Vinyl Verdict

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined once again by their friend Bell. Bell is here today to talk about Adam's pick, Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life". Released in 1976, it came out as the culmination of a legendary run of albums, beginning in 1972 with "Music of my Mind". Between 1974 and 1977, Stevie Wonder won the Grammy Award for Album...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined once again by Dan Besser, who this time brings his own pick! Unconventionally, Dan's pick is a maxi-single called Payback Time by the The Dysfunctional Psychedelic Waltons. As far as we can tell, the song was created for an advertising campaign by Levi's Jeans in 2003. The single contains four versions of the song, remixed by different ar...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined once again by their friend, Dan Besser! Dan joins us today to talk about Adam's next pick, Igorrr's "Spirituality and Distortion". Released in 2020, it was his fourth album. A mix of avant-garde music, metal, and most perplexingly...polka, "Spirituality and Distortion" is a wildly eccentric album, named in 2024 as one of the 10 most wacky...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined by their new friend Wade! Better known as the hands behind the YouTube channel Dankpods , Wade was visiting us all the way from Australia. His pick for this episode, the Avishai Cohen Trio's "Gently Disturbed" was a favourite from when Wade studied jazz in university. Released in 2007, the trio at the time featured Avishai Cohen on bass,...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined again by Sven - this time for his pick, Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory" . Released in the distant future of the year 2000, the album was released to critical success. It spawned four singles, "One Step Closer", "In the End", "Crawling" and "Papercut", all of which charted. At the 44th Grammy Awards, "Crawling" won the award for Best Hard Ro...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined by their friend and former guest, Sven. This time, Sven is here to talk about Jamie's next pick, Neil Young's 1972 album, "Harvest" . Released to lukewarm critical reception, the album went on to be the highest selling album of 1972, and remains Neil's most successful album. Its success was propelled forward by two h...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined yet again by their friend Plouffe. His pick today is the 2017 album from Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, "Pizazz". Described as a funk jam band, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong was formed in 2009. A staple in the jam band community, they are the organizers of the Domefest music festival. But are they actually funky? Do they "put the fun in funk", or...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined once again by Plouffe to discuss Adam's pick, Geese's "Getting Killed" . Released in September 2025, it received nearly unanimous critical acclaim and was ranked highly on many year-end album lists. The album features a lot of surreal imagery and explores a number of themes, such as power and transformation. But what wil...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined by their friend and former longtime host, Bell. Coming back with him is Begonia, whose album "Fear", we covered in season 1 of the podcast. This time, the album is her 2023 release, "Powder Blue" . Nominated for several awards, including a Juno and a Polaris prize, the album explores more lighthearted emotions than her...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie are joined by their friend and former host, Plouffe to talk about his pick: John Mayer's "Room For Squares" . His debut album, it was released initially as a digital download in June 2001, before being released as an actual physical album in September 2001. Spawning three hit singles, the album has gone on to sell five million copies in the US alone...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Adam and Jamie talk about Jamie's first pick of Season 4, Dire Straits' "Alchemy". Released in 1984, it was their first live album and their fifth album in total. This album has been requested by our most loyal fan, Dave (sorry Sarah). Clocking in at two LPs and just a hair under 90 minutes in length, "Alchemy" represents the final show...

Welcome to season four of Vinyl Verdict! On this episode, Adam and Jamie discuss Adam's first pick, Vampire Weekend's "Modern Vampires of the City" . Released in May 2013, it was their third studio album. Following the success of their second album "Contra" , the band took a break before coming back to record this album. The result was an immediate commercial and critic...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, the boys discuss the season that was. We re-rank the albums, talk about winners and losers, and what albums really stood out to us this year. We also get into albums from previous years! On a less fun note, we also discuss some changes for Season 4. Will their be laughter? Will there be tears? Come along and find out! Here's our Top 10s Bell: Frank Ocean - Blond(e...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Bell, Jamie and Adam listen to Adam's last pick for the season, Lupe Fiasco's "Samurai". Released in 2024, it was his ninth studio album. The whole concept for the album is based around a voicemail Amy Winehouse left her producer, stating that she kept coming up with battle raps, and Lupe Fiasco makes the quote a reality. Coming in at a tight 30 minutes in length,...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Bell, Jamie and Adam listen to Jamie's final pick for Season 3, The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" . Released in 1966, it was a monumental work that influenced many artists. Inspired by the Beatles' 1965 album "Rubber Soul" , Brian Wilson, the creative head of The Beach Boys decided to make an album that surpassed it in every way. The pur...

Hey it's your buddy Jamie - sorry we've missed a few uploads here and there lately, all of us have been very busy! On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Bell, Jamie and Adam listen to Bell's last pick for this season, Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" . Released in 2006, it was her second and final studio album before her death in 2011. Propelled by the singles "Back To Bl...

On this special episode of Vinyl Verdict, Bell, Jamie and Adam go see a concert film! In a first for the podcast, we cover Pink Floyd's "Live At Pompeii" film, which was recently re-released to theatres in IMAX format. Along with restored visuals, the films' audio was reworked with a new 5.1 mix by Steven Wilson. Filmed partially inside the Amphitheatre of Pompeii and partially within a studio, th...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Bell, Jamie and Adam are joined by their friend Reece to talk about Adam's next pick - Joey Valence & Brae's "No Hands". Released in 2024, it was their second album. With a sound that is a callback to hip-hop of days past, the duo raps with a style reminiscent of the Beastie Boys, which we've covered before in our episode on their album "Paul's Boutique". The...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Bell, Jamie and Adam listen to Jamie's next pick, AC/DC's "Back in Black" . Released in 1980, it was their seventh studio album. Following the death of their lead singer, Bon Scott in February 1980, the band sought out a new singer and selected Brian Johnson who was formerly of the band Geordie. The album was recorded quickly and released in July...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Bell, Jamie and Adam listen to Bell's next pick, Limp Bizkit's "Significant Other". Released in 1999, it was their second studio album. Following the success of their previous album "Three Dollar Bill, Y'all", the band was invited to perform at Woodstock '99. The band's performance has been widely criticized as having furthe...

On this special episode of Vinyl Verdict, Bell, Jamie and Adam are joined by their friend and former host, Plouffe! Plouffe's pick for this week is   "Demon Days" by Gorillaz, a call back to our first episode, which was their album " The Now Now". Released in 2005, it was their second album. Propelled ahead by the success of the singles "Feel Good Inc", which late...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Bell, Jamie and Adam listen to Adam's next pick, Deafheaven's "Sunbather" . Released in 2013, it was their second album. The album was critically well received, with many reviewers noting its ability to unite elements of other genres and styles into one cohesive sound. On year-end lists for 2013, it was listed as one of the top albums of the year, with many public...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Bell, Jamie and Adam listen to Jamie's next pick, Carole King's "Tapestry". Released in 1971, it was her second studio album. By the time of the release of this album, Carole King was already an established songwriter, having written or co-written dozens of hit singles. This album won 4 Grammy Awards in the following year, including Album of the...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Bell, Jamie and Adam listen to Bell's next pick, Mother Mother's "O My Heart". Released in 2008, it was their second album. A band local to us in Vancouver, they got their start on Quadra Island, which is between the mainland and Vancouver Island. In 2020-1, several tracks off of "O My Heart" went viral on TikTok, leading to a resurgenc...

On this episode of Vinyl Verdict, Bell, Jamie and Adam listen to Adam's next pick, Wilco's "A.M. " Released in 1995, it was their debut album. The band was formed following a series of disputes between Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar of Uncle Tupelo, with Tweedy going on to form Wilco and Farrar going on to form Son Volt. Both " A.M." and Son Volt's album "Trace" were highly anticipated because of the...