on original release. Both thought it an overlong (CD bloated) disappointment compared to the band’s previous release ‘Invisible Touch’ (1986) 💿 Do they like it more...

This will knock you off your feet! 👣 We’re back for another episode of Trimming The Musical Fat 🎧 ✂️ Hosts Paul, Stephen and regular guest Davie Melon, take on another classic double album to ‘improve it’ by reducing its runtime to less than 50-minutes 🕰️ And what a task they have. The album in question is Stevie Wonder’s Grammy winning, multi-million selling - Songs in the Key of Life (1976). H...

** 03/09/2024 - Hi. After being down for most of this year, we are making this episode available again. Enjoy ** Queen are our favourite band but we have very different opinions about Innuendo, their ‘real’ final album. To analyse the album, the year of release (1991), and Queen overall, we’re joined by guest, Paul Murphy. What songs will we pick for the TTMF Supercut of the album? Is the song Inn...