Dave's Side One

If a new band released this album today, would we call them brilliant—or tell them to pick a lane? On this episode of Dave’s Side One, Dave takes a physical copy of The Doors — The Doors off the shelf and challenges a familiar assumption about music. The argument: A record can have a coherent identity without keeping one sound from start to finish. Today’s Listening Test: Play “Alabama Song” and “...

Today Dave brings The Alan Parsons Project’s I Robot back to the turntable, not to repeat an earlier conversation, but to listen in a new way. Playback configuration changes separation, placement, and the perceived structure of a recording. THE LISTENING ASSIGNMENT Play “I Robot” in stereo, then compare with mono if available or change your listening position. Notice placement and separation. SIDE...

Today Dave brings Peter Gabriel’s Security to the turntable to listen in a new way. Percussion can create a sonic environment instead of simply marking time. THE LISTENING ASSIGNMENT Play “The Rhythm of the Heat” and track when percussion shifts from a rhythmic element into an overwhelming environment. SIDE ONE SPIN What did you notice? Did the listening experiment change the way you hear the reco...

Today Dave brings Rush’s Permanent Waves back to the turntable, not to repeat an earlier conversation, but to listen in a new way. Contrasting sections of a long composition establish an ending that has been prepared rather than merely added. THE LISTENING ASSIGNMENT Play all of “Natural Science.” Note the major sectional changes and ask whether the ending works without the journey. SIDE ONE SPIN...

Today Dave brings Eagles’s Hotel California back to the turntable, not to repeat an earlier conversation, but to listen in a new way. The closing guitar section moves from individual statements to a shared, harmonized resolution. THE LISTENING ASSIGNMENT Listen to the “Hotel California” guitar outro and identify the individual statements, responses, and final harmonized resolution. SIDE ONE SPIN W...

Today Dave brings Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy back to the turntable, not to repeat an earlier conversation, but to listen in a new way. Studio treatment changes the perceived identity of instruments and voices. THE LISTENING ASSIGNMENT Play “No Quarter” twice. On the second listen, focus on how keyboard and vocal treatments change your sense of distance and atmosphere. SIDE ONE SPIN What did...

Today Dave brings The Cars’ The Cars to the turntable Two consecutive tracks can form one listening memory without becoming one composition. THE LISTENING ASSIGNMENT Play “Moving in Stereo” directly into “All Mixed Up.” Later play the first track alone. What does your memory expect next? SIDE ONE SPIN What did you notice? Did the listening experiment change the way you hear the record? Tell us whe...

When Does the Song Actually Begin? Today Dave brings Supertramp’s Even in the Quietest Moments... back to the turntable, not to repeat an earlier conversation, but to listen in a new way. Supertramp’s extended introduction makes us question where a composition starts. THE LISTENING ASSIGNMENT Play the complete “Fool’s Overture,” then restart at the point you think the song begins. Does the later m...

Today’s record is The Best of Al Hirt. The Best of Al Hirt (1965) played constantly in Dave’s childhood home. The album is the doorway; the memory is the subject. Before we build our taste, somebody else is already shaping our ears. In this episode we revisit the story, question what makes a record important, and offer a listening test you can try with your own collection. Side One Spin: What musi...

Today’s record is The Wall by Pink Floyd. In senior year 1979–80, The Wall was the soundtrack in the high-school weight room. Further details about who chose it or the equipment are not established. The album is the doorway; the memory is the subject. Some albums become the sound of a room before they become a subject of analysis. In this episode we revisit the story, question what makes a record...

Today’s record is Raised on Radio by Journey. Dave still struggles to finish Raised on Radio; it felt closer to a Steve Perry solo record than the Journey he knew. Learning Steve Smith and Ross Valory had been replaced during sessions intensified his reaction. The album is the doorway; the memory is the subject. Disappointment in an album can reveal how deeply a band mattered to you. In this episo...

Today’s record is Man of Miracles by Styx. In 1978 Dave listened to Man of Miracles on eight-track while riding to and from school in his parents’ station wagon. The album is the doorway; the memory is the subject. The setting can become inseparable from the music. In this episode we revisit the story, question what makes a record important, and offer a listening test you can try with your own col...

Today’s record is Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. During the 2006 move from Texas to Utah a box of vintage jazz records disappeared, including an early Kind of Blue pressing. The whereabouts remain unknown. The album is the doorway; the memory is the subject. What you miss is not just the object, but the listening life attached to it. In this episode we revisit the story, question what makes a record...

Today’s record is Alive! by KISS. When Alive! was new, Dave worried about his parents’ reaction. He listened at friends’ houses and still does not own a copy. The album is the doorway; the memory is the subject. A record can become important even when it never enters your collection. In this episode we revisit the story, question what makes a record important, and offer a listening test you can tr...

Today’s record is Moving Pictures by Rush. 1981 University of Utah Mayfest Dave’s band tackled Tom Sawyer, believed they might have been first local cover; played it successfully; group split six months later. The album is the doorway; the memory is the subject. The record became a test of what the band could do together. In this episode we revisit the story, question what makes a record important...

Dave’s favorite Triumph album is Just a Game, but it is not the record he would recommend first to a new listener. That job goes to Allied Forces. This episode closes Week 15 by separating two questions music fans often treat as identical: “What is your favorite?” and “Where should I start?” A personal favorite reflects years of relationship and context; a good recommendation considers the listene...

Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way” sounds direct because the record makes its choices feel inevitable. The recognizable riff is only one layer. Attack, space, groove, tone, dynamics and the rhythm section all shape what the part actually does. Even the famous talk-box passage works because the track has already established a musical world for that new texture to enter. In this episode, Dave uses his...

Before a vocalist sings a single word on Toto’s 1978 debut, “Child’s Anthem” has already established a recognizable musical identity. This episode expands the idea of a band’s “voice” beyond the singer and into instrumental tone, arrangement, rhythm, production and sonic palette. Dave uses Toto—and briefly the keyboard identity of Lyle Mays with the Pat Metheny Group—to ask what actually makes a b...

Side One of Pat Benatar’s Crimes of Passion is undeniably powerful, but Dave rarely skips anything on the album. In this episode, he argues that Side Two does not have to defeat Side One in order to succeed. With deeper cuts, changing textures and Benatar’s cover of Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights,” the second half broadens the record rather than simply repeating its opening attack. The question is...

Dave loves Styx’s Cornerstone—and regularly skips “Babe” and “First Time.” In this episode Dave asks whether loving an album really requires unconditional loyalty to every song. Vinyl listening can reward complete-side immersion and respect for sequencing, but a long relationship with a record can also become selective and personal. The point is not that Dave’s skips are correct. The point is that...

“Sweet Virginia” changes the atmosphere of Exile on Main St., and that is exactly why Dave loves it. Dave challenges the idea that album cohesion requires every song to share the same sonic uniform. A stylistic outlier can interrupt an album—but it can also reveal how large the album’s identity really is. Using the Rolling Stones’ country-blues detour as the test case, this episode asks listeners...

After Rumours, Fleetwood Mac could have made the safest follow-up imaginable. Instead, Tusk challenged the very idea of what a successful band should do next. Dave compares commercially successful follow-ups from Styx, Kansas and Boston with records that took a more artistically risky path, then asks a deceptively difficult question: what does a band owe its audience after a blockbuster? This isn’...

In 1979-1980, Dave spent time in the basement of his friend Wendy's house, where her father had a B&O stereo, JBL speakers, and an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 LPs. Beatles, Rolling Stones, Cream, Eric Clapton, Frank Zappa - if Dave and his friends could think of it, there was a good chance it was on the shelf. Wendy's dad supervised because they were kids, but otherwise he let them explore. They sat...

On April 3, 1978, 15-year-old Dave headed to the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City with friends to see Foghat. Dave J. was old enough to drive. Brian was a tobacco chewer - and on the trip down, he swallowed the tobacco. During the opening act, No Dice, Brian became sick, ran outside, and then wasn't allowed back into the venue. His ride home, unfortunately, was still inside enjoying the concert. Bria...

Teenage Dave wanted records faster than his budget could provide them, and Columbia House and RCA Record Club offered a tempting solution. One legitimate account became two or three additional accounts under other names, all in pursuit of those famous introductory offers. The strategy helped build a collection that included BTO's greatest hits, Thin Lizzy's Jailbreak, Styx's The Serpent Is Rising,...