The Record Player
Shuffling music has its rewards, but there's still nothing like listening to a good old-fashioned album, start to finish — and that's what The Record Player is all about. With every episode, we'll dig into the music of and story behind a single LP, with co-hosts Jeff Giles and Matt Wardlaw ("1991: The Year AOR Ate Itself") and special guests acting as your guides.
Episodes
143 episodes
The Cure - Disintegration (1989)
In picking her favorite album, author K.L. Doty let us know up front that she couldn't settle on just one -- something which we're all familiar with as music fans, right? So we talk about a lot of different...
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Season 1
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Episode 142
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56:40
Al Jarreau - Breakin' Away (1981)
You might know Brian Wecht as Ninja Brian. Or maybe you know him as Trey Magnifique. P...
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Season 1
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Episode 141
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59:14
Bonus Track: Rob Baker (The Tragically Hip)
Rob Baker of The Tragically Hip joins Matt to discuss the 35th anniversary of the band's 1989 debut, Up to Here, which is being celebrated with a lavish box set featuring a wealth of previously unreleased content. The box set is availa...
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Season 1
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Episode 140
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36:17
Too $hort - Life is...Too $hort (1988)
Professor Louis Moore joins Matt and Jeff to discuss his essential new book, The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans and the Making of the Black Quarterb...
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Season 1
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Episode 139
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1:19:31
The 1974 Project: Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
This is almost a "lost episode" of sorts. To pull the curtain back a bit, we recorded this episode back in July and then promptly got busy with a bunch of other things. So if you hear a mention or two that sound a bit dated, there ya go. What r...
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Season 1
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Episode 138
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58:18
Cassingle: The Fast Food Edition
The guys end summer break with a completely random "accidental Cassingle," as Jeff tagged it. There are discussions of Funyuns (which still exist!), Taco Bell, concept albums,
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Season 1
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Episode 137
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50:39
Bonus Track: Woodstock '94 / Levon Helm
Our latest Bonus Track features a conversation with author and journalist John Barry, who covered Woodstock '94 as it happened. Thirty years later, he joins Matt to share some of his memories of the experience. Music fans will also be intereste...
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Season 1
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Episode 136
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33:55
Jesse Colin Young - The Perfect Stranger (1982)
Jeff and Matt love nothing more than coming across obscure AOR gems. Jesse Colin Young's 1982 album, The Perfect Stranger, fits into that category. Featuring guest appearances by Carly Sim...
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Season 1
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Episode 135
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55:13
Chicago - Chicago 17 (1984)
Podcasting pioneer Jimmy Pardo hosts the award-winning podcast, Never Not Funny. But he also puts his name behind a lot of good things. Witness his ...
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Season 1
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Episode 134
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1:13:02
Foreigner - Unusual Heat (1991)
This is a flashback moment to our previous podcast, 1991: The Year AOR Ate Itself. For those of you who didn't hear that podcast series, you'll be interested to hear this episode, which ...
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Season 1
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Episode 133
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1:18:13
Bonus Track: Leland Sklar and Denny Tedesco (The Immediate Family documentary)
Our latest Bonus Track features a great conversation with the legendary Leland Sklar and director Denny Tedesco regarding his film, The Immediate Family. That's right, someone finally made...
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Season 1
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Episode 132
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1:04:05
The 1974 Project: Harry Nilsson - Pussy Cats
The 1974 Project continues as we welcome back our friend and A&R man Peter Lubin to discuss Pussy Cats by Harry Nilsson. Produced by John Lennon, Pussy Cats is an interesting and at times, unfortunate mile marker in Nilsso...
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Season 1
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Episode 131
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1:11:29
The Music of the Olympics (1984-1992)
In 1984, Christopher Cross added a unique new entry to his discography. "A Chance For Heaven" was selected as the official swimming theme for the Olympics. I bet you didn't even kno...
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Season 1
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Episode 130
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59:56
Narada Michael Walden on Tommy Bolin
In our first Bonus Track of 2024, legendary artist and producer Narada Michael Walden tells Matt about his time working with the late Tommy Bolin. It's an emotional subject for Narada, but also a period in his career that he retains a lot of lo...
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Season 1
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Episode 129
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41:47
The 1974 Project: Suzi Quatro: Quatro
The magnificent Davia Schendel joins Jeff and Matt to discuss Suzi Quatro's second album, Quatro.Today's conversation definitely goes deep into "music nerd" territory. We talk about record...
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Season 1
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Episode 128
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1:38:32
Christopher Cross - Every Turn of the World (1985)
It's time for the first solo Jeff and Matt episode in a good while! Today, the guys team up to look back at Every Turn of the World, the third album by Christopher Cross. They dig through a number of topics including the album's rela...
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Season 1
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Episode 127
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58:51
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention - Uncle Meat (1969)
We have another first on the podcast, but you're going to have to listen to find out what it is. Let's start with the facts: Benjamin Miner of The Feldons joins Jeff and Matt...
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Season 1
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Episode 126
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1:21:05
R.E.M. - Reckoning (1984)
Benjamin Wagner joins the guys for a frank discussion about mental health in the midst of Mental Health Aw...
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Season 1
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Episode 125
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1:12:55
Ben Arthur - Edible Darling (2004)
Emmy-nominated songwriter Ben Arthur released his third album, Edible Darling, in 2004. A longtime friend of the podcast (long before there was a podcast, in fact), Ben joins Jeff and Matt to look b...
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Season 1
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Episode 124
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1:21:22
The Who - Who's Next (1971)
Legendary producer Tom Werman joins Jeff and Matt to talk about one of his favorite albums, Who's Next, by the Who.Tom is one of the best kind of people you can hope to meet in ...
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Season 1
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Episode 123
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1:26:03
Peter Frampton - Frampton (1975)
Andy Timmons is one of our favorite folks to talk about music with and he returns to the program -- with his guitar once again in hand -- to discuss his love for Peter Frampton's fourth studio album, 1975'...
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Season 1
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Episode 122
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1:08:58
Johnny "Guitar" Watson - Ain't That a Bitch (1976)
The Reverend Shawn Amos is our guest today on the podcast. Matt has had a conversation with Shawn in the past, so he knew that Jeff would love speaking with The Good Reverend. Shawn opened up right away, getting deep and personal with M...
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Season 1
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Episode 121
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1:19:04
The 1974 Project: Eagles - On the Border
UCR's Allison Rapp is back with Jeff and Matt for another episode of The 1974 Project. This time, they're talking about On the Border by Eagles and digging into a bunch of related (...
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Season 1
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Episode 120
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58:28
The 1974 Project: The Doobie Brothers - What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits
We couldn't miss out on the chance to post a new episode of The Record Player on a rare Leap Day!As one of our comrades said very recently, "Happy Leap Year, to all who celebrate!"We're back with the latest installment in The 19...
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Season 1
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Episode 119
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54:12